Whew! I'm back. Thank you all for your patience, and many thanks, from the bottom of my heart, for the attention this story has gotten in my absence. It's humbling and exciting. The true, honest reason this update has been so delayed is writer's block. I had about two pages of it written months ago, and I kept revisiting it again and again and still not being able to push it in the direction I wanted it to go. Finally, I scrapped all of it and rewrote the whole thing, and then it just poured out.
Also, I did my usual crazy amount of research for the medical stuff, but I'm still going to do my disclaimer: I'm not a doctor. I'm a language major with Google. It may be pretty close to right (hopefully; I read lots of medical journals!) but don't quote me. All you really need to know for this one is this: after you deliver a baby, you still have to deliver the placenta, which is the giant organ your body grows specifically for taking care of the baby in your uterus. It looks sort of like a scary, veiny jellyfish (jk childbirth is beautiful, yay!). No but really. The big kicker here is that when the placenta detaches from the uterine wall, it leaves an open wound the size of a dinner plate. Which, if you've already been in danger of hemorrhage from high blood pressure, can be a little bit scary.
Anway, read on and enjoy! I said last time there was one more chapter, then an epilogue. I changed my mind. It will be THIS chapter, one additional chapter, and then the epilogue.
Seto didn't remember the run from the bench to the door of the hospital room. By his jumbled, chaotic estimation of time, it felt like he merely jumped to his feet and then suddenly, he was there: staring wild-eyed into the tiny, cramped room.
It had cleared out a great deal, he realized. There were still machines and monitors on every surface, but the crowd of nurses that had sent him out of the room before had departed along with their cart. That left only Dr. Park and one other person - a nurse, maybe - who stood in the doorway as though standing watch to either intervene or call for backup as needed.
And, of course, Serenity, whose eyes widened the moment they connected with his.
"Seto!" she exclaimed, starting to lean up - only to be gently pushed back down into a reclined position by Dr. Park.
There was only one thing - one person - missing.
"Where's the baby?" Seto heard his own voice ask, sounding distant in his ears.
Serenity's expression crumpled immediately.
"They took her away," she said, her voice barely a whisper.
Seto felt his heart drop like a lead weight, first into his stomach but then somehow even deeper, so heavy and so sharp that it felt like an ache at the base of his spine.
She couldn't mean...
"We were concerned about whether or not the baby could maintain her body temperature on her own, so the nurses went ahead and moved her to the NICU," Dr. Park cut in. "But that's normal for a thirty-two-week preemie. Her breathing and heartbeat were strong, so her prognosis is still good. We're just taking every precaution."
The relief was so profound that Seto felt almost nauseated. He took a deep breath.
"Serenity still needs you, though," the doctor continued. "She's still got to deliver the placenta, and given how things have gone so far, I'm a little concerned about hemorrhaging."
Seto felt a burst of adrenaline - Serenity didn't get a break yet, so he didn't either. He immediately sat down on a rolling stool that had been abandoned by a nurse on the other side of the bed.
"I'm so sorry they had to take her away," Serenity whispered pleadingly. "I did something wrong, I just know it."
"You did nothing wrong," Seto replied, gently taking hold of her hand and bringing it up to his face. He softly touched his lips to the back of it, where a strip of medical tape secured an IV in place. "You've been strong and brave and incredible, just like Joey told me you would be."
Serenity's eyes sparkled.
"We administered a nifedipine pill to lower her blood pressure," Dr. Park explained. "It worked pretty quickly - she's back to hovering around 120/80. As soon as she started dipping down again, I went ahead and administered a pitocin injection to trigger placental delivery. Both of those drugs can make you a little dizzy or nauseated, but I decided to risk it. I was more concerned about preventing bleeding."
Seto nodded mutely. It sounded like they weren't out of the woods yet.
"Here's what this means for you," Dr. Park said kindly but firmly, looking at Serenity. "We're going to get this thing out, because we need to - but you're going to have to fight through both the loopiness from the drugs and the numbness from the epidural, which has probably fully kicked in by now. It shouldn't hurt, but it might still be tough, so I want you to listen to me and do what I say.
"And you - " Dr Park looked at Seto again. "You need to just keep talking. Keep Serenity engaged, because I may need her help pushing again. I'm sorry you couldn't be here during the delivery of the baby, but now's your moment."
The baby.
Somehow, in all of the commotion, Seto's focus had left the baby entirely. He had a daughter out there somewhere.
And he would get to meet her, but they still had work to do. He snapped into action and leaned down beside the bed, hoping to distract Serenity as Dr. Park got to work pressing buttons on a nearby monitor and changing her gloves.
"Tell me about the baby," he urged. "Did you see her?"
Serenity nodded, starting to smile despite herself.
