The American Lung Association says...
"If you can't breathe, nothing else matters."
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| Photo credit: yalemedicine.org
Have you ever kept vigil for a child with asthma?
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BABY’S BREATH
Shortly
after I weaned her
from
my breast at eight months,
she
endured her first asthmatic attack.
I
hadn’t even known
what
asthma was,
though
I soon came to know it
as
the violator
that
stole my baby’s breath.
Her
little chest rose and fell
in
tumultuous heaves.
Haunting
rhythmic wheezes
and
mournful moans
disquieted
me
hour
upon hour
for
days...days.
I
re-attached the umbilicus.
During
one intense episode,
I
bathed her, rocked her,
sang
soothing lullabies,
read
stories
she
was too young to understand,
trying
to relax us both,
all
to the constant
wheeze
and moan,
rise
and fall
of
her straining rib cage.
I
tucked her spent frame in the crib
and
kept vigil,
daring
not to close my eyes,
daring
not to leave her side.
What
if it got worse?
What
if…she stopped breathing?
I
reclined, just to rest awhile,
weary
eyes wide
in
faithful night watch,
weary
ears tuned
to
the eerily whistling
wheeze
and moan,
wheeze
and moan,
wheeze
and moan,
ad
infinitum,
ad
infinitum.
At
some point,
like
a shameful apostle
at
Gethsemane,
my
heavy lids closed.
Suddenly,
I
jolted awake,
bolted
upright,
stunned
by
the startling silence.
In
panic, I reached frozen fingers
toward
her…
O
praise God!
She
lay warm
and
gently breathing,
sleeping
the peaceful sleep
of
an angel.
Maude
Carolan
The above poem originally appeared in Sensations Magazine.
The above poem originally appeared in Sensations Magazine.
