AllFreeNovel
Share Us
When I do, it’s like pain tears across my stomach and I let out a little scream.
Mia hands off their baby girl to Dante and rushes toward me.
“Is it like there’s a vice around your stomach?” she asks, and I nod. Her face pales and she looks over at Dante.
“We’re going to the hospital,” she says, and Nico blanches.
“What? Why? It’s not time. It’s too early,” he insists.
“Babies don’t care if it’s too early,” Mia insists. “We have to go.Now.”
The pain gets worse and worse and then at the hospital, my wedding dress soaks with blood at the crotch, and the doctors wheel me to the delivery room.
They can’t find the baby’s heartbeat and my heart is in my chest. Nico’s right next to me, clutching my hand.
“The baby’s in distress,” the doctor says quickly. “We have to do a c-section. Right now.”
“What? Not now,” I plead. “He’s not big enough. He’s not ready.”
“We don’t have a choice,” the doctor insists, and Nico looks down at me.
“It’s going to be okay,principessa,” he says, but his face is pale and drawn.
“I don’t know if I can do this,” I whisper shakily. “What if something’s wrong? Really wrong?”
“He’s going to be fine,” he insists, as if convincing himself. “And you’re going to be fine and we’re going to be happy.”
I swallow and then the doctor’s give me some kind of drug to calm me down and everything seems floaty. I only feel pressure when they take out the baby but Nico gasps, tears streaming down his face.
“What does he look like?” I ask, and Nico’s voice shakes when he answers.
“Perfect,” he says. “He looks perfect,principessa. You did such a good job.” He leans down to kiss me.
I don’t hear our baby crying and I’m panicking, my throat tight, my chest aching as if I can’t get enough oxygen.
“Take deep breaths, Ms. Costa,” the doctor says.
“Andretti,” Nico corrects. “Now it’s Andretti.”
“Mrs. Andretti,” the doctor repeats. “Your oxygen levels are low and we need to take the baby to the NICU.”
“Is he okay?” I ask as the doctors put the oxygen mask over my face.
“He’s okay,” Nico says, but I’m not sure that he knows.
I fade out of consciousness and the next thing I know, Nico is clutching my hand at my bedside.
“Our son,” I ask immediately when I come through. “I need my son to be okay.”
“He’s perfect,” Nico says again, sniffling, and I realize that he’s been crying. “He’s doing fine in the NICU, breathing well. Just not much of a crier, I guess.”
“And me?” I ask, looking down at myself. My stomach aches and I feel sore all over.
“You lost a lot of blood,” he says. “They didn’t know if you would make it, andprincipessa...” He trails off and chokes out a sob. “I thought I lost you.”
“You didn’t,” I tell him, squeezing his hand. “I’m here.”
I recover in the hospital and get to meet my son.
