The Unexpected Gift | Woo Do Hwan

How Time Goes By

Before Do Hwan knew it he was thirty-two weeks pregnant time it seemed had flown by, but now he was starting to feel exhausted and heavy. His ankles were swollen and he was covered in stretch marks and he still had a couple of weeks left before his due date.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, he was having a nap, but it was soon short-lived waking up he struggled to get comfortable once again. Tossing and turning he groaned as he moved himself into a sitting position trying to soothe his daughter who was now kicking and to stop the itching that was caused by the stretch marks.

"Oh... I'm so heavy, itchy and tired.", he spoke aloud as a sigh left his mouth.

Feeling restless he decided to take a bath to help him relax. Heading towards the bathroom he stood by the bath before turning on the tap. For a few minutes, Do Hwan watched the water running until he turned off the tap and getting undressed, having a bath had recently become his only way to be able to relax and to soothe his aches and pains.

Lowering himself into the water, the warm and soothing water came as a much-needed relief to him as he lay back closing his eyes for a moment resting a hand on his belly as it poked out of the water. A small smile appeared on Do Hwan's lips as he as he scooped the water with his hands beginning to pour the water onto his stomach, but it didn't last for long. Gasping his face twisted as his hand landed on the side of his stomach.

With a look of worry on his face, Do Hwan looked over at the right side of his stomach, and around his ribs, there were large ugly purple bruises that looked to have formed over time and seemed to be painful.

But it seemed like Sarang could sence her appa's discomfort and was starting to get a little unsettled and it didn't go unoticed.

"Oh, Sarang sweetheart, It's okay baby I'm alright." he spoke, as he began to rub his belly and being gentle around the bruising hoping it would help alleviate some of the pressure and pain he was feeling.

~

Once out of the bath and in some warm pyjamas he felt much more relaxed but his itchy stretch marks were still causing him a problem as he continued to rub and scratch at his stomach and stretch marks.

Remembering the time he had once had to apply the lotion he had bought a few weeks ago, reading that it was very helpful for pregnant women who had stretch marks and found them to be itching and it helped to soothe the skin there was no reason it couldn't do the same for him. He was forever more grateful to himself that he had bought the lotion as it had helped many times over the last couple of weeks.

Taking some of the lotion into his hands he began gently rubbing the lotion around his stomach and before long he could feel the Immediate relief and he could finally now be able to stop scratching his belly for a while.

He couldn't help but smile as he felt movement from underneath his hands feeling his daughter move and kick, with the last of the lotion rubbed onto his belly his hands stayed splayed on his belly for a few moments.

"My baby girl, you're moving around a lot in there, huh?, I can't believe I only have a few more weeks and then you'll be here", he spoke softly.