The weekend flew by just as fast as it came. It was finally Monday morning. My alarm sounded through the speakers of my alarm clock as the sun was beginning to rise up into the sky. I jumped out of bed and walked into the bathroom, taking a shower and brushing my teeth before getting dressed for work.

I walked outside of my apartment complex as the sky was painted in different shades of oranges and yellows. The sunrise always instilled a feeling of peace in me. I no longer worried about the path life had taken, but marveled in thanks that I was able to awaken another day and take a breath of life. It hurt my heart that there were those in the world who weren't so lucky.

I got into my car, turned on the radio, and made my way to the pediatrician's office where I work. When I arrived, I parked my car and made my way inside the building. I took a seat in the lounge with my laptop while looking at my schedule for the day. I had a few well-child visits, some that were sick, and some newborns coming in for their first visit.

I walked into the breakroom to get a cup of coffee that one of our nurses had made. I sipped the hot liquid as I waited for the waiting room to fill with our patients.

Finally, 8 AM came and it was time to get on about our day. The nurse called in the first few patients, took their weights, and heights and put them all into an exam room to wait for me to come in and speak to them.

The first patient on my schedule is a little boy by the name of Chandler. He came in for a four-year-old well-child checkup and shots. I walked into the exam room that he and his mother occupied, and saw a big smile creep upon his face. I knew that by the time he would be leaving the office his smile would diminish, being left with tears from the shots.

"Hello, Chandler. How are you doing today?" I asked him as I made him a glove balloon from one of the exam gloves. He's the kind of child that needs to have an object close to him to make him feel safe. He has had bad experiences with physicians in the past and it took a lot of trust on his part to finally feel okay to have a doctor. I made him feel at ease.

He responded, "I'm good" as he took the glove balloon from my hands and held it under his arm.

I took a look at his charts then washed my hands to prepare for the checkup. I looked into his ears to make sure they were looking good and weren't infected. I checked his throat to make sure it wasn't red or shown any other indications of possible strep. I then moved onto his heart and lungs.

His heart thumped as it should, making a lub-dub, lub-dub sound. It was a nice strong heartbeat. His lungs, however, concerned me. I could hear a wheezing sound inside his chest cavity. I needed to get this child sent to a specialist to check for asthma and allergies. News like this was always tough news to break to the parents.

I took a deep breath and prepared to break the news to his mother. I knew it wouldn't be easy. I worried about how she would take the news too. She had been through so much in the last year and this would be the cherry on top that would make her whole world come crashing down.

"Ms. Aldrich, after accessing Chandler, I find it important that I voice my concerns to you."

Just by speaking those words, she reacted by putting her hands over her heart.

"By listening to Chandler's lungs, I could hear a wheezing sound when he breathes. I suggest that we send him to a specialist to be tested for allergies and for asthma. I'm not sure exactly if he has asthma but I can't rule anything out just yet. It could be possible that he has allergies that are triggering asthma. We call that allergy-induced asthma. In order to be properly diagnosed he will need to have the standard asthma testing and then test him for allergies if needed. Then we can focus on a treatment plan after."

She agreed to the plan and I concluded my exam. I handed Chandler a couple of stickers while walking out, letting the nurse administrate the shots. I felt a silent tear escape the corners of my eyes when I saw the look on that mom's face. It never gets easier telling them news like that. I tried to be strong on the outside, but I'm human and I care about these kids. I'm going to be emotional. That's just who I am.

I could finally hear his cries as they sounded out through the office. My heart broke just by seeing him smiling moments earlier and know that now he had to be put through the shots on top of everything else.

I tried to shake the emotions away as I prepared to go into the next exam room. In this exam room, there were ten-year-old twin girls. They looked very sickly. Just by looking at their eyes you could tell they looked exhausted and their faces were quite pale.

"Hey, Phoebe and Penelope. What seems to be going on with you today?" I asked. They started to speak in really low voices that I could hardly make out.

