Warning: Graphic birth scene
It was approaching the thirteenth hour of Lutfi's active labor and there was still no appearance of the babe, even though Lutfi had been pushing for three of those thirteen hours.
"IT HURTS! KAREEM, PLEASE MAKE IT STOP! MY BACK IS SPLITTING APART! PLEASE, I JUST WANT MY BABE! PLEASE!" Lutfi begged while suffering a pain, sobbing.
"Shh, Love, I'm here," Kareem attempted to sooth his distressed partner while helping him bend forward to push and Faris held up one of his legs.
"Lutfi, listen to me. This babe will come soon I promise, but until then I need you to focus and try to stay calm. Can you do that for me?" Hephaestion coached. Lutfi shook his head weakly, panting and crying, "Yes, you can. I know it. Good boy!" as Lutfi began to struggle once more.
"OWW!" He wailed, "AHH! MY BACK HURTS, PLEASE, MAKE IT STOP!"
"All right, Lutfi Darling, stop pushing! Good boy. Faris, release him. Kareem, come with me," they went outside, "Kareem, I need you to remain calm for what I am about to tell you. Promise me that," the man nodded solemnly, "Lutfi's not progressing as he should be. And that scares me because he's tiring and the babe hasn't even begun to crown yet. I think-" he was cut off by Lutfi's scream from inside the hut, "I think we have to intervene. With the way he's complaining about his back, I suspect the babe is faced the wrong way and if he continues like he has been, it could hurt or kill both him and the babe."
"W-what do you suggest we do?" Kareem's voice shook, as did his hands.
"As a former soldier, I know how to perform surgery. However, this may damage the chances of the two of you having any more children."
Kareem shook his head, "I do not care. Save my Lutfi. Do whatever you must."
"All right," Hephaestion said soberly, "Kareem..." the man lifted his head from where he had bowed it, and Hephaestion saw tears in his eyes, "I will do what I can. That I swear to you. Come. It is time for you to meet your child."
They explained what they planned to do, and the risks, to both Lutfi and Faris once Kareem had calmed enough to go back into the hut. Lutfi, as expected, began to weep, saying over and over that he could do it. Hephaestion, of course, was ready for this and so was gentle with him when he spoke.
"Lutfi, Darling, you're tired. While this is normal in labor, you are not progressing as I would like, and your pushes are getting weaker. The babe is not even crowned yet. I only want what is best for you and the babe, and you being tired puts you both at risk. Will you trust me to do this?"
Lutfi nodded weakly, weeping. Hephaestion then comissioned Faris to run to the unused healer's hut and grab any herbs that could be used to deaden Lutfi's pain during the surgery. This done, he proceded to wash Lutfi's belly with warm water and a clean cloth. Finally, he took a clean knife and sterilized it in the fire, waiting for it to cool afterward. When Faris returned draped in herbs, Hephaestion made a paste out of the best ones, rubbing it onto Lutfi's belly.
After about a half hour or so, Lutfi wailed aloud, not from pain, but from fear.
"My babe... I can't feel him anymore... WHERE IS HE?"
"Shh, Lutfi Darling, your babe is here," as Hephaestion said this, he coaxed one slender wrist down to Lutfi's belly, resting his open palm directly in the paste, "Now, I'm going to wipe the paste off and make the cut so you can birth your babe."
"O-okay... Kareem..." the called for husband went to the bedside and took Lutfi's now seemingly frail hand, "You know the risks of this surgery," he began to cry for very nearly the hundredth time that night, "and I beg you... if I don't survive this... please do not resent our chid... Know that I died doing something I desperately wanted to do... Bringing your child, your son, to you... please..." his hands were folded as if in prayer.
Kareem only bent over Lutfi and held him close as he wept over his shoulder. Hephaestion and Faris looked on, and after the couple had had their moment, Hephaestion annouced he was making the cut. Lutfi stiffened involuntarily in preparation, and Kareem took his hand and on tight, getting eye-to-eye with him.
"Look at me, Amenanvirakan, only at me. I am here. I will not leave you. Yes sirum yem k'yez."
"Y-yes s-sirum..." Lutfi struggled to return the endearment, panting heavily with the pain brought on by the now halfway-made cut on his stomach, Faris mopping away the blood with a clean cloth as Hephaestion cut. Lutfi had gone very pale in the short while since the surgery had begun, his eyes huge in his lean face.
"Shh, Amenanvirakan, conserve your strength. Just rest."
"T-the b-babe-"
Kareem looked down at the progress of the procedure, even as Lutfi strained to try and see as well, "Our child is on it's way, Lut. Everything is fine. You are so brave."
"Kareem," Hephaestion interrupted their talk, but when the father-to-be turned to him, he saw a grin split across his face, "Would you like to see your babe while he is still in the womb?"
Kareem moved down the bed, careful not to let go of Lutfi's hand. And what he saw made his heart race and yet steady all at once. In moments, joy, fear, and sadness overwhelmed him. For there, nestled still within his true love's body, lay his son. The babe kicked and moved his head as his father watched, peacefully asleep and unaware that he was being born. His head was wet with birth fluids and blood, but dark with hair. His lips were full, and Kareem suddenly found he had the urge to run a fingertip across them.
"Would you like to touch him?" the question was quiet, not meaning to disturb this first tender moment between father and child.
Kareem nodded silently, and so Hephaestion took a single finger and helped run it down the child's exposed back. With this action, the babe jerked suddenly, lifting a very small hand up and out into the open air. Lutfi, who had been watching this first exchange, gasped as it appeared and smiled brightly.
"Why don't we get this little one born, hm?" Hephaestion suggested with a smile as Kareem moved back to be beside his lover. Within moments, he had pulled the child free of it's mother and was getting him to cry.
"It's a- Gosh, with the way you two had been talking-" Hephaestion chuckled, looking down at the newborn as it wailed.
"What, what is it?" Kareem's voice was urgent, worried for his child.
"Why don't you two see for yourselves?" the babe now somewhat clean and wrapped loosely in a blanket, Kareem was handed his child for the first time. He hastily but gently unwrapped the blanket, peering down at the miracle he and Lutfi had made. And froze.
"What? What is it? Is my babe all right? Kareem, please tell me he's all right..." Lutfi began to fret at his husband's reaction.
Kareem looked at his husband, and in just above a whisper, announced what had astonished him so.
"It's a girl."
Translations: (Armenian)
Amenanvirakan = Dearest
Yes sirum yem k'yez = I adore you
Translations were gotten from Google Translate, so I'm sorry if they're wrong!
AN: Whew! Lutfi gave birth! It's strange; every time I write or read a birth scene, my back starts to hurt. Smpathy pains, I guess. Still, I feel so accomplished after completing this chapter! Now I can breathe again. God, that was intense! :D Hope you all enjoyed!
