Project Baby Spider * Peter Romanoff

-10

10 August 2001
[part one]

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NATALIA WAS IN BED, lying on her side, when the door to her small room opened. Madam B walked. In her hands was the ever-familiar manila folder. Two men — both dressed in white lab coats — walked behind her. Between them was a metal stretcher.

Natalia tried to turn on her back and sit up, but her large bump restricted her movements. "Let me help you," Madam B said. She reached behind her and set the file on the stretcher. Natalia nodded, not having the energy to respond with words. When Madam B was beside her bed, the older woman bent down to Natalia's level. Natalia put her arm around Madam B's neck and Madam B put her arm around the back of her waist. The older woman helped pull Natalia up onto her feet.

"Today is the day, Ms. Romanov," Madam B excitedly exclaimed, retrieving the file from its spot on the stretcher. "Wonderful, Madam," Natalia replied, giving a forced smile.

She was excited to meet her son. The thought of getting to see him one day was one of the only thing keeping her sane the past nine months. However, she knew faintly of what would follow the birth. Her son would be ripped from her grip and taken away to get hurt. And she wouldn't be able to rock him, whispering "it will be okay" to him after the inevitable took place.

Today would be bittersweet.

"Sit on the stretcher. We do not want to risk anything happening prior to the birth," Madam B instructed. Natalia nodded her head and made her way to the stretcher.

Before she sat, the two men lowered the stretcher so Natalia could easily sit down. Once she was situated, they raised it back up and rolled her out of the room. Madam B followed them out the door, shutting and locking it once she was out.

No one said a word as they made their way down the long hallways. Natalia counted twenty doors before they stopped in front of twenty first.

Madam B opened the door and the men pushed Natalia into the room. The room wasn't too big — there was just enough room for a few tables with equipment, a delivery bed in the middle for Natalia, and a place in the farthest right corner for the baby to be weighed, measured, and checked. There was currently no one in it.

"These two gentlemen are going to lift you and place you onto the bed. Do not do anything to hurt the baby," Madam B told Natalia and the men, looking them straight in the eyes. All three nodded and immediately after the two men picked Natalia up.

One put his hands under her armpits and lifted her upper body. The second put his arms under her knees and listed her lower half. The lab coats must have covered their muscles because they easily transferred her to the delivery bed.

The two men then proceeded to leave the room while other doctors and nurses filled the room.

They wasted no time on starting their work. One nurse started an IV in Natalia's arm while another checked her heartbeat and lungs.

"We will be conducting a c-section today," the main doctor informed Natalia. She nodded her head in response. At least I don't have to push him out.

Twenty minutes passed by before everyone was finally ready to begin the c-section.

Natalia was now dressed in a hospital gown, despite her opposition of changing in front of everyone. She now had a variety of needles stuck in her body, and was numb from her waist down.

It felt like hours before she heard a her baby's first cry. When she heard it, her eyes filled with tears; it was over, but it was also beginning. Her pregnancy and waiting was over. Now, it was the beginning of her baby's life. It was also the beginning of her new life — though, she didn't know exactly what was going to happen next.

After his umbilical cord was cut, silently Natalia watched as they moved him to the corner of the room prepared to check him. They checked his weight —six pounds nine ounces — and his height — forty centimeters.

After a few more simple tests that Natalia didn't know were and worried her, they moved her son to lay on her chest. She moved her hands up to his head and rubbed his small amount of hair.

"Hey baby," she said, her voice shaking and a new glimmer in her eyes. Natalia looked down at her baby, smiling the brightest smile ever, and he opened his eyes for the first time. When he saw his mother, he stopped crying.

"Do I get to name him?" Natalia asked, not looking up from his eyes. Madam B walked over and opened her file. She responded with a simple, "Yes." Natalia smiled (if even possible) more. "Pyotr Veniamin Romanov."

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EDITED/REWRITTEN

-Nat