Chapter 7: A birth…a change.
February 22, 2007
I was reading my previous entries and I noticed I hadn’t mentioned an important fact in my life. Well, any normal person would see it as important, but then again it isn’t directly related to me…not precisely. And apart from that, this little fact didn’t have anything to do with any of the previous events that I have related already. After all, this is a journal for me, about me…no one and nothing else. I guess the time has come where this is needed to be mentioned, and that is that my mother had been pregnant for some time now, eight and a half months to be exact. Yet, for some complications that I will state below, she gave birth already. And this entry is about what happened, how it happened (not the exact details on the birth thing because that would be just gross) and what I dreamt about…you know, the usual entry type.
It all started around 7:00 AM yesterday. I was having my usual pop-tart before school and my mom was on the phone.
“No. But doc, I still have some weeks to go.” She said on the phone while she robbed her belly. Around this same time my dad came into the room, kissed her on the forehead and walked towards the kitchen to grab his own breakfast. And again when I say breakfast, I mean cereal.
“I understand. Fine. We will be there. Thanks.” My mom said in a sarcastic tone as she hung up.
“What’s going on, hun?” My dad asked my mother while he sat on the table with his cereal and milk.
“Apparently I am giving birth today.” My mom answered.
“Wait. What?” my dad asked surprised.
“Exactly what you heard.” My mom replied kind of pissed. Here I thought she was supposed to be happy to give birth but she didn’t seem like it and I wondered why. I didn’t ask of course.
“But you aren’t due ‘till de tenth of next month.” My dad replied. He was now serving his cereal. I know, now I notice that perhaps it isn’t important the exact details of what he was doing, but it just seemed natural to do so.
“Yeah but Doctor Johnson is leaving tomorrow to God knows where, on vacation, and he won’t be back for like a month. So he has to make me give birth now or else I will need to let another doctor take care of me.” My mom explained.
“But isn’t that like…dangerous?” I asked.
“Aha! Why do you think I am pissed?” My mom answered. I knew I shouldn’t have asked.
“Sorry.” I said, in a non-nice way.
“I agree with him Martha, I think it is too risky.” My dad said. And I just realized that is the first time I wrote my mother’s name in this journal. Well there you go, she is called Martha.
“Riskier than having some random doctor treat me? I don’t think so.” My mother said.
“I guess not. So when do we have to be there?” My dad asked.
“By nine AM.” My mom replied.
“Alright Robert. You can’t go to school then. You have to come with me and help me out with your mother.” My dad ordered.
“Help you out how though?” I asked. I was all up for not going to school but I just didn’t see the point.
“In case she needs anything while we are there. That way we don’t leave her alone. You know what, don’t ask questions. Just do what you are told. You are getting a free day off of school for crying out loud.” My dad replied.
After this I changed my clothing to something a little bit more comfortable while my parents got ready doing God knows what. We left to the hospital around 8:30 AM more or less. We got there at precisely 9:00 AM, right on time. To my surprise the doctor was ready and waiting for us, he seemed in some sort of a hurry and I actually didn’t have a good feeling about that.
“Hey doc. Here you have her.” My dad said giving my mom, literally giving her, to the doctor.
“Thanks. Right this way Martha.” Doctor Johnson said pointing towards a door in his left. “You guys can wait out here.” He told us.
“Alright. Good luck hun.” My dad said.
We had to sit in the hospital lobby while they treated my mother. It was a very nasty view to tell you the truth. We were surrounded by people with all kind of diseases. Sitting right next to me was a guy that had his….you know what? Never mind. It is just too gross to actually write. No need to go into details. But it was nasty.
For some reason, hours in hospitals seem to go slower. It is like they are stuck in some sort of special time-space quantum tunnel where time is non-existent within it. It seems like a few hours had gone by, but the truth was that only half an hour had gone by. I really don’t know if I was just bored out of my mind or that I was nervous for my mother. Could it be? Could I have been anxious and nervous for my mother? I don’t know. I am not sure really.
During this whole time my dad and I barely talked. He seemed more nervous than me, that is…if I was nervous. He kept moving his legs on the chair. It drove me nuts. He then stood up and walked around and then came back and sat down. So I just had to ask.
“Where you this much of a nerve wreck when I was born?” I asked.
“The problem is…never mind. I am just anxious that’s all.” My dad replied. I had the feeling he was hiding something from me. Later I learned that I was right. You see, my mother had actually gone a similar procedure when I was born. Although I was born when my mother was actually due, meaning that she was nine months pregnant, I was kind of forced like my little brother/sister was being forced at this time. There were some complications and I almost died. It was all good though, because I turned out just fine. I think.
After waiting for what seemed to be an eternity, like I mentioned earlier it is just hell waiting in this hospital, a nurse came out to give us the news.
“Mr. X” the nurse said. I wrote X and not the actual last name, because like I said earlier I am going to keep my last name private.
“Yes?” My dad replied. “Where is the doctor?”
“I am afraid he is gone already.” The nurse asked.
“Gone? But wasn’t he supposed to leave tomorrow?” My dad asked.
“Yeah. But he had some packing to do and what not.” The nurse said. My dad didn’t seem to like that and neither do I.
