By Choice

Somewhere in an overpopulated city with smoggy skies and angry pedestrians, lied a hospital. This certain hospital was named St. Reyes’ Hospital and it was directly across from a large flower boutique. Many infants and sick people were filed through each day. Each nurse berated or belittled hourly, and at least two accidents in the parking lot was the usual for St. Reyes. Though in a particularly understaffed time, something extraordinarily special happened.

A twenty-eight-year-old taxidermist and his wife, a particularly hated traffic guard, had come to the hospital with early stages of labor. She would scream and holler at anyone who crossed her path. The husband, though concerned for his wife, would stay silent as his wife rudely screeched like a harpy about the incompetence of the present staff. Poor Dr. Alabaster was her doctor as her usual doctor was out sick with a terrible stomach flu. Being told this information truly sent the woman off the deep end, and everyone in a mile radius had to deal with it.

A young girl, barely nineteen, named Alice was listening to the howling women as she quietly writhed in her own labor pain. She was a month early and prayed to any god that would listen because she needed her baby to survive. The girl was young and unfortunate in many aspects, but her baby was the greatest miracle that could’ve been granted to her. Nevertheless, the daunting fact of being alone in it all was the thing she regretted most.

On that miserable and cloudy day, two women gave birth to baby girls. However, the young girl’s delivery was anything but a fairytale. As she was contracting, her baby was not in the correct position, but she was suddenly coming out fast. They maneuvered the baby girl and did all they could to get her out, but she was taken to the NICU. Being born so prematurely was a huge risk for the baby, but the young women was in just as much peril.

The young mother was starting to hemorrhage, and she’d torn so much that she was bleeding out at an unbelievable rate. The worst of all was that she contracted an unidentified infection when her water broke hours earlier, so her immune system was working overtime as well. It seemed like the worst-case scenario for her, and she wasn’t oblivious to her circumstance. A sudden awareness of her life being dwindled down to a matter of hours, minutes even, was a terrifying idea she’d never grappled with. Nevertheless, the doctors managed to stabilize her bleeding, but her body was way too weak to fight an infection of that magnitude.

The young woman had one last request, and it was to see her baby daughter. The doctor believed it would weaken her and decrease what time she had, but this medical warning meant nothing to her as she was determined to see her baby before she died. The nurses understood her wishes and loaded her up in a well-padded wheelchair, and the immediate toll it took on her was evident. The woman became paler and hunched over to conceal her raging pain. Every person pitied the young girl as she was rolled through the hallways.

The Latina women dressed in lavender scrubs who pushed her wheelchair, placed her inches away from the baby’s incubator. The baby girl was connected to many tubes, IV’s, and other assortments of medical equipment. The sight of her burdened baby was killing the young woman, and she couldn’t help but cry. She placed her hand on the cold glass which felt like a great wall between them. As she looked upon her baby, she gave a weak chuckle because the baby was completely covering her face with her little hands. Though to her surprise, she noticed something odd about her baby’s face.

Very weak she forced words out, struggling to keep her volume high. “What’s wrong… with my baby’s face?” She asked in a curious voice, trying to conceal her worry. The woman looked to the kind nurse close to her and back to her baby, concerned if she had a birth defect.

The nurse quickly grabbed the baby’s chart and scanned over the information noted. “It seems that she has a port-wine stain birthmark on the left side of her face. They’ve deemed it safe and not a sign of any underlying condition. But they did note that it’s subject to change as they continue to diagnose her.” The nurse explained in a soft tone as to comfort the dying woman. The young woman was just silent and stared at her little girl “So, in conclusion, she’s okay ma’am,” the nurse said once more hoping to ease the mother’s worries.

As the young lady watched her, she slowly began smiling as she came to terms with the idea. She never once doubted her love or the beauty of her girl, but she worried about the future she would have alone. As time went by, the baby finally put her arms down and the woman was finally able to get a full view of the mark. Not seconds passed, and the woman couldn’t but notice that the mark was in the shape of a flower. “Nurse, can I name her even if…. I’m not going to be around?”

“Of course, ma’am! Just give me a minute,” the kind nurse answered as she immediately rushed to the closest available nurse to fetch the correct papers. The nurse bustled around, whispering, and pointing at the dilapidated woman. A few minutes passed and the documents were delivered to the young mother.

The women didn’t hesitate, knowing her minutes were few. “This is my baby girl, Marigold.” The woman said with a proud smile as she stroked the glass. She paused and the nurse stroked the woman’s back in support. “Marigold Gladiolus Burbell, I know it sounds odd, but she’s my special girl.” The woman groaned as a shooting pain enveloped her body. The woman loved her baby with all her being, and she would spend her last few minutes with the love of her life.

