POSTPARTUM BLUES
TITLE: Postpartum Blues
Author: ailaling1017
Genre: crack, romance, fluff, MPREG
Warning: genderswitch, minor language, cursing
Disclaimer: Yes. They’re mine. PROBLEM?LOLjk
Rating: PG-13
Status/Length: Complete; One-Shot; 4,050W
Pairing: KyuMin; girl!Min; side:YeWook; girl!Wook; ninja!KangTeuk, girl!Teuk
Summary: Sungmin knew there was something wrong the day Kyuhyun put down his laptop and announced that they needed to go to the mall to shop for maternity clothes.
beta-ed by the awesome princess_jaded ~ ILY Diane unnie!\o/
~
"Mrs. Cho Sungmin. Come in."
Sungmin slowly made her way into the makeshift clinic beside the delivery room. She has been in active labor for three hours already and to say that it hurt like hell would somehow be an understatement.
"Ah, good evening, Mrs. Cho. Nice to see you," a small man with shaggy black hair and thick horn-rimmed glasses extended a hand (which Sungmin thought was too small but chose not to comment further on) greeting her - a little too jovially for Sungmin's liking. Kim Yesung - Obstetrician - his nameplate said.
"Good evening, Dr. Kim," Sungmin managed in reply, albeit a little breathily as she took the offered handshake. Another contraction chose that very moment to occur and Sungmin couldn't help but squeeze the doctor's hand.
"Ow..." Dr. Kim started but recovered himself quickly - pursing his lips so as to prevent himself from yelping due to the pain on his hand - Sungmin, after all, was a martial artist before a certain Cho Kyuhyun came into her life and "domesticated" her.
"So, Mrs. Cho, when was your LMP? EDC?" the doctor muttered nonchalantly to which Sungmin could only raise an eyebrow in response.
If it weren't for another contraction, she would've been tempted to make a snarky comeback. What the heck were LMP and EDC? Was he sure he didn't mean LMAO and IDC? Darn. Kyuhyun and his internet language were surely rubbing off on her. Now that she thinks about it, she wondered what happened to her husband.
"Um, sorry? I don't understand."
"Oh, I meant when was your last menstrual period? Do you know your expected date of confinement?"
"I see. Hmmm... It was July 13, 2010. And um, I don't know when exactly I should give birth. I haven't had prenatal check-ups since... since my fifth month or something."
The doctor took a sharp intake of breath and said dramatically: "Why would you not have prenatal check-ups? It's vital to the health of your developing fetus! And you should get tetanus toxoid shots and a hep B vaccine! Wait, where's your husband? What kind of an irresponsible husband wouldn't take care of her wife during pregnancy!?"
"Errr... We have issues."
"Still, that's not an excuse. It's his responsibility to see to it that you are attended to. Pregnancy is not a joke. What with the morning sickness on top of it all. And seriously! What's with the, ‘you don't love me anymore because I'm so fat already,’ mentality you pregnant women have! It's only natural to gain a few pounds - I mean 24-28 pounds is the average - but still, it varies. “Besides, the fetus alone accounts for about 3,400 grams of that weight - then the placenta weighs about 450 grams. Another 900 grams for the amniotic fluid, 1,100 grams for the uterus, 1,400 grams for breast tissue - not that I'm complaining - the increase in blood volume adds about 1,800 grams, then the remaining 1,800-3,600 grams is necessary for maternal stores. It's like you didn't gain weight at all!”
“Except that you do. But that's beside the point! Still, how can Wookie think I'd cheat on her just because she's pregnant and her down there would never be the same again! Has she got no shame? She didn't marry the best gynecologist in town for nothing. Episiotomies are my thing, thank you very much." Dr. Kim was flailing his small hands over his head by this time and Sungmin would've laughed at the scene if not for another contraction radiating from her lower back which made her gasp in pain.
Dr. Kim came to her side upon noticing her discomfort and started to rub small circles on her lower back where all the contractions seemed to radiate from. This somehow eased some of her pain and the contraction ceased after a few seconds. Dr. Kim then returned behind his desk and scribbled a few notes on Sungmin's chart - all the while glancing at the clock perched on the wall. Sungmin noticed that he looked at the time every time she had a contraction but she was in so much pain to be bothered with what it was all about.
Sungmin was in the middle of trying to remember the brand name of the iron supplements she took when a petite nurse suddenly barged into the room - panting and looking for all the world like she just ran a marathon.
"Yesung! I mean, Dr. Kim," the nurse corrected upon seeing that there was a patient in the clinic.
"Yes, babe?" Dr. Kim replied, obviously nonplussed.
The nurse blushed a deep shade of scarlet before recovering. She stood up to her full height - which wasn't much - but still, the angry glint in her eyes would've made anyone squirm. Except that, Dr. Kim didn't seem to be affected. He's weird - Sungmin decided.
"Dr. Kim! I thought we already talked about this!" the nurse, Kim Ryeowook according
to her nameplate, retorted hotly.
"I know. And I thought I've already made it pretty clear that I can't be bothered with hiding our relationship. I'm proud to have you as my wife! Why should I hide it? Are you ashamed of me?" Sungmin was surprised to see that Dr. Kim pouted - he actually pouted!
"You know it's not like that." Ryeowook's features visibly softened, her voice reduced to a whisper.
"Then why are you making me do this? What's wrong with that?" Yesung asked indignantly.
"What's wrong is that we are colleagues! We should learn to differentiate our home life from work. It's bad enough that the other nurses hate me. They always talk behind my back - complaining about the fact that they don't get to scrub in on your operations. It makes me feel as if I don't deserve any of this. That… I don't deserve you."
