Did She Volunteer? - Part 5
Emily delivers, regardless whether she wants to or not....
Emily had no sense of time. Only fleeting, fractured impressions that came and went.
The beeping of machines, nurses tending to her…
The sensation of being wheeled down sterile corridors, fluorescent ceiling lights strobing overhead…
Muffled voices. Cold gloved hands on warm skin. A probe gliding over jelly on her bare swollen belly. The wet squelch and echoey whispers of ultrasound…
Tubes being changed. A searing burn in her urethra… An insistent intrusion in her anus, unyielding…
The bitter taste of bile rising as she gagged, and nurses soothing her with gentle hushing sounds before another tube was inserted into her throat...
Thick liquid pumped into her stomach. Pressure. Nausea. Fullness. Soft voices saying everything was fine. That she was doing well. That she should rest now…
And ever so often, “Relax. Go back to sleep. Yes…”
Emily awoke with a sudden, sharp gasp, her breath catching like a hook in her throat. The veil of drugged sedation lifting. Where was she? Was it all a dream?
The room was dim. Still. The faint hum of machines broke the silence, steady and indifferent. Her eyes flitted across unfamiliar walls and ceiling panels, disoriented and panicked. Something felt off.
How long had she been here? Hours? Days? Weeks? She couldn’t tell.
Her thoughts were sluggish, muddled. The last memory that felt even remotely clear was of catheters and feeding tubes, but even that seemed dreamlike, distant. She didn’t remember why she had needed them. They were not there anymore, but the soreness remained. Everything since was a swirl of half-formed sensations, tangled in sedation and confusion.
She swallowed, and winced. Her mouth was dry, her tongue thick and tacky against the roof of her mouth. She tried to sit up. She was weak. Her limbs were unnaturally heavy.
A deep, unnatural weight in her abdomen stopped her cold. Pain flared through her core as she moved, a heavy, dragging ache that made her gasp again. She groaned, blinking down at herself.
Her stomach. Massive. Swollen far beyond anything that made sense. The hospital gown clung tightly to the impossible curve, stretched to its limits over her abdomen.
She stared, frozen, her mind struggling to bridge the gap between her memories and the reality she now faced.
*No… no, this can’t be real.*
Her hands, trembling, rose and hovered over her belly before cautiously pressing down. Gingerly, she lifted her gown to reveal what was underneath.
The skin was taut and smooth, firm and unyielding beneath her fingers. Her heart hammered against her ribs, panic rising in a sickening wave that crept up her throat.
A dull pressure radiated from deep inside her. Something thick and solid shifted beneath her hand.
Then it happened. A flutter. A slow, deliberate roll.
Emily sucked in a sharp breath and snatched her hands away as if burned. Her eyes widened in horror.
“Oh God… This isn’t real,” she whispered aloud, voice cracking. “It can’t be happening…”
The sensation returned—a stronger push, lower this time, against her pelvis, like something stretching, testing the boundaries of her body. A knob rolled over the surface of her swollen mound. Her breath hitched, then broke into a ragged sob.
“This isn’t a dream… no…”
“I didn’t volunteer... They did this to Sarah... They did this to me!”
She had to move, but her limbs were sluggish, numb with fear and weak from months of immobility. The unaccustomed weight of her tummy on her back anchored her stiffly on the bed.
Then, without warning, she was hit by a sudden sensation. Pain. Cramping. Pressure. Low in her pelvis. A dull tightening. It coiled through her belly, sharp and foreign. She shifted uncomfortably on the bed, a soft groan escaped her mouth.
Before she could understand what was happening, he door clicked open. A nurse stepped into the room, her expression hidden under her mask as she looked at Emily and then her exposed tummy.
“Good. You're awake.” she announced. The soft beep of the heart monitor echoed louder in Emily’s ears, a staccato reminder of her racing pulse.
“No… please,” Emily whispered, her voice barely a breath, “tell me this isn’t real.” She choked on the words, fear rising in her chest, afraid of what she was going to hear.
“It’s time, Emily,” the nurse said, voice soft but firm, like she’d spoken this line a thousand times. “It's time for you to deliver the baby.”
Emily’s throat tightened as her chest constricted. “Deliver the baby!? No! Please, I—”
But before she could finish, two orderlies entered the room, pushing a gurney, and all her words choked off in her throat.
Her body stiffened, arms holding on to the guard rails, refusing to go, afraid of what was to come.