"Only from a distance, but she was perfect. Perfect and tiny. They told me she weighed between three and four pounds. I wanted to look closer to see if she had your eyes, but they had to take her."
"Okay," Dr. Park cut in. "Give me a good push. It'll be tricky because you won't be able to feel your muscles move thanks to the epidural, but just do what you did when you were pushing out the baby. I'll tell you when to stop."
"I read that most babies have blue eyes, at least in the beginning," Seto replied. "So she probably does have my eyes right now."
"Just because they're blue doesn't mean they're your eyes," Serenity replied, her voice strained by the effort she was making to push. "But I still hope they are."
"Okay, now relax," Dr. Park instructed.
"If they're your eyes, I'll fall into them headfirst just like I do when I look at you," Serenity whispered.
Seto felt his chest ache.
"Then I hope they are, too."
"Okay, you'll feel a little pressure," Dr. Park said, placing a gloved hand somewhere near Serenity's stomach. "In a minute, I'll tell you to push again."
"How's... Joey?" Serenity said, the words coming out sounding a little more like a groan. She gripped Seto's hand tighter as Dr. Park pressed down.
"He's worried, of course. But you know, he was actually the one coaching me a few minutes ago. So I think he'll be okay."
Serenity beamed in spite of the lines of discomfort that creased her forehead.
"I'm so proud of you two. Both of you."
Seto shook his head.
"You shouldn't be. Whatever there was between us went on entirely too long."
"Alright!" Dr. Park interjected, sounding energized. "I think this one last push will do it. In just a moment, try to concentrate as hard as you can and give me one final, strong push."
"You can do this," Seto told Serenity, locking his eyes with hers intently. "I know you can. You've done everything else perfectly, for seven whole months. Who am I kidding; you've been perfect a lot longer than that. But what I mean is, this is the easy part. You're almost there."
"Okay - go!"
Learning her head back and tensing all her muscles, Serenity gave one last push, and couldn't prevent a cry of frustration from escaping. Seto continued to hold her hand tightly, and with his free hand, he pushed her sweaty bangs back from her face.
"Almost…" Dr. Park coached. "Just keep it up, just another second. And... there! There it is! You did it."
The three of them all seemed to take a deep breath in unison. Serenity collapsed back against the bed, her chest rising and falling heavily.
But she still didn't loosen her grip on Seto's hand.
"Now let me take a look to make sure it's all here…" Dr. Park murmured, shifting a metal clamp around in a tray that was mostly obscured by the tent of Serenity's legs and hospital gown. "Yes. Looks like it's all good. And the pitocin's doing its job; your bleeding is actually... pretty normal."
Seto felt his heart finally start to float back to his chest where it belonged. All he felt like he could do was take in gulps of air - like he had been drowning and had finally come back to the surface.
"Does this mean it's all over?" Serenity breathed, finally lifting her head far enough to make eye contact with Dr. Park.
"You might say it's all just beginning," the doctor replied, her eyes twinkling a little. "I'm going to go get you an ice pack and some padding to put down on the bed below you. In just a moment, I'll do one last examination, and then the rest of your family and your friends can come see you."
As soon as Dr. Park gave her stamp of approval and left, it was like the flag had been dropped on a race course. Joey ran in, followed quickly by Mai, with Mokuba taking up the back.
To Seto, seeing them felt almost surreal. His universe had compressed, over the past hour, to just himself, Serenity, and the knowledge that their daughter was somewhere waiting for them close by. Having their family enter the room in a rush was a strange reminder that there was a still a world out there, it was still turning as it always had.
"You did it!" Mai exclaimed, rushing past both Joey and Seto and throwing her arms around Serenity's neck. "You're a rockstar!"
Joey grinned.
"And boy, is she beautiful!"
Seto paused. He looked over at Serenity, who, based on her expression, seemed to share his confusion.
"Who, me?" she demanded, looking doubtful.
"Well yeah, of course, but I was talking about the baby!"
Seto leapt to his feet, feeling a sudden burst of adrenaline.
"What do you mean? You saw the baby already?"
Mokuba gave Joey a look of frustration, as though he had said too much.
"We, uh, took a slow walk past the neonatal intensive care unit," Mokuba amended. "And there happened to be a bassinet near the window with your room number on it. But trust me, all we could really see was a head full of brown hair."
Serenity rolled her eyes and started telling the two of them off, but Seto found his thoughts wandering.
He sighed deeply, trying to collect his thoughts. He had expected to feel his adrenaline from earlier transform to anger to be unleashed on the two thoughtless brothers who had taken it upon themselves to go see their niece before he and Serenity even got to see their daughter, but he was instead overwhelmed by a swelling of emotion:
She had brown hair.
He had a daughter, and she had his brown hair.
And before the day was over - probably even before the hour was over - he would get to hold her in his arms.
