Will She Wake Up?

Everything had happened so fast. Ila's water had broken and a few hours later my daughter was born. I turned to kiss Ila when I noticed her eyes were closed. I nudged her arm but she did not move. She was still breathing and although her she still had a pulse, it was beating slowly.

"Father she is still bleeding." Adah said.

I had tried to stay relatively calm, but my demeanor finally cracked and I began to panic. Na'el had elevated Ila's legs to try to stop the bleeding, but it was not working. Evi kept watch of Ila's pulse while I tried to get her to wake up.

"It looks like she tore a bit." Adah told me. "If I stitch her up then I think it'll stop the bleeding."

"She's right. Father I think it is best if you leave." Naomi said.

I wanted to stay but I did not have the fight in me. I took the baby from Naomi and went back to mine and Ila's house. As soon as I walked I was bombarded with question. Sensing something was wrong, Elijah moved the children into a different room before coming back and helping me sit down.

"She won't wake." I told my eldest son.

I started to break down so Elijah placed the baby in her cradle. I was hysterical for a while before I took a few deep breaths and felt myself calm down.

"Everything will be alright. She has not been doing well for the past few months Father, it is most likely just exhaustion." Elijah assured.

I looked at my son and saw Ila. He had most of her prominent features; he also had her wit. He was a father himself now and it seemed to make him wiser beyond his years. The baby had begun to cry so I picked her up and began to rock her. She continued to cry and then it hit me, she had not been fed yet.

"Elijah go get Naomi and ask her to come feed the baby." I told my son.

The baby's shrieks got louder and out of curiosity, I suppose, the other children came into the room to see what all the commotion was about.

"Look it's the baby!" Dinah, now eleven, cried.

"Oh she is so cute Papa!" Miriam exclaimed.

"Why is it a girl?" Tobias, nine, asked.

"Never mind that, why is she here and not with Mother?" Thaddeus, fifteen and a father himself, asked.

"Ew she smells!" Levi, nine, yelled.

"Enough all of you, Thaddeus take them away from here." Elijah said coming into the house, Naomi right behind him.

Thaddeus took the kids away as Naomi took the baby from me and tried to feed her. Elijah and I turned away to give her some privacy.

"She is eating; you two can turn around now. Do not worry I am covered." Naomi said.

"How is she doing?" I asked my daughter.

"Adah stitched her up and the bleeding has stopped, which is good. Grandmother looked her over and said it may be a while before she wakes up or she could wake in a few hours, it is hard to know. She is mainly worried that Mama will get dehydrated since she lost a lot of blood and cannot rehydrate." Naomi explained. "You can go see her, Jonas and I will watch over the baby."

"Her name is Mila. Your mother and I decided Mila for a girl and Silas for a boy." I said.

"Thank goodness she is a girl then." Elijah said.

It had been a week since Mila was born and Ila still had not woken up. Naomi had kept good on her promise and was taking care of Mila while I stayed by Ila's side. Thankfully our children were all older and could take care of themselves for the most part, even Tobias who was seven. Even so Elijah stayed with them to make sure they did not wreak havoc.

"You should see Mila, she is beautiful." I told Ila. "She looks a bit like Naomi did when she was born, with the black hair. I believe she is going to have light eyes as well but you know it is hard to tell right now."

"You are going to make yourself sick Shem." Mother said, sitting down on the other side of Ila.

"I do not know what to do." I confessed. "What if she does not wake up?"

"She will." Mother said, taking my hands in hers.

And she did.