But they were too quick, too strong. The nurse expertly removed the electrodes and IV. Then the orderlies moved in unison, lifting her from the bed, firmly and carefully, like moving a fragile and precious good.
She fought, weakly, her limbs too sluggish, after months of immobility, to put up any real resistance. She was gently placed on the gurney. And then came the retraints, strapping her in—wrists to rails, chest to bed, her legs spreading helplessly. The brakes on the gurney were unlocked and she was wheeled out into the bright corridor.
“No, no, no!” she whimpered, thrashing weakly. “Where are we going? Please, don’t do this. Please, let me go...!”
But the nurse didn’t even look at her, her face as impassive as stone. The orderlies focussed on delivering her to her destination.
“You will be fine. Nature will take its course. We will take care of you,” the nurse said, her tone clinical, as if she was addressing any patient.
Emily barely had the strength to shake her head, a weak, broken motion. “No,” she whimpered, her voice breaking with every word. “I don’t want this. This isn’t my baby. Please, make it stop.”
The orderlies just kept moving her through the sterile hallways, picking up in urgency, the soft click of wheels the only sound that filled her ears. The pain in her abdomen intensified, radiating down to her legs, deep in her bones, twisting her insides. She groaned louder.
They wheeled her into the delivery room. The air was colder here. A sterile buzz hummed all around, the clinical scents of antiseptic cutting through the haze of fear in her mind. Her eyes darted to the surgical table. The surgical lights bright and harsh, putting the spotlight on the surgical table, like an executioner's block.
Her throat tightened. Those stirrups… those gleaming straps hanging from the sides. Her stomach twisted, a fresh wave of nausea threatening to break over her. She had seen patients many times, but never imagined it for herself, how she would be splayed for the world to see, to touch her as they willed.
Her body trembled involuntarily, a small whimper escaping her as the orderlies transferred her onto the table. Her body was rigid as they strapped her down, one strap across her chest, another around her ankles, her wrists held tightly at her sides. The sensation of being restrained, spread open, exposed, was suffocating.
“Please… please, don’t… let me go...” she whispered, the words lost beneath the mounting terror. Her breath was shaky, ragged.
Nurses started attaching electrodes across her bare chest. One tied a CTR across her swollen abdomen to monitor the baby. An oxygen mask was strapped onto her face. An IV was started. All in quick succession.
When they were done, Emily found herself in the centre of the room, under the spot light. She could feel the coolness of the table against her skin, the pressure of the restraints locking her in place, spreading her body wide, the electrodes over her body, beeping incessantly. She felt helpless, vulnerable.
Then there was a presence in the room as everyone went quiet, in walked the Directeur in surgical scrubs and the mask hung under his chin.
“Congratulations, Emily. The baby has reached full term. This is the big day!” He said as he snapped on latex gloves.
“No… no…. no….” was all Emily could muster before she was cut short by a sharp intrusion into her birth canal without warning. The Directeur dug deep into it until his gloved fingers were at her cervix, probing around. His frowned as he slipped his hand out.
“2cm dilation. Let's start with the prostaglandin gel,” he said as he peeled his gloves off.
"Stop… please, don’t,” Emily begged, her voice hoarse, her body trembling. It was too late. She knew it. Her words were futile.
The gel was cold against her, invasive. It burned, a dull ache spreading as it was applied deep inside her. Her entire body shuddered from the sensation.
She felt another wave of cramps. A deep biting ache in her pelvis. Her hips seemed to be cracking, twisting. She wanted to scream. She wanted to fight. But she was trapped. Bound to the table, unable to stop the process, unable to stop the pressure growing within her.
The pain came in waves, sharp and cruel, each contraction consuming her awareness, pulling her consciousness away from her surroundings.
The Directeur came to check her dilation ever so often—gloved fingers probing, stretching her open, measuring. It felt like an invasion, like her body was no longer her own. She no longer protested.
*5 cm.* “Let’s break her water,” he murmured. The words barely registered, but she felt the sudden pressure as the amnihook was inserted.
A tug. A sharp pain, followed by a flood of warmth beneath her. She flinched, but the sensation didn’t stop.
“Start the oxytocin drip,” the Directeur said, and it was as if Emily was no longer even part of the conversation. She was just the body on the table.
The drug flowed into her veins, and the contractions came faster, harder, more demanding. Her core tensed. Her back squeezed. Her whole body burned. The rhythmic pain of it, building, coming faster and stronger, until there was no space to breathe between each wave.
