Prelabor Pains

It was already 1AM, April 7— A black, lazy, Saturday. My last memory of that night was finishing a chapter in the ‘Witches’ volume of Fables, a graphic novel that I’ve been following the past few years. In this volume, an evil character – the physical aspect of all that is dark and evil, aptly called the DarkMan-- has escaped from the fantastic homelands and into the real world, threatening humanity and fablekind (characters from the fairy tales and myths who decided to make earth their new home) alike.

With this looming threat, it’s now up to a witch-- (the witch who cursed beast to turn into a beast, Cinderella to fall asleep, and lured Hansel and Gretel into the ginger bread house) to save the day… that is if she could, considering that the DarkMan is one of the principal powers of existence and she’s but a witch from fairy tales. It’s fun stuff, the sort that would keep me awake and hooked till dawn. This particular night though, after a chapter, I blacked out and fell asleep.

Daylight was already blasting through the windows when your mom nudged me into wakefulness and told me that ‘it’s time’. Her water bag just broke, she said. I nodded and told her to take a shower so that I could prepare the bags. But instead of getting up, I stayed in bed chained by a heavy laziness. I just grabbed the comic book from last night and resumed reading. Your mom finished washing herself and came out of the bathroom. She quickly reported that about half a pint of pinkish fluid from inside her dripped into her legs. I asked her if she’s been having contractions, she answered that she’s been feeling some tightness in her tummy but it was painless. I mustered and stirred my will and heaved myself up and dragged myself to the sink and brushed my teeth and told her to make sure that we won’t forget anything.

Then my stomach grumbled. I told your mom that I was hungry. She told me she’s hungry as well. She suggested that we should pass by a fastfood drive-thru on the way to the hospital. Sounded like a plan.

I was thinking of getting a cheeseburger and spaghetti, your mom said that she wanted to munch on some fries. On the way, we talked about potatoes and fast-food fat while rock music played on the radio. But then, the Doctor texted and told us not to eat and head to the prelabor room right away. So we did. My stomach continued to grumble. I looked at your mom and was a bit worried. You should know that she falls into a really dark mood when she’s hungry.

At the pre-labor room, they checked your mom and found that she just had her ‘bloody show’. I know it sounds cool and scary, like a metal band concert, but it just means that the mucus plug inside her broke and her cervix is now prepared for your passage, and when that happens, things get a little bloody. But the thing is, you are still floating inside the uterus and has no signs of engaging yourself to the passage, that and her contractions are still too far apart from each other. It turns out, her water bag is still intact and delivery would not happen for about two to three days. They said that we could still go home and wait for things to progress.

After we left the hospital, we quickly became hungry again. We decided not to eat fastfood but instead grab a bite at one of those eateries serving home cooked meals. Hospitals make people conscious of consuming unhealthy transfat, I surmised. At the eatery, I ate bopis (which isn’t healthy, to say the least) and your mom ate nilagang manok. We also shared a strawberry fruit shake. After eating, we drove back to the condo.

I picked up my comic book again. Your mom lied down beside me and asked me what was happening in the story? I told her that the old witch made herself young again and left the world.

“She left?” She said with a hint of shock. “I thought she’s going to fight off the DarkMan and save the world?”

“Supposedly, but that didn’t happen. And I don’t know what will happen next…”

She reflected for a bit and said: “Well, whoever actually knows what happens next?”

“Precisely.” I said with my know-it-all smugness. “But it’s still a fairy tale, so things will be all right no matter... What sort of 'all right' though is anybody's guess.”

She thought for a bit and looked at me. Her stare meant something but I couldn’t decipher what it meant and I was too lazy to ask. It might be that she’s figured something out and refuses to share it with me. She just opted to close her eyes and remain quiet.

I reached out and held her hand, by then she was already lightly snoring. She was fast asleep. I snuggled close and felt you move inside her. I closed my eyes and waited for you to move again. But you kept still. I waited, but just then, again, I blacked out. And in my sleep, I waited.