Ninth Month: Labor And Birth
The room was quiet and seemed inhabitated, except for the woman who lounged in the loveseat looking out the floor-to-ceiling window panel. The day was beautiful outside but she could not bring herself to enjoy the sunrays today, nor appreciate the mating song of birds. All she wanted was to curl up and cry. The time to say goodbye was fast approaching and she just did not want to let go.
"Soon, you'll be born little one. Aren't you excited?" Said the very pregnant woman to the child while caressing the round belly. "I want to thank you for keeping me company these months and teaching me many things about life. And I also want to thank you because of you I think I have someone to call my own."
The sad eyes could not hold the tears any longer and so, a lone drop fell down and splashed onto the caressing hand; which inmediately made her look up to the ceiling in an effort to stop others from making themselves known.
It was of no use, and soon the river of farewell overflowed its boundaries. It was heartbreaking in all of its calmness for she did not utter a sound. She just let it all go in silence, as if paying respect to those who are gone.
Young Dr. Hiiragizawa had stopped talking on the phone. It was a long distance call from his lady mother inquiring about Tomoyo's wellbeing. She did not want to appear nosey, so opted to call her son instead of her new lady friend as would have been of more logic.
Eriol was inwardly consternated. It was almost time for his favorite patient to give birth and he could sense that her spirit had dropped somewhat. He was afraid of a postpartum depression that could be far more serious than normal due to the special circumstances of this pregnancy. He honestly did not want to medicate her nor have her hurt herself, even if not physically. Everynight he prayed for her to be strong.
On the week scheduled for delivery, Tomoyo often took long walks in the gardens to get her body in optimum form for labor, or so she had been told at one of the Lamaze classes.
Everything was packed and her handmaid was watching over her like a hawk after she learned that her mistress had already been experiencing bloody shows and very maneagable contractions that lasted for about thirty seconds and were ten minutes apart.
She also ate a bit more than normal because she felt so hungry! She wondered if she would gain all of the weight she had not gained at the very end of pregnancy. She was not comfortable at all with that posibility.
Eriol had called her in the morning and asked if she wanted to have a date night and go to dinner. She had agreed more than happily and thus was now getting ready for it.
She decided to wear a fairy-inspired evening gown made of black, airy fabric with a mate under-layer and trimmed in lace with some ribbons adding a phantasy look. The skirt resembled that used for Flamenco-dancing but it stopped at the knee in front and trailed behind a bit at the back. The gown was sleveless and tied at the neck in a halter top that was adorned with hand-sewn, black swarosky crystals. The dainty feet were covered in ballerina-inspired footwear, with one tied at the ankle and the other at mid-calf. The thick hair was up in a French-twist with a dew of crystals and pearls while the jewelry was composed mostly of white-gold, diamonds and pearls.
Looking at her reflection in the mirror she wondered if she had over-dressed herself, but remembered that Eriol had said it was going to be a fancy restaurant and that he wanted for her to look her very-best; which was somewhat difficult given that she seemed otherwordly even in a pair of sweatpants and a over-sized tee-shirt. Those were his exact words.
"You are breathtaking tonight milady," said Eriol when he saw her.
"As are you, milord." She replied and blushed slightly. He was certainly dashing in his black tuxedo with a shawl-collar. He had on rimmer-less glasses and his jewelry screamed Cartier.
He smiled and offered his right elbow for her to take before leading the way towards the parked state-of-the-art Cadillac.
"How are you feeling? Are you prepared for what lays ahead?" He inquired over a glass of spring water at the best table in the most exclusive five-star restaurant in town. She could not drink alcohol and he wanted to be supportive so declined the very tempting offer of a good wine. It was odd but the waiter understood and provided them with soft drinks without hassle.
"I'm feeling quite alright," began the young woman looking straight at his eyes but then her own lowered to fix at the candle in the center piece of the lovely table. "About the second question, that I don't know. I know what is to be expected, I know by heart the breathing excercises but I don't know how I'll cope with things." She sighed and it felt extremely sorrowfull.
"I just want you to know that whatever happens, I'll be right by your side." He promised and tilted up her chin with a finger so his encouraging smile would not be lost on her.
She smirked, "I know silly. You'll be head of the medical team if memory serves me well."
He kept on looking at her and frowned slightly, "that's not what I meant and you know it."
She seemed lost in thought before smiling broadly. "I do."
