Flash fiction

When I brought my baby home

When I brought my baby home.

I started labor ten hours before the birth of my son. I was fairly young and hadn’t a care, during the nine months-and-a-week-long pregnancy. I suffered no blues, and no health problems.

The scene in the hospital maternity ward, threw me a bit. A number of would- be-mothers mourned, and suffered the labor pains rather loudly.

My mother, who was with me, looked worried and concerned about the delivery. 

I was watching people, even during some excruciating spasms. A lady, who just arrived for delivery, was chatting away, about childbirth, and how easy it could be. She, we later learned, was a mother thirteen children, all doing fine. That was real experience!

During the next hour, my son was born. His thick black hair, and big brown eyes mesmerized me to no end. When the nurse was taking him away to clean up, I told her,

“Please don’t mix him up with other babies.”
The nurse looked a bit startled at the direction. She smiled at me kindly and showed the tag differentiating him from other babies.

When they brought him back and put him by my side, inexpressible warmth, and a delicate feeling, perhaps it was love and compassion, moved my insides. He turned to me, and much to my disbelief, uttered  ‘Amma.’(Mama) I was greatly thrilled. It was the beginning of a new, and a unique relationship.

I came home with my baby son, on the third day after his birth. My husband and my parents accompanied me, a smile on everybody’s face. A newborn child was a bundle of joy, anywhere, any day! We, my baby and I, had a warm welcome home, from my neighbors as well. It was a red-letter day in my life.

Word count:296