Chapter Seventeen
BELLA
Twelve Hours Earlier
I feel a strong kick from my little one and smile down at my belly. I can’t wait to meet her. As I stand, a huge, sharp pain hits me and I double over, gabbing my belly. Something’s wrong.
I barely make it to the door to unlock it so the paramedics can get in, when the pain comes at me ten-fold. I stumble to the couch, holding my belly, and pray everything will be okay.
Remembering I need to let my mom and Tristan know I’m going to the hospital, I send a quick text to both of them. Immediately my phone rings, but at the same time, the paramedics come in and my phone is an afterthought.
The minute the paramedics take control, everything happens at lightning speed. I’m put on a gurney and raced to the hospital. On the way, I’m set up with an IV and asked a bunch of questions I have no answers to.
They pull right up to the labor and delivery ward and nurses are there waiting for me. I’m rushed into a room where the on-call doctor assesses me. “We need to prep her for an emergency C-section. The baby is in fetal distress.”
Then everything is just a flurry of chaos. A nurse helps strip me of my clothes and puts me in a gown. She covers my hair with a net and then I’m whisked to a freezing cold room.
“Because we didn’t have time to give you an epidural, we’re going to give you general anesthesia. I want you to count down from twenty for me and you will fall asleep.”
The thought of not being awake when my little girl is born causes me to panic and the nurse notices. “It’s only going to be for a short time. The baby will be taken to get checked out and before you know it, she will be in your arms.”
I nod my understanding, but I can feel the tears dripping down my face, hitting my temple and ears. She places the mask over me and I begin counting. “Twenty… nineteen…eighteen…seventeen…sixt—”