Biggest man on D ward

Maurice - watching life.

Just back from the operating room and a lumbar puncture, Maurice lay snuggled in a brightly-colored nest of African fabric after ravenously drinking his fill from Mama.   His young mama came back out of the bathroom and announced she was going to ward church (down the hall) with an unspoken question in her eyes...watch him while I'm gone?  I nodded and smiled, and picked him up to cuddle, nest and all, as soon as she walked into the hallway.  Fuzzy head cupped in one of my hands, he gummed a grin up at me and stuck two miniature fingers into his mouth to suck on furiously.   Both knees curled up to his belly, as if he were still in the womb, and he kicked one bare foot into my elbow.  Even the steri-strips are gone now, and the row of stitches around his eye lay flat, with no other signs of where there was once a bulge of fluid.    He's not a fan of frequent vital signs after his sedation, but with lots of sweet talk and cuddling he finally gave me a toothless half-grin around the fingers.  Every four hours I shine a flashlight in the fascinated eyes, check for any signs of neurological problems as he kicks off the oxygen sat probe, and I am thankful there are no signs of clear fluid leaking from the suture line or his eye today.
At 3.83 kilos of tiny perfection,  Maurice is one of the smallest babies in the hospital right now.  But we don't tell him that.  Instead, Rudy's mama cooed down at him that he was "the biggest man on D ward."  With a startled laugh, one of the other nurses and I realized that it was true...Maurice was the biggest (and only) male patient on D ward at the time!

Rudy on deck with one of his "aunties"

It was good to be a ward nurse again for a weekend and let someone else be in charge.  To change a bandage as the patient watches in the mirror, grin just barely starting to peek out through suppressed hope.  To tie a baby on my back while his mama recovers from malaria - checking NG placement and giving medications as he supervises solemnly from behind, drooling down my back with one small hand exploring the pager on my hip.  To catch Rudy escaping from B ward down the hallway on a scooter and scoop him up for a hug; to see Rudy and Shara both back in the ward from ICU - in need of prayer for total healing, but doing well enough  to join the rest of the small and broken village.  To lay a naked and fussy Maurice on the scales and see that he weighs just a bit more than he did yesterday....right before he gleefully pees everywhere.

There is a rhythm and meaning to the day that maybe wasn't there yesterday.  It's not the rhythm of the djembe this time but something softer, quicker...the rhythm of a mama's heart filled with hope; the rhythm of a patient's heart, wrapped carefully and lovingly in mine.

I found a man who has stolen  my heart...and he's the biggest man on D ward.