The Delivery Bed of Death

Start Reading

On the icy delivery bed, I lay like a discarded ragdoll, my breath long gone.

The nightmare began simply because my husbandthe star of Memorial Hospitals OB departmentdecided I was bullying his sweet nurse, Windy.

Windy isnt your maid. What gives you the right to order her around? Being pregnant doesnt mean you can act like a spoiled child! His words pierced me like ice.

I was trapped in endless contractions, screaming until my throat bled, even snapping the beds guardrail.

A ten-pound baby was stuck in my pelvis. Drained, I begged the brilliant surgeon I called my husband: This is your child! Please, just cut me open. Any longer and neither of us will survive.

His reply was pure sarcasm. Give it up! As a doctor, I refuse unnecessary procedures. And as your husband, I wont sign the consent. If you can scream, you can push.

Then he had his nurse gag me with a towel.

My cries faded. Through the pain, I faintly heard intimate sounds from the adjoining bathroom.

The child I carried for nine months had become a weapon, tearing me apart until only crimson remained.

At sunrise, after a night of passion, he finally showed a sliver of mercy.

Audrey shouldve learned her lesson. Windy, call another attending for her C-section. Were clocking out. He brushed it off casually.

But by then, my eyes had closed forever.

"God, she's so loud! Every woman goes through labor, but Audrey has to make the biggest scene!"

"If you ask me, she's spending all her pushing energy on torturing the staff and putting on a theatrical performance."

Drew pulled his white coat back on, popping the collar to hide the fresh hickey on his neck.

"Dr. Drew, an eight-pound baby is already grounds for a C-section. Your wife is carrying a ten-pounder. If we're not careful, this will end in severe dystocia..."

Sam, the young male intern, swallowed hard, his face pale with anxiety.

"Who gave you the right to speak? I've delivered thousands of babies. My clinical judgment has never been wrong!"

Crack!

A loud snap echoed from the delivery room. It was the sound of me breaking the bed's handrail.

Hearing my blood-curdling scream, the intern flinched but tried again.

"She's been in active labor for twenty-four hours straight. I'm worried the baby will go into fetal distress..."

"Has it been that long? I completely lost track of time."

Drew glanced down the hallway at his framed "Doctor of the Year" awards. A fleeting look of concern finally crossed his face.

Just as he gripped the door handle to check on me, Windy appeared. She thoughtfully handed him a cup of warm coffee.

"Drew, honey. Audrey is working so hard. She must be parched from all that yelling. Let me go in with you to bring her something to drink."

Drew's face instantly darkened.

"Is she ordering you around again? She wants you to wait on her hand and foot? She doesn't deserve you."

Tears welled up in the corners of Windy's eyes. She bit her lip, looking utterly wronged. "No, it's not like that. I genuinely want to help."

"Don't make excuses for her. Since she wants to play games, let her wait a few more hours."

His expression turned thoroughly disgusted. He slammed the delivery room door shut and strode down the hall. Windy jogged to keep up, trailing closely behind him.

Inside that room, my last thread of hope snapped.

To distract myself from the blinding agony in my abdomen, I had bent my fingers back so hard they dislocated. My twisted hands looked grotesque.

Below my waist, a river of red continued to spread, masking a fractured pelvis and a ruptured uterus.

Thankfully, I didn't have to endure it much longer. The screams they just heard were my final, desperate struggles.

My soul detached, floating upward. I looked down at the ruined woman on the bed and laughed out of pure, bitter rage.

I wondered if Drew would feel even an ounce of regret or heartbreak.

Sadly, Drew's eyes were full of heartbreak... for another woman.

He was in the breakroom, gently popping a small blister on Windy's pristine hand and applying ointment with tender care.

"Windy, Audrey takes advantage of your sweet nature. She knows you got hurt trying to help her, yet she keeps treating you like garbage!"

"Ten-pound baby? That's just a pathetic lie. Faking an ultrasound report is child's play! Don't forget, even getting pregnant was her manipulative scheme to trap me!"

My spirit shuddered violently. The phantom pain was almost worse than childbirth.

Because of a drunken mistake on his part, I, a woman who always wanted to remain childfree, became an older mother.

