PART6: She Came Home After Giving Birth, and I Asked, “What’s for Dinner?” — What Happened Next Changed Me Forever

PART 6

The emergency room was almost empty when we arrived.

Almost.

There was a man asleep in a chair with his head against the wall. A woman was holding an ice pack to her forehead. Somewhere behind the nurses’ station, a monitor kept making a soft electronic beep.

Allison sat in a wheelchair with Mateo’s car seat beside her.

I stood at the desk.

“My wife gave birth four days ago,” I said. “She had surgery. She’s bleeding.”

The nurse’s expression changed immediately.

“How much bleeding?”

I looked at Allison.

She answered quietly.

“More than yesterday.”

“How much more?”

She hesitated.

“Enough to soak through two pads in an hour.”

The nurse stood.

“Okay. We’re going to get her back.”

Two pads.

An hour.

I felt sick.

I looked at Allison.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

She closed her eyes.

“Because you were already overwhelmed.”

I wanted to tell her that wasn’t an excuse.

But then I remembered the pizza boxes.

The dirty towels.

The prescription.

The question I’d asked.

I had spent the last three days proving to her that asking me for help would create another problem she had to manage.

So I said nothing.

They took her behind the doors.

A nurse told me I could bring Mateo to the family waiting area.

I sat there with my newborn son sleeping beside me.

For the first time, I understood how alone Allison must have felt.

I had been surrounded by people during the birth.

Doctors.

Nurses.

Family.

Friends.

But when she needed someone to notice her pain, she had apparently felt completely alone.

At 5:12, a doctor came out.

“Mr. Parker?”

I stood.

“Yes.”

“Your wife is stable.”

My knees almost gave out.

“Stable?”

“Yes. She has postpartum hemorrhaging caused by retained tissue. We’re treating it.”

I stared at him.

“Is she going to be okay?”

“We believe so. She’s receiving medication now, and we’re monitoring her closely. We may need to perform a procedure if the bleeding doesn’t stop.”

I nodded.

“Can I see her?”

“In a little while.”

He started walking away.

I stopped him.

“Doctor?”

He turned.

“Did she know this could happen?”

“She was probably told about warning signs at discharge.”

I looked down.

“She wasn’t ignoring them,” I said quietly.

The doctor looked at me.

“She waited too long to report them.”

I swallowed.

“I know.”

He walked away.

I sat down again.

Mateo woke.

He started crying.

I picked him up.

“Hey.”

He cried harder.

“I know.”

I bounced him.

“I know.”

A nurse walked past and smiled.

“First week?”

“Fourth day.”

She laughed softly.

“You’re both still learning.”

I looked at Mateo.

“No,” I said.

“I think she’s been learning alone.”

The nurse didn’t know what to say.

Neither did I.

An hour later, they let me see Allison.

She looked exhausted.

There was an IV in her arm.

Her face was pale.

But she was awake.

I pulled the chair beside her bed.

“I was scared,” she whispered.

“I know.”

“No.”

She looked at me.

“I was scared you would be angry that I made you come back here.”

My chest tightened.

“I would never be angry about that.”

She gave me a sad smile.

“You were angry about the pharmacy.”

I closed my eyes.

“I was an idiot.”

She didn’t disagree.

CONTINUE READING PART7…