Doctor’s Reputation

“It’s a girl!” the doctor gushed, placing the wailing infant on the woman’s chest.
The mother heaved trying to catch her breath in the aftermath of her grueling labour. Tears of pain mingled briefly with tears of joy before dissolving into tears of sadness

She had once again given birth to a girl! Her third daughter. What would her husband and in-laws do to her now?

“Is everything okay, ma’am?” asked the closest nurse to the bed.

The words she desperately wanted to let out, the same ones she’d been hiding for years, meshed into a ball in her throat.

“I… just—” This was enough to let her breathe again, as tears streamed down her sweltering red cheeks. “She’s beautiful… but,” she paused. “A mistake.”

The nurse bent down, leveling her concerned eyes with the hysterical new mother. “What ever do you mean?”

She looked around at the other nurses, making sure she was the only one close enough to hear. “It’s okay, you can tell me.”

Holding the baby girl closer to her chest, she couldn’t bear to tell this nurse how disappointed and terribly afraid she was of her husband and what he would do to her for not giving him the boy he’d been wanting and waiting for, all these years. She gazed down at the now hushed child and tried to muster the humiliation.

“My husband…” she whispered, then took a breath. “She was supposed to be a boy…”

Her heavy sobbing grew loud, attracting the attention of another nurse. As the other nurse began to walk over, she was pulled back by another’s hand wrapped softly around her arm, letting her know she wasn’t needed.

Through soaked eyes, the mother saw this and was relieved. She couldn’t even look at the nurse sitting on the edge of the bed now, after what she had just revealed, let alone, explain anymore.

“Oh, honey. Do you not know of your doctor’s reputation?” The nurse wore a surprised look.

“Wh… what?” the mother exclaimed.

“Your doctor has never delivered a baby that wasn’t a girl.” She paused, then turned to look at the bloody tools on the doctor’s table.

The mother’s mouth hung open, eyes glued to what was on the table while she thought, What are those for? Why are they covered in blood?

“Well, sometimes not at first…” the nurse answered. “Like yours.” She looked at the mother and smiled.