I softened and decided to keep the baby. I even listened to my mother-in-law's nagging and quit my high-paying corporate job to rest.

Drew was a seasoned obstetrician, yet he allowed his mother to feed me greasy, calorie-dense bone broths every single day, bloating the baby into macrosomia.

Right before labor, Windy saw my cracked lips and offered to pour me hot water. She conveniently spilled it, burning her own hand. Drew immediately branded me a monster who abused medical staff.

He canceled my scheduled C-section and mandated a natural birth.

But the baby's hardened, oversized skull just kept crushing my internal organs. Knowing something was horribly wrong, I mashed the call button. Drew ignored it.

A passing doctor from another unit agreed to scrub in for me. Drew found out, threw a massive fit, and accused me of seducing other men out of spite.

"Give it up, Audrey! As a doctor, I can deny this surgery. As your husband, I am withholding consent! If you can scream, you can push!"

He trapped me inside, tore my consent forms to shreds, and announced to the floor:

No wasting hospital resources! No surgery! No epidural! Natural birth only!

The massive hemorrhage was inevitable.

I watched helplessly as my own lifeblood poured out like a broken dam, dripping onto the tiles, seeping into the grout.

Baby, Mommy really tried.

I stroked my still-swollen belly and closed my eyes to the world.

"I still think Audrey wouldn't lie about the baby..."

In the staff room, Windy's sugary voice broke through Drew's angry rant.

"Oh, please. I know my own wife. She's pulled countless dirty tricks. You're the only one innocent enough to fall for her acts, baby."

Getting the answer she wanted, Windy flashed a sly smile and buried herself in his embrace.

His words made me both furious and curious. What dirty tricks?

Before I could listen closer, Sam, the intern, burst into the room in a blind panic.

"Dr. Drew! We have a patient coding from a massive uterine hemorrhage! We need you in the OR now!"

A surge of wild joy hit me. Was there still time? Could I be saved?

"That's impossible. Out of the five patients tonight, four delivered smoothly. The only one left is..."

Even the famously calm Drew lost his composure. He crumpled the chart in his hand.

"Oh my god, is it Audrey?!" Windy shrieked, sprinting toward the OR ahead of him.

But when she saw the stranger's face on the operating table, she pouted in disappointment.

Sam panted, trying to catch his breath. "Dr. Drew, this is a high-risk transfer from the ER. You're the only surgeon skilled enough to handle this."

I gave a bitter, ghostly laugh, mocking my own delusional hope.

Drew instantly regained his cool, snapping on his gloves and grabbing the hemostatic forceps.

He was Memorial Hospital's absolute best. Solid foundation, impeccable technique. He had pulled countless mothers back from the brink of death. Wall-to-wall plaques and awards decorated his office.

What an absolute joke.

I was his wife, yet I died a gruesome death on a lonely bed because of his ego and blind prejudice.

Following the loud cry of a newborn and the announcement of "mother and daughter stable," the surgery was a success.

Perhaps the adrenaline sparked a tiny bit of conscience in him. He stared blankly down the hall toward my room.

If he had taken just a few more steps, he would have seen the dark red pool seeping out from under my door. Blood loss of that magnitude was an instant death sentence.

Drew started walking slowly toward my room.

Behind him, Windy gave a seductive little smirk. She hooked her arm through his and yanked him into an empty, private staff restroom.

He frowned, making a half-hearted gesture to push her away. But the look in his eyes betrayed a sickening amount of adoration.

"Windy, I'm a doctor. No matter how awful Audrey acts, I still have to make sure she delivers safely."

"As for the divorce, just give me a little more time."

Windy stayed stubbornly silent, burying her face against his chest. Then, she reached up and bit down hard on his neck, leaving a deep red mark, staking her claim.

Drew looked down, his gaze catching the side of Windy's face.

A bright red handprint was stamped across her delicate cheek. It looked glaringly obvious.

"Who hit you? You were perfectly fine a minute ago!"

His demeanor flipped instantly. He grabbed her hand, ready to storm out.

"It doesn't hurt. If hitting me makes Audrey feel better, I'll take it!"

Her cryptic words painted a very specific picture.

