Chapter 144: The emergency C-section.
The silence in the room deepened, a heavy weight pressing against everyone’s chest.
Rosario was pale and yet somehow, nurse Kendall was even paler, and her lips were trembling.
Hades stared at the floor, his usual defiance nowhere to be found.
Nimo just swallowed hard and lowered her gaze. "This sucks. Is it truly the only way?"
Sunshine raised her head and replied. "If I say it is then trust me that it is." The system had confirmed that an awakened baby would not die a premature birth, but the reactions to the awakening were affecting the mother. Some of her organ functions were already deteriorating.
She had not shared this so as not to scare Rosario. The doctors would find out when they operated her anyway. The good thing was that it was not yet too late to save Rosario.
Rosario’s baby kicked frantically.
Tremors passed through the ground--small ones that were hardly noticeable, but Sunshine noticed them. She looked at Hades and gestured for him to step to the side and have a private word with her.
In the corner they put their heads together and she whispered to him, "Did you feel the tremors?"
He nodded.
"How long have they been happening?" She asked.
Hades frowned and concentrated, recalling the first tremor he had felt on the base. "Four days ago. It happened at night when I was running, training my leg. It was Jo-Stride that actually noticed it."
Sunshine clenched her jaw, and she looked at Rosario’s stomach.
"You think it’s the baby." Hades said.
Sunshine nodded. "Must be. I feel a pulse every time it kicks. The baby awakened Geo kinesis abilities. It is looking for solid ground and right now, Rosario’s belly is the next best thing."
"What happens if it keeps kicking?" He asked her.
Sunshine shrugged. "Maybe it kicks its way out or maybe it stomps her to death. All I know is that when a baby awakens from the womb, it is ready to come out. Most of them awaken between seven to nine months. By that time, they are well formed."
Hades touched Sunshine’s arm and said, "I trust you. Do what you think is best."
Rosario’s sobs filled the room. Nimo was trying her best to comfort her. Nurse Kendall was still standing, looking lost like she had no idea what to do or where to go next.
The baby kicked again.
More tremors were felt, stronger ones that made Major Elio frown. He was sure that the pattern of the baby’s kicking was related to the tremors. He was worried that the base would collapse because of the baby. His first thought was his daughter and his wife.
"Start prepping for that surgery." He barked at Nurse Kendall.
Nimo hissed at him as Rosario burst into wails.
Sunshine walked back to the bed and cupped Rosario’s face gently, forcing Rosario to meet her eyes. "Rosario, think of your baby as stone. You cannot give birth the natural way or leave it in there. It was never meant to be born naturally. You must also consider your other children and family. Poncho is not here. If you die, they have no one."
Rosario’s breath hitched, shallow and quick. She clung to Sunshine’s hands like they were her lifeline. Her fear was palpable, but so was her yearning to survive, to hold her child in her arms, even if it meant facing the unknown and to be around to raise her other children.
Nurse Kendall turned away, covering her mouth with her hand. "This is madness...." She whispered, her voice breaking with emotion.
"Do it." Rosario whispered hoarsely. "I give my consent, do whatever you have to do, just save us both."
"Okay then." Sunshine snapped. "You heard her nurse Kendall, prepare the operating room." She ordered, taking one last deep breath. The weight of her decision pressing heavily on her shoulders, but she would carry it, she had to.
Nimo radioed Lisha and asked her to find someone that would bring Rosario’s family to the hospital. "Tell them that she is in labor."
Just in case Rosario did not make it, she wanted the family around so that they could say goodbye.
Six surgeons on the base were invited to oversee the surgery, each signing a Non-disclosure agreement first. First, Dr. Choi, the obstetrician examined Rosario and scanned her belly.
Other doctors gathered around as they looked at the ultrasound screen. The fetus was very active; a pulse was radiating from the heart and feet. The amniotic fluid shimmered like a liquid lake.
Dr. Choi’s hand trembled. "It is a girl, and she is too strong and too active. In addition to being fully formed, she is also...mineralized...I am not sure what I am looking at. It looks like something has hardened around her. If she comes out naturally, she’ll rupture the mother’s pelvis."
"So, we must cut." Dr. Martha, a neurosurgeon said. "It is not my area of expertise, but I am fascinated."
There were more tremors which everyone felt.
"Now." Sunshine commanded.
The theater was cold, sterile, air heavy with antiseptic. Rosario lay still beneath the glaring lights, her breaths uneven as the doctors prepared. Sunshine stood at the edge of the room, gloved and masked, her eyes glued not on the mother but on the visible kicking going on in her belly.
"You must hurry." She told the doctors. "If she senses that you are a threat, she will react."
Doctor Choi nodded. He took the scalpel from a nurse and made an incision.
The moment it was made, the earth roared. A quake surged through the mountain, shaking dust that had clung to walls and uprooting weak trees. Monitors flickered. A few solar panels fell from roofs. A newly raised wind turbine spun violently.
In houses, shelves collapsed, and things fell to the floor.
Surprisingly, Dr, Choi did not flinch. His hands had stopped trembling the moment he started to cut.
"Do not panic, remain calm. She is just reacting to the sudden changes." Sunshine announced. "Even you would freak out if you saw a knife."
Some of the doctors frowned. How had the unborn baby seen the scalpel? How was it making the earth shake? How strong was this child?
Doctor reached into the womb, and everyone held their breath.
"Careful." Sunshine warned, her voice low but firm. "It could hurt you without meaning to. If you do not trust your hands, allow me to do it."
Doctor Choi swallowed, hands steady but tense he continued on with his job. For some reason, he got the urge to sing a lullaby, so he did.
Slowly, he held the baby and his hands emerged. The baby they had all been anxious to see was finally revealed. Her skin had grayish flakes which glistened like polished stone. Her eyes opened immediately--gray and yet dark at the same time. She did not cry. She reached out, seeming to seek her mother.
Dr. Choi looked at Sunshine. "What do I do? How do we clean her?"
"The same way you clean other babies. The flakes will fall off on their own." Sunshine answered.
The baby opened her mouth and let out a piercing cry and the tremors started up again.