Chapter 25 - Jenna
My body felt numb, and I found lifting my fingers difficult.
My eyes were shut tightly, and I could not make out my environment. The only thing I took note of was the slight throbbing in my lower abdomen and the banging in my head, which didn’t feel like they were about to stop anytime soon.
I gently opened my eyes and gasped when I realized that I was lying in a hospital bed. It looked like a delivery room.
I gazed around the delivery room, enjoying the sterile yet comforting atmosphere. The walls were a soft, calming blue, and the white floors gleamed. The room was filled with medical equipment, beeping machines, and wires snaking across the floor. The air was thick with the pungent smell of antiseptic and the salty, metallic scent of blood. I could taste the tang of fear and excitement in the back of my throat.
I looked to my left and noticed Feliks seated there with a worried look on his face. His hands were resting on my legs, and it seemed as though he was saying a prayer for me. It made me smile because he appeared cute.
His eyes widened, and his spirit lifted when he realized I was awake. He was seated on a stool beside me. He stood and came to kneel in front of me.
“What can I do to help you?” he asked, his eyes searched my face.
“What happened?” I asked him. I was still finding it difficult to understand how I’d gotten here.
Feliks opened his mouth to reply, but before he could, I looked down at my stomach. My baby was gone.
I placed both hands on my stomach immediately. My heart sank deeply into my stomach. Then, I remembered that I had heard the cry of my baby before passing out. I also recalled going into labor, being rushed to the hospital, and then trying to push the baby out.
The struggles and pain I went through replayed in my head. I stared toward the empty crib by my side. My head began to spin, and my heart rate doubled.
“Where—where is my baby?” I whispered with shaky lips.
“You mean our baby?” he smiled and sighed. He didn’t look sad anymore; I wondered if that meant that there was hope.
I decided to repeat the question since he hadn’t responded. It scared me that he seemed to have ignored it intentionally.
“Oh . . . he’s . . .”
Before he could answer, a nurse walked into the room, carrying a baby in her arms. Immediately, my heart lifted in excitement, and I felt like jumping up.
“Here is your baby, ma’am.”
I couldn’t wait to hold my child in my arms. I stretched out my hands and took the baby from the nurse. The baby made a tiny noise, causing tears to fall down my cheeks. He looked so much like Feliks—his hair, eyes, and nose.
Feliks stood up to have a clearer look at his baby.
“He is so adorable!” I gushed.
It was difficult for me to believe that I already had a child. It seemed like it had just been yesterday that I got married. I reminisced on my life more than a year ago, and it was nothing like this.
I never thought I would be here, carrying my adorable little child in my arms.
“Thank you so much,” I told the nurse with a smile.
She only nodded and walked away. I took my eyes back to Feliks. He smiled at me, and I returned the smile. Feliks turned around and watched the nurse as she walked away.
I felt discomfort in my bladder and shifted uncomfortably on my bed.
“What is the matter?” Feliks asked me.
Before he could say anything else, I pushed the baby toward him. “Please, hold him for a second. I need to pee.”
Feliks nodded and held out his hands. I gingerly placed the baby in his arms, and he kissed my forehead as I made my way to the bathroom. There was a tenderness to him that tugged at my heartstrings.
When I returned to the room, I met Feliks admiring the baby and kissing him, too. I stood rooted at the spot, watching them with a smile.
Feliks seemed really excited about the baby. I was, too. I could hardly believe that I was already a mother. I’d still been learning how to be a woman before I got married, and here I was.
I found myself laughing lightly.
Feliks turned around and saw me standing there, laughing at myself. He grinned at me, and I walked back to the bed and sat in front of him.
“I never thought I would be a mother so soon,” I told him as I stared deeply into his eyes.
“I never thought that I would be a father so soon. It was never even part of my agenda, but the heavens decided to bless me with a lovely wife.”
He paused and looked down at the baby in his hands. “And not just that... the heavens added another blessing. A beautiful baby.”
I smiled as I began to recall my childhood. I wondered if this child would possess some of the characteristics I had as a child and if I would be able to see myself in him.
I’d thought these memories were lost forever, but with my baby in my arms, I knew I had a second chance at life. I was smiling when the door gently opened.
