An Easy Decision, with Consequences - Grandma's Miracle

Sometimes, decisions are easy.  But, then they bring with them a great deal of responsibility!  Here is one example from my mother-in-law's, Grandma Martin,  storybooks , "Tell Me a Story, Grandma".

Gail Elizabeth Snider Martin, author of "Tell Me a Story, Grandma"

Grandma’s Miracle

It was a rather balmy day for the middle of November in the year 1930. Grandma was very glad because she could allow the two older boys to play outside while the little one napped.  

John, Bob and Tom Snider - the big brothers
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Their mother, in the throes of a difficult labor, would appreciate some peace and quiet in the house. It was too early for the baby to be born, but in Grandma’s words, “Sometimes the apple falls before it’s ripe!”  But she was worried, and her watchful eyes were on the road the doctor would travel as much as the sidewalk where the boys were riding their tricycles.

Gail Naomi Trichler Snider - the mother
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Finally, the doctor’s old Ford pulled into the driveway and he hefted his very large body out of the driver’s seat, reaching into the back for his black bag.  Grandma met him at the door and gave him a full report of how things had been progressing through the morning.  Doctor Clark examined her daughter, making all kinds of unintelligible sounds before saying, “This is not good, not good at all.  She is definitely going to deliver today and babies born this early never survive. Well, we’ll do what we can and that’s all we can do.  If you will get some water boiled I’ll see if I can get things moving.”

Grandma hurried back into the bedroom with the boiling water and put it with other supplies the doctor had asked her to assemble.  After what seemed a very long time, he lifted a tiny, silent baby into the air, then tossed it into the overstuffed chair sitting beside the bed, saying, “Well, this little thing can’t live anyway.  It don’t weigh more than a couple of  pounds and the mother is in distress.  I’ll see to her now.”

Nora Sherwood Trichler
the grandma
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Grandma looked over at the tiny girl in the chair, fighting back the tears. Her daughter had wanted a little girl so much. Then the baby’s little fists moved and a leg kicked out. Grandma moved closer. It looked as if the baby was fighting for breath. She reached down, picked her up and patted her back lightly. Was that a cry?  She tried it again.  Sure enough, this tiny human being was trying to cry!  It sounded more like a kitten meowing, but she could hear it. The doctor glanced over and admonished her, “If you want to do something, help me. That baby is a goner anyway. There’s nothing you can do for it.”

That doctor was not well acquainted with Grandma at all. He didn’t know what a determined lady she was. When she made up her mind about something it didn’t change – and she had made up her mind about her only little granddaughter.  She WAS going to live!

Grandma carried the infant to the wash stand where she gently cleaned the little body, then wrapped her in a soft towel.  She hurried to the center of the house where the floor furnace provided all the heat there was for the big house.  She pulled a rocking chair to the edge of the register and sat down with the baby held close to her bosom.  She wasn’t sure just what she would do to keep this little one alive, but she knew that she had to in some way simulate the womb until the baby could survive on her own.

When her three-year-old grandson came wandering in rubbing his eyes she called him over to her.  “See what happened while you were sleeping – you have a little sister.”

The little boy peered into the bundle Grandma was holding and his eyes got as big as saucers. “Can I hold her, Grandma, can I?” he asked. “She looks like a doll baby.”

Grandma laughed. “Yes, she does look like a doll baby, doesn’t she?  But she’s too little for you to hold her yet. You’ll have to wait a while.  You can help me, though. Will you go to the door and call the boys in so they can see her?”

Tom went running to the door, struggled with the big knob, and when he got it opened, yelled out to the boys.  “Come see; come see what we’ve got!”

The two boys came hurrying in, dancing around Grandma excitedly as they were introduced to their new sister.  John bounded back out the door, jumped on his tricycle and went riding up and down the sidewalk screaming, “We got a sister baby!  We got a sister baby!” for all the world to hear.  Bob couldn’t take his eyes off the baby. She was so little!  He couldn’t remember his brothers being so little, but maybe girls were different.

Grandma said, “Bob, I really need your help. Your little sister is pretty sick and I can’t put her down. Will you help me take care of her?”

