Baby Lonely

Hospital visiting hours here in the north is beehive.you get to see a patient who has a crowd paying him a visit with coolers containing meals,a mat to spread on the ground and you imagine if they were having a picnic.yet a bed opposite this celebrity patient is a patient who has just a visitor by his bed side and you almost think he is lonely.
   This brings me to my lonely patient,a beautiful male child in the special care baby unit,his mum went in to Labour, had his delivery and went into coma.
This baby was in this unit, he was naked for 2 days without a change of clothing.The father of this baby was MIA because he said he had no money to cater for the mother who was at that time in the intensive care unit.The hospital had to waiver the bills and social services were involved.
Baby lonely was a quiet baby never did he cry for attention he was.contented with his little cot,the cereals the social welfare .provided and the few pieces of clothing my second and I took turns in washing.when other babies were rocked to sleep and breast Fed by their mother's baby lonely was occasionally carried by us when less busy and Fed with a syringe.
A week later a a woman appeared and said she was baby lonely's aunt,she told us baby lonely was to leave us we were so glad baby lonely who wasn't sick in the first was finally getting a real home.Here comes the twist after much probing baby lonely aunt finally said she will take the baby home but she doesn't know where the baby will sleep.
We begged ,'please leave lonely with us we will take care him' trust she didn't argue.I wished I could adopt this baby,I wished he would not go with his immediate family for fear he would end up begging but who I'm I to know his future.All this while the mother was still unconscious and deteriorating.
   I left baby lonely in the special care baby unit caused I was drafted to man the emergency paediatric unit I was so busy I couldn't get to see lonely.
I went to see lonely he wasn't there to smile at me,a part of me was glad.I rushed to check on his mother I met her still unconscious and lonely wasn't there.I ran to the nurse's station without greeting first I asked ,where is lonely?I was told he has gone home.I wept within me my heart went out to him.I started wondering what would lonely eat breast milk from a wet nurse with the risks of HIV infection or corn flour without milk cause the father has 13 other children and can't afford to spend money on milk for one.baby lonely got a new name I never heard of or saw him again.