The moment the baby was born, he was forced to separate from his mother who was infected with COVID-19. Sadly the mother condition deteriorated and need to be intubated, her only wish is to see her newborn baby one last time… sob sob 😭 😭 😭
Doctor Tan, Pediatrician from Kluang General hospital took social media to share a tear-jerking post of a mother and her newborn baby. The post went viral garnered more than 1.1k responses and 520 shares.
The post read:
《It’s too late to tell 》
Do you know newborn babies spend averagely 16 hours to sleep, maybe only when it’s time for milk or poop or feeling uncomfortable only they will wake up.
Else they will be sleeping throughout, even thunderstorm won’t wake them up. For them, it’s nothing to be bothered.
But, except for feeding and pooping, there is also some possibility where a newborn awake.
Let says, connection with the mother.
Few days back, a newborn baby was send to our neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
The mother was informed that she was in contact with a COVID-19 patient, only when she was admitted to hospital for labor. Thus, she need to be quarantined, and her newborn was diagnosed with jaundice. Therefore was send to our NICU.
I was in Full PPE checking the baby and was thinking, “Once the mother done her quarantine then she will be able to discharge with her baby.”
What we think can always be beautiful and ideal, however reality probably don’t always treat us that nice.
Few days later, the training junior doctor in Anesthesiology came to NICU.
NICU has always been isolated from the world, seldom with doctors from other department that come to visit. We are normally living in our own beautiful world with a bunch of harmless babies.
We are kind of isolated from disturbance or hecticness outside.
Thus, it looks odd with the presence of unfamiliar faces in our ward.
The training junior doctor came to me and said :” Morning Doctor, we have a Covid patient, her condition deteriorated. she will need to be intubated. The patient wish to see her newborn baby before her intubation. Is it possible that we do a video call?”
The patient was the mother of the newborn baby that was admitted to NICU few days back.
It only took the patient FIVE (5) days from no symptoms showed to health condition deteriorated, where intubation needed.
Before her intubation, she wish to see her newborn baby for one more time.
Because the baby need to be quarantined after delivery. The moment she was in labor and pushed her baby out, and still in state of physical weakness and emotional exhaustion, probably only one glance of the baby and the next moment was seeing her baby been taken away.
Her wish was before the doctor sedated her for intubation, she wanted to see her newborn baby once again.
Because this time, is probably her LAST seeing her child.
The training junior doctor wore the PPE, on the video call showing the patient her sleeping baby.
Me stood outside the thick plastic curtain, seeing the baby who was in the deep sleep. Suddenly awaked and crying out loud when the mother was in the video call with him.
And the mother on the other end of the call was on her oxygen mask, trying very hard to breathe in and out.
Unlike other mother, she can’t carry her baby in her arm to comfort him, only seeing the baby crying.
I couldn’t even imagine how helpless is that.
The resident doctor who stood beside me couldn’t stand it anymore and said : ” This is so heart-breaking.” Then she left.
The resident doctor has 2 children. Not long ago, her husband who is a also a medical frontliner was infected, therefore she and the children need to undergo Swab test and quarantine too.
Realised herself and her children were at the risk of catching the virus. She was breaking down in tears.
Thus, looking at sad scene like this, she felt more empathetic.
I was asking the training junior doctor loudly outside the thick plastic curtain: ” Does the mother has any question on her child?”
The junior doctor shook his head, and answered me loudly:” The mother hardly breathe, so she couldn’t speak”
When one was badly hit by the deadly virus, even asking the baby’s conditions seems like a luxury too.
The junior doctor turning the camera to himself and talked to the mother: ” Now we will need to send you to ICU for intubation.”
We saw the mother in the other side of the video call with her red eyes and nodded, the junior doctor then ended the call.
At first, i was thinking to say:” Tell the mother, baby is ok, asked her not to worry.” However, it’s too late to say it.
That was the only thing i can do for the mother. I was regretted that didn’t tell her because of my hesitation.
The baby cried out loud for a good 5 minutes video call, and slowly stopped once the call ended and went back to sleep.
Only the tears on his cheek prove he cried very hard before.
That’s the only way for him to tell his mother he is doing fine.
Maybe he knew that his mother was not around, probably in this cold NICU nobody will care even he is crying. No matter how hard he cried, nobody will purposely put on the thick PPE just to comfort him.
The only thing he can do is to hold his tears and rest well.
Wait for the mother to recover and pick him up, and go home together.
We are in the pandemic for close to 2 years. We are seeing a lot of patients that couldn’t make it and succumbed to the deadly virus. We also seeing patients who defeated the virus remove the tubes and reunited with their loved one at home.
Now, everyday when i do my ward round, checking on the baby. I’ll be praying his mother will be one of the patient who defeated the virus. Then only i can tell her what i didn’t manage to tell her the other day: ” Your baby is healthy, don’t worry!”
Meantime, we will be the guardian of this baby.
▼ Most netizens pray for the recovery of the mother, hopefully she will reunite with her newborn baby soon.
▼ One netizen shared her experience :” My sister was intubated too. Her conditions been unstable, my heart sunk. I’m even more upset reading your post.. Not sure when this pandemic going to end?? I’m praying hard for them. Hopefully they will brave through this storm and recover well. Your loved one is still waiting for you ..”
Doc. Tan: Wishing your sister for a speedy recovery too!
▼ Many netizens also took the opportunity to thank the medical frontliners.
▼ “I tried to hold my tears but i couldn’t. Hopefully the cry of the baby will gave the mother strength to fight with the deadly virus. Glad to have you, doctor!”
Info via : Facebook | Guang Ming Daily
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