Hospitals smell like clean decisions. The pediatric ICU hummed with gentle machines and the soft shuffle of nurses who move like patience turned into motion. Emma looked too small under a warmed blanket, a stuffed rabbit tucked by her side the way I always did it at home. A monitor blinked a slow green metronome to remind me of the job my family had refused to do. “She’s stable,” the attending said, voice calm and unflinching. “Severe hypoglycemia and dehydration. We’re correcting both. Two days