In the quiet third-floor waiting room, bottle warmers hummed on the marble counters next to the reception desk.

Doctor Miller set her stainless steel stethoscope on the blue exam table and checked Noah’s ears with an otoscope.

Lily sat up on the crinkly paper cover, reaching her small fingers toward the soft rubber bulb of a measuring dropper.

“Both sets of eardrums look perfectly clear and pink,” Doctor Miller said.

She typed two entries into her tablet and turned to me with a warm, reassuring smile.

“Noah has gained sixteen ounces since his February checkup, and Lily is right at the fiftieth percentile for healthy growth,” she said.