“Her blood gas levels have been rock solid for three full hours,” Nurse Elena said.

“The neonatologist cleared her for twenty minutes of skin-to-skin.”

I stepped to the sink and pumped two squirts of orange foam into my palms.

I scrubbed my hands under the warm water for twenty seconds and watched the suds run down the drain.

My fingers felt cold as I undid the top three buttons of my hospital gown.

Nurse Elena reached through the clear plastic portholes on the incubator.

She moved with practiced, gentle speed, untangling the thin green monitor wires from the white blanket.