Aller au contenuBut this was not normal postpartum tiredness. This was not “new mom stress.” Mariana was bleeding so badly that the room had begun to tilt around her.
“If you’re bleeding, put on a towel and stop ruining my birthday.”
Those were the words her husband, Alejandro, said without even looking into her eyes. He stood in the hallway mirror, calmly fixing the collar of his crisp white linen shirt, getting ready for a luxury cabin weekend in Aspen with his friends.
He had just turned thirty. And apparently, to him, that mattered more than the woman on the floor begging not to die.
“Alejandro, please,” Mariana whispered, her voice cracking as cold sweat rolled down her pale face. “I need you to take me to the hospital. I feel weak. My vision is going blurry.”
He sighed like she had asked him to take out the trash. Then he grabbed his designer sunglasses from the entry table and stepped closer, careful not to let the blood touch his leather shoes.
“Here we go,” he muttered. “My mom warned me you’d do this. She said women get dramatic after giving birth and act like they’re the only person in the world who ever had a baby.”
Mariana tried to breathe, but every breath felt thinner than the last. “This isn’t normal. I’m going to pass out.”
The baby began crying then, a tiny desperate sound that cut through the nursery like an alarm. Mariana tried to turn toward the crib, tried to lift herself, tried to be a mother even while her own body was failing her.
But her arms would not obey. Her strength was leaving her faster than the blood beneath her.
“Call 911,” she begged. “Please. Call your mom. Call anyone. Just help me.”
Alejandro let out a dry, bitter laugh. “An ambulance? So the whole neighborhood can watch and my family can say I’m a terrible husband for leaving on my birthday weekend? No thanks.”
He checked his phone, annoyed by the time, not by the blood. “Drink some tea. My mom said she’ll stop by tomorrow morning. I already paid thousands for this trip, the steaks are packed, the bourbon is loaded, and my friends are waiting.”
Mariana stared at him, unable to believe that the man who once promised to protect her was now standing over her like she was an inconvenience. “Alejandro… look at me………….