Thursday, April 5, 2012

446 NO! NO! NOT AGAIN!!! Part 41



41
... At this point the commotion awakens Aunt Sari, who having fallen asleep on the living room couch, realizes the baby hadn’t awakened for her bottle—so, her alarm rings out along with Mom's and Dad's.


While sitting and swinging, decades later, I try to imagine the mental torment, suffered by my parents while they wait anxiously in our apartment for the bell in the downstairs foyer to ring, signaling the arrival of medical expertise:
Thank G-d, the doctor lives close by, because as soon as he pushes the bell in the foyer, my father, who can barely stand still, rings him in. Then, Dad flings open our apartment's front door and flies across the threshold into the hall to egg on the doctor—who’s bounding up those three flights of stairs, taking two at a time.
Once the doctor sets foot on the third floor landing and locks eyes with Dad's, the pair hurry into the bedroom, where several firemen—one of whom is tending to the baby lying, waxen, on my parents' bed—are gathered round.
As the doctor is far from young, he's huffing and puffing, trying to collect his bearings, when he realizes what's taking place. Next thing we know, he’s lunging at the fireman, who's bending over Lauren, as he yells, “No! Stop!" while shoving the fireman's hand aside. In this way does the doctor forbid the oxygen mask from covering my little sister's delicate nose and mouth.
You see, the doctor has just learned that administering too much oxygen causes blindness in infants. And if Lauren is alive, he's determined to save her eyesight.
Decades later, while sitting, side by side, discussing the hellacious events of that night, my mind soaks in Mom's words:
“Incredibly, Lauren began to stir from that strange, coma-like sleep, which had terrified us, all!  None of us, including the doctor and firemen, had ever heard a more welcome sound than Lauren's indignant cries.  While huddling round, watching her features wrinkle up and her face turn red as angry wails of hunger pumped blood through the vessels of her tiny body, we marveled that something as bizarre as this had happened on the very first night I’d agreed to leave her with anyone!  And thank God the doctor arrived in time, armed with the knowledge that saved her sight.”
My God, Mom—what a night that must have been for all of you.  In fact, after such a horrendous experience, you must have felt shaken for quite some time.”
And how!  In fact, it’s impossible to describe how I’d felt.”
Then while the sway of the swing soothes our minds, Mom and I stare into the serenity provided by the presence of Mother Nature’s mountain, rising protectively before us.  And as we contemplate the panic, which had most assuredly caused every heart in that room to constrict, Mom faces me and asks, "Annie—do you remember any of that?”

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