In her whole life, she didn't remember ever feeling such pain. Her head was spinning and her eyes watered relentlessly while in her head a whirlwind of thoughts prevented her from understanding what was happening. The cramps she felt were getting more and more excruciating, so much she couldn't breathe. And then the blood on the sheet... Something was wrong, there shouldn't have been so much, but above all it wasn't yet time. There were still 4 weeks left. Yet the creature she was carrying seemed ready to come out.
"Hurry up please!" she heard the boy screaming on the phone in hysterical tones.
Vain had been the courses she made to leart how to face the labor and the recommendations of doctors, at that time the agitation and terror reigned supreme and it was almost impossible to keep calm.
"Hold on, Nina, they're coming in few minutes." Steve said, holding her hand tightly and pulling the strands of hair from her sweaty forehead. "Try to take deep breaths, you'll soon feel better."
Fortunately they heard the sound of sirens in the distance after a few minutes, but it was early to sighing in relief. The blond in fact realized with horror that in addition to the blood there was another almost colorless liquid that continued to gush copious. After only 8 months of gestation, how was it possible that the fetus was already ready to come into the world? The fear that it might be born prematurely, or even worse, risk its and Nina's lives paralyzed him from head to toe. The chances of something going wrong were very high, since that situation should not have occurred in the first place, moreover the woman herself was already suffering as if she was already about to expel him. Fortunately the paramedics arrived, who immediately surrounded her and hurried to take her the first parameters.
"Who are you?" a tall man with deep gray eyes asked him.
"I'm her s... I mean her brother. My name is Stefan Walsh, this is my sister Agatha, but it's early, too early, she's only 36 weeks."
Hearing these words, the team hurried even more to load her on a stretcher and rush out.
"Where are your parents?"
"We don't... We don't have them anymore, it's just the two of us..." replied the boxer, unable to keep his voice stable.
"I understand. Come on, take the documents, the bag and follow us, your sister must be admitted urgently!"
"Yes, sir!" the boy stammered, upset.
Unfortunately the bag was not ready yet, Nina hadn't felt ready to prepare it yet and he had not wanted to force her. He picked up the first things that found, from diapers, to towels and onesies and rushed out of the house, jumping in the car and chasing the ambulance. The Letterkenny Hospital that had followed Nina was more than an hour's drive from where they were and in those conditions it was impossible to reach it safely. The ambulance rushedto the nearest Killybegs Community Hospital, less equipped, but a lot closer. The situation was obviously serious and she needed to be stabilized as quickly as possible, both were risking a lot. They arrived at their destination within ten minutes, thanks to the total absence of traffic being late at night. Steve rushed into the structure, stalking the stretcher that was being pushed at full speed towards the emergency room.
"I'm sorry, you gotta wait here!" a nurse called him, blocking his way.
"But my sister..." he protested, trying to get over her.
"Your sister needs urgent surgery, we need to stop the hemorrhage and get the baby out. I can't let her in!" replied categorically, before rushing back to the doors of the operating room.
Hemorrhage. Steve felt the ground trembling under his feet. His head was spinning and his ears were buzzing, he needed air, but he couldn't move. He was promptly supported by two nurses, who noticed his pallor and the cold sweat that raged his forehead, had run to meet him without even noticing, while his legs gave out. they let lie him down on an emergency room stretcher, and he slumped over it, while the others held his legs up to try to send the blood back to his brain. It didn't have to be this way. Her mother was a strong woman, indeed, the strongest he had ever known, she had suffered trauma, injuries, terrible injuries, she could not break right now. He couldn't lose her, after all the months he spent together to mend a relationship that seemed lost in the beginning. As the days went by he had realized that he really loved her, to hear her in all respects his mother, although from her part there was always a certain detachment. But despite that, it was clear that she too had begun to accept him as part of her life and had started to love him and be grateful for everything he was doing for them. She had turned her back on him and yet he had still extended his hand to her in her greatest need. She understood that despite the pain and humiliation they had inflicted on her during that long cryogenic sleep, something good had come from it. A healthy guy, strong, kind and caring, so genuine and sincere to leave her off guard every time. The warmth of his heart had managed to melt the ice that had always wrapped hers. It could not end like this, suffering could not prevail again.
"Better now?" one of the nurses asked him when he opened his eyes.
"Y-yes, I think so." he stuttered uncertain.
"Here..." said the other, giving him a plastic cup. " Drink this, it's sugar water. It'll do you good. But if you get upset again, I'm afraid we'll have to give you something stronger."
Steve gratefully accepted and drank slowly in small sips.
"I'm feeling better, thank you very much." he answered, sitting on the stretcher.
His eyes immediately looked for the door to the operating room that had swallowed his mother. The light above it was still on, a sign that a surgery was underway. For a moment he felt like fainting again, but he tried to pull himself together with all his might.
"How is my sister doing?" he asked the nurse who was putting the pressure on him.
"I don't know, I'm sorry. Normally a woman loses about half a liter of blood during and after childbirth, unless it's a C-section. Frankly, I've never seen anything like it, but if you want to stop that blood loss, you need to extract the fetus."
