For The Love Of A Child
Chapter 7- Difficult Decisions
"How are you feeling today Lu?" Dana asked as she walked into the room and saw Lu snuggled up with Alley asleep.
Dana, not wanting to wake her partner, gently checked her vital signs and hung another bag of medicine on her IV pole then she left, smiling at the sight of her partner and her baby girl. She looked form Lu to Alley and then though "God girl you look so much like your Mommy it's scary."
"Uh…uh… uhahaauh Mommy! Mommy!" Alley cried.
"What's the matter sweetheart?"
"Never mind. I just had a bad dream Mommy." Lu checked her watch and saw that it was 9:00am and that she, even though she had to stay put all day, should get up and take care of her baby girl.
"Are you hungry Allison?"
"No ma'am. I miss Daddy. When is Daddy coming back?"
"He'll be back in a couple of weeks remember?" Lu asked smiling at her daughter.
"Where did he go?"
"He went to Paris. On a business trip. Maybe if you're a lucky little girl he'll bring you back a present."
"Really?" Alley asked her eyes suddenly lit up.
"Yeah really." Lu began to silently cry inside of herself. 1t had only been a week but she missed Jonas so much that she could hardly live with herself and what's worse is that her three year old little girl was having to stay at the hospital with her twenty-four hours a day because her Daddy wasn't around.
"When can we go home mommy? I miss my bedroom and all of my dolly's and books."
"I don't know sweetie." Lu said truthfully although she knew that Alley couldn't possibly be getting all of the care she needed staying in a hospital room. " Hop up let me brush your hair." Lu said determined not to let her little girl see that anything was wrong.
"How come?"
"How come what?" Lu asked, she finished brushing out Alley's hair and pulled it back out of her face into a pony tail.
"How come you don't know when were going to go home?" Allison said as she gently turned around and began to play with Lu's hair.
"What do you want to where today?" Lu asked as she got up and began looking through the cloths that Jonas packed for their daughter.
"Care bears."
"You wore your care bear outfit yesterday."
"Well then I want to ware my Barney outfit!"
"OK come here let me get you dressed." Lu very carefully turned off the I'V and gently pulled it out of her arms. Then she dressed her baby girl in her Barney blue jeans, barney long sleeved shirt, and then her Barney socks and shoes. Then she replaced the 1V needle in her arm and turned the machine back on before Dana could come back and yell at her.
"What do you want to do today Mommy?"
"Well we could play flash cards or memory or we could practice our ABC's. Or we could play Barbie's ." Lu suggested.
"OK sure." Alley hopped off of the bed and looked under the bed. When she came back up she had a heavy case full of Barbie dolls and accessories. She opened the case, took out two Barbie's each had brown hair and brown eyes, and a lot of clothes, brushes, shoes, purses and Barbie jewelry. Then she dropped the now closed case back onto the floor and handed her Mommy the dolly with the hospital scrubs on.
"You get to be Amy. I'm Jenny Amy's little sister."
"OK." Lu and Alley played Barbie's for about twenty minutes before Dana came back into the room and looked at Lu amused.
"What are the two of you doing?" She asked Alley. Kayla was right behind her.
"Mommy's playing Barbie's with me. She's Amy am I'm Jenny Amy's best friend."
"That's cool!" Kayla exclaimed.
"Well Alley how would you like to go to the park and play and get some breakfast while Dana gives your Mommy a check- up?" Kayla asked the small child.
"OK sure!" Alley exclaimed as she hopped off of the exam bed and ran over to Kayla. " It is OK right Lu?" Kayla asked.
"It's fine have fun sweetie!" Kayla and Alley walked out the door hand in hand.
"How are you feeling today?" Dana asked Lu.
"Much better can I return to work yet?"
"Well I have to weigh you, take some blood, and you have to eat, you can't get out of here until you begin eating again and practicing proper eating habits."
"OK sure when do we start?"
"Right now." Dana said as the Eating-Disorder specialist came in with a tray of food. She handed the plate of food to Dana.
"Do you want to stay or should I?"
"I'll stay." Dana said as she laid the tray on the table and looked at the ED Specialist. "She'd feel more comfortable if I was here." The specialist left and Lu began picking around at her food.
"I want you to eat at least five bites of each thing." Dana said as she sat down.
"Do WHAT?" Lu asked alarmed there must be at least six thousand calories on that plate alone. No way was she going to eat it at all.
"Lu you need to eat at least five bites of each." There was bacon, eggs, a biscuit and gravy, and hash browns.
"How bout two bites of each?" Lu asked trying to bargain .