“Packing? What the…what kind of doctor is he? Leaving like that. Damn it. Anyway, how is my wife?” My dad asked.
“She…she is alright. For now. I…I don’t know how to say this but..” the nurse replied.
“What? What is it?” My dad said, getting a little bit desperate.
“…sir. I am afraid…the baby is in critical conditions.” The nurse said.
“What? No! Why? How? What the heck happened?” My dad asked filled with tears. My eyes started to water a little bit as well. I was looking forward to having a brother/sister and right now it seemed like the chances of that happening were pretty slim.
“We don’t know sir.” The nurse said but I don’t think my dad listened much. He had dropped to the floor crying. “Sir, calm down. There is still a chance that she can survive.” That’s how we learned the sex of the baby, because the nurse was trying to calm us down. Not a really good way to learn the sex of a baby if you ask me, but a sister it was.
“Dad relax. It is going to be okay.” I said crying and trying to hug him while he was on the floor.
“Can I see her? My daughter.” He said while he stood up.
“I am afraid not sir. Your wife you can see though. She is in room eight fifteen.” The nurse said. My dad walked towards the room and I was left behind.
“Nurse.” I said as she was walking away. She turned around.
“Yes?”
“What really happened?” I asked.
“What do you mean?” The nursed asked kind of confused.
“You can’t fool me. My dad is full of pain so he couldn’t see it. But you are definitely hiding something. So tell me. What is it?” I asked.
“Ah. I am not sure what you are talking about kid.” The nurse replied.
“Cut the crap lady. My sister could die because of what happened in ther
e and I demand to know what the heck it was.” I replied almost yelling.
“Fine, fine. Relax. Walk with me.” She said as she started to walk. So I did; I walked with her. “You have to keep this between you and me alright?”
“Alright. Just tell me what the heck is going on.” I said, starting to lose my patience.
“I don’t think the doctor was paying much attention.” The nurse said and I was completely in shock.
“What do you mean he was not paying attention?” I asked.
“Well he kept talking about his vacation trip and what not. He wasn’t really focused in the operation as he should be.” The nurse replied.
“Mother of…ah!” I said pissed off. “This is why the baby is delicate isn’t it? He basically killed the baby.”
“The baby isn’t dead yet, but yes, that could have been why. And he didn’t care much either. He just left the room and went to his house. He said, like I told your dad, that he needed to pack. He didn’t show any kind of sensibility towards the baby or the situation. At all.” The nurse explained.
“Son of a…” but right when I was about to finish my sentence we heard my dad scream.
“Need some help here. Please. Come quick!” My dad said coming out from my mother’s room. The nurse ran towards him and I followed. My mom was shacking really hard. The nurse came in and took care of her and stabilized her pretty quickly.
“We need to keep her here for some days, this is not normal.” The nurse explained. My dad was sitting right besides my mother; grabbing her hand.
“This is because of that damn doctor isn’t it?” I whispered to the nurse as she walked pass me.
She looked at me and tried to avoid contact. She then looked back at my mother, looked back at me and let a big breath out. “I don’t know. I really don’t know.” She finally said.
My mom stayed there for a few days. We had to sleep, uncomfortable, for a few nights as well, on a chair or a very hard sofa. They were the worst days of my life, not only I couldn’t have my precious sleep but my mom was lying there very weak and the doctors didn’t know what she had. Then suddenly the unexpected happened, the heart monitor started to beep rapidly. My mom didn’t look good. Some doctors came in for her aid.
“What is going on?” My dad asked desperate.
“Need IV.” One of the doctors said.
Then the thing went flat line. Her heart had stopped beating. My dad was going nuts grabbing his hair not knowing what to do. I just looked at the doctors, watching if they could do anything about it. They shocked her with the two metallic things; I really don’t know what they call them. She jumped from the shock. But nothing happened. Thing kept flat lined. They kept trying for a few minutes but nothing.
“I am sorry.” One of the doctors said. “Time of death, six thirty-four PM.”
“Noo!” my dad said crying his heart out. He fell on her and kept crying. I swear some tears came out of my eye but not much. To contrary believe, because of the way she treated me, I did love my mother with my whole heart. So her departure definitely hurt a lot but I just didn’t feel like expressing it with tears. My mom was gone and I am sure part of my dad and me were gone as well.
Then we went home and we were both very tired because we hadn’t had a good night sleep for some days now. My dad didn’t say a word. He just walked into his room and locked himself up in there. I didn’t know how to make him feel better. I felt sorry for the guy and I was kind of sad as well. At least my sister did survive. I don’t know if my dad will be able to pay attention to her without thinking about my mom’s death but I do hope he treats her better than what he treated me. Anyway, I decided to go to my room and rest a little bit, it was 8:00 PM after all.
I was really tired but for some reason I managed to dream. You know, sometimes they say that when you are really tired you don’t dream. Well, for some reason I did. And I am really glad I did.
Interestingly enough, it started pretty similar to my “real life” experience. I use the quote marks because as of lately, it has been kind of hard to distinguish between reality and my dreams. Anyway, I was sitting on the table eating my pop-tarts, or what seemed to be pop-tarts. To be honest, I am not quite sure what it was. It doesn’t really matter, those it? Back to the dream: my mom was on the phone as well.