Meanwhile, the enraged traffic guard named Kirsten, was waiting for the return of her baby. She was seething and grumbling intensely to her husband as usual. A nurse bustled in to inform the new mother of the state of her baby. “Ma’am, your baby is doing great, and the health scare we suspected ended up being okay. She should be back with you within the hour.” The nervous nurse said in a polite tone with the woman’s reputation in mind. The mother crossed her arms and scoffed under breath.

“Well, the baby will be clothed, bathed, and at least also fed right? I mean you guys are capable of that at least, right?” The woman asked as she rolled her eyes. Her condescending tone seeped from every pore on her, and the room was full of awkward tension. The nurse fidgeted and glanced to the husband for any assistance.

“Well ma’am the baby is yours so… you’ll be expected to care for it yourself. We will bathe and dress the baby provided you have clothes for her. We can even send in our lactation specialists if you have any hesitations or concerns with feeding the baby yourself. As well if breastfeeding is not what you’d like to do then we can help provide a bottle and even formula if you’d like.” She spoke hesitantly, not wanting to set her off.

The angry woman paused, and her mouth was gaping as she panned back and forth from the nurse to her husband. “This is ridiculous! You expect me to do this all on my own? I mean I just gave birth less than a day ago!” The angry mother proceeded to rant for another thirty minutes before her baby girl finally arrived back to her. The nurse escaped as soon as she could and tried her best to put in orders for the demeaning woman.

Not minutes after the nurse left the room, she heard great screams and true bleating of anguish coming from the room she’d just left. She debated for a moment whether to ignore her, but as the primary nurse she had a duty to the woman. With a heaviness on her heart, she entered the room and saw to her dismay, absolutely nothing. A few other nurses were present, but they were just as puzzled. Even a care volunteer from the Flower boutique across the street, Ellary Gerit came.

“Is she okay?” Ellary blurted, unaware of the woman’s dramatic nature. They all watched as the woman held her baby like a radioactive insect or a dead dog that was placed in her arms. Ellary glanced frantically to the nurses, wondering if anyone was going to take the baby before she inevitably threw it across the room. The primary nurse finally ushered over to the woman and tried to assess the issue.

“Why aren’t you imbeciles doing anything? My baby is… defective or… or you guys made her ugly now!” The woman belted as she gestured to her baby’s face with her free arm, in disgust. The woman’s grip on the baby quickly loosened and the primary nurse lunged forward to grab the baby. The nurse cradled the baby as it started to wail. “Do you see the problem at hand? Her face has issues!”

The nurses rolled their eyes, and Ellary looked with squinted eyes and a furrowed brow at the mother’s comments. The volunteer pushed forward gently and finally caught sight of the baby’s face. In astonishment, the baby was beautiful unlike anything the mother had described. The only thing was a port-wine stain birthmark on the whole right side of her face in a thick flower formation. Ellary was absolutely enraged by the woman’s attitude, but she stayed in support of the baby.

A spew of insults continued, and the taxidermist was now sitting with his head in his hands. The irritated extra nurses left the primary nurse to deal with it, as their work was piling up. The woman wouldn’t even listen to a doctor on all the info about the birthmark. About an hour in, unbelievable words left the woman’s mouth. “I. Don’t. Want. That. Baby!” The doctor pleaded with her and even with her husband, but he was quiet and compliant with his wife.

Admitting defeat, having to honor the woman’s wishes, the doctor spoke his final words to her. “Ma’am, if you truly wish to, you can surrender your baby. Your baby girl will go into the foster system, and you’ll leave the hospital without your daughter.” With a few more choice words filled with profanity, she agreed, and the baby was taken out of her care.

To the nurse’s delight, she was placed next to Marigold Burbell and they noticed the unbelievable coincidence side by side. Two baby girls, born on the same day, in the same hospital, with the same birthmark on opposite sides. Ellary became obsessed with the baby girls now left alone in the world. One by choice and one by unfortunate fate but both left by their mothers. The young volunteer helped whenever she could with the baby girls. Each girl growing each day and getting stronger.

One evening, Ellary was visiting and doting on the girls, and the head doctor of the neonatal section approached her. “So, it’s obvious these girls will be going home with you, if you’re ready for the long process?” The doctor said with an amused smile. Ellary nodded her head quickly with her hand on each glass basinet. “They can go home today. What are you going to call them?”

The young volunteer from across the street looked upon her two girls. “My beautiful girls are Marigold Gladiolus and Magnolia Allium Gerit.” She then took her baby girls home with her to her beautiful flower boutique in that miserable city where they were happy for a long time to come.