Birthday

Birthday

“I don’t remember anything.”

Saying that out loud I startled myself, I didn’t even recognize my own voice.

I looked down at my hands as if they would tell me who I was, but even they didn’t look familiar. They were big and plasticky looking, not a woman’s hands. I was sure I was a woman. I looked around quickly, a bit panicked.

I was in a factory type area, machines, wires, windows. Not even wondering how I got there, I looked closer at a shiny place, seeing my reflection. I was a man! Well, I was in the body of a man. I was still a woman, but I was definitely in the body of a man, and he didn’t look familiar either. This was actually getting kind of funny now.

I tried to speak again, but my throat hurt too much and there seemed to be something covering my mouth now. Suddenly I began to hear other voices, first faintly, then getting louder and sounding frightened.

I wondered briefly if I should be frightened, then thought how funny that thought was. I was a woman, in a strange factory, in the body of a man, unable to speak, and now I’m bothering to wonder if I should be frightened. I almost laughed as I slowly drifted off.

When I woke again, I was in a hospital bed. There was a nurse, and she told me I had an emergency cesarean section, but I have a beautiful healthy baby boy!

That threw me off a bit. It was bad enough that I’d thought the delivery room was a strange factory and the doctor was my reflection. But also, when I left for work this morning, I didn’t know I was pregnant.

I just can’t wait to tell my parents.