Stripping Callum (Last Hangman MC Book 6)(16)

The drive to the hospital is quick. Ten minutes at the most, but the contractions are getting closer and more painful as they come. I have an odd feeling that something is wrong with the baby, but Suzie reassures me all the way to the hospital.

She called them as we were on the way so they would have someone ready to get me in, which is reassuring. I won’t have to wait for hours in the waiting room.

Suzie stops the car by the ER entrance and two nurses are there waiting for us. They open the door and help me out of the car as I’m shaking in fear and pain. They place me in the wheelchair and rush me inside.

“I’ll be right behind you, Anna. You’re doing amazing!” Suzie shouts, but her voice becomes faint as we pass the automated doors.

I’m rushed into a room and the nurse helps me on the bed.

“When is your due date?” one of them asks me as they help me get in the hospital gown.

“Any day this week.”

“Perfect,” the other one says, smiling as she gets me hooked on so many devices it’s overwhelming.

“What’s all this?” I look around the room confused.

“We need to track your vitals and the baby’s heartbeat.”

“Oh God, is it beating?” I ask, terrified something went wrong.

“Relax, the baby’s heart is strong,” nurse one tells me patting my hand.

“Thank God.” I sigh in relief.

They busy themselves around me and pump something to relax me after they put in the IV line. I work on my breathing, trying to breathe through the pain when I feel something wet drip on my tummy. I look up and see nurse two doing an ultrasound.

“What’s going on?” I ask, sounding totally out of it.

“The baby is breech,” nurse one says looking at me concerned.

“What? What does that mean?” I ask in full-fledged panic attack now.

“The baby is bottom down. It’s not uncommon, but we’ll have to see what the doctor says. Your pelvis seems narrow so you might need a C-section. Don’t worry, you’re in good hands.” She pats my hand as I’m getting faint. My vision is narrowing and clouding, and I feel like I’m running low on oxygen.

Nurse two places an oxygen mask over my face and talks to me, but it’s too faint for me to understand what she’s saying. I can hear the blood rushing through my ears.

I vaguely hear a male voice tell me that they need to take me to the operating room straightaway, but no words come out of my mouth. I’m between being conscious and unconscious. I feel like I’m floating but also weighing a ton. It’s such a weird, unpleasant feeling. I don’t know what they gave me to relax, but I don’t like it. I want to ask if my baby will be okay, but I’m unable to form a sentence.

Everything turns into a blur as soon as they wheel me into the operating room. A dark haze is wrapping itself around me until everything fades to black.



Nausea.

Pain.

Empty.

Alone.

I try to open my eyes, but the light is burning them. It takes them a few minutes to adjust to the brightness in the room. I look around, and I’m alone in a pastel yellow room. The beeping of the heart rate monitor is the only noise I hear, and I want to unplug it, the noise is doing my head in.

I look down, and my tummy is still swollen but not as much as it was whenever I went into labor.

Narrow pelvis.

Breech.

C-section.

Where is my baby?

Where is my little Elijah?

What am I going to do?

I’m seventeen and a mother. I have no one in my life. My family doesn’t know where I am nor do I know if they care in the slightest. Surely if my aunt went off to look for me or called the cops to say that I ran away they would have found me? Or maybe she didn’t care enough.

I wish my mom was still here. This is really selfish, but I need my mom. I need her to tell me that everything is going to be okay. That I don’t need to worry about anything. That she’ll help me through it all. But she’s not there. She’s dead. She won’t be able to help me through it all. I’ll have to do it all on my own, and that’s f*cking scary.

I don’t have the first clue on what to do once I’m allowed out of here with Elijah. I can’t possibly stay forever with Gail in her place. I’ll have to look for a place of my own and buy clothes and food and pay the bills. I’ll have to find another job and get a babysitter to watch Elijah or put him in daycare, which will cost more money, and I’ll need to get another job. I’ll be working most of the day to provide for my baby, and I won’t be able to see him grow up.

What have I done?

I break down crying, everything being overwhelming and too much for me to wrap my head around.

“Knock, knock.” Suzie pokes her head through the door. “Oh, honey, what’s wrong?” She rushes to me and gives me a careful hug.

“I’m a failure!” I whine, covering my face with my hands.

“You’re not, you just had a beautiful little baby boy.”

“I’m seventeen, and I just had a baby.” I throw my hands up in defeat.

“Yes, you did, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’ll be harder on you emotionally because you might not be as strong as women with a couple of years on them, but with what you’ve been through in the past eleven years. I’d say you’re pretty strong and should be proud of yourself. Not everybody would be able to just up and leave and make their way down the country, get jobs, and find places to live, and then end up here and be able to go through a pregnancy without having a nervous breakdown. A lot of women feel depressed after having their babies. It’s normal. You’ll get through it, and we’ll help you get through it.” Suzie smiles at me squeezing my hand, and I double over in tears at her sweetness. “I didn’t say all this to make you cry even more.” She chuckles lightly and rubs my back as she sits next to me on the bed.