Their mother spoke up to tell me what was wrong with them. "They have the chills, body aches, fever, sore throat, and headaches."

I immediately knew that it sounded like the flu. I checked their ears and throats to make sure they didn't have strep or ear infections on top of it, then washed my hands before sending the nurse in to do a nose swab to check for the flu.

After the test came back positive for the twins, I sent two face masks in with the nurse for the girls while preparing to go to the next exam room.

I walked into the next exam room and there were newborn boy/girl twins.

It was at that exact moment that I began to get sad over my future. Max and I had talked so many times about getting married and having children. We had decided on the names Andrew for a boy, and Anniston for a girl. At the same time that I was sad over the future that may never be, I was overwhelmed with great joy to see two new lives before me. The baby fever became all too real. But I had to put those feelings in the back of my mind. I washed my hands before starting the exam.

"What are their names?" I asked while feeling their heads and checking for the soft spot and then began listening to their hearts.

"His name is Joel and her name Is Joanna," the mother responded. I instructed both the mother and the father to each pick up one of the twins so I could take a listen to their lungs.

The names that these parents had chosen were perfect, strong names for their little babies.

"Such beautiful names," I responded, concluding the checkup on the newborns with an abdominal to make sure that the stomach wasn't oddly shaped or swollen.

After the checkup with the twins and a few other patients, it was finally time for lunch. I drove over to a sandwich shop not far from the office and got a steak and cheese club with a large drink and a bag of chips. I drove back to the office and ate my lunch in the break room. I prepared myself for the rest of the day. Although the job is my passion, the days are long and I always leave in exhaustion.

I finally finished up my lunch before heading into the next exam room. A little six-month-old baby girl was in there for her six-month well-child exam. I checked her heart and lungs, as well as the muscles in her legs, and then her stomach to check for any abnormalities. I couldn't find anything of concern. But then the young mother brought something to my attention.

"Her head seems to be a wonky shape and she keeps her neck turned to one side all of the time. She favors the right side, which I think is making her head go flat on that particular side." When she picked the baby up and showed me the baby's head, I could definitely see what she was talking about.

"It looks like a case of torticollis and plagiocephaly, otherwise known as flat head syndrome. The torticollis is caused by tight neck muscles. She will need to see a physical therapist for the torticollis. I'm going to refer you to a pediatric neurosurgeon, and then if the specialist thinks she needs treatment, he or she will send you to an orthotist. The orthotist will then do their own set of evaluations to check how severe the plagiocephaly is. If they feel that she needs treatment, she will then be fitted for a helmet to correct the flat part of her head."

The mother seemed a little relieved at my diagnosis and the fact that there were options out there.

"Thank you so much, doctor. I've been concerned about this for a couple of months. I tried bringing it up to our other pediatrician, but she dismissed it as nothing. So then I made the switch to this office."

I felt so happy that I could finally address the problem that this mother has worried herself to death over for the last couple of months.

"You did the right thing making the switch and advocating for your daughter. You were concerned, and you listened to your gut. Your daughter will now be able to get the help that she needs for her neck and her head. May I ask her name?"

"Nora. Her name is Nora." The mother shook my hand before I walked out of the room and into the next patients' room.

I saw two more infants one more newborn, and a few more children for sicknesses and well-child checkups.

Before I knew it, five o'clock rolled around, and it was finally time to go home. I left the office and headed for my apartment. Knowing the number of illnesses going around lately, I went straight inside and headed for the bathroom to take yet another shower to wash off any germs that may have clung to my skin and clothing.

I walked into the kitchen and prepared myself a quick salad and grabbed a glass of sweet tea, before going into the living room to watch up on some of my shows.

It wasn't long until I started getting tired. I cleaned the kitchen up and what few dishes I dirtied up, and laid in bed as my eyes slowly closed in sleep. I would get about nine hours of sleep before getting up and doing it all again the following day.