It was just a week ago that Aloisia had delivered the baby from the baby hatch to the neonatal ward. Frankly, it was also the first time she had entered this part of the hospital, as it was not normally part of her duties.

And, after some discussion with Linda, they had decided to give the baby a provisional name. Naomi. It was not official and it was likely to change when she was picked up by her new guardians, be they the parents or an adoptive family, but it was much better than simply calling her ‘the baby’ all the time.

Having become somewhat invested in Naomi’s wellbeing, Aloisia had decided to take a shift in the neonatal wing today.

She knocked lightly on the door, before opening it slowly and slipping inside.

“Hello,” she said, giving the room a slight wave, “I’m Aloisia.”

Most of the nurses who had their arms free waved back, before turning back to whatever they were doing previously. The single male nurse in the room signalled for her to wait and made his way over towards her, his eyes crinkling slightly from what must be a smile below his face mask.

“Aloisia, nice to meet you. I’m Nurse Owen and I’ll show you the ropes before letting you loose on the little ones.”

Aloisia grinned back, and shook his outstretched hand, “Thanks. I just brought in a new charge from the baby hatch and was wondering how she was doing.”

“Ah. So there was an ulterior motive behind your sudden interest in our ward,” he replied, the grin obvious in his tone. “Well, come on over. She’s right over there.

“Most of our charges are here because they were born early and require special care, and there is actually a dedicated nurse for every two to four babies until they are stable and ready for the world. The one you brought was all well and healthy, so she’s with the thirty other babies that do not require so much attention,” he explained helpfully while guiding the way.

“Ah, my friend Linda and I have given her a name so it was easier to talk about her. I hope that’s fine,” Aloisia cut in, not wanting to do the ‘the baby’ game for any longer than necessary.

Nurse Owen just laughed in response. “We do that, too, if there are no parents around to give them any names. Usually together with the social workers when they are put up for adoption, but it does make things easier to have something more than a number to refer to them with. As it so happens we already gave her a name.”

Blushing profusely, Aloisia was about to stammer out a response, but she was cut off, when Nurse Owen continued in a calm and friendly tone. “We called her Yakira. It means precious. What name did you pick out? A second name won’t hurt.”

“We decided to call her Naomi.”

“Naomi, huh? Pleasant and precious. I can not say I disagree. This is her cot over here.”

Naomi looked much like she did last Aloisia had seen her. A small smile flitted across her face. Unlike the last time she had seen her, Naomi was asleep in her cot. Her skin was no longer red, but a much more normal shade of light pink. The tuft of hair on top of her head might have grown a little and was a very dark almost black brown.

A soft song could be heard playing inside the cot. ‘A, b, c, d, e, f, g..’

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Aloisia raised an eyebrow at that, something that Nurse Owen obviously caught.

“While we aren’t sure what babies will remember, we do know that classical music, very clear vocals and natural tones do help babies develop positively. They may not consciously remember anything from so early in their lives later on, but that does not mean it doesn’t have any effect. And sadly we can not give them all the amount of attention they deserve, particularly the non-critical cases.

“We’re lucky to have two nurses looking after thirty babies most of the time. Some places have a single nurse looking after over forty babies by themselves. That gives them little time to do anything but feed them and change their diapers.”

Aghast, Naomi looked up to Nurse Owen with wide eyes, “But that’d give them little more than 10 minutes a day to look after each of the little ones.”

Nurse Owen just sighed, “Some countries are just poorer than others. And medical professions have developed something of a reputation for being very stressful, further dissuading the younger generation from pursuing a career in the medical field. There has been a big push to make the jobs more attractive here in Dalemia for the past twenty years, which is why you might not be aware of it to such a degree. Did you know that only the top 1% of students were even allowed to study medicine previously?”

He shook his head, not waiting for an answer. “Never mind that some jobs in this field need mechanical skills and dexterity more so than blind memorization. Anyway, want to hold her for a little while?”

“Ah. Are you sure it’s okay to wake her up?”

“Sure. There’s monitors that will tell us if any other cot needs our attention and she can always sleep again later. Now, you know how to hold a baby?”

Naomi was indeed a very pleasant baby. There wasn’t much she could do yet, but she was quick to giggle and equally quick to fall asleep again after a feeding session. Which had to happen every two to three hours. Multiply that by fifteen for each of the other babies Aloisia had to care for and add in changing diapers and there was a lot of rushing around involved in the neonatal ward.

“How does one person handle 45 babies on their own?”

She had asked Nurse Owen at one point, already feeling overwhelmed with just a third of that, on top of high tech equipment that rocked the babies softly in their cribs and played soothing sounds for them.

“Not very well, I assume. It certainly does explain how they can get mixed up sometimes, doesn’t it?”

“Wouldn’t it make sense to give them a name tag or something?”

“Chip them, perhaps?” Nurse Owen grinned back. Before she could think up a reply to that, the monitor lit up, signalling that two babies needed attention and they split up to take care of their needs.

At day's end, Aloisia met up with Linda again.

“So, how was it?”

“I’m sure I changed fifty diapers. I have a newfound respect for the nurses over at the neonatal ward. Nor sure I want to repeat this, but I suppose it’d be good practice in case I ever get babies of my own.”

“Oh? I was pretty sure you wanted a family, didn’t you?”

“Well, yes, but I’m just imagining what it’d be like having to get up every two hours to feed my babies, change their diapers, go back to sleep, rinse and repeat. At the hospital, at least, I can go back home after my shift is over and just crash. Besides, some mothers did come in from time to time and helped out with their own babies, so it wasn’t all just work.”

“You are going back, aren’t you?”

She lightly punched her friend's arm in protest at the teasing.

“I might.”

“Ooh, did you meet a potential new boyfriend?” Linda asked with a grin.

“Stop it,” she huffed, “besides, he’s way too old for me.”

“Tell me more. Was he tall? Handsome?” her friend speculated excitedly, before adding in a teasing tone, “I might just join you the next time you take a shift over there.”

“You might just have to, if you want to know more, because I am not telling you anything.”

“Aww, come on, Sia. Don’t be like that.”

“Nope.”

“You’re such a buzzkill sometimes, you know that?”

Aloisia just stuck her tongue out at her friend, before grinning and running away to her car. It was time to go home.