Mockingjay part 2

Chapter7

It has been over four months since the trip, and all I have done since then is lay around, eat, drink, shower, go the the bathroom, and sleep. My stomach is so big now that I can barely get around. Peeta often lays with me, takes a bath with me, or massages my back when it gets too strained. He has been painting the spare room to prepare for our daughter. It is a light lavender with beautiful trees painted on the walls. Thom even came by to build her a crib and mobile that Peeta painted. Her room is lovely and I could not ask for better during a time of my true terror. How am I going to give birth? What if she has the biggest head a baby can have and I can't push her out? I sit on the couch thinking about this when a pool of liquid spills from underneath me.

"Peeta!" I scream in complete terror. "Peeta!" I see him run in with that same look in his eye he had in the games, warning me to run because the careers were coming. "What is it?! What's wrong?!" He asks panicked. I point to the floor and he runs over and picks me up. "I'll get you to the hospital, don't worry, we will get there in time. Think about, Katniss! We are about to become parents!" Peeta says running out of the house and onto the road. He takes me down to the hospital were they throw me in a gown and onto a bed to help me with breathing exercises. I begin to wonder if this is the cause of the pains I've been feeling. Before I know it I'm pushing. The pain is immense and I can in no way prevent it. It is like someone shoving a huge rock up you and forcing you to pee it out.

The doctor says he feels her head and I need to push harder. I do. It feels like my lungs are disintegrating into nothing but powder. By the time he says I can stop and he will pull her out I'm breathless. I'm gulping huge breaths until my breathing turns to normal. I hear her crying to the moon and back and suddenly feel a dying need to comfort her. They wrap her in a soft cloth and hand her to me. I take her and rock her until she quiets down. For a moment she opens her eyes to look at me and Peeta. Her eyes are a striking blue like Peeta's and she has dark hair like me that comes to a delicate swirl at the bottom.

Peeta is smiling the biggest smile I have ever seen on a person before. A gentle tear rolls down his face. "Can I see her?" He asks me. I smile and nod as he takes her in his arms. As he holds her, I realize she has his lips, my nose, and my eyelashes. It is amazing how much she looks like me. As she sleeps I decide to sleep as well. Peeta has her and enjoys having her so it will be ok. I drift off into a sleep with the only good dream I have had in so many years. It is me and Peeta in the meadow with our daughter who seems to be around five, and a son, just a toddler.

When I wake I tell Peeta about my dream. "Maybe it's destiny," he says with a wide grin. "What do you mean? Us having a boy?" He nods and our daughter begins to cry. "Here, I think she is hungry." Peeta says handing her to me. I think of my sister Prim as a baby being fed by my mother, and Posy being fed by Hazelle, so I lower the gown and lift her to my breast. She latches on to it immediately and I feel relaxed. I remember something from school in science, how at first there is no milk in the mother, but a nourishing clear liquid. I try to think about that as Peeta walks in from the bathroom. "She was." He says and I nod. "What do you want to name her?" I think about what Gale said at the hospital in two. "Willow," I respond. Peeta looks at me and smiles.

"I think that's a beautiful name. And maybe one day your mother can teach you how to hunt and I can teach you how to bake." He directs at Willow. "Let me call your mother, I'm sure she would love to visit." Peeta says, kissing me on the cheek. He walks over the the fancy phone on the wall. He picks it up and dials a number. "Hello? Mrs. Everdeen? Yes this is he. I'm proud to say Katniss has given birth to our daughter." There is a long pause, and Peeta smiles and tears up. "Yes, of course. We look forward to seeing you." He hangs up the phone and tells me my mother will be visiting in a couple of days. The doctor comes in soon after, "I see you have the feeding down alright? So I'm just going to check a few things and you should be able to head on home if all is well!" He exclaims. Willow is asleep so I unlatch her and allow the doctor to take my blood and blood pressure. When he is finished he tells me I'm perfectly stable and earlier tests say Willow is too.

I hand Willow to Peeta and remove my gown. Peeta must have bought some clean clothes, because I have a new green t-shirt and cream colored pants. I slip on my sandals and allow Peeta to hold Willow on the way home. He holds her with one arm and my hand with the other. We walk passed the newly rebuilt bakery thom helped Peeta with while he painted the spare room. Peeta will start baking there for citizens of twelve soon, now that it has finally finished being built after five years. He has decided to lower prices significantly so everyone can afford bread and baked goods. We pass through the meadow and decide to have a picnic there tonight.

Back at home we pack some fresh bread and berries along with a cooked turkey bathed in a sweetly savory sauce. I put some cheese in as well and a couple bottles of fruit juices into the basket as well. We walk to the meadow, this time I carry Willow. She is awake but not fussing. We lay a scraggly old blanket onto the grass and set out the food. Willow is dressed in some of Prim's old baby clothes that I saved and did not sell or throw away. It is a lavender long sleeved shirt and pants with green socks. I lay her out onto the blanket in between Peeta and I. She looks around at the butterflies and Mockingjays. I look at the hat on her head and the stuffed dog toy in her hand. Also Prim's. Prim slept with it every night. I gave it to her. I begin to tear up when Peeta says, "it's Prim's. Isn't it? The dog." I nod and stroke willows hair and realize it is not me whom she looks like. It is Prim.