Gugu woke up in a bed that was not her own. She looked around at the white sheets and beeping machines and realised she was in hospital. There was no-one around. Her hands went to her stomach. What had happened to her baby?

She hadn’t planned to fall pregnant, but it had happened. She was born and bred on the streets of the little town of Victoria Falls, but had left five years ago, seeking greener pastures in the Rainbow Nation, South Africa. She was doing her PhD in law, living with her only sibling, Musa. She met her partner, Sam, at uni. The moment she found out she was pregnant, she fell in love with her unborn baby. Together with Sam, she awaited the result of their love.

Tears streamed down her face when she felt how flat her stomach was.

“Where is my child?” she called out.

“She is awake!” a deep voice said. A man she hadn’t seen before, rushed over to her bed. He was dressed in a nursing uniform and his name tag said his name was Kagiso.

Gugu tried to sit up. “Sorry sir, where is my baby? I want my baby.”

“Your baby is in good hands. I’ll call the doctor, ma’am, and she will explain everything. For now, please try to calm down,” Kagiso said, putting a gentle hand on her shoulder.

The mood was sombre. The white walls, the smells of medication. The wind whorled and whined outside as if it wanted to send a message to Gugu.

Dr Dlamini came in with a smile on her face. “Ah, I’m glad my patient is awake, you gave us a scare there.”

“Doctor, where is my baby? Why isn’t anyone telling me where my baby is?” Gugu pleaded.

“Do you remember how you got here?” Dr Dlamini asked.

“I just remember being rushed here in the ambulance, nothing else from there,” Gugu said.

“Well we performed an emergency operation, trying to save both you and your baby,” the doctor said.

“Did my baby make it?” Gugu asked with tears welling up in her eyes.

“Yes, thankfully he did, but he is in a very critical state. He isn’t fully developed, you see,” Dr Dlamini said truthfully.

“May I see him? Will he make it out alive?” Gugu asked.

“Like I said, he is in a very critical state, we have kept him in the newborn intensive care unit, but you can go see him,” Dr Dlamini said.

“Thank you, doctor,” Gugu said, relief flooding through her.

Sam came in holding a bunch of yellow roses and Aero mint chocolate, her favourites.

“Welcome back to the land of the living,” he teased, but his brown eyes were worried and his dark skin pale under the stubble.

“I don’t die easily,” Gugu chuckled weakly, glad to see his loving face.

Dr Dlamini wrote something on a chart and nodded at them both. “I will have to run some tests on you, so we can see if you are able to go home or not. I’ll see you again this afternoon.”

“Can we see our son now?” asked Sam.

“Yes, of course. Nurse Kagiso will take you there,” Dr Dlamini said and walked out of the room.

Sam helped Gugu change into clean pyjamas. The wound from the operation was still painful, so she leaned on Sam as she moved around slowly. Once she was ready, nurse Kagiso took them to the NICU.

The sound of machines beeping welcomed the new parents into the room where their baby lay. The nurse showed them their baby. He lay on his back with only a tiny diaper on and he had a lot of pipes connected to him.

“He is such a tiny being,” Gugu said, holding on to Sam for balance.

Sam stepped closer to the glass where his first son slept, putting his arm around Gugu’s shoulders. There was an expression of awe on his handsome face.

“Please name him Sam?” Gugu asked, looking up at him.

“I shall name him …” Sam began, but before he could finish his sentence, the machines surrounding their baby started beeping loudly and urgently and doctor Dlamini and two nurses came rushing in.

“Please, come with me, your baby is in good hands,” Nurse Kagiso said. He took Gugu’s arm and led her and Sam out of the room to wait outside.