Dr. Kim's scowl eased itself and he strode around his table to envelop his wife who was now on the brink of tears in a tight hug.
"Wookie baby. I'm sorry okay? I'm trying. I'll try harder," Dr. Kim whispered onto his wife's hair.
"Really?" Ryeowook blinked up at her husband - eyes as wide as saucers. Sungmin thought she looked cute - even cuter than herself - and that says a lot.
"Yes. I promise. I'm not so sure about letting that nurse Henry scrub in though. I still can't forget how I spent two hours stitching a certain patient's perineum when he failed to support it well. It was a fourth degree laceration! Fourth degree!" Dr. Kim all but squeaked.
Ryeowook merely chuckled and patted her husband's chest playfully.
"Ya! Give him a break. He was new that time. He has improved quite a lot by now."
Sungmin found the conversation between the love birds extremely cute and she started to “aww” but it turned into an “ow” as another contraction started. She gasped from the pain and the other two people in the room who seemed to forget her presence, turned their heads simultaneously towards her.
"Oh my god! I forgot! The reason why I came here in the first place is that there's a stat C/S waiting for you in the O.R. Let's go!" Ryeowook said hastily - grabbing Yesung by the scruff of his smock without giving Sungmin so much as another glance.
Sungmin remained stock still as she watched the couple leave the clinic and it took her a few minutes to regain her composure. She couldn't believe she has just been abandoned in a time like this. She quickly stood up, ready to head to the office of the hospital's medical director or whoever's in charge to give them a piece of her mind, when another contraction started and she could do nothing more than just clutch her stomach in pain. She stumbled out of the room and was relieved to find that the delivery room was situated right alongside it. She pushed the door open only to find to her horror that there was no one inside - very unlikely, but literally, there was no one.
Sungmin wanted to pull her hair out from the frustration because seriously, of all times this should happen, it just had to coincide with the day she has to give birth! What luck. She was furious but she figured she would have to help herself since no one was there. Not even Kyuhyun, the bastard. This was his doing, after all.
Sungmin dragged her feet across the hall as fast as the pain would allow her and was welcomed with the words: "OPERATING ROOM" emblazoned on the front of the swinging doors. She slowly pushed the door and was surprised see that the room is in a state of chaos. Doctors and nurses were walking, or more like running, back and forth - shouts of orders and whatnot filling the air. The coppery scent of blood hung in the air. In a sense of the word, it is a battlefield in there.
Sungmin was in a daze as she eyed the figures busily strutting in front of her and she slowly slid herself into the room - leaving the side of the door wherein she had been peeking from. Her vision was occupied with a blur of various colors of scrubs, although the color white seemed to dominate everything else. No one seemed to pay her any heed so she decided to walk in further until she reached the center of the activity. She stood on tiptoes and swore that the mere sight of what was going on in the operating table would've had her giving birth right there and then.
Sungmin felt weak-kneed as she blindly searched for the nearest wall to clutch onto for support - finding none, she clung to the closest person and was surprised to find that it was the nurse from earlier.
Ryeowook seemed as surprised as Sungmin and quickly pulled her back out of the area - sitting her on a chair just behind a line on the floor which made no sense to the latter.
"Oh my god. Misses?"
"Cho."
A momentary look of confusion was etched on the young nurse's face before she shrugged it off.
"Oh, yeah, Mrs. Cho. What are you doing here?"
"I...My..." Sungmin found herself incoherent. She couldn't form proper words and she hung her head low instead. Just then, a contraction crept up on her insides and she was glad that Ryeowook was quick to massage her lower back upon observing the grimace on her face.
"Oh, sorry. There was an emergency and they needed Ye... I mean Dr. Kim to assist in surgery. He's the best at what he does so he had to leave you. We're very sorry for the inconvenience. We hope you understand. Wait, I'll get you another doctor."
Ryeowook re-appeared as fast as she had disappeared and was tagging along a tall, lanky man whose smile seemed to be out of place in the sea of worried faces. Dr. Zhou Mi, his name plate read.
"Hi, Mrs. Cho. I’m Dr. Zhou but you can call me Mi.”
“Okay,” was all Sungmin could answer. She was still so preoccupied with what she had seen a few minutes prior.
Ryeowook came back into the room holding what could only be Sungmin’s patient chart. She handed it to Dr. Zhou before heading back towards the table where Yesung was operating.
-FLASHBACK-
Sungmin’s pregnancy started pretty normally. By the 20th week, they already knew that they’d be having a baby boy. Kyuhyun was particularly ecstatic at the prospect of “Kyuhyun Junior” and went ranting on and on about how he’d groom his son to be the world’s greatest gamer. Yeah, big dreams, he said.
Sungmin’s gynecologist, Dr. Kim, was a lady in her mid-forties with a dimpled-smile. She has been guiding them in every step of the way - acting for all the world like a mother to all of her patients. Thus, everything went smoothly. She had instructed Sungmin on what to do whenever she felt morning sickness and whatnot - briefing her of the possible symptoms she may experience as her pregnancy progressed. Oddly enough, Sungmin never really had observed many changes in her physiology. Sure, her belly grew inch by inch and she seemed to become hungrier than usual, but all in all, she was good. No mood swings, no unreasonable food cravings, no headaches, nothing.
