Additional Coverage:
- When I was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery, I only worried about who would care for my baby (businessinsider.com)
A Mom’s Worst Nightmare: Emergency Surgery and a Toddler at Home
One minute I was planning a fun mall trip with my 18-month-old son and friends, the next I was being rushed into emergency surgery. The abdominal pain I’d dismissed as gas turned out to be a severely inflamed appendix.
While the doctors prepped me, my mind raced. Not with fear of the surgery, but with a mother’s primal worry: my son.
My little guy had never been away from me. He was completely dependent on me for everything – food, comfort, even diaper changes.
The thought of him waking up without me was more agonizing than any physical pain. Adding to the stress, no private rooms were available, meaning my husband couldn’t keep our son with him at the hospital.
Between waves of nausea and pain, I kept repeating, “He won’t eat. He won’t sleep.
He’ll cry for me.”
To make matters worse, our usual backup, my parents and in-laws, were out of town. Just when I felt utterly lost, my incredible family stepped up.
My sister, a busy working mom of three, took my son in without a moment’s hesitation. My other sister, my husband, and cousins rallied around me at the hospital.
The surgery went well, and as I came to, my first question was about my son. My husband’s smile and the news that our little one was happily playing and eating at my sister’s brought immense relief. I was astonished – he even let my sister change his diaper!
This experience profoundly changed my perspective on motherhood. Lying on that operating table, I understood that a mother’s heart truly resides outside her body. Even in the midst of a medical crisis, my focus was solely on my child’s well-being.
More than that, it brought home the raw vulnerability of motherhood. Despite a loving support system, the helplessness and guilt of not being there for my son were overwhelming.
Now, when another mom shares her anxieties, I understand with a depth I never had before. I’ve been there, in the blinding pain of a hospital bed, with only one prayer: “Let my baby be okay.”