Part 3: Tzviel's Perspective

I'd like to tell you our heart story from a different perspective. Tzviel's perspective. 

Once there was a little three year old boy. He was bright, quiet and very funny. He was extremely easy going in most cases, but every now and then, his parents would notice specific situations that would stress him out. Like crowded rooms, or having babysitters. He was quiet around those outside of his family but when alone at home,  he would say some of the funniest things anyone had ever heard and the rest of the time would impress with some scientific fact way above his age level.

When he was three and a half, his parents told him that a new baby was in his Ima's tummy. How exciting! Everyone seemed thrilled about it. Until a few weeks after that big announcement. Then he saw and felt the stress levels go way up. He would catch Ima crying a lot and heard snippets of conversations that he couldn't understand. His parents explained that they were worried about the baby being healthy.

The day before Tzviel's little sister arrived, there was a very big move. Tzviel moved in, along with his big sister and Abba to his grandparents home for a long time until the baby could come home.

And then the baby was born. It wasn't joyful. It was stressful. Ima lived at the hospital for 24 days and came back to visit every few days. Tzviel and Mechal came to the hospital to visit every few days. He spoke to Ima by phone and Skype daily. But nothing was the same for anyone. No one was in their normal environment and everything was different.

And then Ima came home from the hospital with Tzviel's baby sister, Tehilla. Everyone moved back home which felt very nice. His family was all together again. Until 2 days later, when Tehilla had to be rushed to the hospital with Ima. And two days later again, they rushed to the hospital. And for the next five months, Tzviel would go to sleep at night, unsure if his baby sister would be rushed to the hospital again. Unsure whether his Ima would be home. Unsure if his family would be together.

The first year and a half of Tehilla's life were filled with frequent moments where Tzviel's family wasn't together. There were so many hospital visits. Sometimes they were just for one day. Sometimes they were for a week or more. Everyone always did as much as they could to help, but the instability of Tzviel's home made him very scared. He desperately wanted his family together at home.

(to be continued)