My son and his wife asked me to watch their two-month-old baby while they went shopping. But no matter how much I held him and tried to soothe him, he wouldn’t stop crying inconsolably. I immediately sensed something was wrong. When I lifted his clothes to check his diaper… I froze. There was something… unimaginable. My hands were shaking. I grabbed him and rushed to the hospital.

“In a two-month-old? Yes,” Dr. Patel said grimly. “Their ribcages are mostly cartilage. They are incredibly soft. A child trying to ‘hug’ a crying baby or ‘stop’ him from crying could easily exert enough force to cause internal organ trauma without even realizing they were doing harm.”

Just then, the waiting room doors swung open. Daniel and Megan arrived, looking like ghosts of themselves. But they weren’t alone. Walking behind them, looking pale and trembling, was Laura. And clutched to her leg was a little girl with curly hair and wide, terrified eyes.

Emma.

The moment Emma saw the hospital bed through the glass partition of the NICU, she didn’t hide. She didn’t run. She burst into tears.

“I’m sorry!” she wailed, her voice echoing off the sterile walls. “I just wanted him to stop! He wouldn’t stop crying!”

The entire hallway froze. Laura dropped to her knees, clutching her daughter. “Emma? What are you talking about? You were watching cartoons in the kitchen!”