Internship Photo Essay....

It is Leticia’s first time giving birth. She’s shaking. She’s nervous. Morning sickness, cramps, mood swings, weird cravings, and a mortal fear of her body not being the same again. At the age of 17 she already had to go through all of this. Now all that matters is that little being that is inside of her and it’s about to come out. Leticia’s mother brought her from Mexico right after she found out her daughter was pregnant. She was certainly thinking of a better place for her to live. A better place for her granddaughter to grow up. Seven months have passed now since everyone else found out. And now they are here at the hospital waiting for the receptionist to tell her which way to go. The labor and delivery department is waiting for her now. And Leticia can’t wait to meet her new baby. Lots of stories like this one come alive in a hospital. Most of them full of hope, but there are sad stories too.

Two sisters are about to loose their mom. They’ve been sitting right next to her all night. She hasn’t talk in two days. That heart attack brought her down. And they can not believe it. The strongest woman they now, the one that raised both of them is now dying before them in the hospital bed. The two sisters don’t know what to do they can’t picture their lives without their mama. Yesterday they heard one of the nurses say that they didn’t have much hope on Mrs. Close recuperation. Now all there is left to do, is to wait in that big lobby and hope for the best. And pray for the best. Maybe go to that small chapel inside the hospital and ask God for a little bit more of time with their mom.

Kathy is 79 years old. I’ve heard that when you turn her age is hard to move, to breath and sometimes is hard to live. Last night She had a little problem, she fell of her bed. She lives at her son’s house. Her granddaughter lives with her son also. She’s a not really well mannered teenager. She listens to her music in a really high volume. One of the reasons they couldn’t hear poor Kathy when she fell of bed last night. She was screaming for about 45 minutes. Until her son heard something and came to help her. If it wasn’t because she broke her leg they’ve would of probably put her back to bed, but they had to take her to the hospital. When they got there the nurses where nice. Dr. Collins took care of her leg and she was ready to go home, at least that’s what Dr. Collins thought. Because she didn’t want to go home. She wanted to stay around people that cared for her. At home there is none.

Little Nathan has spend most part of his life in a hospital. The Doctors said that Leukemia was bringing him down, and he wouldn’t last long. Nathan is tired now. He doesn’t have any energy left, he’s scared. He’s Elementary school friends are coming to visit today, but he’s afraid he wont be able to be with them for a long time, he wants to sleep a little bit more before the doctors come in again. His mom has stayed in the hospital lobby many times. Worried about what’s going to happen to her little one. Another chemotherapy session, another day. She’s tired of this but keeps on going for him. Even if that means spending more time at the hospitals chapel than her own house.

It takes only 15 minutes sitting in a hospital lobby to listen to how hard life can get when a health problem is part of it. People that stays all night waiting to hear how that surgery went, or that ran to the hospital because they had a “false alarm” with the new baby. A really sad face comes through that door, but then a happy one walks through the other one. A lot of feelings and emotions throughout this lobby. Happiness, anguish, sadness, fear of what might happen. That’s life in a hospital, everyone tries to trust that they’re in the right place with the right people, and they’ll help them fix the problem. A lot of different things go on in this lobby. Even lunch for an intern. Going through her own hospital story too.