Beginnings and Endings [complete]

Chapter Fifty-One

Chapter Fifty-One

So, this was actually supposed to be in the previous chapter - please follow me to read, cuz Wattpad is being...ugh - but I decided to put it here instead. Warning, it's gonna be a short chapter. Read on! :)

The hospital ward was pristine and blinding to the eye with its cream and white walls and fluorescent lights. The only spots of colour were the blonde wood doors bearing gold numbers that looked freshly polished on a regular basis, and the powder blue aprons the nurses wore. All was peaceful and serene, or at least it was before the scream that echoed through the halls, making receptionists drop their pens and distracting doctors at the emergency wards.

"I thought this room was soundproof!" The balding doctor with his circular glasses held to his face by a protective skintight cap stood in front of my bleeding open legs, looking away only for a moment to look at the nurse holding me down quizzically. She was an woman in her midyears, definitely used to calming women in labour. She shrugged with wide eyes, and went back to keeping me in the right state of mind as another longer, much more painful contraction hit.

"Fuck!" I swore, throwing my head back and pushing out my baby. Nine months of being pregnant after a year of marriage, and the first thing I get from my child is mindblowing pain. For some reason, the only thing that came to my mind besides pushing and not ripping my husband's arm off was Daniella's useless information she got off the Net: Apparently, the human limit for pain is about 30 something, almost 40, but when a woman gives birth it's at like 60. But - Adrianne, you'll love this - when you kick a dude in the balls it's like a hundred times worse. Admittedly, I started having second thoughts about kneeing someone's family jewels after that, but I failed to see the significance now.

Speaking of my husband, he was standing beside me trying to soothe me the best he could when my vagina was exploding with pain, I was trying to force something the size of a watermelon out of something that was the equivalent of a mousehole, and the bones in his hand were just about reaching their limit from my intense squeezing, as he should be. "Baby, hey, shh..." he attempted for possibly the hundredth time as like the millionth scream crawled its way out of my sore throat. "Argh, I'm in pain," I heard him mumble in a grunt.

Being a pregnant woman in labour, my hormones were not at its best. By some supernatural force, I found the strength to actually be angry and use my other hand that was gripping the cold - now warm - metal rail to grab a fistful of his shirt and pull. "You're in pain?" I yelled in his face, loosening my grip as yet another contraction ripped through my body.

"Almost there..." the doctor coaxed, but his soft voice was like a buzz.

"Ma'am, you really should concentrate on pushing more than screaming," the nurse advised politely, but that was probably the fiftieth time she was telling me. I was probably pushing her limit, but hey, her name tag still said 'Ms' so she wouldn't know, now would she? As another scream built in my throat, she glared at me like she knew and snapped, "Damn it, woman, shut up and push!"

Frankly, that shocked me so much that with one final push that took up whatever strength left in my body, I pushed out my baby. Heaving with the effort and exhaustion, I watched as the nurse left my side with a satisfied look on her face to assist the doctor in cleaning off the smeared blood and bits of flesh that stuck to my child. Hmm, I was wrong, she's smaller than a watermelon.

But as the kind doctor wrapped her in a clean white cloth, the anticipation lent me the strength to prop myself on my elbows to rest on my pillow properly and take her from his arms. With small closed eyes and tiny fists balled up into her face, I gently held my first baby in my arms with all the reverence that was needed.