Sungmin took it as a good sign; until the day Kyuhyun yelled at her for not buying tomatoes, oranges, pickled eggs, ice pops, and a lot more food that Sungmin didn’t even know Kyuhyun ate. Sungmin passed it off as another one of her husband’s sudden outbreaks of brattiness. Being the youngest, Kyuhyun always got what he wanted so Sungmin cooked his favorite jjajangmyun and when he turned it down, Sungmin knew they had to see a doctor.
The doctor, Dr. Kim Youngwoon, could only chuckle as Sungmin started to enumerate her husbands… symptoms… making her frustrated all the more.
“So, what’s wrong with him?” she asked worriedly.
Kyuhyun sighed while shaking his head from side to side.
Dr. Kim seemed amused and chuckled once more before he spoke. “There’s nothing wrong with him,” he answered with a smile and Sungmin wanted nothing more than to wipe out that smile off the doctor’s pretty face.
Kyuhyun gave her a look and was meant to say something along the lines of “I told you so,” when a glare from Sungmin silenced him and he resorted to go back to sulking.
“Seriously? But why is he vomiting? And why is he so pissy these days?”
Kyuhyun made a sound on the back of his throat as a sign of protest when Sungmin gripped his wrist as a warning. He ended up squeaking, because hell, his wife was strong. Of course, it was a squeak in the manliest sense of the word.
“Yes. Seriously. I’d refer you to Leeteuk so she could explain to you about these things.”
As it turned out, this Dr. Kim was her gynecologist’s husband. Sungmin was pretty sure their children were jolly ones.
~
They were in Dr. Kim’s clinic in no time.
“Kang-in told me about your problem,” Dr. Kim said in between laughs.
It took Dr. Kim a few minutes to regain her composure and she dabbed on the corner of her eyes before continuing.
“Apparently, what you have is Couvade Syndrome,” she stated matter-of-factly while facing Kyuhyun.
“It is pretty rare although history dates it back to the time of Marco Polo. It is often referred to as sympathetic pregnancy. The cause is still unknown but studies show that the male partner cohabitating with a pregnant female will experience hormonal shifts in his prolactin, cortisol, estradiol and testosterone levels. It’s as if he himself is undergoing the pregnancy.”
Sungmin stared at Kyuhyun’s particularly growing bosom. So that’s why her husband had been obviously getting curvier these days. It wasn’t just simple pigging out. Kyuhyun merely shrugged and Dr. Kim continued.
“Others say fathers who experience Couvade syndrome feel jealous and left out and are subconsciously trying to get people to pay a little attention to them. Have you been treating him well Min? You should prepare yourself! You wouldn’t believe how much of a girl they become. When Kang-in went through it, I was basically growing crazy myself.”
That explained the laughter; they had experienced it firsthand.
Sungmin raised her eyebrows at her husband and was surprised to find him frowning. She merely chuckled and squeezed Kyuhyun’s hand.
“Kyuhyun may experience pregnancy symptoms such as sleeplessness, indigestion, nausea, mood swings, weight gain, toothaches, itching, nosebleed and even cysts. Some psychologists have also speculated that Couvade symptoms may be the expectant dad's subconscious way of showing his wife that he's serious about being with her. After all, it's easy to lie about loving her and wanting to be a good dad, but it's a lot harder to fake a cyst or a nosebleed.”
Upon hearing this, Sungmin couldn’t help but beam at her husband. A few minutes later, they walked out of Dr. Kim’s clinic with goofy smiles plastered on their faces - hand in hand, looking every bit the part of the love birds that they were - Sungmin’s promises of stocking ice pops made Kyuhyun grin from ear-to-ear.
~
As weeks passed, Sungmin had become quite accustomed to Kyuhyun’s mood swings. She saw to it that Kyuhyun got to eat what he wanted and gave in to his wants. Sungmin thought how ironic it was for a woman like her with her burgeoning belly going to the 24-hour store at night to buy her husband decaffeinated coffee because he insisted that the coffee they already had in their pantry was not in accordance to his taste.
This went on and on for a few more weeks and Sungmin tried her best to understand her husband’s condition. Nevertheless, Sungmin knew there was something wrong the day Kyuhyun put down his laptop and announced that they needed to go to the mall to shop for maternity clothes.
Kyuhyun was the type of person who would feel the gravity double upon entering such establishments. In the two years that they were married, their 3 years of prior dating included, Sungmin could count the number of times Kyuhyun actually went willingly with the fingers on her right hand - and that involved a couple of releases of new editions of who-knows-what-it’s-called video games Kyuhyun seemed to be so fond of.
So, Sungmin couldn’t fathom what in the world possessed her husband for him to drag her - for he actually did just that - to the mall. Not to mention being pissy at how sexist it was that there were lots of stores such as Motherhood and Maternity.
“Why aren’t there Fatherhood or Paternity stores in here!?” were Kyuhyun’s actual words.
“And, oh, honey, make sure you get the pants with maternity panels. We wouldn’t want them stretch marks blemishing your perfect abdomen, would we?” Kyuhyun giggled - a very manly giggle, he insisted.
Sungmin wanted the ground to swallow her whole when the saleslady raised her eyebrows at them - and wow those eyebrows could move. They literally disappeared behind her bangs. Kyuhyun didn’t seem to mind though and continued to sift through racks and racks of maternity clothes - seemingly oblivious about his wife’s pained look.
Then, a few days later, Sungmin almost called 911 when upon waking, she felt the other side of the bed empty. Kyuhyun never woke up early - as in, never. When she saw Kyuhyun in the kitchen, wearing a pink flowery apron whilst scrubbing the tiles so hard that Sungmin actually felt bad for the microorganisms and bacteria lurking in between them, Sungmin was quite sure that the apocalypse was upon them. She was certain she married a slob - she loved him of course, but he could only be called that.
