This was not how I expected my life was going to be by the time I was twenty-five. I’m happy- don’t get me wrong, I am, but I never thought I’d end up here. I came out to Greenland two years ago for a case- a missing persons case, my specialty. But, I fell in love. We did long-distance for a while, and then I moved in with her. She’s… everything I ever dreamed. We got married last spring, and now we have a little baby girl on the way.

She’s so excited- she’s been clearing out the spare bedroom for the nursery. She’s picked up a job in town, making money were saving for the baby. She doesn’t let me do any heavy lifting, terrified that it might hurt our baby. It’s sweet, I’ll admit. We’ve been going over the birthing plan, what I do and don’t want.

Then, one night in November, it happens. I wake up in her arms, naked. I get up to pee, and there’s blood in the toilet. I run over to wake her up. She wakes up on the second shake, and sees my panicked expression. She calls the midwife, and we prep the bed. I’m already crowning by the time the midwife gets here, and I’m terrified.

She holds my hand and rocks us back and forth, waiting for the midwife to get here. I don’t know how to birth a baby- this is my first. I’m in so much pain, and I’m bleeding. My love is so nervous, so scared for the baby and for me, that she almost breaks her sobriety. I’m fully dilated when the nurse gets here, screaming in pain. I deliver almost right away after that, and my love’s mouth falls open in utter joy.