When Hearts Heal

Chapter 4

"There, all done. " I said triumphantly, handing the pile of folders back to Katie. 

"All of it?" She asked in disbelief. 

"All except this one, " I opened the top folder to show her. "It has some missing information." 

"Ah, the Charles baby. Yeah, we didn't get a chance to go over all of the details with the parents after he almost flat-lined  As you can imagine that was traumatic enough nearly losing their child. You can go and talk to them now? Benjamin seems to be doing a lot better these last couple of days. " Katie encouraged, handing me the file back. 

I scanned my access card before making my way over to the Charles'. 

"Mr Charles? " I asked having not met the parents before. 

"Uhm, no. My brother-in-law is Mr Charles. I'm just Bennie's uncle, they went home to change. " The tall man answered as he held Benjamin's hand. 

"That's alright, my name is Adeline and I'm one of Benjamin's nurses. I just had a few questions I needed to follow up with his parents to complete his records, but I can come back later." 

It seemed as if the tall gentleman didn't hear me, almost as if he was in a faraway place in his mind. You get used to it, a lot of the family here are all consumed with the lives of their littles to even notice what day it is let alone keep a conversation going long enough, so I didn't take any offense. 

"Is he going to be okay?" he asked looking up and meeting my gaze as I smiled a soft, reassuring smile. 

"He's going to be more than okay. Ben's a fighter, and he's doing really well." 

"That's good." He said sounding as if he was trying to process the words and convince himself. "You know, he's a miracle actually. My sister, she uh...she had two miscarriages before Bennie was born. Everyone told her that it would be a long shot if she got pregnant again, let alone make it past the first trimester. But my sister...she was determined to be a mother. She tried everything until eventually she got pregnant with Bennie, and after that, she did everything she could to take care of herself and keep him with us. He means the world to us all." 

I smiled as I listened to him talk. A lot of the families here have gone through so much and every story breaks my heart to listen to, but in a way, it also brings us closer to the families and it makes what we do here even more important and rewarding. To some, it might just be a baby but to them, it's their world. And that's why for us they need to be our world as well. 

"Well, he means the world to us too," I answered with a soft smile. "Well, if you would excuse me I have some work to finish, I will come back later to finish his paperwork." 

"No worries, I'll tell my sister you were looking for her." 

I smiled before walking back to Katie. It was strange that a place that held so much sadness also brought families so much closer. I have a soft heart, and I know that makes it hard not to get too attached to my patients when they leave, but I feel like it also allows me to be very compassionate and understanding of what the families are going through. For them, we are the only people they are going to see every day for months on end aside from family, and it can get very isolating and lonely. That's why I do what I do, because of the people. Because everyone deserves some compassion and a warm smile every now and again.