Another visit to Dr. Kim and a series of sonograms was enough to turn their world upside down.
-END OF FLASHBACK-
“Mrs. Cho? Are you all right?”
Sungmin was jolted out of her reveries when Dr. Zhou’s voice boomed somewhere in front of her while a penlight was being directed towards her eyes - making her squint.
“Yes. I’m fine,” she managed.
“As I’ve reviewed your chart, it has come to my attention that you have been in labor for quite some time now yet there has been no progress in your dilatation. I have conferred with Dr. Kim and he agrees that you may have Cephalopelvic Disproportion.”
“Cephalopelvic what?”
“Disproportion. It means that your pelvis may not be big enough to accommodate your baby’s size or that the fetus may be too big for him to pass through your birth canal. Thus, we highly suggest that you undergo cesarean section as soon as possible.”
Sungmin face-palmed as she was handed a sheet of paper that turned out to be a waiver for her consent. So much for believing that she was bestowed with very good “birthing hips.” Clearly, her whole life has been a lie.
She was assisted by another nurse into a patient’s gown and onto a gurney before being wheeled into another room not quite far from the one she had been to a while ago.
Just then, she heard a familiar voice scream and she jolted right up even before the anesthesiologist could say, “One.”
“Mrs. Cho? Are you okay?” the anesthesiologist, a young man who seemed to have a bit of an accent questioned her - looking like he just saw a ghost. He was, after all, about to insert a needle into Sungmin’s spine. Who knew what could’ve happened if he hit something else in there!
“My husband. Can I see him?”
“Well, I’m pretty sure we can arrange for that. Where is he?”
“He’s in the next room.”
“Say what!?”
~
Sungmin didn’t know what happened after. Arrangements were made here and there and the next thing she knew, she was on the operating table beside Kyuhyun - their hands just touching where they were strapped onto their sides. A few minutes later, a pair of shrill cries reverberated all over the room and Sungmin felt a squeeze on her hand before the both of them were swallowed by darkness.
EPILOGUE - 5 years later
"Daddyyyyyyy! Waaaaake up!!!" Little Kyumin all but screeched into her father's ear - startling the living daylights out of the poor man.
Kyuhyun groaned upon hearing his daughter's wailing. Seriously, how could something so loud come from a body so small? He tried to shut his eyes with all his might and snuggled close to the warmth of his wife - only for his face to be haphazardly pushed away by a groggy Sungmin.
Kyuhyun mentally face-palmed as Kyumin continued her efforts to destroying her father's ear drums. He knew he should've stayed away from Heechul when he was carrying her. If there was one thing Kyuhyun regreted in his life, it would probably be hanging around his hyung too much when he was pregnant. Truthfully, one Kim Heechul in this world is already too much to handle.
In the past, Kyuhyun had wondered how Heechul's mother had survived her son, seeing that Heechul was already a handful as a middle-aged man. How much more of a headache could he have been when he was five? Kyuhyun needn't imagine that now though, because he could see how Heechul's mother may have suffered in the past as he eyed the mini-Hee in the form of his five-year old daughter who was pulling on his hair by this time. Although he had to give points to his hyung on how pretty his daughter has become.
"Looks can be deceiving. How true..." Kyuhyun sighed
"Kyuhyun. It's yours," Sungmin mumbled and soon resumed snoring.
But Sungmin was right. It was his. Quite literally.
He couldn't believe that this one came from him. How could the girl come from him? He's the guy for God's sakes! The guy with the testosterone and all that shit. But then again, when you think about it, maybe he wasn't much of a guy after all. Heck, normal men don't get pregnant! He wouldn't be surprised if his wife had a higher testosterone level than him.
"Mommyyyyyy..." a sleepy Minkyu walked into the room - rubbing sleep from his eyes.
Kyuhyun smirked victoriously as the little boy shook his mother's shoulders and succeeded in waking her up.
"And that, I believe, is yours," he whispered into Sungmin's ear before scooping the giddy Kyumin in his arms and slipping quickly out of the room - just in time to avoid the pillow which collided with the door instead.
After all, they vowed to be together. If Kyuhyun remembered correctly, it was along the lines of: “To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness or in health, to love and to cherish 'till death do us part. And hereto I pledge you my faithfulness,” - and if Kyuhyun had to be awake at such an ungodly hour, he'd rather have Sungmin be awake too. It's only fair, he reasoned.
P.S. Sorry for the incoherence. I was too lazy to write the part which explains how Kyu got pregnant. As Diane unnie said, let's just leave it to the imagination.
P.S.S. Cookies for those who can find the ninja!characters ~ LOL ~
EDIT: So uhm, a lot of you seem to be confused and someone messaged me on my tumblog asking as to how Kyu got pregnant. I was gonna write it but I couldn't be bothered. The scientific gibberish gives me a headache LOL. So I though I'd just explain it a little here: You see, female hormones such as progesterone, estrogen, prolactin, etc. are also present in males although they produce it in much more minute amounts as compared to females. What I did with Kyuhyun here is something I refer to as "male gestation" - which is, impossible IRL but I was like WTH, fiction is fiction. LOL. Basically, I just sort of implied that Kyuhyun's already existent female hormones went on an overdrive and somehow, he was able to achieve fertilization and implantation and so on and so forth. In this story, the sudden elevation in his female hormones which led to the pregnancy could be attributed to the emotional stress he was going through as Min got pregnant for the first time. IDK if I'm making sense but I hope it clears things up. T^T
*disappears*
And oh, COMMENTS ARE LOVED!\o/
Author: ailaling1017
Genre: crack, romance, fluff, MPREG
Warning: genderswitch, minor language, cursing
Disclaimer: Yes. They’re mine. PROBLEM?LOLjk
Rating: PG-13
Status/Length: Complete; One-Shot; 4,050W
Pairing: KyuMin; girl!Min; side:YeWook; girl!Wook; ninja!KangTeuk, girl!Teuk
Summary: Sungmin knew there was something wrong the day Kyuhyun put down his laptop and announced that they needed to go to the mall to shop for maternity clothes.
beta-ed by the awesome princess_jaded ~ ILY Diane unnie!\o/
~
"Mrs. Cho Sungmin. Come in."