"Three and that's my final offer." Dana said, looking sternly at Lu.
"Two and a half." Lu begged as she ate two bites of each thing thinking at least Dana would leave her alone about it. "I'm through."
"Lu! Think about your baby!"
"I am thinking about her."
"You need to eat baby girl. If you don't your baby's not ever going to be able to even see the light of day Lu, every time you skip a meal your putting your baby at an even higher risk." Dana calmly explained.
"Dana I can't help it. I can't control it anymore!"
"What are you talking about?"
"I can't control what I eat or don't eat."
"Lu I want to help you but I can't help you if you don't want to be helped."
"I'm going to call Jonas's mother to see if she will take Alley for a couple of weeks. I've realized that I can't give her all of the attention and care that she needs when I'm stuck in the hospital. That's why I am so glad that Kayla took her out today. A little girl needs sunlight she doesn't need to be stuck in the hospital all the time."
"Ok that would be good. I don't think she's too happy lately anyway."
"I know, she really miss's Jonas. I don't know what to do anymore."
"Send her to her grandma's while your focusing on getting better. Then when your out of the hospital you can get her back and go home and take care of her."
"I don't want to send her away Dana."
"I know you don't sweetie, but you have to focus on yourself. I know this is going to be hard for you because your always giving all of yourself to everyone else and don't really ever focus on yourself, but we can get through this."
"We?"
"Yup, I'm here to help you Lu with whatever you need.!"
"Thanks, Dana, I am going crazy with guilt. I need to be with my patients and family that way I won't feel it anymore."
"You can't go back to work unless you get better honey! We need to get you strong again so you can take care of your family and your patients."
At The Park
"Kayla how come Mommy can't come home?" Alley asked, tears were filling her big brown eyes. She and Kayla were at the park eating breakfast.
"Sweetie your Mommy's sick she has to stay at the hospital for a little while so your Aunt Dana can make her all better."
"What's the matter with her? I want her to come home so she can tuck me in my bed and read me stories and play in the pool with me."
" Well sweetie, your Mommy has a problem and she is working hard so she can fix it, but she has to get help." Kayla explained.
"But why? I want her to come home!" Alley cried
"Do you want to go and play sweetie?"
"No ma'am."
"Well what do you want to do?" Kayla asked. Alley was now finished with her breakfast and was looking at her with tear stained eyes.
"I don't know."
"Why don't I swing you on the swing?" Kayla asked desperate to change the subject. She didn't want the baby to feel sad.
"OK." Alley said as she jumped up and raced towards the swings ."I'll beat you there !" She yelled laughing as Kayla ran after her, their troubles forgotten.
Kayla pushed Alley on the swings for about twenty minutes. She was laughing and playing and then Kayla lifted her off of the swing and began to walk with her in arms back towards the bench so Kayla could go and get her jacket.
"Are you ready to go back to your Mommy sweetheart?"
"Yes Ma'am." She began to cry again and so Kayla picked her up and gave her a big hug.
"Look there's nothing to cry about sweetie what's wrong?"
"I miss my daddy." Alley cried into Kayla's shoulder.
"It's ok baby he will be back soon."
"I want him to be back now!"
"I know but he's at work."
"First my daddy leaves me and now my mommy's going to leave me too." Kayla said she cried into Kayla's shoulder. And Kayla's heart broke.
"Sweetie how was the park? Did you have fun playing with Kayla?"
"Yeah we had lots of fun Mommy. Kayla pushed me on the swings."
"That's good.!. I'm glad that you had fun."
"Will you braid my hair Mommy?"
"Sure sweetie." Lu was just glad to have something to do. This sitting around all the time and doing nothing but go to therapy and going to group was starting to get on her nerves, She hated just sitting around doing nothing.
Lu took Alley's hair down and brushed it out. Then she began to French braid the girls hair. Alley sat patiently and played with her baby doll.
"Sweetie how would you feel if you went to spend the night with your Mamaw?"
"That would be fun I haven't seen Mamaw in a really long time!"
"I know!"
"How long would I get to stay with her?"
"A week or two just until I get better and we can go home!"
"No Mommy I want to stay with you!" Alley suddenly began to cry and clinging to her Mommy with all of her strength.
"What's the matter sweetie you don't want to go see your Mamaw?"
"No Mommy no! No leave me mommy no!"
"Sweetie I'm not leaving you. You would just be going and staying with grandma for a few days until I can get better. The hospital is no place to bring up a young lady."
"Do I have to Mommy?"
"Mommy would like you to."
"OK then if I have to!" Alley exclaimed as she clings to her Mother as if she was never going to see her again.
