21

She had to take induction tablets because her water hadn't burst yet, but nothing was happening, and she was becoming frustrated. "I want this baby out now, it's been taking so long," she expressed. Her husband had just left, promising to return the next day after the nurse assured him that nothing would happen that night. He kissed her goodnight, wearing a warm smile on his face, and departed. She watched him with tired eyes, attempting to fall asleep.

The pain became unbearable, two hours after he left. She got out of bed, trying to walk off the pain, breathing in and out, but nothing helped. Her stomach felt like it was being twisted inside. Unable to bear it any longer, she called for the nurse, but no one came in. She opened the door and slowly moved toward their station, leaning on the wall and gripping the sidebar tightly. Suddenly, she screamed for help, and a nurse rushed toward her. "Please help me, I can't bear the pain. What's happening with my baby?"

The nurse immediately brought her a wheelchair and took her to the delivery room. She couldn't lie down on the bed. She tried to breathe, but it was incredibly difficult; nothing seemed to work. "I want my husband. Call my husband," she pleaded.

The nurse left her, and she glanced at the clock—it was 2:00 in the morning. Her water still hadn't broken. "I can't deliver without my water breaking," she thought, tears streaming down her warm cheeks. The pain intensified with each passing minute, the contractions in her stomach becoming increasingly brutal. Finally, her husband arrived, trying to comfort her, but she couldn't even bear his touch. The pain was excruciating. They asked her to push, to keep pushing. With every push, she felt her body tearing apart. "Get it out!" she screamed. More people entered the room, working to deliver the baby. Suddenly, she felt like a vacuum sucked the air out of her insides, immediately followed by a little cry. "The baby is here," they announced. She tried to look but was too exhausted to sit up. Unable to speak, she reached out for her husband's hand, seeking support and comfort after the long, grueling battle she had endured for the past two hours. Finally, she could hold her baby, embracing the warmth of their skin-to-skin contact.

In the morning, the door opened, and she saw a new mum entering her hospital room. The room was conveniently spacious, and she was fortunate enough to get the bed next to the window, she wouldn’t stand staying in the hospital without a window view, she thought. The new mother appeared nervous, her belly noticeably large. "Is she having twins?" she pondered silently. Shortly afterward, the new roommate disappeared, and the nurse informed her that she had gone to deliver her baby as well. Exhausted, she drifted off to sleep, alongside her baby girl. When she woke up, she discovered her roommate was back in her bed, nursing her newborn. They looked happy and content, but something seemed off about that young mum. She saw her talking incessantly to her newborn as if he could understand her. It struck her as peculiar. “Should I also be talking to my baby daughter? Is it something mums do with their newborns?” She looked at her roommate and asked if this was her first baby. The woman looked at her, tightening her grip on her baby boy, and replied, "My second."

"Oh, how old is your first baby?" she asked.

"He didn't make it. He would have been two years old now. It was a perfect pregnancy, I did it all as how it should be done and all the tests were good, nothing was wrong. I was ten days overdue, and the hospital said it was perfectly fine to be over a week overdue; we could still hear his heartbeat. But when I went to deliver him, he was stillborn. I couldn't even hear him cry his first cry."

She stared at her roommate in shock and expressed her condolences. "I am so sorry to hear that," she said with tears in her eyes.

"It's okay. I had my time to grieve, but now, with his brother, I made sure not to listen to the doctors anymore. A mother's gut feeling is the only thing to follow. And now, I am happy with my baby, knowing that his older brother is watching over us."