Love Sick

Los Respuestos

Eva

I yawned and felt my heavy eyes lift and fall on my sleeping husband who was shivering under his grey hoodie on the folding chair, desperate for some sleep and warmth. I chuckled under my breath and slid off of my disposable mat, grabbing the extra blanket from the foot of my bed, spreading it over his shivering body. I winced as the dull ache between my legs returned, making me grip the cold floor with my socks.

There was a soft knock at the door and I managed a soft "come in", but Chris still slept through it, nothing could wake his deep slumber, especially if he was sleep deprived.

Rubber soles squeaked on the shiny floor as the rounded the corner and pulled the privacy curtain back. The nurse entered with a smile on her face, making me exhale with relief that it wasn't some family member who was here to deliver more bad news. She rolled in a clear incubator with a sleeping Penelope on the inside, making me perk up, noticing that Adeline wasn't with her.

"Hi, we are just bringing her over, the doctor wanted to run a few tests on Adaline." She revealed, making my worry increase as I reached over to shake Christopher awake. He groaned and sat up abruptly, wiping the sleep from his tired, blue eyes.

"What's wrong with her?" I demanded, my heart now hammering inside my chest. My worry had been with Penelope, since we were unaware that she was inside of me, but Adeline was always taken care of. "She was having some respiratory problems last night. We put her on a ventilator to help her out, but don't worry, this could all be to her delivery and all that, since she is a twin." The nurse explained, my heart dropping to my toes as I jolted out of my bed, ignoring the dull ache that shot through my body.

"Hand me my robe." I demanded, Chris carefully helped me into it and followed behind, pushing the incubator. "Doctor Zambrano..." the nurse began, but I refused to turn around, my baby was sick and it was all my fault. "No. My baby was sick and I am hearing about it for the first time right now. I am going to be with her." I snapped, feeling my husband place a hand on my back before offering me a wheelchair, carefully sitting me down and handing me Penelope.

Chris quietly rolled me down the hall and past the long window where the newborn babies were being washed and wrapped, eager and proud family members crowding around pockets to gaze at their new baby. As we rounded the corner, the glass doors of the nicu showed a dimly lit room where tiny, premature babies were taped down and monitored under large lamps, making my heart hammer inside my chest.

"Chris..."I whimpered, reaching my free hand out towards my husband who was equally as nervous, squeezing my cold hands to reassure me. He wheeled me inside and a smiling doctor ushered us towards the incubator with the matching barcode on our wristbands. Adeline was naked under the blue light, her eyes covered with a mask, matching her pink cap with a bright bow on it that matched her sister's. I watched as her little lungs inflated then quickly deflated, laboring to deliver oxygen. I reveled at how tiny she looked in there, she had always seemed a healthy size, but there she looked so small.

My heart felt like it could stop, and I couldn't bear it, I needed her in my arms, close to my heart and her sister. "Don't be alarmed by all this, she is just resting under the light, we just got her results and everything looks fine." A woman said from behind us, her red hair was pulled back in a tight bun and the smirk in her green eyes automatically assured me.

"I'm a trauma surgeon, so is my husband. I can handle whatever news you have for us about our daughter." I nearly demanded, my voice trembling with nerves, making me sound less intimidating then I would've liked to.

"Of course, but right now you are this beautiful baby girl's mother." She explained, pulling the chart out of the folder before motioning towards the both of us to take a look. "She has jaundice and we are monitoring that, however, she is having some issues with her lungs, they're struggling a little bit." The doctor informed, making my heart hammer inside my chest, all of my training going out of the window at this point.