They talked about everything and anything in particular but kept away from direct personal questions. On her part, because she did not know how to handle double-edged situations when her reasoning was more often than not clouded with mood-swings and Eriol, because he did not want to jeopardize the idilic relationship he shared with his favorite specimen of woman-kind; though he harbored the wish to make her more than a favored friend.
He had been drawn to her like a moth to a flame by her bewitching personality since the very begining. At first he was intrigued about her seemingly unsurpassable barrier built on mostly polite and diplomatic mannerisms; but he got the privilege to see her heart and soul naked in one of her many emotional breakdowns which was natural given the circumstances. Otherwise he would have thought of her as unfeeling. He liked what he saw: a loving child within the body and mind of a warrior woman. It had to be like that, otherwise she risked her sanity in the hands of corporate tycoons in the trade-world she moved about. Many responsabilities had made her cover her young heart in layers upon layers of protective shields that were completely mate to the common eye; but he had managed to read between the lines and her body language a story of forgotten dreams and broken promises that was so endearing, it was hard to stop reading once you got started. And even agaisnt the pollution of the world, she had managed to keep herself untainted; but held within her the wisdom of the old without making her jaded.
In short, he was very much deeply in-love with her and he had a feeling that she felt the same.
He walked his lady to the very steps of her front door and kissed her with a passion that was returned and meant more than what had not been said in words. She smiled and got inside, being carefull to not awake anyone in the slumbering household.
She made her way to the bedroom unscathed and changed the gorgeous evening gown with champagne colored pajamas made of the most expensive silk. The slight pain in the lower regions of her back was unheeded and she slept through it, until exactly five o'clock in the morning when all hell broke loose.
She awoke by sharp contractions that were three minutes apart and lasted for almost sixty seconds. She managed to get up and padded towards the bathroom, head bent on having a warm bath to relax in a bit. Besides she wanted to be presentable if she was to get rushed to the clinic anytime soon and while she was at it, she practiced her relaxing techniques.
When she was about to dry off she felt the water bag breaking and started to panic but forced herself to stay calm. She waited until all of the liquid had been let out before finishing drying and got into her underwear enhanced with a maxi-pad to prevent any leaks on the car - a thought that simply disgusted her to no end - and got dressed in a knee-lenght hindu-styled dress with flat-heeled shoes that resembled that of a genie while her hair was kept away from the face in a high ponytail.
When she got down to have something to eat before going out, even if she was not to keen on eating at the moment, her eyes spotted her mother leafing through a newspaper at the kitchen counter. Relief washed through her but it was short lived when another contraction made her grasp the wall for support. Her moan of pain alerted Sonomi, who in an instant was at her darling's side.
"Remember to breathe honey, tell me when it's gone."
Tomoyo just nodded for she was not capable of much, and was led towards the table by her mother as soon as she could walk. She had a Continental breakfast before her mother had called the handmaid and got ready the chauffeur. The last row of seats in the family-owned 2005 Ultimate Lincoln Navigator SUV was specially arranged for Tomoyo to travel comfortably while a seat in the second-row was removed to allow better access.
On their way to the birth center, Sonomi dialed Dr. Hiiragizawa's mobile number and informed that they were on their way. Despite Tomoyo's hard breathing and moans, the chauffeur was instructed to drive slowly and safely, keeping an eye out for bumps in the road because they increased his ojousama's discomfort.
Half an hour it took to get them all safely at the birthing center's emergency entrance, mostly because there was a traffic jam and the GPS navigation system suggested they take a road with a more efficient flow of traffic but that was significantly longer. The staff got Tomoyo onto a stretcher and wheeled her towards a room where she was plugged in two monitoring devices almost in no time.
"Hello darling, how are you feeling?" Asked Eriol suavely once inside room one-o-three. He gave her a quick kiss on the forehead and squeezed her hand before going to the monitoring machines to check on her. "Looks like you won't be here much longer. You're doing a wonderful job so far!" He congratulated and she smiled, but inwardly had the urge to slap him as another contraction hit her.
The contractions were longer now and more intense, often lasting for one-hundred and two seconds with as much time in between. She had been experiencing hot flashes and trembled.
"Eriol, I want to push!" She said and almost gave in.
He checked her cervix but it was not completely dilated so told her agaisnt it. "Imagine there's a feather tickling your nose, wouldn't you try to blow it away?"
She kept silent while breathing hard. "That's ridiculous!"