“No. That’s ok doc. We will be there. Alright. Thanks. Bye.” My mom said on the phone while she was robbing her belly again. The exact same scenario except for the fact that my mom didn’t sound sarcastic.
“What’s going on?” My dad said as he walked into the room. He kissed my mom “Morning Robert.” He said as he grabbed his cereal.
“Morning, dad.” I replied.
“Nothing honey. That was Doctor Johnson, he wants us to be there by nine AM.” My mom explained. I started to get scared so I intervened before my dad could talk.
“But mom. You aren’t due for like another two weeks or so.” I said assuming that she had the same time of pregnancy as my mother in the real world.
“No babe. I have two days to go actually.” My mom explained. “You okay? You knew this.”
“Right. But if is two days, why are we going today?” I asked.
“Precisely because of that.” My dad said. I don’t know if he was trying to explain it to me or what, but I sure didn’t understand. Luckily, my mom noticed and stepped up.
“They keep me there two days before birth so they can monitor everything. In case something happens.” My mom explained.
“Oh I see. What about dad and me?” I asked.
“Well you are coming of course.” My mom said.
“But I hate waiting at hospitals. They are so uncomfortable.” I said and my mom and dad laughed. I looked at them strangely because I didn’t see what was funny. “What?”
“You have a weird sense of humor kiddo.” My mom replied.
“Okay.” I said as I kept eating. I decided to ignore the whole subject; it seemed like the wisest thing to do in this situation.
After we were all done eating we headed to the hospital. We went on my dad’s car. Or now that I think of it, I am not sure if it was my dad’s car of my mom’s. It was definitely better than mine though. Although mine was off the roof in coolness. This one had a more familiar sense to it. You see, it also had auto-pilot, but instead of being divided in the usual way. You know, the driver’s sit, the passenger sit and behind it a row for three people or more, it was actually a circle inside. It was like a limousine now that I think of it; except it really had no driver’s seat anywhere. We just sat down, buckled up and my dad said “Saint John’s Hospital.” And off we went.
In the middle there was a table, above that there was a plasma TV (or what seemed like a plasma TV to me, but I am pretty sure it was some other technology because it had a holographic look to it) that went around in circle. Basically it was a big TV that you could see from anywhere in the circle. We only turned it on for a few minutes though, and it was just to watch the news pretty quickly. We arrived at the hospital in no time.
I was impressed with the look of the hospital. It didn’t seem old and boring. It was actually a multi-colored building; a huge one to say the least. People were coming in and out in a hurry, but most of them smiling. A pretty weird scenario for a hospital if you ask me.
When we went into the hospital a nurse greeted us. “Oh hello Martha. How are you today?”
“I am doing great thank you for asking Rosey.” My mom said. I know, typical nurse name isn’t it?
“We have your suite set and ready to go. Please follow me.” Rosey said, so we did. We followed her. As you have probably guessed by now, we were taken to room 815.
What took me by surprise though was the fact that when we went in, it seemed as if we were in a hotel instead of a hospital room. This must be wrong, I thought to myself. Not any hotel room mind you. It was actually a suite as Rosey had previously stated. There was a living room and a kitchen. I also had my own room, full of videogames and an a
mazing plasma TV (again it was actually a holographic TV, but bear with me). My mother had her own room and my dad did as well. My mom’s room actually looked like a hospital room but much more cozy. It had a typical hospital bed, although the equipment that surrounded it seemed much more advanced, but the room was filled with colors and just simple joy.
“Doctor Johnson will be with you in a minute.” Rosey explained.
“Thanks.” My mom replied and smiled. Rosey smiled back as she walked away.
“Wow this is awesome.” I said. Still impressed with what was surrounding me. My parents simply smiled.
For some reason I don’t remember much of the details that went by during this two days. I am sure I spent much of my time with the videogames and locked up in my room. I hope I did remember though, because I am sure those videogames would have been pretty kick ass.
Anyway, the dream seemed to jump towards the having the baby part. Actually, my mom had already had the baby. We were in the room, and she had the baby in her arms. My dad was sitting right besides her, with one arm around her and the other one he used it to play with the baby.
“Hey Robert. Don’t you want to say hi to your sister?” My dad said when he noticed that I was standing in the door.
“So it is a girl, huh?” I said as I walked towards her.
“Not any girl though. She is your sister.” My mom said smiling.
“How are we going to call her?” I asked.
“Hm. I don’t know. What do you think we should call her, hun?” My dad asked my mom.
“I don’t know either. What do you think Robert?” my mom asked me. I was surprised by this and I really didn’t know what to answer. I gave a good look at my sister, I noticed her big beautiful eyes, and the name just popped into my head.
“She looks like a Melanie to me.” I replied.
“She does indeed.” My dad said.
“Hi Melanie, I am your mom; this is your dad, and that boy right there, that is your big brother.” My mom said talking to my newly born sister. I just stared at them with a smile that covered my whole face. It was my family.
“Welcome to the family little sister.” I said and then…I woke up.