Orb of Obscurity

11- Breathing new life

*Please listen to 'serendipity' by Jimin for a better experience."
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We were heading to a hospital.

We were on our way back from the hotel and we had to travel quite a long way. Just when we were passing by a quiet village, we found this lady. There were no hospitals nearby.

We decided to take the lady to a hospital in a small town not far from the village in the cab. Waiting for the ambulance was not an option.

As soon the car parked, Mare ran in to get the stretcher. The driver and I lifted the lady and waited for Mare.

I had informed the hospital of the situation on the way and they agreed to keep the staff on standby.

But luck never appears when called upon. There was only one doctor available, the doctors had been called but it would take them at least half an hour to arrive.

"I'm sorry but we rarely get patients here, so a gynecologist is not available." The nurse said.

"Why don't you girls assist me. It's just a caesarian. You would have helped doing those before. Its been quite a while since the water broke. The baby has to be delivered if crowning has started." The doctor said to us.

Us? We weren't even doing gynecology as a major and it'd been two years since I had taken part in delivering a child.

I looked at Mare and she was looking at the lady blankly.

Well what else could be done?

"Yes sir." I nodded at him.

"The baby has started crowning, sir." The nurse called to the doctor.

He nodded at us and left giving instructions to set the operation theatre up.

I took Mare's hand in mine.

"Baby, it's a new experience for us. Come on." I squeezed her fingers. I was nervous too but excitement topped it all.

She gave a nervous smile and we changed into scrubs that we borrowed.

The patient had been given anesthesia. Everything was ready. We had to perform a caesarian.

We began.

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Never in my life had I been happy to hear a cry. We had picked the baby up and put in a small rubber tube like structure to take the amniotic fluid out of the baby's nose and mouth. As I held the baby, the doctor cut off the umbilical cord.

The newborn was so delicate that it frightened me. I was so scared that I might drop her. Oh yes, it was a girl. She was crying while flailing her tiny arms and feet around. So this was how it felt to have a baby. Minus the pain. I got it, why women wanted to have a child. But I was always afraid of the pain.

I thought that pregnancy was just pain. But after entering college I came to know how much of a life threatening situation it was. Like, a woman could basically die giving birth. Why? Why go through all this pain?

But holding the new born in my hand, I finally realized what motherly instincts were. The feeling of holding a life, created out of your own flesh and blood was a feeling one could never imagine unless felt. Women are the only beings with this power and they are certainly more precious than men. Fight me.

Mare and the doctor finished the surgery. I took the baby out to clean her and get her ready to meet her mother. The poor lady would be unconscious for quite a while.

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Mare clicked a picture of me as I held the baby. She was sleeping peacefully.