two minutes I’m still panting and I start to worry
that these are not the usual pre-birthing
contractions.
Next I try to sit on the bed and then lay down a
bit waiting for the pain to pass but it gets worse
instead, expanding into my lower abdomen. I
breathe in again until it seems like the pain is
diminishing, but then there’s another surge of
agony that makes me scream out.
My mom runs upstairs and opens the door.
“Erin … what’s happening?”
“Something’s wrong, Mom.”
“I’ll call your dad right away and get him back
here.”
“Mom,” I say through my tears. “Call an
ambulance,” I tell her in a thread of a voice before
showing her that my hands are covered in blood
and I’m losing my senses.
~ ~ ~
I wake up in the hospital and I’ve got three doctors
around me saying things that I can’t understand.
I’m wearing a mask for oxygen and I can hear my
mother crying next to me.
I turn my head slowly and I move my oxygen
mask with my free hand.
“Relax, honey,” she says, caressing my face.
“They are taking care of you.”
“What? What happened?”
One of the doctors is checking the monitor next
to me and gives me a strained smile.
