Saving Hope

Chapter 10

   Nayla spent all her time in the hospital visiting Ashley. She was a lot weaker after having the baby. The C-section took a lot out of her. The doctors wanted to wait until she healed completely before starting her on chemotherapy and radiation. They were afraid that if she was given it right away her body wouldn’t react well and she could get worse very fast.

        Benjamin was perfectly healthy. He was on the small side but everything had developed fine. His lungs were a concern to the doctors though. Even though Ashley was given cortisone shots months before the birth to increase lung growth the doctors were afraid his lungs weren’t where they needed to be. After he was born he was put on a respirator for two days just to make sure his lungs were functioning. When it was decided that he could breathe on his own he was taken off of it and placed in the NICU. Benjamin needed to gain at least 3 more pounds to be taken home. Ashley’s mother came in as soon as she heard Ashley was in labor. She had been there every day since and hasn’t left her side.

        Today Nayla was in her room sitting on her bed bored. Ashley’s mom was with her today and she didn’t want to impose on them so she decided to let them have their alone time. All her classes were done for the day and she had no one else to talk to. She tried listening to music but there wasn’t anything that sparked her interest on the radio. Cleaning wasn’t an option because Ashley kept the room spotless so there was nothing for her to do. All of the girls were out for the day. It was family visit day. Families could come and visit or the girls could get a day pass to go to see their families. Nayla’s mom made it clear in the beginning that she wanted nothing to do with her if she kept the baby so there was no one for her to visit.

        Looking out of the window for the last time, she made the decision to take a walk and enjoy the sun. Before going outside she replaced her tight capree pants for a nice flowing summer dress and flats. Her stomach was getting bigger and even at 5 months she was huge. It seemed like over night her stomach exploded into this huge beach ball.

        After changing, she opened her door and was immediately hit with the blazing sun. It felt like it was 100 degrees already. She headed to the library to read for a while before lunch. The library was huge. It was filled from top to bottom with every kind of book imaginable. The walls were lined with colorful fabric and it had comfy chairs and couched to accommodate the mothers.

        Nayla picked out a murder mystery and settled into a cozy chair by the window. She tried hard to focus on the page but it was no use. After ten minutes, she started to fall asleep. It seemed like just as she was falling asleep she was being woken up.

        “Nayla sweetheart how are you today?”

        Nayla blinked a couple times before the image came into focus. It was Margret.

        “Oh hi Margret, im fine today thanks for asking”

        “That’s great dear, listen I was wondering if I could talk to you, maybe go have some lunch off of the property?”

        “I would love that actually”

        “Great, my car is parked out back so just follow me”

                                15 minutes later.

        Margret and Nayla sat in a little restaurant about ten minutes away from the resort. It was quiet and small but the food smelled great. They both took some time to look at the menu and while the waitress left to go get their drinks they started to chat.

        “So Nayla has Devon talked to you at all?”

        “Nope not a word in almost a month, I wish he would but he just won’t”