#why. how.

I broke my pen today. (dw it still works.)

It is currently 3:30 am and I am 18 hours into my 26 hour shift

A father of a newly admitted 79 day old covid baby (which we had to move literal mountains to find an isolation bed for due to shortage of paediatric isolation rooms) requested to discharge the baby against medical advice because he apparently “never was in charge of the baby at home and is panicking” (he was already confused and unsure when I admitted the baby, insisting she only breastfed 10 minutes every 3 hours, a manifestly impossible thing if her urine output is so good and her weight gain so normal)

The baby is currently clinically fine. She looks at me curiously every time I enter the room. Her fever is down but she’s 79 days old.

I give the father some tips as to how to get the baby to eat and sleep. The father is holding the baby awkwardly, like an unfamiliar potato sack. I tell him just how much risk he’s putting the baby in. We unfortunately can’t change carers due to the baby only having a bed in the male isolation cubicle. Everywhere else is full.

In the end the father signs the discharge against medical advice form because he’s too much of a baby himself to try to take care of his child. I load his ears with red flags and when to take his kid back to aed. He looks at me, panicky.