Chapter 6 - The Water Breaks
Monica let out a blood-curdling scream.
I fell backward, the world spinning violently around me. My hands instinctively rushed from the table to cup my stomach, trying to shield my baby as my lower back slammed brutally against the hard, polished hardwood floor.
The impact was deafening. My heavy belly absorbed a horrifying amount of the kinetic shock.
The pain that ripped through my abdomen was instant and utterly blinding. It wasn't the dull ache of pregnancy; it was a sharp, tearing agony.
A sudden, massive rush of warm fluid exploded from beneath me, completely soaking the fabric of my maternity dress and pooling rapidly across the gleaming dance floor.
My water had broken. I was thirty-two weeks pregnant, and the impact had ruptured the amniotic sac.
The string quartet abruptly stopped playing.
A collective, horrified gasp echoed across the vast ballroom. Chairs scraped loudly against the floor as dozens of guests leaped to their feet, craning their necks to see what had caused the commotion.
I lay flat on my back, completely paralyzed by the shock and the sudden, terrifying onset of a massive uterine contraction. Panic, cold and absolute, seized my throat as I frantically pressed my hands into my stomach, begging to feel my baby kick.
Above the chaotic murmurs of the horrified guests, my mother’s voice rang out, sharp, authoritative, and sickeningly calm.
"She is perfectly fine!"
May you like
My mother announced loudly, waving her hands at the staring guests.
"Everyone, please, continue eating. She simply lost her balance. It was just a clumsy fall."
