I decided to go into nursing as I always enjoyed helping my mother when we would help the poor and homeless when they were sick. I hope I would make her proud. I've been cleared to resume normal activities as long as they aren't high impact like sports or dance.
I have always loved kids so I applied and was accepted to volunteer at a local children's hospital and today is my first day there. I'll be spending time with children on the inpatient units whose parents need a break or whose parents can't be there in the pediatric general and special care nursery which is the neonatal intensive care step-down units as well as other areas of the hospital as needed.
I'm shadowing another volunteer today named Danielle while I learn the ropes. She's a pretty brunette about my age who is friendly and happy to show me around. Our first piece of business is to check the board in the volunteer office for rooms that need volunteers.
We spend time with a cute five year old named Luke, admitted for tonsil surgery, until his parents return from lunch. After about an hour of training, Danielle leaves me to work the rest of my shift so I end up in the special care nursery where I spend some holding and rocking a fussy little girl named Sarah.
She's tiny and I can fit her entire arm in my hand, she cries despite me holding her in a swaddle and holding her while we rock in a rocking chair so I decide to sing softly to her. I sing hush little baby and within a few minutes, she relaxes and falls asleep soundly in my arms.
I'm relieved and take a few minutes to look around her room, the board above her bed says she was born at 28 weeks which I calculate as being 7 months and weighed two pounds. She's now four pounds though tiny, of course.
Sarah's nurse, Jessica, returns and I whisper to let her know Sarah is asleep. Jessica and I talked earlier before she left for lunch and she seems impressed. "You're a natural, Tris. Maybe you should think of becoming a NICU nurse, we've had quite a hard time getting her calm yet alone to sleep." she compliments.
"Why is that?" I ask quietly. "She was born with neonatal abstinence syndrome. Her mom was on drugs which caused Sarah here to be born early and addicted to drugs, she's been restless as she's basically going through withdrawal." she whispers and I am in disbelief a I can't imagine putting your child through that.
Jessica leaves to care for another patient but I don't dare move Sarah for fear of waking her. Instead, I think of her mother and what might have caused her to be pregnant and addicted to drugs. I try not to judge her but I can see how hard not doing so might be in some situations like this.
I spend the rest of my shift with Sarah and Jessica gently places her back in the crib as I leave. I head back home feeling fulfilled and disgusted at the same time. I always thought that my own parents were awful for not recognizing I needed help yet I never experienced anything like Sarah has already in her short life.
I head home and sleep for a few hours. When I wake, Tobias is back home and he's been looking my way for awhile. "Were you watching me sleep? That's a little creepy if so." I grin. "No, it's not. We're together and I like watching you sleep." he answer back.
"Stalker." I mutter under my breath. "What was that?" he asks with a smirk. "'Stalker!" I yell while throwing a pillow at him. "Takes one to know one." he says before throwing a pillow back at me. It turns into an all out war with each of us throwing pillows at each other for ages.
We finally surrender and decide to grab pizza together for dinner holding hands we walk to the restaurant together. "It nice to have you back." he tells me ass we sit and wait for our pizza. "Back?" I question and he smiles. I am coming back, I'm coming back again
"Back. More like yourself, you know. Happy. Laughing." he answers and I nod. While we wait, I tell him briefly about the hospital and the baby I held without mentioning names of course. "That's terrible about what happened to her though parents never did cease to amaze me when I was an instructor." he admits
The pizza arrives shortly after and I laugh as Tobias shovels a huge piece of pizza in his mouth. "Slow down there man, I'm not trained in the CPR yet!" I tease while grabbing myself a piece. "Sorry I'm hungry and waited for you to get up to eat." he says though it's muffled by the massive bite he's chewing.
A year ago, I would not have felt comfortable even eating in a restaurant let alone pizza. I am getting back to myself, I realize, in a healthy way. Tobias wasn't kidding about being hungry after eating nearly half the pizza and I have three pieces myself.
We box up the rest of it and head home. We decide to watch a movie and cuddle together as he sits behind me while I lay my head on his arms wrap around me with his chin sitting on the top of my head.
It's a quiet night for us but one in which we enjoy each other's company. Eventually, we both fall asleep in each other's arms as I listen to the steady beat of his heart and feel his warmth before my eyes flutter shut.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter, some of the volunteer experience Tris will be based off some of my own. I volunteered for 3 years at a children's hospital before stopping due to my own medical issues but it was an incredible experience. Going forward, would you like to read more about Tris volunteering, her studies in nursing, or both?