Chapter 9 - THE NIGHT LEO STOPPED BREATHING
Leo was almost three months old when he developed a serious respiratory infection.
He had been gaining weight.
His feeding had improved.
The doctors were cautiously optimistic.
Then, one night, his breathing changed.
Hannah noticed first.
She had been visiting him after a nursing class.
“He's working too hard to breathe,” she said.
The nurse checked him.
Within minutes, the medical team was called.
Leo was transferred for urgent hospital care.
I followed the ambulance.
Hannah rode separately with Luca.
At the hospital, doctors stabilized Leo and treated the infection.
I stood outside the treatment room, shaking.
Not from cold.
From helplessness.
Again.
I had thought we were past this.
I had thought the worst was over.
Hannah found me sitting on the floor.
She crouched beside me.
“Alessandro.”
I looked up.
“I can't lose him.”
She sat down.
“I know.”
“I already lost Sophia.”
“I know.”
I pressed my hands against my face.
“I don't know how to survive losing him too.”
Hannah was silent.
Then she said:
“You don't have to survive something that hasn't happened.”
I looked at her.
She took my hand.
“Right now, Leo is alive. Right now, doctors are helping him. Right now, we can wait.”
I stared at her.
She smiled through tears.
“Just this minute.”
I squeezed her hand.
“Just this minute,” I repeated.
We sat together.
One minute.
Then another.
Then another.
Until the doctor came out.
Leo was stable.
I stood so quickly I nearly fell.
The doctor smiled.
“He's responding to treatment.”
I closed my eyes.
May you like
Hannah began crying.
And for the second time, the woman who had lost her own daughter helped me find the strength to keep breathing.
