Alaana
Garris
August 2012
Alaana
Garris
,
RNC
Special Care Nursery
Methodist Charlton Medical Center
Dallas
,
TX
United States

 

 

 

Holoprosencephaly, a cephalic disorder where part of the brain fails to develop. A very big condition for such a tiny baby, most cases are so severe that the baby will die before birth.

This was the news that one of our families was presented with, their baby would more than likely not survive the pregnancy, or would most likely not survive the delivery. The family had made the difficult decision that they did not want to see their baby girl after the delivery, it was just too much for them to handle.

The day of delivery was here and the baby girl was born alive, the prognosis was grave, and at the request of the parents the baby was brought to the nursery for comfort care. Alaana was assigned to attend the delivery and brought the baby to the nursery. It was evident that the baby would not survive for very long based on the extent of her condition. Alaana did not want this little girl to die alone with no love or hugs so she stepped in and became this baby's surrogate mom. She wrapped up the baby and sat down in the rocking chair and rocked, sang and cried for 2 hours until this precious angel slipped peacefully away wrapped in loving arms and hearing whispers of love.

The entire floor was so moved and touched by her actions, her love, her heart and her willingness to step in and give this little angel a peaceful transition home.

Just recently this family returned to give birth to a very healthy baby! The parents asked to see Alaana, they wanted to thank her in person for the care and compassion she showed their first born baby girl.

Don't we all hope that when our time comes to exit this world that we have someone as loving and caring as Alaana holding and caring for us?