The HOSPITAL

Chapter 14. An eternal love

There is no eternal love in this mortal world except the infinite love of a mother for her children all the time. 

Many of us are irritated maybe with the figure of a mother as she was sometimes fussy or angry, and the mother's words of wisdom for children spoken directly. Which often goes into the left ear and out of the right ear because children often ignore it; for them, it is just a trite word repeated. Her children don't realize that it is a wisdom word that means more and represents a mother's hope for the good of her children.

 But for mothers, nothing is more valuable than the happiness and success of their children in the future. The love of a mother is intangible and sometimes spoken less often. A mother's wise words to her child are an outpouring of sound, emotions, sadness, and even anger, all of which are wrapping in love for her child. 

A mother who has just given birth a few days ago is still in a critical condition, with an IV line and tubes other medical devices still attached to the mouth and body of the woman who is still fighting for her life. She has not seen her baby since she gave birth as her condition is not possible, and the baby's situation is in an incubator and sensitivity—a sad situation. A young man waited in front of the patient's emergency room while praying; he seemed to have not slept all night and lacked rest. His face was sluggish and puffy; he walked limply to the front of the nursery room where her baby was undergoing intensive care. This young man is the father of the premature baby and a husband of the critical mother in the ICU room.  

You can imagine how he feels right now; the two people he loves are a part of his life, both struggling against critical situations to stay alive, prayers unceasingly come out of his pale lips. He looked through the window into the nursery; he wanted to see the baby in the incubator; Amelia was one of the nurses on duty tonight to care for the baby in the sterile room. As if understanding the feeling of the father wanting to see his son, she pushed the incubator slowly to make it more visible through the windowpane. She opened the curtains so that the father could see it more clearly from outside the tightly closed glass window. 

The father's face looks radiant when he sees his baby. His baby is still sleeping with apparatus used to maintain environmental conditions suitable for a neonate or newborn baby. Several medical devices help the tiny body breathes. His tears flowed, and the father was crying and gulping, seeing the condition of his newborn baby. Then Amelia signaled to the young father that he should close the curtains again. It rules it doesn't t be opened for long to protect the sensitive baby from light and radiation from outside.  

Bertha was rushing towards the nursery room looking for Amelia, as she was not allowed to enter the baby's sterile room, so she is only waiting outside. 

Amelia went out to meet him and asked: 

"What's the matter, sister?" 

" Have you had dinner?" ask Amelia again. 

"No, I hadn't," 

I want to eat together with you." 

" Is it time for you to rest, yet?" 

"Oh, just wait for my friends to come back, I told them to take rest first, the me " said Amelia and asked back: 

"Why do you look nervous?" 

"You look exhausted." Amelia said worriedly. 

" Yeah, I didn't sleep well lately." 

"Oh, dear Bertha, what bothered you?" 

" A lot of things, sissy."  

"I couldn't tell, but I want to share it with you." answered bertha with a tired face. 

"Oh, great, there are coming." said Amelia when seeing two of her friends enter the room.  

Amelia heated the food in the microwaves for dinner she brought from home; she put the food in a row from the lunchbox, complete with salad, of course, rice, and side dishes that were so tasty. Auntie Nida knows Amelia's taste. Bertha also shared the provisions she brought. There was pudding for their dessert to complement their dinner, which looked special even though they were on duty at the hospital. 

They both sat facing each other to eat dinner; before eating the foods, they brought from home, do not forget to pray before eating as is their custom. They had just started scooping food into their mouths when suddenly Bertha choked and stared at Amelia. 

" O my God, sissy, are you ok?" said Amelia, panicky while in a hurry to get a drink for bertha to the water dispenser 

then patted Bertha's back slowly. 

"How, now you feel better?" asked his friend worriedly. 

"Yeah, it's better, let's sit back," said Bertha while massaging her chest 

"Sister, what happening? I'm worried about you," Amelia asked with concern. 

" I am fine, Amelia. come on sit back," asking bertha to make sure she's satisfactory to her best friend. 

" Your necklace, so beautiful" where did you get it? Asks bertha curiously. 

"Oh, this one? " Amelia question back while touching her necklace  

" Will you believe me if I am telling you the truth?" asked her again, Bertha. 

" of course, I will."  

"As long as there is nothing you are hiding for." answered bertha with a severe expression. 

Amelia. 

 Amelia told Bertha all that had happened to her as they ate their dinner. Bertha listened gawkily and could not believe what she heard but seeing her best friend's face that looked serious and not joking; Bertha thought Amelia was telling the truth with all her stories. 

“I don’t know sissy if I should believe for what happening, or it was just dreamt?” 

“But this one is real; I couldn’t say it just a dream,” repeated Amelia.  

Then both felt relieved because they had revealed burdens in their feelings and shared them. After cleaning up their dinner, the two best friends cleaned up and sanitized as they were about to enter a sterile room, Amelia for baby's care, and Bertha returned to the ICU where her job was to check on one of the patients treating there, is this a coincidence? 

Bertha takes care of the baby's mother, while her best friend Amelia takes care of the critical mother's baby. But neither of them realized it. 

Three o'clock in the morning, Bertha came in to check the condition of the patient who was still unconscious, she looked at the patient monitor, and suddenly the monitor moved fast and gave an alarm signal; Bertha was beating fast and tried to check everything carefully, 

"Oh, I have to call the doctor on duty immediately," she said frantically, but suddenly she saw a faint black smoke around the patient slowly rising upwards. Bertha glared and was shocked to see her lips go numb and could not swallow and said nothing. She froze as the smoke slowly swirled in the room and then came out through small cracks and disappeared. Bertha woke up and at once ran outside to call the doctor on duty.

At the same time, the baby in the incubator suddenly cried loudly. 

Amelia tried to hold the baby up and fed the milk through a small tube, but the baby was still hysterical and did not stop crying; Amelia was overwhelmed. 

She almost gave up on panic; suddenly, the baby fell silent and stopped crying. 

Faintly, Amelia saw a silhouette in the form of black smoke around the incubator; the room suddenly felt colder than usual; Amelia shivered. 

Still, the baby was awake, looking at the smoke, which was like fog. Amelia and one of her friends who were on guard glared at what they saw in disbelief. Not long after, the smoke disappeared, and the baby was fast asleep again. The baby has seen a smile. 

The time was exact at four in the morning, after the doctor and the medical team tried to save the patient's life but unfortunately could not be helped, the patient was declared dead. The tiny baby that was still in the incubator box instantly lost its mother. Mother's love is infinite for all time; even in a situation where she must face the Creator, the mother went to see her baby, as if she were asking permission from the Creator to meet her baby first before she left forever. Of course, the black smoke-like fog is the baby's mother; she came to say farewell to her beloved baby. 

 ''A mother is like an angel without wings, who protects her family, especially to her children without conditions.''