Gail Elizabeth Snider - Grandma's Miracle
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Bob felt very important.  He was only seven years old, but he felt like a real man since Grandma needed him to help her take care of the baby.  He did everything she asked and even made some suggestions. When Grandma said the baby was too little to drink out of a baby bottle, he thought of the syringe that they had used to feed the baby rabbit they had found. He brought Grandma the things she needed to make some sugar water for the baby. He was even big enough to boil the water, and then the syringe to make sure there were no germs on it.  He was very careful and didn’t burn himself or spill the water.

When Daddy came home from work he was not only surprised to hear that they had a baby girl, but that Mommy was going to be all right and that his sons had turned out to be such great helpers. He was very glad and all evening long, he and the boys worked together to get things ready for Grandma to take care of the baby the next day when he would have to go to work.

Grandma never left the furnace register. She sat there holding the baby all day and all night. The boys brought her cups of coffee and some food to eat. They brought everything she needed to feed and clean the baby. It was fascinating to watch her cut the diapers in half and fold them just so, because they were  too big to fit that tiny body. She had to fasten the baby in her skirt when she did things like that with both hands so she wouldn’t drop her.  They brought her the wash bowl and heated water for her to wash the baby’s things each day and they hung the baby clothes on the rack on the other side of the register.  And they were ever so good because they knew Grandma couldn’t take care of the baby and settle arguments between them, too.  She told Bob he was in charge and he really felt this responsibility. John and Tom didn’t like it very much, but Bob wasn’t mean about it, so they got along all right and did what he told them to.

When Mommy was able to be out of bed a little bit each day, it was better. Then the boys could play and not worry about being very, very good!   But there was something about Grandma never leaving that rocking chair sitting over the furnace register that had a calming effect on the whole household.  Everyone in the family knew that something important was happening and they were all a part of it.

The doctor stopped in every few days to see how everyone was.   He would look down at Grandma (not even check the baby) and growl “Hmmph!  Foolish old woman!  That baby will never be right even if it lives!”

But the family knew better.  They would listen to Grandma talking to the baby and hear Mommy singing to her when she felt like sitting beside Grandma for a while. They heard the baby’s cries getting stronger and stronger and she was moving a lot more now, kicking her feet and waving her arms around when Grandma bathed her. And finally, after about three weeks, Bob had to find a doll bottle for the baby to use because Grandma said the baby wanted to suck the milk out now, not just have it put in her mouth with a syringe.  The baby was developing a character of her own, Grandma said.

Then Christmas was almost here. Mommy was doing a lot of cooking and baking.  Grandma usually did that, but she was still sitting over the furnace register with the baby.  They decided that maybe the baby was strong enough now to sleep in a bassinet if they put it close to the furnace register. The weather was pretty bad now and the big old house was kind of drafty.  The first night they put the baby in the bassinet, Grandma still slept sitting in the chair beside her. After a couple of nights, though, she decided it was safe for her to sleep on the couch in the same room. It had been six weeks since Grandma had slept lying down!

Antique Doctor bag from Pinterest

The doctor stopped by to see them again when the baby was about three months old. Grandma wanted him to examine her to make sure she was all right. The doctor checked the baby over very carefully, making his usual unintelligible noises, nodding, then shaking his head. He finally announced, “Well, she seems normal enough; everything working all right. She’s still small for her age, but I guess that’s understandable. I’d have never given the chance of a monkey’s uncle that she’d live, much less be this healthy.  Guess you could say it’s a miracle.”

Mommy looked at him and said, “Not A miracle, doctor.  This is Grandma’s Miracle!”

The Snider children - Gail is the little girl on the right
Little sister, Ann, is being held by brother, Bob
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So, grandma's decision to pick up the tiny, struggling, premature baby, weighing only about one and a half pounds, was an easy decision.  But, as the baby responded to her touch and began to thrive, there was much to do to bring this decision to fulfillment.

Grandma Martin will soon be 89 years old, had 7 children, and those children had children, and so on and so on.  "Thank you, Grandma T." for making that easy decision and then doing whatever it took to bring it to fruition!

"Til Next Time!
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