It Must Have Been An Angel

Yesterday morning I made my way over to my parents house to sit with my grandmother while my parents were at work. Being the stay-at-home mom that I am, I had my 3 children with me. Grandma D just loves to visit with her great-grandchildren, and what better way to brighten her day, than with a visit with my beautiful children?

My father greeted me at the door, holding his usual morning cup of coffee. I love the smell of fresh brewed coffee in the morning. I shuffled the kids in, diaper bag in one hand, Emily strapped into her car seat in the other. Ethan and Eliana kicked their shoes off at the door (Grandma Mickie has trained them well) and ran through the house looking for Grandma, who was still in her room sleeping.

Traveling with multiple small children is no small feat. I felt like I was toting around a hundred pounds of stuff. Each child needs a change of clothes, just in case. Eliana and Emily are both in diapers, so I had to pack extras of those. You never know when one might have a bout of diarrhea. LOL And then there's the breast milk I pumped from the night before, and extra bottles. Most importantly, I always travel with a ton of baby wipes. If there's any item a mother can not live without, it's got to be baby wipes! You can never have too many.

My father tells me that Grandma D had stayed up late the night before, so we both assumed she was sleeping in. Not a smart thing to do on our part. Then my mother called. She asked if I had tried to call her. Her caller ID was coming up that someone had called, but no one had. Looking back, I think it must have been an angel.

Holding onto the phone, I knocked on my Grandmother's door and stepped in to check on her. She moved her head to look at me. I asked her if she was ready to get up or if she wanted to sleep in some more. That's when I realized she was having trouble talking. She couldn't get the words out. I tried to help her sit up, but she was like a rag-doll in my arms. I told my mother, who was still on the phone with me, that I thought I needed to hang up with her to call for an ambulance. Something was wrong.

I called for my father. He ran across the street to wake my sister, who had once worked as a certified nurses assistant. We thought she might be able to tell us what was going on and if we needed to call for help. Thankfully, my eldest sister lives just across the street as well, right next to my baby sister. She came over to get my kids. This was not the time to have screaming children in the background.

Grandma's breathing was shallow and raspy. I thought maybe it would help if she were in an upright position. So I climbed into bed with her, and pulled her back up against my chest. I held her hand and stroked her silver hair. My sister came in. She asked Grandma if she was having trouble breathing, or if she was feeling any pain. She couldn't get the words out, so we called for an ambulance.

My sister and I sat there with her, we held hands. My grandma was afraid. We were all afraid. Her body was totally limp and lifeless. She was just barely breathing, trying to talk to no avail. I could see the fear in my sister's eyes. We said a prayer together. I recited the Our Father prayer, as it was the first prayer that came to my mind.

Finally, my mother came in. She knelt down at grandma's side and said, "Oh, Mom..." She took her hand and began to cry. We all thought this was the end, and she was slipping away from us.

My father reappeared, holding the phone in one hand. He told us to check her sugar level. It took a a while to figure out how to use the machine, but finally we were able to check her sugar. It turned out it was dangerously low. We rushed to get her some juice. Finally the paramedics arrived. They checked her blood sugar again and started an IV with glucose. Within just a few minutes she was talking again, and making jokes. A few more minutes passed by, and she was sitting up. Before we knew it, she was up and walking again. We had almost lost her.

Later that same day, we celebrated Beth's 4th birthday. Grandma felt well enough to walk across the street to my sister's house for the party. We sat on the back porch in the shade. My sister had gotten a mountain of a cake, with a Barbie doll stuck into the middle, making the cake part the doll's dress. It was adorable. Her little face lit up when she saw it.

It was suppose to be a pool party, but it had started to storm. All the kids were in their bathing suits, ready to go swimming. They were all very disappointed that they couldn't.

Just as we were leaving, little Beth was sitting on the porch steps, looking up into the sky. Beth said with a sigh of contempt, "Those clouds are naughty!"

After a stressful day, the words of one little four-year-old birthday girl, could make us all laugh.