DJG Short Fiction - Yeonsaeng in Labour

‘Come on Yeonsaeng, you can do it. One last push and you’re there.’

Jang Geum brushed her friend’s hair out of her eyes, and stroked her face encouragingly. Yeonsaeng had been in labour for almost twenty hours, every single one of them worse than the last. She was on every kind of pain ever imaginable, but with every contraction came a new agony. She had only the tiniest drop of energy left, and Jang Geum wasn’t sure what would happen if it took more than one last push.

Yeonsaeng fell back on the pillow, utterly exhausted. ‘I can’t, Jang Geum,’ she sobbed. ‘No more, please make it go away.’ Tears of pain and despair streamed down her face unchecked, as they had been for the last few hours. She could stand it no longer. She felt like she’d been shut in the bedchambers, fighting against the agony that was ripping through her forever. In her mind, a time where it didn’t hurt no longer existed. Before it had started, she had thought that the emotional pain she had suffered over the last months was the worst pain you could possibly feel, but now she wasn’t so sure. With every contraction, she felt like she was going to die, and she was beginning to reach the stage where it wouldn’t be altogether unwelcome.

‘You can do it, Yeonsaeng. Yes, you can,’ rallied Jang Geum.

Yeonsaeng's fingers were crushing Jang Geum’s hand but as they had been for over a day, she couldn’t feel them anymore, so it didn’t really matter. Being a medical lady, Jang Geum was saying all the right things but she wasn’t entirely sure Yeonsaeng could actually manage another push.

The next contraction began and Jang Geum encouraged her again. She was so tired it hurt, so she couldn’t imagine what this was like for Yeonsaeng.

‘This is it, Yeonsaeng, this is it. This is going to be the one. Push, come on, push.’

Yeonsaeng pressed on, using her very last reserves of strength for one final effort, and let out an agonising scream that shattered Jang Geum’s eardrums. Finally, at long last, a thin cry pierced the room.

‘Chal dwessyeosseubnida, mamanim,’ the imperial midwife said, ‘you’ve got yourself a healthy little princess.’ Yeonsaeng had fallen back on the pillow again, completely exhausted, and showed no interest in the woman’s words. Her eyes had shut, and they didn’t even flicker at the news of her child, the Emperor’s child.