THE FEAR OF IANA
Just before the birth, Iana struggled with the pain and the onset of nausea, until she finally vomited. Still, she wanted to take as little pain medication as possible.
Finally the midwife came in and brought Iana to the birthing room. Marian sat in the chair, trembling with excitement.
„I feel like a cat,“ Iana told Marian. That was probably due to the position she was in when the birthing process began.
Iana endured the pain and the whole situation with a lot of humour and encouraged Marian. But he couldn’t hide his fear.
Finally! At 23:32, the little William was born.
The baby screamed vigorously. Marian severed the umbilical cord.
Iana was happy.
„It was not as bad as the first time.“ she said to Marian.
The midwife looked at Iana and hugged little William. For the moment, everyone was relieved.
Then it became hectic again. Three midwives tried everything to get the placenta out completely. But on the ultrasound scan, it became clear that there was still some afterbirth left in Iana’s body. She felt strong pain in her stomach.
The doctor came in and spoke softly to the midwives.
„You have to hold on a bit and keep pushing so that the afterbirth comes out completely.“ said the doctor to Iana.
„Otherwise we’ll have to bring you to the operating room.“
„I don’t want to push anymore, the pain is too much. I want to go straight to surgery.“ Iana replied.
„Good.“ the doctor said to her, squeezing her hand lightly.
For a moment it was quiet in the room, except for the crying of the baby.
Iana shivered as she was taken to the operating room.
„That is normal. It’s the adrenaline.“ the doctor reassured her.
The operation lasted two hours.
Marian was in bed. Little William was on his chest. Marian enjoyed the first half hour with his son. He had become a father again.
What man was lucky enough to have the baby on his chest right after birth and to feel his warmth?
But Marian became more and more restless.
What was going on in the OR? How was Iana? Was she still under general anesthesia?
The fear crept up on him and there was nothing he could do about it.
„You are so tough.“ said the doctor in the operating room to Iana.
The doctors and nurses admired how patiently Iana endured everything.
Iana was pushed into the room and Marian was relieved at first. But Iana’s bleeding had not stopped.
„We have to operate on your wife again.“ The senior physician told Marian.
„Should it not be possible to remove the placenta, we must remove the entire uterus.“
Marian’s tears rolled down his face. He could no longer hide the fear he felt for his wife.
Would she do it? Was her life in danger?
For him, a terrible wait began.
The moment they brought Iana back, Marian realized how much he loved his wife.
Iana slept until 3:00 in the morning. When she woke up, she asked Marian first:
„Are you OK?“
It scared her that she had slept so long. She wanted to hold her baby in her arms as soon as possible.
Every half hour, until 9 o’clock in the morning, the nurses checked to see if everything was alright.
On Monday, Iana had come to the hospital and she wasn’t released until Friday.
The family was together again and could hardly believe their luck. William was born on the thirteenth of the month. They had tried to delay the birth until after midnight, so that William was born on May 14th.
That was mainly Marley’s wish. He wanted to spare his brother any misfortune that could have come with the number 13. But this 13th had finally brought luck to all. They will remember it every year on the birthday of little William.