"Thank you sweetie."
Lu and Alley walked out of the room and to the nurses station where she could use the phone. (Your not allowed to use cell phones in hospital rooms. )
"Hey mom (Jonas's mom)? Yeah this is Lu….I was wondering if you could do me a huge favor…" Lu began as she picked up Alley and sat her on the counter. Alley began to play with the tubes that were dangling from the pole and going into her mom's arms.
"Of Course dear what is it that you need?"
"Jonas and I had a fight and I'm in the hospital. I was wondering if you could come and get Alley for the week, she's had to stay with me in the hospital for the last week because your son is on a business trip and couldn't take her."
"Of course I could come get the little angel! I've been wanting to see her for the longest time! How old is she now?"
"She just turned three years old on February 5."
" Oh dear I missed her birthday we'll have to go shopping once I pick her up won't we?"
"I'm sure she would love that."
"Can I talk to her?"
"(handing the phone to Alley) sure."
"Hey Mamaw's girl how are you doing sweet pea?"
"I fine Mamaw. I get to come and see you?"
"Yes you do I'm coming to pick you up right now and I'll be there in one hour. When I get you were going to go shopping for your birthday."
"Oh Cool! Can we go to Toys R Us? I love that huge toy store!" Alley exclaimed as her eyes lit up and a huge grin played across her face.
"Anything you want darling. Ok Mamaw's going to go now ok sweet pea?"
"Ok Mamaw I love you!"
"I love you too, bye!"
"Bye Mamaw!" Alley gave the phone to Lu who hung it up and then Lu carried Alley back to her room where she began packing all of Alley's clothes.
"OMG LU! What in the name of peppermint swirls happened to you?" Jonas's mom exclaimed when she saw Dana and Lu walking towards her. Lu's hair was perfectly brushed but she was wearing pink plaid pajama's and had a IV pole with three different bags on it connected to her wrist. Dana was holding Alley and toting her bags.
Dana looked at Lu and Lu looked at Dana and then they silently agreed.
"Hi, I'm Dana Lu's best friend and doctor."
"What's wrong with her is she OK?"
"I'm fine really." Lu said before she gave Dana the OK to tell her mother in law what was really going on. Dana handed Alley to her grandma before she continued.
"Why don't we talk in my office it's a lot more quiet in there." Dana said.
The three women and the one baby went into Danas office. Dana sat at her desk and Lu's mother in law and Lu sat in the seats right on the other side of the desk. Alley sat in her grandmas lap.
"What Lu has is an eating disorder called Anorexia Nervosa. She is currently working with a treatment team to help and cure her Anorexia but it's going to take a long time."
"How long are we talking about?"
"Well I could have let her go last week but because of the baby I have to keep her in here for longer until I make sure she's eating and doing things right for the both of them."
"The baby what baby?" Lu's MIL asked.
"You didn't tell her about the baby?"
" I guess I'm going to have to now." Lu said giving Dana a look like 'Sometimes I could just strangle you.'
"What baby?"
"I'm five months pregnant."
"That's wonderful!"
"Yeah peachy."
"You don't seem to thrilled Lu is something the matter?"
Dana and Lu shared that look again that said I'm too upset to talk about it but you can tell my mother in law if you feel its right.
"Lu's baby is very sick. It , another girl, isn't developing like it should be, and because of the Anorexia we have to work extra hard to make sure that Lu doesn't miscarry. That's why I want her to stay here for a while so I can monitor her."
"What exactly is wrong with the baby?"
"She has the symptoms that would normally anorexic pregnancy's, small babies that aren't developing properly. Her baby, at the last check-up when she checked in, a week ago, her baby was about the size of a three month fetus instead of a five month fetus."
"What can you do to fix the problem?"
"We just have to wait and see. The baby is growing, just not at a normal pace." Dana said trying to be optimistic.
"She's like a daughter to me if anything happened to her I… I don't know what I would do. I love her and Alley so much!"
"She'll be fine."
"What is all this medicine you have her on in those tubes?"
"A warming solution, and then just medicines to help her gain weight."
"And it won't hurt the baby."
"Nope its perfectly safe."
Dana and Lu looked at each other. They both knew the truth about the baby's condition and they were hoping for a miracle .
"Well thank you for your time Dr. Stow. I better get on. I have a date with a certain three year old little girl at Toys R Us!" Alley's grandma picked her up and then picked up her suitcase.
"Bye angel. Mommy loves her sweet girl."
"I love you too Mommy."
"Take care of yourself Lu."
"Don't worry I will and if I don't Dana will make me.." Lu kidded in an undertone voice.