"C-section? What's a direct cut?" Jing Pan froze. "Aren't there no medical conditions for that?"
The doctor didn't avoid Qiao Lian and spoke plainly. "Her cervix is at four centimeters. I just checked. The baby's huge, it won't come easy. The longer we wait, the more likely the baby runs out of oxygen. If we cut without anesthesia, we can take the baby out first."
Qiao Lian's mother stood up. "What about after? You stitch her up with a needle?"
The doctor nodded. "We don't have any meds. If she can endure it, she lives. If she can't, she won't. It's without anesthesia to see if she can take it. Some can't and pass. That said, our delivery mortality rate isn't high, only about 40 percent." Which meant four out of ten mothers died on average.
Qiao Lian's mother dropped to the floor with a thud and wailed, "In-law, what do we do, my poor grandbaby!"
Grandma Jing gripped Jing Pan's hand, her voice shaking. "So you mean we save the little one first?"
The doctor nodded. "Otherwise at this rate, we'll lose both."
"Isn't there any other way? We still have some antibiotics, can't we use them?" Jing Pan asked in a rush. The doctor shook his head. "Stitching requires a sterile environment, otherwise it will be too easy to get infected. Besides, the recovery after the C-section requires some medicine to be used, plus IVs for a few days."
They couldn't keep anything sterile here.
Hearing that, Qiao Lian sobbed and struggled, but the straps held. "No, I don't want a C-section. Save me first. Mom, Mom, where are you?"
"I'm here, Qiao Lian." Her mother got up and grabbed her hand.
"Tell them not to give up on me. I want to live. I'll push, I'll force it out, boohoo. I don't want to die. If you cut me and there aren't any drugs, how am I supposed to survive?"
The doctor nodded. "If you'll cooperate, that's best. Let's try again. Breathe exactly how I taught you."
Jing Shu passed over the lunch boxes and told them to eat something first. Grandma Jing and Eldest Aunt had no appetite. Qiao Lian's mother said she was starving and started shoveling food in. Jing Shu took the rest to the men waiting outside. Wei Zheng kept asking what was happening, so she explained. He sat down like a ghost had taken his soul.
Jing Shu remembered that when Wu You'ai got kidnapped and took holes to the thigh, the anesthetic worked. She had some on hand, but the doctor was right. Cutting was the easy part. Stitching and recovery were the nightmare.
Zhang Bingbing's delivery had been a miracle. Her second kid was due in a few months. Looking around this ward of misery, before the apocalypse at least there were hospitals. Now they could only lie and howl. Some delivered smoothly and cheered. Some lost strength halfway and got forced into crude cuts. Blood stained the floor in dark patches.
Even in the apocalypse, people still needed to reproduce. Every newborn was a spark of hope. Every mother was brave, planned or not. Giving birth in this world was nine deaths for every life.
Later, Jing Shu heard from the doctor that Wu County's birth rate had dropped from 8 percent to 0.08 percent, a hundredfold plunge. It used to be about three thousand newborns a day. Now the whole county only had thirty-something women in labor daily, and only a dozen or so babies made it out.
The mortality rate had climbed to 15 percent. At that pace, humanity would shrink by hundreds of times in twenty years. It was terrifying. The state was offering subsidies, waiving fees for newborns and more, but the medical reality just couldn't keep up.
A bright newborn cry broke out. The baby next bed over had arrived. People around congratulated the family.
The doctor here shook his head. "The water's been broken too long. The baby's got no oxygen. If it doesn't come now, it'll be a stillbirth. Even a mediolateral cut to widen the outlet won't help."
Qiao Lian's voice kept fading. Her strength drained, leaving only ragged, uneven breathing.
Qiao Lian's mother rushed in. "No, save the mother. She's still young. She hasn't even had time to be good to the mom who raised her."
The doctor frowned, thinking it through. "We can, but the risk's huge. We can forcibly fragment the fetus, break it apart and extract. You'll have to decide. It could still end in both dying."
Grandma Jing stumbled back a step and clutched Jing Shu. "Jing Shu, you're the one with ideas. What tricks did you use when you helped deliver before? We can't throw away the mother for the baby. Forcibly breaking the child is too cruel. Isn't there any safer way to save the mother?" Eldest Aunt cried and nodded. "Anything more reliable for saving the mother?"
The doctor shook his head. "Without medicine, the only option is to break it up."
"If you really can't save the mother, then save the baby," Qiao Lian's mother said through snot and tears. "But I'll say it now. What she can't do for her parents, he'll do for her. I'll take care of him for his poor mother."
Eldest Aunt honestly doubted she was the real mother, since she could think like that at a time like this. "In-law, this isn't for us to decide. Let the two of them choose. Qiao Lian's listening."
Qiao Lian panted, words breaking. "Ask, ask Wei Zheng."
Wu You'ai ran to pass the message, then hurried back. "He said save the mother."
Qiao Lian's hand slammed down on the railing. Tears slid silently. After a long moment of choking, she gathered herself. "Doctor, save the baby. Do it fast. I really can't take it anymore."
"Alright, I'll get the tools."
A heavy sadness settled over everyone. Jing Shu hesitated, should she give Spirit Spring after the cut, maybe help her heal? Was there really no better way? Spirit Spring was scarce. If she could avoid using it, she would.
"Grandma, I want to try one more thing, before the doctor comes back."
"Try. Do whatever you can."
Jing Shu stepped up to the bed, took Qiao Lian's hand with one of hers, and rested the other on the swollen belly. She spoke softly. "Qiao Lian, close your eyes and picture where the baby is inside you."
Her words were a cover. She was actually trying to push illusion into the womb, to nudge the baby to squeeze outward on purpose. She could control snakes and animals. For people, she could only suggest.
"Illusion, activate."
Suddenly the belly heaved hard. Pain tore a scream from Qiao Lian's throat.
Jing Shu pushed along the arc, angling the baby's head toward the exit. At the same time, she guided Qiao Lian to breathe and bear down exactly the way the doctor taught. With both forces working, a buzzing pressure slammed into Jing Shu's skull.
The doctor stepped in and froze. The baby's head was already crowning. He made a decisive mediolateral cut, a single swift slice to widen the outlet. In less than five minutes, a giant baby slid out, nine jin six liang, which is about 4.69 kg.
While everyone stared at the newborn, Jing Shu clutched her head and stumbled into the storm outside. She dropped to her knees in the freezing rain.