fortisxo

[fortisxo]

The Calm Before The Storm - 1319

TW: Traumatic Birth and Child Death

The Winter wind seeped through the windows in the quiet cottage, nestled in the East of Hanford-On-Bagley. Annota, heavily pregnant, kneeling on the floor of her master bedroom clinging onto the tattered duvet that laid across her bed. Trying to contain her bloodcurdling scream as labour pains wracked her body. Annota’s stepdaughter, Celestina, rushed in to check on her.

“Mama, are you alright?” Celestina muttered with a soft voice.

“GET OUT! YOU ARE TOO YOUNG CHILD!” Annotas voice breaks as she sends the 13-year-old away.

“Me and Soren will fetch pa, he is at the market not too far from here. I’ll be quick!” Her voice becomes distant as she runs through the cottage dashing towards the front door.

Clutching her stomach, Annota’s breaths came in ragged gasps. Her husband, Ryden, hasn’t been home for a few hours. She has been through this before, how hard could it be? With no midwife to assist her and no family nearby, Annota was left to face the trials of childbirth alone. The fire in the hearth became weak, casting shadows within the bedroom which were more accentuated than before.

At this moment in time Annota found the pain relentless, each contraction getting harder to breathe through. She thought back to the last time she went through childbirth, which ended in tragedy, those same thoughts raced through her mind. What if she doesn’t make it? What if the babe doesn’t make it?

Hours have passed, with no sign of Ryden, Celestina or Soren, her cries echoed through the empty cottage unheard by any but the farm animals in the yard. She felt the first babe’s head, slippery as a freshly caught fish, trying to carefully hold the infant while pushing it out of the birth canal. Struggling with the last push, Annota tries to adjust herself to a more comfortable position and suddenly loses grip of the babe’s head. The infant falls to the floor, hitting the cracked wooden floor with its head.

“No… NO!” Annota screams in agony.

She picks up the limp, lifeless infant from the planks. No cry was heard and no sign of life was seen. The mother shakes the infant to try and wake it, but to no avail. She cradles the infant, a boy, in her trembling arms.

“Vermithor…” Annota sobbed, with tears running down her hot and rosey cheeks.

The mother barely had time to grieve her newborn before a rush of another contraction swept her body. Exhausted and weak, Annota gathered the strength she had left to deliver the second child. She carefully placed Vermithor’s cold body onto the bed and began to push again.

Second birth was even more exhausting than the first. In and out of consciousness, vision blurred, Annota let out yet another screech. The same routine as before, she opened her palms below her pelvis to catch the second babe. However, the infant was positioned wrong and was exiting feet first. The mother’s thoughts became dark, exhausted and without knowing what to do. She tugged and pulled on the child’s legs gently, trying to help the infant escape. With one final push, she grabbed the babe and gently raised it towards her chest. Again, no cry was heard and the body limp, Annota noticed the umbilical cord wrapped around the child’s neck.

“Please, cry. Please” she whispered while untying the cord to yet another boy.

Annota sat there for a second, before lowering the newborn to her thighs. The room was silent, except for the crackling coals in the hearth. The only sound that Annota could produce was a painful scream as she looked upon her lifeless infants.

“Valarys & Vermithor” She pleaded softly.

Sorrow mingled in Annota’s heart, she laid both of the boys down on the tattered duvet to admire them. Kneeling, she places both hands on their tiny bodies praying for them to have a better afterlife. The slam of the front door echoed across the silent cottage, with thudding footsteps to follow. Ryden, Celestina and Soren finally came back in haste.

“You two, stay here, do not come in” Ryden commanded with a hoarse voice, while simultaneously walking into the master bedroom.

His face turned from smile to shock as he took in the scene of his wife and his two infant sons, who were both completely pale and still. The atmosphere felt heavy, even hard to breathe. Annota turned to her husband with tears running across her face.

“They didn’t make it… your boys didn’t make it, I tried so hard” she whales in desperation still holding onto hope that one of them would let out a cry.

Ryden walks over to his wife, kneeling to the floor where she was, shushing her. He moved closer, moving her blonde strands of her out of her face and brushed his fingers across her back.

“It’s okay, I’m here for you. Let’s give them the proper burial that they deserve. I’m sorry I wasn’t here to help you.” Ryden whispers in her ear, while caressing her hair.

“Okay, let me gather myself and we can go.” She whimpered back to him.