the baby whisperer |✔︎

1

"Timmons, they need you in the nursery." Kimberly said after she put the phone down.

"Damn bro, that's the fifth time today." My friend Carlo said walking up beside me.

"What can I say, I'm a natural." I say, proudly.

And I was. I loved watching the babies in the nursery once they're born. I loved babies in general, which is why I wanted to work in the maternity ward. Seeing the babies chubby faces and the smiles it bring to the parents faces makes my day.

I walked down the hall to the nursery where one of the other younger nurses, Jane was. She was trying to calm a baby boy down.

I walked into the nursery and Jane's eyes lit up. "Oh, thank god you're here. I literally don't know what to do with this baby." She said.

She gave me the baby, and he immediately calmed down.

"Hey buddy. Giving Jane here a hard time huh." I whispered.

I looked up at Jane. "Which one is this?"

"That is, I believe, Jake." She said, scanning the nursery for the empty bassinet.

I rocked Jake until he was fast asleep in my arms. I just about melted at his sleeping face.

"How are you so good with kids?" Jane asked, leaning on a table with diapers and other necessities.

I shrugged. "I guess it's easy when you like them." 

She chuckled. "Makes sense. I mean, I like them, I just don't know what to do with the ones that cry, honestly."

  I nodded and checked my watch, looking up at Jane."Is there anything else I can do? Cause I have someone to take care of." I said.

She shook her head. "Nope, go ahead. Maisie's supposed to come in here now, so the babies will be in good hands." She laughed.

I nodded. "Okay. I'll see you around Jane."

I walked to room 233 where a couple I had helped several times before was waiting. This mother was having trouble with her pregnancy. Her baby was breech and she had come in multiple times because she was bleeding, which shouldn't happen during a pregnancy.

"Aaron, I'm so glad you're here", Tiffany, the woman, said. She looked scared and her face was tear stained. "The doctor came in and said that if I don't dilate within the next half hour, I'll need a c-section and I don't want that." She said, starting to cry.

Her husband squeezed her hand and kissed her forehead.

"Don't worry Tiff, you're going to be fine. A lot could happen in a half hour." I said, trying to be as vague as possible. I didn't want to say anything that would get her hopes up. She had been in the hospital for over 24 hours now and should've been at least somewhat dilated.

But she wasn't. She was only 3 cm dilated. It didn't surprise me though. She had been going through all these issues and risked miscarrying twice, so the fact that her labor wouldn't go as smoothly as some others did was normal.

••••

Time passed.

A half an hour went by and she didn't dilated any further so they had to perform a c-section, much to Tiffany's dismay.

But her baby was healthy, so I was happy for them.

My shift had ended, but I went to go check on Maisie and the babies in the nursery one more time.

I walked in and Maisie stood over one bassinet.

"What's wrong Mais?" I asked.

"This one," she said, pointing to the bassinet she hovered over, "no name, no records of who the mother is. Nothing, but the time of birth. She's just here."

I panicked. Who would just leave a baby here? I felt bad. The baby didn't deserve to be left alone, abandoned.

"Are we allowed to take babies from the nursery?" I asked.

Maisie whipped her head to me. "Probably not. Why? Do you want her?" She asked.

"If I'm allowed, yea I'm taking her. She can't just stay here. Chances are, she'll be put into the shitty orphanage on the other side of town. And no child should be put in that torture house." I said and ran my bosses office.

When I got to his office, he was just about ready to leave before I stopped him.

"Mr. Peters. Can I talk to you?" I said in the doorway.

"Aaron. What's on your mind?" The older man said slinging his satchel over his shoulder.

"There's a baby left in the nursery with no name and no record of the mother. I don't know if it's allowed, but I don't want to just leave her here. Am I allowed to take her home?" He said.

"Really? You want to take on that responsibility of a child?" He asked.

"Yes. That child will end up in the orphanage on the other side of town and kids aren't treated right there. No kid deserved to be there." I said, exactly what I told Maisie.

My boss smiled. "Yes. Take her home. I know you're good with kids as well Aaron. Take the week off as well to get settled." My boss patted my shoulder as he walked out of the office.

I froze. I have nothing. Why did I do this? I don't have anything or the skills to take care of a baby... but my sister does.

I pulled out my phone from my pocket and dialed my sisters number.

"Aaron?"

"I did a thing."

"Aaron, what did you do?"

"I am taking a baby home from the nursery. Now before you say anything, she had no name and no record of the mother. I was hoping you had the car seat from when you had Maddie." I said, my palms growing sweaty.

"Is that even allowed?" She asked.

"My boss said I could." I said.

"Fine. I'll bring over what you need to the hospital. I hope you know what you're doing Aaron." She said and hung up the phone.

I sighed. Did I know what I was doing?

••••
for legal reasons don't take babies from the hospital nursery.

please, no one tell me this is false or not actually allowed, I'm sure it isn't allowed. I even tried looking it up but google didn't tell me.

can we pretend that it's allowed and he can take the baby ty

*the amount of times I've been called out for calling the baby 'it' is insane, but thank you for pointing it out to me. I literally didn't realize I did that until people called me out. thank you

hope you enjoyed!