Steve shuddered at those words. He was not an expert on children, far from it, although he had tried to document himself as much as possible in those months. What was happening to Nina was abnormal, and although it couldn't be said that he was a believer, he prayed with all his heart every god to make sure that everything went smoothly.
"Listen to me: I know that you're worried to death, but even if we are a small hospital we have excellent doctors available. I guarantee you that they will also do the impossible and that soon you can embrace your sister and her child. Have faith!" said the nurse, placing a hand on his shoulder and smiling at him.
Even if he was aware that the situation was very serious, that young man had put aside his professionalism, in favor of an act of humanity and compassion. He felt how much that boy was in pain and in his heart he knew that to take for granted a positive outcome was a big gamble, almost immoral, yet he trusted in the abilities of his colleagues and in the good God''s will, who would always favor life in the face of death. If anything, his words seemed to cheer him up a little, so, thanking him again, Steve got off the stretcher to go out for some fresh air. Even in late spring at night the air was still pretty cold. It was a very clear night, without a cloud, where the stars competed for who was brighter and the moon shone in all its mysterious charm. The boxer remained for a long time contemplating the sky, trying to count those infinite shiny dots, so far away, yet so comforting. The stars also had a life, but throughout the span of it they never failed to rise every night and shine. Every time the sun went down to make room for the darkness, they were always there to illuminate the way of those who lost it. He had been like this for him and despite the fear, he felt that it would be like this for his mother too, because he knew that she would fight for life with all her might and eventually she would come back, beautiful and radiant as never before. Sighing, he went back inside and sat in one of the chairs in front of the operating room. The ER was half-deserted, so nobody asked him to move. He stared at that door for endless minutes, which seemed to become hours in half the time and prayed that one of those stars out there would shine for them, too.
After a period of time that seemed infinite the light above the door was switched off. It was then that Steve began to count seconds again, struggling with all of himself to keep calm and prevent agitation from taking over. They kept going, on and on, becoming a greater and greater number, yet articulating them in his mind helped him to stay focused. It went up to 660, that's 11 minutes, and then the door opened and a 50-something doctor came out. He wore a pair of half-moon eyeglasses behind which there was a tired and indecipherable look.
"Are you Stefan Walsh?" he asked as he approached.
Steve swallowed.
"It's me!" he replied with a trembling voice.
"Good evening, I'm Dr Byrne, I've managed and coordinated your sister Agatha's surgery."
"How is she? And the child?" he asked agitated.
From the doctor's gaze he could not tell anything and really began to fear the worst.
"Her sister had a large antepartum hemorrhage due to the detachment of the placenta, the cause of which is attributed to the excessive amount of amniotic fluid."
Steve was on hold.
"Normally a fetus is considered suitable for birth from week 37, however given the severity of the situation, we felt it was too risky to wait and we performed an emergency C-section."
"Please tell me how they are..." begged the boxer, now on the verge of tears.
"Miss Walsh has been stabilized and the bleeding stopped. She is currently still under sedation and the surgery seems to have succeeded. I want to be clear, we can not yet consider her completely out of danger, but she has a good chance of recovery, being very young and healthy... As for the fetus, well..."
"Well... What?"
"I must admit that in so many years I have never seen anything like this." replied the doctor, with a certain perplexity in the voice.
"What do you mean?" Steve replied alarmed.
"Babies born prematurely, that is before the 37th week, can have problems at birth. However, in this case, the fetus appeared to be fully formed and healthy, as if it had been born at term. Nevertheless, we decided to keep him under close observation, so both he and his mother will be hospitalized for at least a week... Although all in all, it seems to me that the picture for both of them is quite positive, if we consider the gravity of the situation in which they had presented themselves and the risks that both have run."
Finally, after hours, Steve started breathing again. It was done. True, they both had to recover and it was too early to celebrate, but in his heart he knew everything would be fine. Nina was alive. The child was alive. Whatever would happen after they would face it together and he was ready to give all the support he could.
"I... I wanna thank you from the bottom of my heart Dr Byrne, you, all your team and all your hospital. I will always be infinitely grateful to her for what she did." she said, her eyes shining with emotion.
"Duty boy, duty..." replied the doctor, finally spreading his lips in a smile. "Also, congrats for the birth of your grandchild. You're going to be a very cool uncle!"
Uncle... If only he had known the truth. No, he would not have been a tough uncle, but a loyal, caring and loving brother. All of a sudden he realized that one of the greatest dreams of his life, to have a little brother, or a little sister had suddenly come true. He never expected it, not even remotely imagined, and yet it had happened. He thanked all the professionals who came out of the operating room and strongly recommended that they be notified as soon as Nina regained consciousness. It was not yet possible to see the child because they were subjecting him to all the necessary checks and examinations, but he would have been patient. Smiling, he left the hospital again, to observe the sky beginning to turn orange and violet. In the distance a star still peeped into the sky. It was on its way to sunset, but Steve smiled with tears in his eyes as he watched, knowing that it would return to its place to continue to shine again and again.
"Thank you..." he simply muttered, wiping a tear that had escaped him.
After a life full of darkness, finally his eyes and those of his mother, were about to know the light.
Author's note: I have no idea how childbirth works, appreciate the effort. Steve is such a sweetheart.