Waves of a baby's anguish

With all that has to happen in the womb, it’s amazing that anyone was ever born.

~Coleman Haggerty, C.P.~

William was born in the usual way to the delight of his family, relatives and his friends. He appeared as a beautiful baby and everyone rejoiced. On his second day of life, a nurse found him gray-haired and crying in a high-pitched tone indicating distress. His caregivers switched to emergency mode and immediately transferred him to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. The staff followed him closely and ran tests to rule out the most likely reasons for his distress. All tests were normal. He stabilized and went back to looking and acting like a healthy baby.

When a baby is born, we all hope or at least hope that difficulties will not arise. When a crisis arises for a newborn, we are suddenly faced with the fragility of life. Babies are delicate and need a lot of protection. We all accept that. But how do we react when a baby is faced with an unknown threat? We want to do what we can but we don’t know what we can do. We are left to rely on medical experts and prayers to God to help the baby through the crisis.

I once heard a sermon by Father Brendan Breen who reminded us that everything we do impacts the world with effects on everyone. Obviously, we do not directly affect the entire world. What we do, good or bad, affects those who come into contact with us. Our actions affect those who are in contact with us and change their perspective on life and their actions towards others, again for better or worse. Then those whom we have affected pass on to others what they have gained or lost from their experience with us. In that way we are all connected, although we will never meet most of the people we indirectly affect.

As I just mentioned, we tend to view babies as fragile and helpless. However, William has already had a far-reaching effect on many people, most of whom he will never meet. As word of his distress spread from his family to relatives and friends, others who were told about him had the opportunity to direct their thoughts and prayers in his direction. All of these people had the opportunity to consider the fragility, wonder, and connection to others that we all share.

Thank you William for helping us all stay connected and human. Good health to you. We look forward to seeing how the rest of his life enriches us.

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