She was already drenched in sweat, her body shimmering as she writhed with each contraction. She was now screaming from the labour pains.
“Breathe through it, Emily,” the nurse murmured, rubbing her back in the same mechanical, comforting motion, as if trying to smooth over the horror of it all.
The contractions were relentless, each one crashing over her like a wave, too much, too fast. She could feel the pressure deep inside her, the weight of it dragging her lower body as her legs trembled helplessly in the stirrups.
She gripped the bedrail with all the strength she could summon, her nails digging into the plastic. Her face flushed with effort, with pain, with the weight of what was happening to her. Every inch of her body screamed for relief, but it came only in the form of the next, sharper contraction.
"Oh God..." she whimpered, her voice cracking under the strain. Her eyes squeezed shut, her entire body trembling with the effort to endure. She couldn’t stop the cry that tore from her throat as another contraction crashed into her, this one sharper, fiercer, pulling every muscle in her body taut.
“Breathe, Emily,” the nurse repeated, her voice disturbingly calm, as if this was just another procedure. As if Emily wasn’t writhing in agony, strapped down and exposed, with no control, no say in the matter. “In through your nose, out through your mouth. You’re doing fine.”
*Fine?* Emily’s mind screamed a silent protest. She wasn’t doing fine. Nothing about this was fine. Her thighs trembled, her teeth clenched with the force of the contraction. Her chest heaved, but her breath ragged and uneven.
The pressure in her pelvis intensified. It felt like something was tearing her apart, something *inside* her that wasn’t supposed to be there. She could feel it—something *stuck*. Something blocking the way.
"Argghhhh!" She screamed, her body spasmed with another contraction, the pain too much to bear. The world tilted beneath her, her mind fogging, her vision blurring. She was slipping. Slipping into the abyss of pain.
Her screams echoed off the walls, but they felt distant, muffled, as though they were happening to someone else, someone far away.
She tried to fight. She tried to push back, to break free from the restraints, but she was powerless. The leather straps held her, tighter than ever, her discomfort amplified her pain.
The Directeur entered the room, moving with that same dispassionate urgency. The nurses stepped aside to make room for him, their faces impassive, clinical. Emily could barely make sense of his presence—everything in the room was spinning, shifting, a whirlwind of noise and sensation. He stood beside her, his gaze flicking quickly to the monitors, his expression unreadable behind his mask.
"She's not dilating fast enough." The voice was calm, assessing.
Emily could barely process the words. Another contraction hit, making her body buck violently against the restraints. She screamed. The sound was raw, like an animal caught in a trap. The doctor ignored her cries, he inserted his gloved hand into her birth canal. Emily recoiled from the repeated intrusion. His frown and annoyance visible above his mask.
"Increase the dosage," he repeated.
The nurse beside him adjusted the drip. The synthetic hormone began to flow into Emily’s veins with increased frequency . She could feel it, creeping into her bloodstream, like a fire spreading under her skin.
Her body responded to the drug—an overwhelming sense of pressure flooding her pelvis. It felt like something was *ripping* inside her, stretching her beyond the point of comfort. The sensation was raw, brutal. All the muscles in her abdomen contracted, the round mound distorted as every once of effort went into trying to push the baby out. The nurses joined in the effort too as they used their hands to push the baby down. But it was not moving, not fast enough.
In between the contractions, she could feel *them* inside her—the doctors, the nurses, all of them, taking the liberty—poking, prodding, pulling, controlling.
The next contraction tore through her, a jagged wave of pain that wracked her body from head to toe. She gritted her teeth, her nails digging into the bedrails as her body arched, desperate for relief.
But then, something shifted in the atmosphere. The rhythm of the fetal heart rate dipped suddenly on the monitor, a sharp drop that sliced through the sterile air like a warning. The room froze.
“Stop pushing, Emily.” The Directeur shouted. He quickly inserted his entire hand inside her and started to manipulate the baby’s head behind her cervix. The pain ripped through Emily. When he retracted his hand, it was blood soaked.
“Baby is in distress. We have an obstructed labor here. Prepare for immediate C-section!”
Emily’s heart skipped a beat, her breath catching in her throat. She barely had time to process the words before she felt the cold reality closing in around her.
The nurses moved with quick efficiency, releasing the restraints and monitors from Emily. She barely had the strength to struggle as they transferred her onto the awaiting gurney. She was strapped into the gurney. She couldn’t breathe. Her chest was tight, her lungs desperate for air.
