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Pandora Monet
📍Atlanta, GA | January 22nd, 2023
You ever be so tired you feel it in your bones? That was me this morning.
The hospital was still half asleep as I walked in—air cold, floors freshly mopped, and the quiet humming of vending machines the only real sound. My scrubs clung to me slightly from the static, and my badge lanyard swung with each sluggish step I took down the hallway.
I glanced at the clock. 6:02 a.m.
I hadn't even been on the clock for three minutes and was already craving coffee and a prayer.
The break room smelled like leftover wings, burnt popcorn, and half-used Bath & Body Works hand sanitizer. I filled my favorite "#NurseBaddie" mug with black coffee and two pumps of French vanilla creamer before sitting down. I hadn't even taken a sip when my phone lit up.
Legend 🖤 Wake up sleepyhead. Hospital not gon' run itself. 😏
I smiled, the warmth from the coffee meeting the warmth already bubbling inside of me.
Me: Ugh. If I flatline in this hallway, you better ink "RIP Ora" across your chest.
Legend 🖤: Bet. But I'm charging triple for that piece. You off tomorrow? I wanna see you.
Me: Yeah... I could make time for you.
Legend 🖤: Say less. I'm tryna feed you, vibe, then make you miss me the second you leave.
I bit my bottom lip, blushing like a damn teenager, then slid the phone in my pocket before someone caught me cheesin'.
By 10 a.m., I'd already delivered two babies, helped stabilize a third mama with high blood pressure, and got called a "fucking angel" by a stressed-out father who almost passed out during the birth.
I loved my job. But it drained me—mentally, emotionally, physically. Watching life come into the world was beautiful, but it came with trauma, too. I'd seen babies not make it. I'd seen mothers flatline. It humbled you real quick.
At noon, I stole a minute in the nurse's station and scrolled through my camera roll. A video from the game night popped up—me, Sasha, and Syx hyped up in the kitchen while the boys yelled about someone skipping a turn in Uno.
I laughed out loud remembering it. Lennox and Syx kissing when they thought nobody was watching. Us screaming like we hadn't been betting on it for weeks. I still hadn't collected my $10 from Sasha.
My phone buzzed again.
Legend 🖤: Still surviving?
Me: Barely. My feet hurt and my patient just told me she "can't do this without her baby daddy" and that man been in the parking lot since 7:45. 🙄
