Their boy

He almost never cries. Sometimes, when a visitor looks at the 2-month-old boy up close, the infant will smile and wave his tiny hands.

His name Yu Yuze means "watered by rain".

In the commotion following the earthquake on May 12, the boy with a high fever was left alone in the pediatrics department of Mianyang Central Hospital.

Tang Yang, a nurse with the department, recalled that a couple had written the baby's name on the medical record. The couple said they lived in Jiangyou and the boy's parents had asked them to take care of the child following the quake. As the doctors and nurses were busy saving lives, nobody knew when the couple left the hospital.

"Our boy is the most considerate. If no one takes care of you, let 'mom' take care of you," Tang said.

All the nurses now regard the baby as their precious son. In the past week, the boy has survived meningitis and serious pneumonia.

The walls in the hospital are covered with notes about searches for relatives or friends. Its wards have constantly witnessed moving scenes of parents tearfully reuniting with their children.

On May 17, all the patients were moved to tents on the open field outside the hospital as a precaution against aftershocks. There were three beds in Yu's tent. Two children and their parents took two beds. In the middle, Yu and an older girl suffering from brain injury shared one bed. The nurses put them feet to feet, so that they would not get in each other's intravenous drips.

Although his fever has subsided, doctors say Yu still has some liquid in the brain, which threatens to take his tender life away at any moment.

After finishing a bottle of milk prepared by a nurse, Yu's face turned red. He kicked his feet, wiggled his body and waved his arms, starting baby talk.

"Do you want to get some sun? It is cloudy today. Be a good boy. Your mommies are busy," said one nurse. From the donated relief supplies, the nurses had found a small cap with rabbit ears. It covered the scar on the boy's head after liquid was drained out of his brain.

(China Daily 05/27/2008 page20)