Sungmin slowly made her way into the makeshift clinic beside the delivery room. She has been in active labor for three hours already and to say that it hurt like hell would somehow be an understatement.
"Ah, good evening, Mrs. Cho. Nice to see you," a small man with shaggy black hair and thick horn-rimmed glasses extended a hand (which Sungmin thought was too small but chose not to comment further on) greeting her - a little too jovially for Sungmin's liking. Kim Yesung - Obstetrician - his nameplate said.
"Good evening, Dr. Kim," Sungmin managed in reply, albeit a little breathily as she took the offered handshake. Another contraction chose that very moment to occur and Sungmin couldn't help but squeeze the doctor's hand.
"Ow..." Dr. Kim started but recovered himself quickly - pursing his lips so as to prevent himself from yelping due to the pain on his hand - Sungmin, after all, was a martial artist before a certain Cho Kyuhyun came into her life and "domesticated" her.
"So, Mrs. Cho, when was your LMP? EDC?" the doctor muttered nonchalantly to which Sungmin could only raise an eyebrow in response.
If it weren't for another contraction, she would've been tempted to make a snarky comeback. What the heck were LMP and EDC? Was he sure he didn't mean LMAO and IDC? Darn. Kyuhyun and his internet language were surely rubbing off on her. Now that she thinks about it, she wondered what happened to her husband.
"Um, sorry? I don't understand."
"Oh, I meant when was your last menstrual period? Do you know your expected date of confinement?"
"I see. Hmmm... It was July 13, 2010. And um, I don't know when exactly I should give birth. I haven't had prenatal check-ups since... since my fifth month or something."
The doctor took a sharp intake of breath and said dramatically: "Why would you not have prenatal check-ups? It's vital to the health of your developing fetus! And you should get tetanus toxoid shots and a hep B vaccine! Wait, where's your husband? What kind of an irresponsible husband wouldn't take care of her wife during pregnancy!?"
"Errr... We have issues."
"Still, that's not an excuse. It's his responsibility to see to it that you are attended to. Pregnancy is not a joke. What with the morning sickness on top of it all. And seriously! What's with the, ‘you don't love me anymore because I'm so fat already,’ mentality you pregnant women have! It's only natural to gain a few pounds - I mean 24-28 pounds is the average - but still, it varies. “Besides, the fetus alone accounts for about 3,400 grams of that weight - then the placenta weighs about 450 grams. Another 900 grams for the amniotic fluid, 1,100 grams for the uterus, 1,400 grams for breast tissue - not that I'm complaining - the increase in blood volume adds about 1,800 grams, then the remaining 1,800-3,600 grams is necessary for maternal stores. It's like you didn't gain weight at all!”
“Except that you do. But that's beside the point! Still, how can Wookie think I'd cheat on her just because she's pregnant and her down there would never be the same again! Has she got no shame? She didn't marry the best gynecologist in town for nothing. Episiotomies are my thing, thank you very much." Dr. Kim was flailing his small hands over his head by this time and Sungmin would've laughed at the scene if not for another contraction radiating from her lower back which made her gasp in pain.
Dr. Kim came to her side upon noticing her discomfort and started to rub small circles on her lower back where all the contractions seemed to radiate from. This somehow eased some of her pain and the contraction ceased after a few seconds. Dr. Kim then returned behind his desk and scribbled a few notes on Sungmin's chart - all the while glancing at the clock perched on the wall. Sungmin noticed that he looked at the time every time she had a contraction but she was in so much pain to be bothered with what it was all about.
Sungmin was in the middle of trying to remember the brand name of the iron supplements she took when a petite nurse suddenly barged into the room - panting and looking for all the world like she just ran a marathon.
"Yesung! I mean, Dr. Kim," the nurse corrected upon seeing that there was a patient in the clinic.
"Yes, babe?" Dr. Kim replied, obviously nonplussed.
The nurse blushed a deep shade of scarlet before recovering. She stood up to her full height - which wasn't much - but still, the angry glint in her eyes would've made anyone squirm. Except that, Dr. Kim didn't seem to be affected. He's weird - Sungmin decided.
"Dr. Kim! I thought we already talked about this!" the nurse, Kim Ryeowook according
to her nameplate, retorted hotly.
"I know. And I thought I've already made it pretty clear that I can't be bothered with hiding our relationship. I'm proud to have you as my wife! Why should I hide it? Are you ashamed of me?" Sungmin was surprised to see that Dr. Kim pouted - he actually pouted!
"You know it's not like that." Ryeowook's features visibly softened, her voice reduced to a whisper.
"Then why are you making me do this? What's wrong with that?" Yesung asked indignantly.
"What's wrong is that we are colleagues! We should learn to differentiate our home life from work. It's bad enough that the other nurses hate me. They always talk behind my back - complaining about the fact that they don't get to scrub in on your operations. It makes me feel as if I don't deserve any of this. That… I don't deserve you."
