Birthdays are times for festivities, for being with family and friends. For me, it's a lonely time. Again, I'm spending it at the hospital. You tend to get this feeling that you are surrounded by so many people, colleagues, nurses, patients... yet you feel so alone... Still, the impromptu party we had more than made up for the loneliness. SOOO many food, the colorful wrappers and the gifts inside, the bantering and bickering, as well as funny stories and reminiscing... It's amazing how people cope, and end up feeling  celebratory.

...Then a woman comes, just about to give birth, and in 30 seconds, party's over and we deliver a baby girl...

I stare at the baby I hold in my arms. It's a blessing to be given the honor, the opportunity to see new life unfold, to see the first gulp of air, hear the first ***** cry, have this moment when she looks in my eyes and I have this feeling that she can SEE me... For a second, it's just me and my baby, before the cooing from the parents, before the cord is clamped, and I give her to the pediatrician.

Thay say that we doctors save lives. Sometimes, the patients save ours...