Title: A Reminder for Sister Hilda
Fandom: Call The Midwife
Rating: G
Length: 200 words
Summary: A patient reminds Sister Hilda of what her vocation means.
Spoilers for Christmas 2021 episode.


Sister Hilda found the words that were spoken piercing.  She had been fighting so hard for Maria Kaufopolous, following all the medical procedures, that it took a few seconds to grasp what was being said.

“Sister, you’re not praying.  Pray, now!  Not some other time when this is all a memory.”

It was then she’d held the young woman’s hand in hers and prayed, for both mother and baby.

It had been a clear reminder that she wasn’t alone in her work, that there was someone else who was engaged in that fight.

It was so easy to fall into the trap of considering the physical act of nursing to be the most important thing, and that prayers could be reserved for chapel later, when indeed the events were all a memory.  But the two went together.

And that what was necessary for Maria wasn’t to be treated simply as a patient, requiring physical care, but also as a person who needed to know she mattered and that she was important.  Taking a minute out to pray had given Maria greater comfort than all the correctly performed procedures.

Sister Hilda smiled; not to mention the assistance of the Great Physician.