Dr. Kim's scowl eased itself and he strode around his table to envelop his wife who was now on the brink of tears in a tight hug.
"Wookie baby. I'm sorry okay? I'm trying. I'll try harder," Dr. Kim whispered onto his wife's hair.
"Really?" Ryeowook blinked up at her husband - eyes as wide as saucers. Sungmin thought she looked cute - even cuter than herself - and that says a lot.
"Yes. I promise. I'm not so sure about letting that nurse Henry scrub in though. I still can't forget how I spent two hours stitching a certain patient's perineum when he failed to support it well. It was a fourth degree laceration! Fourth degree!" Dr. Kim all but squeaked.
Ryeowook merely chuckled and patted her husband's chest playfully.
"Ya! Give him a break. He was new that time. He has improved quite a lot by now."
Sungmin found the conversation between the love birds extremely cute and she started to “aww” but it turned into an “ow” as another contraction started. She gasped from the pain and the other two people in the room who seemed to forget her presence, turned their heads simultaneously towards her.
"Oh my god! I forgot! The reason why I came here in the first place is that there's a stat C/S waiting for you in the O.R. Let's go!" Ryeowook said hastily - grabbing Yesung by the scruff of his smock without giving Sungmin so much as another glance.
Sungmin remained stock still as she watched the couple leave the clinic and it took her a few minutes to regain her composure. She couldn't believe she has just been abandoned in a time like this. She quickly stood up, ready to head to the office of the hospital's medical director or whoever's in charge to give them a piece of her mind, when another contraction started and she could do nothing more than just clutch her stomach in pain. She stumbled out of the room and was relieved to find that the delivery room was situated right alongside it. She pushed the door open only to find to her horror that there was no one inside - very unlikely, but literally, there was no one.
Sungmin wanted to pull her hair out from the frustration because seriously, of all times this should happen, it just had to coincide with the day she has to give birth! What luck. She was furious but she figured she would have to help herself since no one was there. Not even Kyuhyun, the bastard. This was his doing, after all.
Sungmin dragged her feet across the hall as fast as the pain would allow her and was welcomed with the words: "OPERATING ROOM" emblazoned on the front of the swinging doors. She slowly pushed the door and was surprised see that the room is in a state of chaos. Doctors and nurses were walking, or more like running, back and forth - shouts of orders and whatnot filling the air. The coppery scent of blood hung in the air. In a sense of the word, it is a battlefield in there.
Sungmin was in a daze as she eyed the figures busily strutting in front of her and she slowly slid herself into the room - leaving the side of the door wherein she had been peeking from. Her vision was occupied with a blur of various colors of scrubs, although the color white seemed to dominate everything else. No one seemed to pay her any heed so she decided to walk in further until she reached the center of the activity. She stood on tiptoes and swore that the mere sight of what was going on in the operating table would've had her giving birth right there and then.
Sungmin felt weak-kneed as she blindly searched for the nearest wall to clutch onto for support - finding none, she clung to the closest person and was surprised to find that it was the nurse from earlier.
Ryeowook seemed as surprised as Sungmin and quickly pulled her back out of the area - sitting her on a chair just behind a line on the floor which made no sense to the latter.
"Oh my god. Misses?"
"Cho."
A momentary look of confusion was etched on the young nurse's face before she shrugged it off.
"Oh, yeah, Mrs. Cho. What are you doing here?"
"I...My..." Sungmin found herself incoherent. She couldn't form proper words and she hung her head low instead. Just then, a contraction crept up on her insides and she was glad that Ryeowook was quick to massage her lower back upon observing the grimace on her face.
"Oh, sorry. There was an emergency and they needed Ye... I mean Dr. Kim to assist in surgery. He's the best at what he does so he had to leave you. We're very sorry for the inconvenience. We hope you understand. Wait, I'll get you another doctor."
Ryeowook re-appeared as fast as she had disappeared and was tagging along a tall, lanky man whose smile seemed to be out of place in the sea of worried faces. Dr. Zhou Mi, his name plate read.
"Hi, Mrs. Cho. I’m Dr. Zhou but you can call me Mi.”
“Okay,” was all Sungmin could answer. She was still so preoccupied with what she had seen a few minutes prior.
Ryeowook came back into the room holding what could only be Sungmin’s patient chart. She handed it to Dr. Zhou before heading back towards the table where Yesung was operating.
-FLASHBACK-
Sungmin’s pregnancy started pretty normally. By the 20th week, they already knew that they’d be having a baby boy. Kyuhyun was particularly ecstatic at the prospect of “Kyuhyun Junior” and went ranting on and on about how he’d groom his son to be the world’s greatest gamer. Yeah, big dreams, he said.
Sungmin’s gynecologist, Dr. Kim, was a lady in her mid-forties with a dimpled-smile. She has been guiding them in every step of the way - acting for all the world like a mother to all of her patients. Thus, everything went smoothly. She had instructed Sungmin on what to do whenever she felt morning sickness and whatnot - briefing her of the possible symptoms she may experience as her pregnancy progressed. Oddly enough, Sungmin never really had observed many changes in her physiology. Sure, her belly grew inch by inch and she seemed to become hungrier than usual, but all in all, she was good. No mood swings, no unreasonable food cravings, no headaches, nothing.
Sungmin took it as a good sign; until the day Kyuhyun yelled at her for not buying tomatoes, oranges, pickled eggs, ice pops, and a lot more food that Sungmin didn’t even know Kyuhyun ate. Sungmin passed it off as another one of her husband’s sudden outbreaks of brattiness. Being the youngest, Kyuhyun always got what he wanted so Sungmin cooked his favorite jjajangmyun and when he turned it down, Sungmin knew they had to see a doctor.