“No! Please.... help me!” she cried, her voice breaking. She thrashed weakly against the straps, but they held her in place, unyielding. Her arms were pinned down, her legs spread wide, and she was helpless as panic gripped her..
"Please... no... make it stop," she pleaded, her voice shaking with raw desperation. But the room moved like clockwork—cold, impersonal, determined. The orderlies wheeled her out of the room, her cries muffled by the buzzing of machines and the sound of the wheels rolling over sterile floors.
She screamed as another wave of pain tore through her body. Her screams echoed through the silent corridors.
She barely registered the passing hallways, the sterile walls, the blur of figures moving around her. She was drifting again, her mind fractured.
They pushed her through the heavy double doors of the operating room. The harsh fluorescent lights above her flickered to life, blinding and cold. The room smelled like antiseptic, sharp and sterile. A familiar yet terrifying sight, now that she was on the receiving end of the “routine”.
The faces around her were masked, all eyes focused on the procedure at hand, another patient, another case.
“No, no, please,” she begged, her eyes wide and frantic. “Help me…. Make it stop…” The Directeur appeared beside her, his eyes cold, distant, as he surveyed the situation.
"Emily," he said, his voice smooth, almost detached. “We’re going to take care of you now. Just relax.” She had heard that before. She had said that before.
But the words now had no meaning to her. *Relax?* How could she relax when every part of her body was on fire? How could she relax when her body was going to be spliced open to remove their baby? Her heart pounded in her chest as the staff swarmed around her. She felt the straps loosen, many hands reached out beneath her, scooping her heavy body onto the cold operating table.
Emily tried to resist, weakly pulling away, but her body felt sluggish, too slow to fight back. Hands secured her wrists to the armboards on either side of her with thick straps.
Leather straps tightened around her ankles, binding her to the hard surface of the stirrups.
Splayed on the operating table, she could only move her head as she observed helplessly as the team prepped her. She shivered as electrodes were pressed against her chest, the cold pads sending a jolt through her skin. Her damp hair was eased into a bouffant cap.
She screamed as another wave of contractions wrecked her body.
The team moved with increased urgency. The surgical drapes were unfolded carefully, covering her lower body. The familiar scent of antiseptic filled the air as it was smeared across her swollen abdomen.
The cool sensation spread from her navel as the nurse swabbed her tummy in widening circles until it was brown and shiny.
Her body trembled, her muscles too weak to hold on any longer. Another contraction wracked her, and her body convulsed, but the anesthesiologist was already beside her, adjusting the machine, preparing the drugs.
“Help me... get me out ” she whispered, her voice barely audible through the haze of pain and fear. “Don’t put me to sleep…”
The anesthesiologist loomed over her, the rubber mask in his hands. Emily’s eyes widened in terror. She was sobbing uncontrollably, thrashing her head from side to side trying to evade the descending mask.
“Hold her down,” the doctor commanded, and hands descended on her shoulders, pressing her down against the table.
The anesthesiologist cupped her face and held Emily’s head tight and cupped the mask over her face. Emily felt the cold rubber against her cheeks, fingers under her chin clasping it tightly, the hiss of gas filling her ears.
Emily held her breath, thrashing as much as the straps would allow, but it was useless, her head held unmoving by the anesthesiologist's grasps. The sickly-sweet scent of the gas invaded her senses, making her dizzy almost instantly.
“No!” she gasped, her breath catching in her throat. “Please...” She felt a coldness ran up her arm through the IV port. Then warmth started to spread across her chest to her limbs. She knew instinctively that they were injecting the rest of the cocktail of anesthetic drugs into her.
Her vision blurred as the world began to spin out of control. The sweet, sickly scent of the anesthetic flooded her senses, dulling the pain, dulling everything, except the distant sensation of hands on her swollen belly.
Her body trembled, every ounce of resistance slipping away as the gas pulled her under. Her thoughts fragmented, her mind slipping from her grasp.
“Breathe, Emily,” the anesthesiologist’s voice was distant now, far away. “It’ll be over soon.”
She couldn’t hold on anymore. Her eyelids grew heavier, and her limbs felt like lead. The contractions ground to a stop. There was no more pain. No more sound. No more light… The last thread of awareness snapped, and she was swallowed by darkness.
“Let’s begin,” the doctor’s voice echoed through the fog.
She felt a line being drawn across her abdomen, and then, everything faded away.