Interstellar Beastworld: Raising A Cub With My Mummy System!-Chapter 25: A HEALTHY BABY BOY

He nodded and left, but he did not go to the lounge. He went back to the corridor outside the labor wing and stood against the wall, arms crossed, waiting.

Inside the room, Lin Yue was in hell.

The contractions came in waves, each one worse than the last.

She pushed and screamed and pushed some more, her body burning with effort, sweat soaking her hair and the thin hospital gown.

"How much longer?" she gasped.

A nurse checked the monitors. "You are only at four centimeters. It will be several more hours."

Lin Yue’s head fell back against the pillow.

Several more hours?

She could not do several more hours!

But she did.

Hours passed.

Five centimeters.

Six.

Seven.

Each one earned with blood and sweat and screams that left her throat raw.

Vethra checked the baby’s position regularly, her expression growing more concerned each time. "The baby is facing upward. It needs to turn downward for delivery."

"Can you turn it?" Lin Yue panted.

"We can try, but it is better if the baby turns on its own." Vethra placed a monitor on her stomach. "We will wait a while longer."

They waited.

Lin Yue pushed like her life depended on it.

Nothing.

The baby would not turn.

Outside, Uriel paced.

Back and forth, back and forth, the same stretch of corridor wearing a path in his memory.

Nurses passed him, some offering sympathetic glances, most too busy to notice.

Hours had passed.

The sun had set and risen again.

He had even stopped counting.

A young nurse approached with a cup of water. "Your Majesty, you should sit down. Drink something."

He took the water but did not drink. "How much longer?"

"I cannot say. Labors vary." She hesitated. "But this one is... prolonged. The physician is concerned."

His blood ran cold. "Concerned about what?"

"I should not say—"

"Tell me."

The nurse swallowed. "The baby is not in the right position. They are trying to turn it, but it is not working. If it does not turn soon, they may need to consider other options."

He dismissed her with a nod and went back to pacing.

Other options.

He did not like the sound of that.

By the thirty-sixth hour, Lin Yue was already hallucinating.

She saw her mother standing in the corner of the room, watching her with sad eyes.

She saw the car crash, the headlights, Wei Chen’s scream.

She saw a warm light, like the one in her dream, pulsing gently in the corner of her vision.

"Stay with me.." Vethra said, her voice sharp. "Lin Yue, stay conscious."

She blinked and the visions disappeared. The pain rushed back in.

"The baby will not turn.." Vethra said, her face grim. "We have tried everything. We need to discuss other options."

Lin Yue sobbed. "Just get it out. I do not care how. Just get my baby out."

Vethra nodded slowly. "A C-section is our only option. But I must be honest with you. Most of our pharmaceuticals do not work on your biology. The anesthetic I created specifically for you is untested. I can only administer a small amount. You will feel pain. A significant pain."

Lin Yue stared at her. "How much pain?"

"More than you have ever felt. But it is the only way to save you and your baby."

Lin Yue closed her eyes.

Another contraction ripped through her.

"Do it," she whispered. "Just do it."

They prepped her quickly. The room filled with more staff, more machines, more urgency. Vethra held the syringe.

"This will take the edge off, but not much. I am sorry."

The anesthetic entered her veins. It did almost nothing.

When the scalpel touched her skin, she felt everything.

It was the most agonizing thing she had ever experienced. To feel her stomach being cut open, layer by layer, to know what was happening even through the haze of exhaustion and pain. She screamed until her voice gave out, then kept screaming silently.

But the process was quick.

Faster than the labor, faster than the endless hours of pushing.

She felt something leave her body.

That sudden emptiness.

Then she heard it.

A cry.

A baby’s cry.

"It is a boy!" someone announced. "We have a boy!"

Lin Yue’s heart soared even as her body failed. She reached out weakly, trying to see him, trying to hold him.

But her vision was dimming.

The room was spinning.

She heard Vethra’s voice, sharp with alarm. "Her blood pressure is dropping. Heart rate is unstable. We are losing her!"

The last thing she saw was a tiny, wrinkled face, red and screaming.

Then everything went black.

"Critical! We are losing the mother!"

Vethra’s voice cut through the chaos. "Get the healing tank ready, now!"

Nurses scrambled. Machines beeped wildly.

The defibrillator was wheeled into place.

"Clear!"

Lin Yue’s body jerked on the table.

The monitors blipped but did not stabilize.

"Again! Clear!"

Another jerk.

Another blip.

"Her heart rate is coming back. Get her in the tank!"

They moved her quickly, carefully, transferring her still-bleeding body into the waiting tank. The liquid closed over her, warm and humming with energy.

Everyone held their breath.

The monitors flickered.

Then steadied.

Then slowly, slowly began to improve.

Vethra let out a breath she did not know she had been holding. "She is stabilizing. The tank is doing its work."

One of the nurses crossed herself.

Another wiped her eyes.

They had almost lost her. They had almost lost them both.

The prince would have had their heads.

Outside, Uriel had stopped pacing.

He stood frozen against the wall, watching the doors.

Too many people had rushed in.

Too many machines had been wheeled past.

The energy in the corridor had shifted from tense to frantic.

When a nurse finally emerged, her face pale, he grabbed her arm.

"What is happening?"

She looked at him with wide eyes. "The mother... she crashed. After the birth. They had to resuscitate her."

The world tilted. "Is she—"

"She is alive. They got her into the healing tank. She is stable now." The nurse swallowed. "It was very close, Your Majesty. Very close."

He released her as she hurried away.

He stood there, his heart pounding, his hands shaking, and tried to remember how to breathe.

They focused on the baby.

The umbilical cord was cut and clamped. He was cleaned and measured, his weight recorded, his reflexes tested. He screamed the whole time, a healthy, furious sound.

"Three point two kilograms. Fully developed. Perfect health. Apgar scores are excellent."