The doctor, Dr. Kim Youngwoon, could only chuckle as Sungmin started to enumerate her husbands… symptoms… making her frustrated all the more.
“So, what’s wrong with him?” she asked worriedly.
Kyuhyun sighed while shaking his head from side to side.
Dr. Kim seemed amused and chuckled once more before he spoke. “There’s nothing wrong with him,” he answered with a smile and Sungmin wanted nothing more than to wipe out that smile off the doctor’s pretty face.
Kyuhyun gave her a look and was meant to say something along the lines of “I told you so,” when a glare from Sungmin silenced him and he resorted to go back to sulking.
“Seriously? But why is he vomiting? And why is he so pissy these days?”
Kyuhyun made a sound on the back of his throat as a sign of protest when Sungmin gripped his wrist as a warning. He ended up squeaking, because hell, his wife was strong. Of course, it was a squeak in the manliest sense of the word.
“Yes. Seriously. I’d refer you to Leeteuk so she could explain to you about these things.”
As it turned out, this Dr. Kim was her gynecologist’s husband. Sungmin was pretty sure their children were jolly ones.
~
They were in Dr. Kim’s clinic in no time.
“Kang-in told me about your problem,” Dr. Kim said in between laughs.
It took Dr. Kim a few minutes to regain her composure and she dabbed on the corner of her eyes before continuing.
“Apparently, what you have is Couvade Syndrome,” she stated matter-of-factly while facing Kyuhyun.
“It is pretty rare although history dates it back to the time of Marco Polo. It is often referred to as sympathetic pregnancy. The cause is still unknown but studies show that the male partner cohabitating with a pregnant female will experience hormonal shifts in his prolactin, cortisol, estradiol and testosterone levels. It’s as if he himself is undergoing the pregnancy.”
Sungmin stared at Kyuhyun’s particularly growing bosom. So that’s why her husband had been obviously getting curvier these days. It wasn’t just simple pigging out. Kyuhyun merely shrugged and Dr. Kim continued.
“Others say fathers who experience Couvade syndrome feel jealous and left out and are subconsciously trying to get people to pay a little attention to them. Have you been treating him well Min? You should prepare yourself! You wouldn’t believe how much of a girl they become. When Kang-in went through it, I was basically growing crazy myself.”
That explained the laughter; they had experienced it firsthand.
Sungmin raised her eyebrows at her husband and was surprised to find him frowning. She merely chuckled and squeezed Kyuhyun’s hand.
“Kyuhyun may experience pregnancy symptoms such as sleeplessness, indigestion, nausea, mood swings, weight gain, toothaches, itching, nosebleed and even cysts. Some psychologists have also speculated that Couvade symptoms may be the expectant dad's subconscious way of showing his wife that he's serious about being with her. After all, it's easy to lie about loving her and wanting to be a good dad, but it's a lot harder to fake a cyst or a nosebleed.”
Upon hearing this, Sungmin couldn’t help but beam at her husband. A few minutes later, they walked out of Dr. Kim’s clinic with goofy smiles plastered on their faces - hand in hand, looking every bit the part of the love birds that they were - Sungmin’s promises of stocking ice pops made Kyuhyun grin from ear-to-ear.
~
As weeks passed, Sungmin had become quite accustomed to Kyuhyun’s mood swings. She saw to it that Kyuhyun got to eat what he wanted and gave in to his wants. Sungmin thought how ironic it was for a woman like her with her burgeoning belly going to the 24-hour store at night to buy her husband decaffeinated coffee because he insisted that the coffee they already had in their pantry was not in accordance to his taste.
This went on and on for a few more weeks and Sungmin tried her best to understand her husband’s condition. Nevertheless, Sungmin knew there was something wrong the day Kyuhyun put down his laptop and announced that they needed to go to the mall to shop for maternity clothes.
Kyuhyun was the type of person who would feel the gravity double upon entering such establishments. In the two years that they were married, their 3 years of prior dating included, Sungmin could count the number of times Kyuhyun actually went willingly with the fingers on her right hand - and that involved a couple of releases of new editions of who-knows-what-it’s-called video games Kyuhyun seemed to be so fond of.
So, Sungmin couldn’t fathom what in the world possessed her husband for him to drag her - for he actually did just that - to the mall. Not to mention being pissy at how sexist it was that there were lots of stores such as Motherhood and Maternity.
“Why aren’t there Fatherhood or Paternity stores in here!?” were Kyuhyun’s actual words.
“And, oh, honey, make sure you get the pants with maternity panels. We wouldn’t want them stretch marks blemishing your perfect abdomen, would we?” Kyuhyun giggled - a very manly giggle, he insisted.
Sungmin wanted the ground to swallow her whole when the saleslady raised her eyebrows at them - and wow those eyebrows could move. They literally disappeared behind her bangs. Kyuhyun didn’t seem to mind though and continued to sift through racks and racks of maternity clothes - seemingly oblivious about his wife’s pained look.
Then, a few days later, Sungmin almost called 911 when upon waking, she felt the other side of the bed empty. Kyuhyun never woke up early - as in, never. When she saw Kyuhyun in the kitchen, wearing a pink flowery apron whilst scrubbing the tiles so hard that Sungmin actually felt bad for the microorganisms and bacteria lurking in between them, Sungmin was quite sure that the apocalypse was upon them. She was certain she married a slob - she loved him of course, but he could only be called that.
