They severed your umbilical cord, rushing you from me, both holding our breaths until they intubated you. Days until I heard your feeble cry, weeks before I felt your gentle suckling, months before your artificial cords detached and I took you home. A whole year before I could finally exhale.

Nina Miller is an Indian-American physician, fencer, and creative. Her work can be found in Cutbow Quarterly, Bright Flash Literary Review, Five South, Roi Fainéant, Five Minutes and more. Find Nina on Twitter at @NinaMD1 or www.ninamillerwrites.com.