The pressure in my body surged again.
Low. Unbearable.
My baby was moving.
Descending.
This time, I couldn’t stop it.
I felt it.
The shift.
The inevitability. The urgency.
“Ah—!” I gasped, doubling over, my arms locking around my belly as the final contraction tore through me.
I screamed.
Not out of fear now.
But from sheer, overwhelming pain.
I bore down instinctively, my body reacting before my mind could catch up.
“Come on... come on...” I whispered through clenched teeth, my voice shaking.
The pressure built.
Higher. Stronger.
Then—
A breakthrough.
I felt it.
The head of the baby.
Emerging.
“Ah—!” I cried out, straining, every muscle in my body tightening as I pushed with everything I had left.
For one fleeting, impossible second—
There was warmth.
Life.
Then—
Cold air struck.
The moment shattered.
And the head slipped back inside.
“No—!” I sobbed, my body collapsing slightly from the effort. “No... come on...”
