Fourteen Ounces of Hope

In the neonatal unit at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital, a baby born at twenty-three weeks weighs barely fourteen ounces. Her skin is translucent. Her lungs strain for every breath. The monitors beep erratically, and the numbers are not encouraging. But the NICU nurse does not walk away. She adjusts the ventilator by fractions of a degree. She warms her hands before every touch, because cold fingers on skin that thin could send the tiny body into shock.…