Stress and sleep deprivation had a funny way of liberating the mind from previously held truisms, replacing them with a more compliant desperation.

Sometimes we called one another by our future doctor names. We did it partly to be funny, but mostly because we liked it when people did it back to us.

We all knew where the goop originated and could have defended ourselves, but the origin of the fusillade doubled as the center of the action. Once the baby’s scalp protruded, we all hunkered down and braced ourselves.

Her dreamy countenance infuriated me more than her words. I had seen that expression directed at me once upon a time.