Emotional Intensive Care

I recently learned 2 new terms in group.

An adult volunteer shared what it was like for her to take a baby from the hospital to the new home. Her husband worked for an airline company, so she transported infants out of state. She called it the “second phase of birthing”. She shared how she felt the hand of the Lord, at times, helping her get where she needed to be in order to get the baby to the new home. She cried as she told the birth mothers in group about a specific journey where everything went wrong and she was still able to pick up an infant and make it to the plan in time to make all the connections. She made the “delivery” happen to a new location.

Heidi shared a term she learned from her father. She said that she had been determined to place her baby for adoption. She made a commitment to God and wrote her commitment in her journal—she would not disappoint the adoptive family—she would go through with her decision to place her baby for adoption. She was strong and firm until she passed the baby to the adoptive couple and turned to walk away. Heidi said she “collapsed into her father’s arms”. He “carried” her back to her room in the hospital where she sobbed. Although she knew that adoption was the best decision for her and the baby, she still felt pain. Her father, in his tenderness told her she was in “emotional intensive care”. is words were a caution for her to be careful with her emotional self and give herself time to “heal” from this unselfish act she had just participated in. Not only did she need to recovery from bearing a child, she needed to give herself time to recover from placing a child.