Rachel Pearson in Harper’s Magazine:
Snow fell all day while a baby was dying. I cannot remember if it was a boy or a girl, so imagine a girl. This was years ago now. The baby had pneumonia. A few weeks into a tenuous life, her lungs were so clogged that they could hardly move oxygen into the blood or carbon dioxide out. The baby’s little heart, trying desperately to pump blood through those lungs, began to fail.
The neonatology unit was on an upper floor, with tall windows and glass doors. You could see clear across the unit and then out through the high windows to the world, where a storm was coming in from over the ocean. In the baby’s room, machines accumulated, along with all the attendants who cared for the machines. There were chairs so the baby’s parents could rest a moment, and as things progressed, a couch was brought in, then more chairs, where the doctors could sit to share serious news.
More here.
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