Part 13 — The After

This is part of an ongoing series. Start with Part 1. I had a call scheduled with the home nurse. Routine — a check-in for new moms, the kind of thing they do to make sure you’re surviving, answer questions, give advice. I went down to my car to take it. For...

Part 12 — The Birth

This is part of an ongoing series. Start with Part 1. March 11th, 2023. I woke up before 8am thinking I had peed the bed. Then I realized. My water broke. I texted my mom. Then I woke him up and told him we needed to go to the hospital. My water broke — they’d...

Part 11 — The Destruction

This is part of an ongoing series. Start with Part 1. March 9th, 2023. Four days before my due date. We had been bickering via text until almost 3am. He kept saying he was going to come to bed. I kept saying I was sick of being woken up at 4am when I had to be up at...

Part 10 — The Worst Night

This is part of an ongoing series. Start with Part 1. Valentine’s Day he told me he’d made reservations. A restaurant at the beach, two hours away, dinner that evening. I was thirty-six weeks pregnant. I had been going to bed by eight o’clock for...

Part 9 — The Confrontation

This is part of an ongoing series. Start with Part 1. He was in the bath while I was texting her. I was sitting on the bed, phone in hand, reading her words back to myself. Since May. The last time was Labor Day weekend. The pieces were still settling into place when...