acute

I lay in the hospital bed. It was the middle of the night. I was in so much pain. I was huge. The baby wouldn't come out. My new husband's back was turned toward me. I reached out to him. I asked what he was doing. He said,

" I am going to get some sleep."

I lay there for 8 hours all night crying. He never said a word to me. I felt his back. That was how Jim was born. The next twelve years, that was how our marriage was, our backs turned toward each other.

: Joanne, 51 years old.