Julia POV
The months slipped by in a blur of exhaustion and anticipation. I watched my belly swell, my body transforming to accommodate the tiny life growing inside me. Every kick, every flutter, was a reassurance that I had survived, that the future was still bright—even if the past sometimes lingered at the edges of my mind. Ethan and I found out we were having a girl, and the news filled our home with a kind of cautious joy. We spent late nights whispering over baby names and painting the nursery in soft shades of lavender and cream.
Work was as grueling as ever, but also more rewarding. The night shifts stretched on, but I found myself pouring even more compassion into my patients and their families. I felt an unspoken kinship with the mothers who leaned on me, the parents who brough