Feliks and I turned toward the door at the same time.
The doctor walked into the ward with his stethoscope slung around his neck. “She’s okay now?”
He seemed a little surprised, and I wondered why. I smiled broadly as he walked up to me.
He placed his right hand on my cheek; I assumed it was to check my temperature. “I can see she’s doing some magic here,” the doctor teased.
He lifted my left wrist and read my heartbeat with the stethoscope. I could see a slight look of shock on his face, but the shock was replaced with a hopeful expression as he nodded his head and sighed. He turned to Feliks, who was still holding our baby.
“She’s perfectly fine,” the doctor informed Feliks.
Feliks smiled broadly. He didn’t seem surprised at all. “I can see that.” He nodded.
“Congratulations to you both.”
“Thank you, doctor,” Feliks and I chorused.
We all smiled as we conversed with the doctor. He teased me about how tired I’d been earlier and mentioned how I told the nurses I wanted to give up when they were trying to convince me to push.
I giggled.
“No one would believe that it’s the same woman sitting here, healthy and laughing like nothing happened.”
Feliks and I only laughed. I took his teasing as a compliment—of course, it was. Not everyone would have recovered this way after passing out the way I did.
The doctor decided to give us some privacy. As he turned around to leave, I suddenly remembered something.
“Doctor,” I called as I scratched my head.
He stopped abruptly and turned around to face me with a questioning eyebrow.
“When are you going to discharge me?” I asked him.
He took a few steps back toward us, then stopped before he got to bed. He smiled apologetically. “We have to monitor you for a little bit longer before we discharge you.”
I nodded my head and forced a smile. I didn’t like the smell of hospitals. It didn’t bring back good memories. I wished I could just promise the doctor that I was okay, so he’d let me go.
I sighed heavily and turned to face Feliks. “How do I convince the doctor that I am okay so we can leave?” I asked him.
“Here,” he said as he handed the baby back to me.
I carried him carefully, then kissed his forehead. Even though he wore clothes, he was covered in a small blanket. The nurses had dressed him in the onesie Feliks had brought.
I lifted my head and faced Feliks. He hadn’t responded to my question. I wanted answers, yet I didn’t want to repeat the question.
“Jenna,” he called gently. “The doctor is right. You shouldn’t be in a hurry to be discharged. What is more important right now is your health—and the baby’s.”
I sighed deeply and nodded my head.
“Let’s allow the doctor to monitor you for a bit longer. I love you so much, and I cannot afford to let anything happen to you right now.”
I nodded again. They were both right. I shouldn’t be impatient, even though I badly wanted to leave. I should put my life and health first, and that of my child.
Feliks stood and came to sit beside me on the bed. He put his hands over mine—the baby was still securely held in my arms—and stared deeply into my eyes. I gazed back, and I felt this spark.
I felt like we were more connected now. I wondered if Feliks felt the same way, too. We were both staring at each other without moving or saying a word. I had so much to tell Feliks, and I knew he’d have things to say to me, too.
He pulled himself closer and held my fingers even more firmly, squeezing gently. He didn’t let his eyes leave mine. Not even for a second.
“We have now entered a new phase of our lives,” Feliks told me. “A phase that we didn’t expect so soon, but it happened anyway.”
We both looked down at the baby and chuckled lightly. Feliks faced me again. His look was serious now. “I don’t know how to thank you for giving me this precious gift.”
“ We gave us this precious gift,” I corrected Feliks.
We chuckled for another few seconds before lifting our heads again. I loved the fact that we were adding levity to this serious moment. It made it more relaxing and more fun.
“Truly, Jenna, I’m indebted to you. Thank you for coming into my life and for giving me another part of us .”
We looked down at the baby and smiled hopefully.
“Enough, Feliks,” I said and pulled my hands away from him. I held the baby properly and concentrated more on him. I didn’t want the moment to get too emotional.
Feliks understood what I was trying to avoid. He smiled as he grabbed my face and pulled me closer, then he planted a wet kiss on my forehead.
“You and our baby mean everything to me now.”
Tears began to drop from my eyes. Tears of excitement. Tears of joy.
“You and this baby mean everything to me now, too,” I told Feliks.
He pulled me closer and hugged me and the baby together.