But Windy had been attached to his hip the entire time they were in the OR. She hadn't even been near my room. That "slap mark" was clearly drawn on with a lipstick bullet when he wasn't looking.

It was the dumbest trick in the book, yet Drew bought it without a second thought.

He was ready to come scream at me, but Windy stopped him with a barrage of breathless kisses. Soft curves pressed against him, and Drew completely lost his mind, responding with animalistic hunger.

We were separated by a single wall. On the left side, I lay dead, having felt every agonizing second of my organs failing. On the right side, my husband was having a steamy hookup with his mistress.

My soul felt like it was being ripped to shreds, phasing back and forth through the drywall.

I hated myself. I hated how stupid, how blindly trusting I had been, throwing my life away for a man like this!

As if sensing my grief, two streams of clear tears slid down the cheeks of my lifeless corpse.

Just a second before crossing the absolute point of no return, Drew gently but firmly pushed Windy away.

He rushed to the sink, splashing freezing water on his face, pinching the inside of his arm to force himself to snap out of it.

"Drew, why not... Do you think I'm dirty?"

Windy cried beautifully, wrapping her arms around his narrow waist from behind.

"Never!"

He spun around, panting heavily in frustration.

"I have too much baggage right now. Windy, just wait for me. I swear I won't let you carry the title of a homewrecker!"

He smoothed her bangs and kissed her lips over and over again.

Over his shoulder, Windy flashed a victorious, wicked smile straight in my direction.

It was utterly absurd!

To Drew, I was just "baggage," while Windy was a precious gem who couldn't be allowed to suffer a single grievance.

Too bad Windy had shown her true colors a long time ago.

Ever since she found out I was Drew's wife, she made a point to cross my path at every prenatal checkup.

She would parade around wearing his oversized doctor's coat, using his engraved pen, calling him "honey" loud enough for everyone in the waiting room to hear.

Once, when I needed an ultrasound, Windy pretended to be the tech. She used the probe without any gel, digging it into my skin so violently it left me bruised, caused a minor infection, and nearly triggered a miscarriage.

Furious, I filed a formal complaint with hospital administration.

But with no hard evidence, it was written off as a hysterical pregnant woman throwing a tantrum. Since Drew was my husband, he took some heat for it from the board. From then on, I was nothing but a drama-seeking, jealous shrew in his eyes.

I was deep in my third trimester by then. Between the suffocating fights with his mother and my heavily swollen joints, I didn't have the energy to fight for a husband who already had one foot out the door.

When I checked in for labor yesterday and saw Windy assigned as my charge nurse, a cold dread washed over me.

Sure enough, while setting up my IV, she "couldn't find the vein." She dug the needle around under my skin, intentionally hitting a nerve. The back of my hand blew up like a balloon, leaving my fingers numb and throbbing.

When Drew came in to check my chart, I finally snapped and complained.

His face turned to thunder. He grabbed my hospital bag and slammed it down directly onto my swollen, bruised hand.

"Playing the victim now, are we?! You hold a petty grudge, so you threw boiling water on a nurse who was just trying to help you. And she hasn't said a single bad word about you!"

"She made a tiny mistake with a needle, and you're acting like she stabbed you!"

"Don't think being pregnant means you own the world, and don't think being my wife gives you a VIP pass! You can deliver this kid by yourself!"

"Does it hurt? Good. Pain builds character."

Under his orders, Sam was forced to restrain my limbs, and Windy shoved the rag into my mouth.

I had looked at him with sheer terror. "Drew, I'm not afraid of the pain! I'm afraid the baby and I will die! How can I deliver a ten-pound baby naturally? This is your child!"

Drew just sneered.

"Ten pounds? You think I'm an idiot?"

"Drop the act. Once you push the kid out quietly and give Windy a formal, bowing apology, I might consider forgiving you."

With that, he left me to die, carrying a perfectly fine Windy away to put a band-aid on her.

Now, having barely pumped the brakes on their bathroom tryst, Drew hugged a flushed Windy and finally felt a tiny drop of pity.

"Audrey should have learned her lesson by now. Windy, page another attending to do her C-section. We're clocking out."

Right then, Sam the intern came sprinting down the hall, his face devoid of color. "Dr. Drew! Something's wrong! Your wife... I think something terrible happened!"