Another visit to Dr. Kim and a series of sonograms was enough to turn their world upside down.
-END OF FLASHBACK-
“Mrs. Cho? Are you all right?”
Sungmin was jolted out of her reveries when Dr. Zhou’s voice boomed somewhere in front of her while a penlight was being directed towards her eyes - making her squint.
“Yes. I’m fine,” she managed.
“As I’ve reviewed your chart, it has come to my attention that you have been in labor for quite some time now yet there has been no progress in your dilatation. I have conferred with Dr. Kim and he agrees that you may have Cephalopelvic Disproportion.”
“Cephalopelvic what?”
“Disproportion. It means that your pelvis may not be big enough to accommodate your baby’s size or that the fetus may be too big for him to pass through your birth canal. Thus, we highly suggest that you undergo cesarean section as soon as possible.”
Sungmin face-palmed as she was handed a sheet of paper that turned out to be a waiver for her consent. So much for believing that she was bestowed with very good “birthing hips.” Clearly, her whole life has been a lie.
She was assisted by another nurse into a patient’s gown and onto a gurney before being wheeled into another room not quite far from the one she had been to a while ago.
Just then, she heard a familiar voice scream and she jolted right up even before the anesthesiologist could say, “One.”
“Mrs. Cho? Are you okay?” the anesthesiologist, a young man who seemed to have a bit of an accent questioned her - looking like he just saw a ghost. He was, after all, about to insert a needle into Sungmin’s spine. Who knew what could’ve happened if he hit something else in there!
“My husband. Can I see him?”
“Well, I’m pretty sure we can arrange for that. Where is he?”
“He’s in the next room.”
“Say what!?”
~
Sungmin didn’t know what happened after. Arrangements were made here and there and the next thing she knew, she was on the operating table beside Kyuhyun - their hands just touching where they were strapped onto their sides. A few minutes later, a pair of shrill cries reverberated all over the room and Sungmin felt a squeeze on her hand before the both of them were swallowed by darkness.
EPILOGUE - 5 years later
"Daddyyyyyyy! Waaaaake up!!!" Little Kyumin all but screeched into her father's ear - startling the living daylights out of the poor man.
Kyuhyun groaned upon hearing his daughter's wailing. Seriously, how could something so loud come from a body so small? He tried to shut his eyes with all his might and snuggled close to the warmth of his wife - only for his face to be haphazardly pushed away by a groggy Sungmin.
Kyuhyun mentally face-palmed as Kyumin continued her efforts to destroying her father's ear drums. He knew he should've stayed away from Heechul when he was carrying her. If there was one thing Kyuhyun regreted in his life, it would probably be hanging around his hyung too much when he was pregnant. Truthfully, one Kim Heechul in this world is already too much to handle.
In the past, Kyuhyun had wondered how Heechul's mother had survived her son, seeing that Heechul was already a handful as a middle-aged man. How much more of a headache could he have been when he was five? Kyuhyun needn't imagine that now though, because he could see how Heechul's mother may have suffered in the past as he eyed the mini-Hee in the form of his five-year old daughter who was pulling on his hair by this time. Although he had to give points to his hyung on how pretty his daughter has become.
"Looks can be deceiving. How true..." Kyuhyun sighed
"Kyuhyun. It's yours," Sungmin mumbled and soon resumed snoring.
But Sungmin was right. It was his. Quite literally.
He couldn't believe that this one came from him. How could the girl come from him? He's the guy for God's sakes! The guy with the testosterone and all that shit. But then again, when you think about it, maybe he wasn't much of a guy after all. Heck, normal men don't get pregnant! He wouldn't be surprised if his wife had a higher testosterone level than him.
"Mommyyyyyy..." a sleepy Minkyu walked into the room - rubbing sleep from his eyes.
Kyuhyun smirked victoriously as the little boy shook his mother's shoulders and succeeded in waking her up.
"And that, I believe, is yours," he whispered into Sungmin's ear before scooping the giddy Kyumin in his arms and slipping quickly out of the room - just in time to avoid the pillow which collided with the door instead.
After all, they vowed to be together. If Kyuhyun remembered correctly, it was along the lines of: “To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness or in health, to love and to cherish 'till death do us part. And hereto I pledge you my faithfulness,” - and if Kyuhyun had to be awake at such an ungodly hour, he'd rather have Sungmin be awake too. It's only fair, he reasoned.
P.S. Sorry for the incoherence. I was too lazy to write the part which explains how Kyu got pregnant. As Diane unnie said, let's just leave it to the imagination.
P.S.S. Cookies for those who can find the ninja!characters ~ LOL ~
EDIT: So uhm, a lot of you seem to be confused and someone messaged me on my tumblog asking as to how Kyu got pregnant. I was gonna write it but I couldn't be bothered. The scientific gibberish gives me a headache LOL. So I though I'd just explain it a little here: You see, female hormones such as progesterone, estrogen, prolactin, etc. are also present in males although they produce it in much more minute amounts as compared to females. What I did with Kyuhyun here is something I refer to as "male gestation" - which is, impossible IRL but I was like WTH, fiction is fiction. LOL. Basically, I just sort of implied that Kyuhyun's already existent female hormones went on an overdrive and somehow, he was able to achieve fertilization and implantation and so on and so forth. In this story, the sudden elevation in his female hormones which led to the pregnancy could be attributed to the emotional stress he was going through as Min got pregnant for the first time. IDK if I'm making sense but I hope it clears things up. T^T
*disappears*
And oh, COMMENTS ARE LOVED!\o/