By Tammy Ruiz
for Catholic Stand
God gives us all opportunities to be a witness to Him, but Dr. Victor Ajluni wrote a wonderful column illustrating the sacredness of the places our healing professions allow us to go. If you haven’t read it yet, please do yourself a favor and do so using this link.
When I returned to the level- 3 neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) after a time working in level 2, I went to a preterm delivery as an orientee. I was supposed to be no more than an observer. The OB physician was a wonderful Catholic woman who didn’t feel comfortable bringing her faith to her work.
The baby was born alive but at a previable (unquestionably unsurviveable) gestational age. Every doctor and nurse in the room knew it at first glance but the patient and her mother didn’t. There was a chill silence that was broken when the grandma yelled, “What are you going to do?”
It was clear she expected us to whisk the baby to the NICU where we would use technology to save him. She had to be told that he was too premature for that. Then I spoke up, “Do you want the baby baptized?”
The grandma looked at me incredulously, as if her mind were spinning between thoughts of medical interventions to thoughts of care for this baby facing death. Then she said, “Yes, were Catholic.” I looked to the mom for confirmation and asked if the baby boy had a name.
They were anxious, unsure how to answer, so I interrupted and assured them it was okay if they didn’t know it yet. I got the water and performed the Baptism. “Precious little one whose name is known only to your Creator, I Baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”
Tammy Ruiz has been a Nurse for 28 years and spent most of her career in Neonatal Intensive Care. For 9 years, she has been a Perinatal Bereavement Coordinator - caring for women and families suffering miscarriage, stillbirth, neonatal death and SIDS. Part of her work involves assisting parents in preparing for births when the baby has received the diagnosis of a life limiting condition (often called "Perinatal Hospice"). In addition to her Nursing education, she studied (but did not become certified in) Clinical Pastoral Education at a Catholic Hospital in the midwest. She has been on EWTN and speaks regularly to Physicians & Nurses on the topic of perinatal loss care. Her work has been translated into Polish, Spanish, Czech, French, Italian & Japanese. Her career was both fragmented and enhanced by having 14 different jobs because of moves for her husband who was an active duty Officer in the USMC. A convert to the Catholic Church, she was widowed after 26 years of marriage. She has 3 quasi-adult children and one super-cute grandchild.
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