The Bath As I Slip Under CHAPTER 2

The Bath As I Slip Under CHAPTER 2 — The Hospital

CHAPTER 2 — The Hospital

By the time I got to the hospital,

with barely any centimetres,

I was already screaming.

Screaming.

Now help me.

What have I done?

Nobody helped me.

I held my breath.

I was prodded.

I was pushed.

I was shoved.

I was carried.

So much was going on around me.

My neurodiverse brain had no idea what was happening.

I tried to listen.

I tried to be focused.

I tried to be anywhere but in the room.

I was above myself, looking down.

They suggested an epidural —

I wasn’t coping well.

I wouldn’t breathe.

“Breathe, breathe,” they said.

Then they said,

“Let’s move her.

She’s frightening the others.

She’s 18.

She’ll just push that baby out.

It’ll be fine.

Youth on her side”

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