Chapter 2

2

A day or two later, Mrs. Panim, still not fully awake and not quite making out where she was or what happened to her, finally came to, slowly opening up her eyes and trying to focus on what was before her.

She saw two nurses standing before her as her vision slowly came into focus.

“Where am I?” she shouted, nearly jumping out of the bed in doing so.

One of the nurses, a tall, thin woman with long hair neatly tucked under her nurses’ cap, came over to her to get her straightened in the bed while trying to calm her down.

“Everything is fine, everything is good,” said the other nurse, a short, kind of squat older woman with grayish white hair tied up in a bun on her head, as the taller nurse put her arms on Mrs. Panim’s shoulders. “Everything is going to be all right.”

Mrs. Panim finally realized that she was in a hospital.

“Why am I in a hospital?” she shouted to the nurses. “Why am I here? Where is my husband?”

The shorter nurse, who looked very familiar to Mrs. Panim, even in her current state of grogginess, said to her, “You took a great fall at school, and we had to bring you here to get better.”

When the words “get better” came out of the shorter nurse’s mouth, Mrs. Panim put her hands on her belly, and realized that it wasn’t as round or full as it had been.

She panicked. “Where is my baby? What happened to me? Where is my husband?”

The shorter nurse approached Mrs. Panim, and even in her current condition, she could see that the woman had thick legs and a slight limp. As the nurse got closer to the bed, Mrs. Panim tried to make out her nameplate, but only got to “M-E-Y-“ as she tried to gain her composure.

Mrs. Panim continued with that chorus of questions as a tall man in a white coat, Mrs. Panim’s gynecologist, came into the room and approached the bed where she was laying.

“Mrs. Panim, I want to talk to you about why you are here.”

Once she recognized  Dr. Newsom, Mr. Panim thought she might get some answers. “Why am I here? Where is my baby? Where is my husband?” Mrs. Panim continued to shout out, but the doctor put his finger over his mouth to try and get her to stop shouting and to listen to what he had to say.

When she finally quieted down, Dr. Newsom spoke.

“Mrs. Panim, you had quite a fall at school the other day. The EMTs came as fast as they could, and you were brought here to the hospital, and —“

“Where is my baby?” Mrs., Panim asked again, shrieking out her question.

“Your baby … well, when you fell, it was necessary to force childbirth a little bit … you were almost at term, anyway, and you fell in such a way that we thought that it would be the better situation for both you and your child to be separated.”

“Where is my baby?” Mrs. Panim shrieked again. “Where is my baby and where is my husband?”

“You are a bit … well, you are a bit weak to hold and … well … see the child just yet,” the doctor said, as he put his right hand through the hair on the top of his head like a comb. “You don’t realize that you have been in here a week already, and you are just now coming to.”

“A week? Did I fall on my head? Where is my baby?”

“You fell in kind of a weird way, falling on your face and when the EMTs came, they said your hand was holding its nose in such a way that it kind of … well … it kind of looked like you had smelled something quite unappealing to you and that you were trying to not smell whatever that was.”

Mrs. Panim thought about how she was thinking of cheese when she had fallen, so the whole thing made sense to her as she reached up to her face and for the first time, felt a large swath of bandage on her cheek and nose.

“Mrs. Panim, the nurses took all of your vital signs, and they appear to be OK, but I think I want you to give it another day of rest before you will be able to see your baby.”

“If my vital signs are OK, why can’t I see my baby? I want to see my baby, and I want to see my husband.”

The nurses and the doctor each made a nervous smile as they all looked at each other.

“Mrs. Panim, I would wait a day or two, or maybe even three, before I saw the child,” the doctor said, trying to hold back what appeared to be a nervous chuckle. “It will make the surprise even … I mean the surprise at whether the child is a boy or girl, even … well, even more … um … stupendous!”

“I want to see my child, and I want to see my husband!” Mrs. Panim shouted. “If my vital signs are OK, then why can’t I see the baby? Is the baby sickly or anything like that?”

“Well, no … but Mrs., Panim, please listen to reason … waiting an extra day or two after you haven’t seen the child for so long when you were out isn’t going to spoil the … the um … the pleasure of seeing your child for the first time a day or two from now.”

“If I don’t see my child right away, I am going to speak to my husband, and I will sue you. Do you want to be sued?”

“Well, no, but Mrs. Panim, listen to reason.”

“There is NO reason not to see my baby,” Mrs. Panim said, as she got off the bed, stood up still attached to the IV, and started to unsteadily leave her hospital room.

“Mrs. Panim, wait … Mrs. Panim … Mrs. Panim … !,” the doctor shouted as she pushed him and the nurses aside as she left the room.

“I dare say that that woman might have a heart attack once she sees that kid,” the doctor said, suppressing s short laugh as he looked at the nurses, who continued to have nervous smiles on their faces.