eighteen
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. I open my eyes to see daylight streaming in through white window shutters. I'm laying in a hospital bed, covered by white sheets. Next to my bed, to my left and next to the window an electric stand sits. It has a green line through the middle of its screen that beeps everytime it rises. I guess is measures my heart beats because I can feel my heart thumping every time the machine sends out a beep. Around me are white walls, white floors, and white light that floods into the hospital room. I shift my head to my right to see Cato's head laying on the bed next to my hand. His body is half laying on the bed next to me. He's fast asleep, that much is clear as his chest steadily rises and falls. He doesn't snore though, he never has. I look for a clock or something to tell me what time it is. Its either early morning or late evening, that's easy to tell by the shade of light that surrounds me. I can't find a clock, strangely there isn't one here. Huh.
I try to sit up and groan as a wave of immense pain rushes over me. Why am I hurting? If I'm in a Capital hospital, which is most likely by the looks of this room, they should have been able to take away whatever was causing me pain. A noise brings my eyes over to the door of my room. A nurse with purple hair and black skin has walked into my room. Seeing me awake, she calls out in a soft, melodious voice, "Oh! You're awake. I expect you want to see him now. I'll fetch him for you." And she leaves as quickly as she came in.
Who is she talking about? The only person I want to see is Cato and he's here next to me. Speaking of which, my husband slowly stirs and sits up in the chair he had been half resting in. Either the nurse woke him up, or my movements on the bed did. Cato has never been a heavy sleeper. He blinks his beautiful blue eyes at me, his face solumn. I smile slightly at him. Cato asks me, "Have you seen him yet?" Again with the him. "Who are you talking about?" I ask Cato. Surprise fills his facial features. "Really? You mean you don't...? Man, you were really out of it." Ok, now I'm really confused. "Cato. What are you talking about? What did I miss?"
"Depends. What was the last thing you remember?""Getting on the helicopter." "Wow. Yeah you did miss a lot." Cato takes a deep breath and spills the short story.
"After you got on the helicopter, you lost more blood. A lot more. Halozay didn't know if you weould make it. But you held on. We got here, to one of the Capital hospitals and they wheeled you right in. A surgeon came in to look at you. He began to examine where exactly your stomach was cut when these spasms started. They were awful Clove. You were jerking around like you were stuck on an electric wire or something. The doctor had to bring in nurses to hold you down. That was when he said he needed to operate. He said your body was going into shock and it was harming the baby. It was either get the baby out now, or not at all. I couldn't get ahold of Danielle so I todl the doctor to go ahead and operate." I haven't told Cato about Danielle yet so I'm glad she wasn't there. Cato continues, "So this evening, about 11:46, you had a successful c-section. We have another... another son Clove. He was so tiny, because of the premature birth and all. They have him on test tubes and the like to keep his little lungs full of oxygen." He stops his story and looks up at me. My mouth is open slightly. I gave birth? And I don't even remember?!
The nurse comes back then, this time a bundle lies in her arms. Its him. She is carrying a little jar of oxygen that is flowing into him as she walks. I don't extend my hands towards him. I don't smile. I just watch her walk towards me, my face blank. The nurse gently places the baby boy in my arms, forcing me to hold him. She beams at the three of us before exiting the room once more. The baby stirs, opening his eyes to look up at me. With his light blonde hair and clear blue eyes he is the spitting image of Cato. My heart melts like it did the first time I held one of my babies. He's so beautiful. The tears come to my eyes as I lift him up to his daddy. Cato takes him, freeing me to wipe my tears away. I gained and lost a son in the same day. It doesn't seem right
