Alessia:
Everything was ready.
That was the strangest part.
The fact that our baby was almost here, and that I knew that I would be holding them very soon.
The room smelled faintly of lavender and clean linen. The crib stood assembled near the window, soft blankets folded with care. Little clothes, tiny, impossibly small, were tucked neatly into drawers I’d opened and closed a dozen times already, just to reassure myself that this was real, that I wasn’t going to wake up from this to find out that it was nothing more than a dream.
I rested a hand on my belly, smiling as the baby shifted, slow and heavy now.
Soon.
Not fear.
Not dread.
Excitement.
For the first time in my life, I wasn’t waiting for something to be taken from me.
I was waiting to give.
“You’re going to meet your
