On April 17 th, 2004, my eldest sister went into labor around 5: 30 A. M. I honestly wasn’t in the mood to go to the hospital so early in the morning, but my mother told me I should. My mom told me that it was a time when my sister really needed us. All I thought about was that she wouldn’t even know whether I was there or not. My family and I took her to the hospital, and then everyone waited in the adjacent room.
I never thought much about it, so I fell asleep. To me it was like,’ Whatever,’ she’s just having a baby, another niece or nephew for me. You see, my sister and I were never that close to begin with. While we all waited in the waiting room, the nurse unexpectedly came in and asked for me by my name. She told me to follow her. My sister said that she wanted me by her side as she delivered.
In my head I was thinking,’ Me… why me?’ As I walked into the room, my sister looked at me and whispered,’ Hello.’ The doctor told me to keep feeding her ice cubes and keep her calm because the contractions were getting closer together and stronger. More doctors and nurses started pouring in and then it was time. Something inside me told me to just go to my sister and comfort her, so I went to her and grabbed her hand.
She was experiencing a lot of pain, but still she managed to look at me and smile. I couldn’t do anything but smile back. It seemed that everything was happening so fast because the next thing I remember was the doctor yelling,’ It’s a girl!’ My sister and I were so excited and we were both crying tears of joy. My sister hadn’t let go of my hand, and I felt her squeeze me a little bit. I turned to her and she mouthed to me,’ Thank you,’ just before they handed her the baby. That one simple word just made me feel the warmest sensation in the world.
It was as if everything at that moment was right. I stayed with me sister that day and the next and just stared at my niece until I fell asleep. My sister gave me the opportunity to name her, and I picked the name that I wanted for the day when I ad my own daughter. The name ‘De sarai,’ spelled uniquely because no one would ever have that name, was the name I chose.
When we left the hospital, it was like my relationship with my sister had been turned completely around. My parents just stared at us in the car because we have never talked so much, at least no with each other. From that day forward, my sister, my niece and I have been inseparable.