Before an argument broke Sonomi, who had been filling in her daughter's admission papers, intervened. "Please darling, use your imagination and do try to blow it off. It might help you fight the urge to push." She said tactfully.
"But I want to push so bad! Why can't I?" Perspiration dampened her forehead and her handmaid dutifully wiped it clean.
"Because you're not dilated enough, the cervix might swell and it would end up complicating things." Eriol explained looking at the machine, expecting another contraction in a matter of seconds.
His favorite patient had a feral look that was very fetching.
"Breathe honey, there's another one coming on." Coached Sonomi, taking her child's left hand, allowing her to squeeze it; confirming first-hand how a firm hand-grip her daughter was rumored to have by many a business-partner.
When it had subsided, Eriol said: "Let's do a test. Push when I tell you to but don't apply too much pressure on it."
"Okay!"
It so happened that her little pushes helped her cervix to quickly disappear after a seven-centimeter dilation instead of making it swell so she was transfered to the delivery room.
The bed she was put upon had been electronically arranged to provide a semi-sitting position that, even though it held not all of the benefits of a sitting position, was far much better than laying flat on her back.
Everything seemed to be going well but then something happened. Even though she was fully dilated and everything was ready, the baby would not go down and after almost an hour it was making the staff worried.
Tomoyo was getting weaker by the second with all the pushing she had to do and was afraid of being unable to continue and have them practice a cesarean.
Outside, Sakura was pacing the hall like a caged lion while Syaoran had his umptenth cup of black coffee, which was bad because he was not into coffee at all. Sonomi answered some important calls with haste and moved all of her appointments for a later date. She was certainly in no state of mind to deal with stocks and quarter-reports.
Eriol was worried about the baby being in distress and Tomoyo's blood-pressure that had been increasing in the past fifteen minutes; but still he wanted her to have a natural birth.
"Listen to me Tomoyo, let's make one last try and if it doesn't work, then you'll have to go through a cesarean, okay?" He whispered into her ear and kissed her temple. "Please keep fighting, I know you can do it!"
That somehow gave her some strenght to keep on and smiled, even if a bit weakly.
She started another string of pushes when the nurses instructed her and with the last one the baby was born with a strong cry announcing his presence to the world. It was a baby-boy.
The tired surrogate mother managed another weak smile when she saw him being carried by a nurse towards her. She only held him for the briefest of moments but made good use of it by sending a prayer to the gods above to bestow their blessings upon the newborn, which she sealed with a kiss on the baby-boy's forehead.
"Tomoyo, darling, there's something I need to tell you..." She heard Eriol say with slight unease while handing the boy to the awaiting nurse.
"Is something wrong?" And she began to panic.
"I wouldn't call it that. It's just that our labor here is not done... You're having twins."
It was a blow to the mind. "I'm having what?"
"Twins. It's a rare case, just three-percent of twin pregnancies are undetected until birth and it seems that you fell into the statistics." He said brightly while a nurse dried his forehead and temples. He was already positioned to receive the other baby. "At the count of three, push again."
She did as told, drawing strenght from places she never knew of because she had thought of them as depleted. Maybe it was divine intervention or something. But whatever it was, she was and would forever remain thankfull.
The second child was more eager to embrace the light of world outside its mother's body because it was out and crying with the second push.
"It seems that you're having the pair!" Cried out an emotionally moved nurse for it was her first birth and it was a girl.
Another nurse showed the tiny work of art to Tomoyo who did exactly the same she did with the baby-boy.
The twins were taken to the neonatal observation room in the birthing center. To say that the Li-family was overjoyed with the news was an understandment. They were overflowing in happiness. Sakura could hardly believe it and Syaoran had to pinch his arm multiple times to erase any thoughts of it to be a dream!
Sonomi, on the other hand, though relieved that the physical phase was over, was more worried on any psychological sequels the whole ordeal would produce in her young darling.
"I'm so proud of you." Said the British physician, dabbing at her sweat-dampened forehead with a soft cloth. A lone tear rolled down her rosy cheek. "I love you."
She weakly smiled and said nothing but in her eyes he read that she loved him too right before she was dead to the world.
Owari
Author notes: well, we have reached the ending of this story. I hope that you sincerely liked it. Please do not forget to leave a review.
And since I can almost see your murderous looks, rest asured that our sweet Tomoyo is not dead. She just fainted.