Waiting to Be Filled Childrens’ Hospital Rotation – 1978

Waiting to Be Filled Childrens’ Hospital Rotation – 1978

The call came in the middle of a busy night as we worked on a floppy baby with high fever, a croupy toddler whose breathing squeezed and squeaked, a pale adolescent transfusing due to leukemia bleeding. It was an anencephalic baby just born, unexpected, unwanted in a hospital across town, and she needed a place…

1982

1982

“Thank you, Jesus!” she cried, her husband gripping her hands as she bore down with one last great shudder, pushing their third child, their first daughter, into my lap. Her prayer blessed this routine labor, which spilled forth in blood and amnion on my feet. At that moment, I murmured by own prayer of gratitude:…

Delivered by a Storm

Delivered by a Storm

Your rolling and stretching had grown quiet that stormy winter night, but no labor came as it should. A long ten days overdue post-Christmas, you clung to amnion and womb, not yet ready to emerge. Then the northeast wind blew more wicked and the snow flew horizontal, landing in drifting piles, the country roads impassable,…

Guilt Laid Bare

Guilt Laid Bare

As a physician-in-training in the late 1970s, I rotated among a variety of inner-city public hospitals, honing clinical skills with patients who were grateful to have someone, anyone, care enough to take care of them. There were plenty of street people who needed to be deloused before the “real” doctors would touch them, and there…

Stumbling Upon Spring

Stumbling Upon Spring

Late winter is often particularly dark and dank. My doldrums are deep; the brief respite of sun and warmth too rare. Cranky, I  put one foot ahead of the other, get done what needs to be done, oblivious to subtle renewal around me, refusing to believe even in the possibility. It happened today. Dawn broke…