Ethan was growing tired as the group got off the elevator on the seventh floor. Dr. Russell explained that this floor was the maternity floor where mothers gave birth. He thought about his own mother, giving birth here with no one at her side. The pain she must have felt made him sigh deeply. A lady beside him nudged him gently with her elbow and said, "This is my favorite part. I just love to see those newborn babies!" Ethan smiled weakly at her. Dr. Russell led them to the glass room where twenty babies were laying in basinets. Some were crying and others were sound asleep.
"They are all so beautiful, aren't they?" The lady nudged him again.
"Yes, they are" He spoke quietly, scanning the room to look at each name. None looked familiar though, so he turned to face Dr. Russell as she continued the tour.
"Next, we are going to the neonatal intensive care area. This is where doctors and nurses care for babies that are born too early or that have complications upon arrival." She continued talking about the details of the center, but Ethan tuned the most part of it out. He was growing tired, and ready to be finished with the long tour. To occupy himself, he looked in the doors at the new mothers as the group walked by. Most were sitting with their husbands or were sleeping. Without noticing, he had drifted to the back of the group and was alerted by Dr. Russell asking, "Ethan are you alright?"
"Yes, just got distracted I guess" He said and smiled.
When the group finally made it to the Neonatal Intensive Care Center, Dr. Russell stopped the group just before they made it to the viewing area.
"Just recently we added an area so that passersby and parents of these babies could see them just as they can see the healthy babies. When a baby is in care here, only a few people are allowed to go in and touch the baby for risk of infection. This way, the grandparents and other relatives can see the babies and the babies are still safe. I must warn you, though, some of these babies are really sick and small. That is why it is so important that they be given the best care." Dr. Russell finished her explanation and led the group on to the viewing area.
Behind that glass was a very different scene than the other viewing area. Inside incubators, Ethan saw babies barely as big as his hand, hooked up to tubes and needles, painfully struggling to live. It broke his heart. He once again scanned the names, praying that no one he knew had to see their child suffer like this. When he got to the back row, his heart stopped as he read the name "Lopez-Fitzgerald" on the card.