But in the arms of Chris Haack, who strokes his cheek and speaks in a soft whisper while rocking him in a chair, little Kevin is one blissed-out baby.
Haack, a retired nurse from Roswell, Georgia, is a trained volunteer with "Baby Buddies," a program in the neonatal intensive care unit at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston. As nurses race around administering medical care, she can comfort the tiny patients and stand in for parents who can't be there all the time to give the positive attention -- not the attention associated with pain or discomfort -- that is key to a baby's development and integral in forming trust.
"They need to be touched, they need to be loved, and that face -- that's why I do it," Haack says, peering down with a smile at Kevin, whose eyes are locked on hers. "I get more out of it than I probably give."
