A Mother's Love

It was a Wednesday night and Josh, Leanne and the three kids had already changed into their pj's and were in bed when the phone rang. After leading the Bible study at church, the mini-counseling sessions afterward with a couple of people, and a spontaneous “planning” meeting with one of the elders, Josh was actually hoping it was a telemarketer on the phone.

Since the phone was on his side of the bed Josh had no choice but to answer it. It wasn't a telemarketer; it was Joey Smithers.

Joey and his wife, Pam, were first-time parents, and Joey had told Josh just a few hours ago at church how stressed Pam had been since Lori was born 2 months ago. Joey was 22 years old and Pam was 21. Josh had noted that Joey was at church by himself tonight and wondered why he hadn't stayed home with Pam if she was having a hard time with the baby. Josh had practiced the art of not exposing his inward thoughts with his body language, but he almost instinctively shook his head when he realized Joey had left Pam alone with the baby. “Some guys just don't get it,” Josh thought to himself, “the needs of your wife are more important than coming to Bible study.” Josh sent up a quick prayer of forgiveness for that thought.

When Pam became pregnant with Lori there had been much joy and excitement in the Smithers house because Pam had miscarried two years before and had gone into a deep depression for several months afterward. As soon as they found out she was expecting they could hardly wait for Lori's birth. But now, two months later, all Lori seemed to do was cry. Every moment she was awake she seemed to be crying, and she rarely slept. Neither Joey nor Pam had much exposure to the care and keeping of a baby before Lori was born, and had no idea what to expect. Consequently they were both a bit nervous about their new role as parents.

The emotional stress of a chronically crying baby, coupled with weeks of sleepless nights, had finally caught up with Pam. That's when Joey called.

“Josh, I don't know what to do. When I got home Pam was sitting in the chair crying. I mean really, really crying. And Lori was in her crib crying too. I asked Pam what was wrong, and she couldn't stop crying long enough to talk to me. I tried to get Lori to stop crying and she won't stop either.” Josh could hear in Joey's voice a plea for help.

“Hang on a second, Joey,” Josh said, and covered the phone so he could explain to Leanne what was happening. “Tell Joey to bring them all over here,” Leanne said. “What? It's already after 10:30, Leanne,” Josh complained.

Leanne grabbed the phone from Josh. “Can you pack up Lori and Pam and bring them over to our house? Just plan on spending the night,” Leanne ordered. “Are you sure about this,” Joey asked. “Of course, I'm sure,” she responded, “The sooner the better. See you in a few.”

Josh took the phone and put it back in its cradle. He instinctively shook his head this time without trying to hide his feelings. “Sometimes I just can't believe you. You are so spontaneous,” he said. “That's why you love me,” she smiled and gave him a quick kiss before she threw on her robe and started for their daughter Kendra's bedroom.

Leanne's mind was already in crisis mode and within a few seconds she had decided what needed to be done. Ten-year-old Kendra would give up her bedroom for Joey and Pam, and would sleep on the floor in the master bedroom. The sheets were quickly changed on the bed, and Kendra was settled in the master bedroom before Joey and Pam rang the doorbell.

Pam was still crying when they walked in the door, but thankfully Lori had fallen asleep in the car and was silent for a change. At Leanne's insistence they laid Lori down on the bed in the master bedroom, where she continued to sleep. Josh knew Lori would end up sleeping in their bed tonight, and he wondered whether or not he would get any sleep. But he knew better than to argue with Leanne.

It was now time to find out what was going on with Pam. She sat down at the dining room table and the floodgates of emotions burst open. She felt like she was a terrible mother because the baby cried all the time; she wanted to breastfeed the baby but ended up having to feed her from a bottle; she got angry when Lori cried in the middle of the night and interrupted her sleep... The list went on and on.

Josh watched with admiration as his wife sat down beside Pam, put Pam's head on her shoulder, stroked her hair and began to calmly explain to her that she was not a bad mother because of what she was feeling. “This will only last a short time,” Leanne said softly, “and as soon as you can get some rest you'll see things differently.”

As if on cue Josh pulled Joey into the living room and began counseling him on how he could help the situation. At this point Joey was ready to do whatever it took to keep this scenario from playing out again. Josh hoped he would.

While Leanne helped Joey and Pam get settled into Kendra's bedroom, Josh slipped back into the master bedroom where Kendra was now asleep since it was after midnight, only to discover the tiny Lori wide awake on the king-size bed contentedly sucking on her fists. He went into the kitchen and found the baby bottle that was already prepared, laid back down on the bed with Lori and began feeding her the bottle.

Josh was almost asleep by the time Leanne came back in the bedroom and found him holding the sleeping Lori. They placed the baby in between them as they had done with their own three children when they were infants, turned off the light, and hoped to get some sleep before the alarm would wake them in a few short hours. By God's grace, for the first time in her short two-month's of life Lori actually slept like a baby for the rest of the night.
(to be continued)