Eternal Spring (A child is born)

[Lucy!]

"Don't worry honey, it's going to be fine." Carolina whispered as Amalia's hand wrapped tightly around hers as the agony in her body grew with exhausting fury. They wheeled her into the hospital, a mess of people fussing over Amalia like some circus freak show, or so it seemed to her as she slipped in and out of pain.

"Mama, mama." Amalia called out as they took her into a room where everything felt lonely and cold. "Honey, I'm here, I'm here." Carolina responded, smiling. "Mama is Kris here?" Amalia barely mouthed as another wave of burning hot pain seared through her dilating body. The contractions were growing steadier and seemed to be overlapping now and Amalia was convinced she was being sliced into two from the pain.

"Not yet baby, Kris is on his way, he'll be here any minute. Don't worry." Amalia's mama said soothingly, although there was nothing that could calm the excruciating tension of a human being trying to exit her body. Amalia nodded, not particularly comforted by the thought that her husband might miss the birth of their first child. Her mama being there was what she wanted, but the company of her Kris what she needed. Despite the growing torture that nature was putting her young body through, she was conscious enough to miss the presence of the man whom she loved and wanted to share this moment with.

Many minutes of heavy breathing and muffled screams elapsed, and the nurses who had suffocated Amalia when she had first entered the hospital seemed to have melted into the bland, undefinable colored walls of the hospital. Drenched in sweat and marked with suffering, Amalia's contractions not only resonated in every fiber of her body, but she felt like she was being turned inside out. Carolina couldn't stand the poor attention her tormented daughter was receiving.

"Hello?Anyone there?! My daughter needs help here!" Carolina called out, hoping someone in the hallway would hear her.

No response.

"Anyone here? My daughter is in labor!" Carolina cried out, trying not to sound too distressed so as not to alter Amalia more that she already was.

"I'm in labor too, so SHUT UP!" A woman screamed back in anguish.

Carolina, taken back, looked down at her afflicted daughter. "Honey, I'm going to look for a nurse so they can check you, is that okay?" Amalia tightened her grip on her mother's hand, face twisted in raw dolor. "I'll be gone just a second baby, I promise." Carolina said, brushing back the wet curls from her daughter's face. Amalia slightly nodded, gradually letting go of her mother's hand. "I will be right back." Carolina said as she jogged out of the room.

Carolina scanned the desolate hallway and turned the corner, bumping into two nurses a few feet away from her. "Ohmigosh, guess what!? Remember I told you about that guy, Sancho? The bus driver? Well he asked me if I was free this weekend!" Nurse 1 said happily, walking right past the frazzled looking woman standing right in front of her. "Excuse me? Can you help my daughter, please?"Carolina asked, interrupting the nurse's social hour. They both turned to snicker at her. Nurse 2 began unwrapping a Watchamacallit slowly."What room is she in?" she asked mechanically, as interested in helping as she is clipping her toenails. "Its right around the corner, right here." Carolina responded, quickly leading them to her aching Amalia. Both nurses, however, took their time. "Great! He finally asked you! So what'd you say?" Nurse 2 responded before taking a bite of the chocolate bar as Carolina ran back into the room.

"I'm having this baby NOW!" Amalia screamed as soon as she saw the lackluster nurses walk in. "Just breathe baby, just breathe. It will be over soon, just breathe." Carolina said as the nurses began to check Amalia's progress. "Yeah, Miss, you are about ready, dilated pretty fast for your first time." Nurse 1 said with a hint of a smile, perhaps an attempt to comfort Amalia.

"I need Kris!" Amalia screamed as they began to transport her shaking body to the delivery room. "He'll be here, don't worry honey." Carolina cooed, fumbling for her cell phone. When Carolina called Kris to tell him about Amalia's water breaking, he was stuck in traffic trying to get to work. She could only imagine the trouble it was taking to turn around and head to the hospital.

"I'm going to call him right now honey, don't worry, just breathe." Carolina said nervously, dialing Kris's number as she walked down the hallway adjacent the nurses and Amalia. The phone rang a few times before Kris's excited voice popped up. "I'm outside-how is she?" "She's headed for the delivery room right now-" "Kris?!" Amalia called out. "He's here baby, don't worry-" "Kris please hurry!" Amalia shouted so that Kris could hear. Everything was so unbearable that Amalia didn't want to breathe anymore.

Kris came running to meet the mother-to-be, worry lines aging his young face. His dark brown hair and suit were dripping under the weight of April's precipitation."Ama! My sweetie pie! How are you feeling?" Kris asked happily and calmly, knowing that the condition his wife was in wasn't exactly pleasant. Amalia looked at him, her eyes brimming with clarity and for a millisecond smiled. Then she grabbed his arm and pulled him through another one of those infamous contractions that she could no longer stand to endure.

"Sweetie, just relax and breathe" Kris said, not knowing what else to fill the uncomfortable time with. "Just--think of the park we went to when I asked you to marry me. Remember that day? It was Spring, sunny and bright-" Amalia was sobbing and huffing and denting Kris's arm with her steel grip. Kris felt his arm was being chewed off by a rabid animal and tried to draw some inspiration from their happy moments together. "Think of the grass...so soft and pleasant, the little squirrel that was sitting next to you on the bench who didn't run away from us-" Amalia was quietly writhing in pain. "Remember the flowers...the trees...the birds were singing...when we came back to your place, it was packed with daffodils everywhere, vases and vases of them I had ordered..." Kris's voice was beginning to bother her, every inch of Amalia's skin was crawling with agony. And now they were asking her to push.

"Push Ama, push Ama!" Kris urged, praying for relief to come to her soon. He searched for Carolina but she had left them alone so as not to intrude on their moment. Kris realized he was alone with the doctors and he suddenly felt scared. The idea that he was actually going to be a father whipped across his existence; he looked back at his trembling wife and felt a sturdy mix of admiration,fear and happiness concretize his wet body. They were going to be parents. He was going to be a father...The pain from Amalia's nails digging into his arm numbed as he studied her face. "Just keep pushing, sweetie...you're going to be a mommy soon...just keep pushing...you are beautiful and I will always love you." Kris said, kissing her salty forehead lightly as Amalia heaved.

With one last push, Amalia let out the little human who had resided in her warm belly for nine months and kept her company through midnight binges and tearful moments of discomfort. This little human was moving out of the cushy apartment in her body and into the spacious real world...

* * *

"She's gorgeous!" Amalia contently sighed, staring at the creation before them. Kris was too choked for words and kept his eyes fixed on his daughter. "Our beautiful Hope will make our Springs eternal." Amalia said in amazement at the tiny slumbering life she was cradling in her arms.

LT
3-25-05

[stilltrucking]

That was an excellent story for a rainy cold day.