Neighbors

Seonghwa Chapter 4: New Mom

Seonghwa takes his shoes off at the door and sighs heavily, leaning a little against the door as a Braxton Hick contraction creeps up on him and he moans in pain slightly. He hears footsteps behind him, then a soft hand touches his lower back, "Honey, if they're intense you shouldn't have gone to work."

"I need to work as much as I can mom," Seonghwa sighs, the cramping in his back and his hips were getting even more intense, "God, when does this end?"

"Well, sweetheart this is natural when it comes to the end of your pregnancy. These are getting your body ready for the real deal, they don't end until you have the baby."

Seonghwa groans loudly, throwing his head back, "My feet are throbbing, I thought they were about to bust out of my shoes from how swollen they are if I stood much longer."

"Go sit down on the couch in the living room and I'll grab you a bucket of hot water and Epsom salt," his mom smiles sadly, rubbing his back, "Have you thought much about living situations? I don't mind if you live here sweetheart, but you and your baby need your own space to grow out."

"I know mom, I'm trying," Seonghwa waddles to the living room and gently sits on the couch. He sighs in relief when he's finally off of his feet, holding his belly and feeling tiny feet at the top of his belly kick like crazy. He winces at the pain in his hips, "I literally just graduated from college, I don't think hospitals are going to hire me right out of college because they want someone with experience before they join the field of choice."

"Well, maybe you should apply at a nursing home. Or even a doctor's office to get some experience," she responds, turning to walk away, "There is a Home Health and Hospice agency that may be hiring nurses, apply to them!"

Seonghwa sighs, leaning back and letting his legs and feet relax while his mom brings in a bucket of hot water with the healing salts. She slowly places his feet in the water and he sighs, closing his eyes, "I'm so glad I'm off tomorrow."

"You need your rest, I think you need to go ahead and take maternity leave."

"I don't have enough paid leave time to take off early mom, I'm just going to keep working until it's time to have this baby and then I'll take off."

"Honey-"

"Mom, please, I know I'm pushing it but I can't afford to wait for this," Seonghwa sighs, "If you want me to fully support my baby and move out, I need to work as much as I can before I can make that happen."

She nods, "Well, just know that if you need help, I can try my best. Your father wiped me clean of money after our divorce so I'm a little tight on money but I will help you. I just don't want you to become one of those dead beat parents that leave their children with their parents to raise. A grandparent shouldn't raise their grandchildren. They've raised their children, and now it's their children's turn to raise their babies."

Seonghwa snorts, "You seriously don't think I would push my son off onto you, do you? This is my baby, I got myself into this situation, therefore he is my responsibility."

"I know you're a good child, but you're still young. You'll want to go out, go to parties and have fun with friends. You can't do that with a baby."

Seonghwa rolls his eyes, standing the best he can from the couch and waddling to the stairs, "I'm going to bed early, I'm not hungry."

"Seonghwa-"

Seonghwa ignores her, carefully climbing the stairs and shuts his door loudly then locking it, taking in a deep breath and rubbing his belly as another contraction passes, "Take it easy on me baby boy okay? Let me sleep for a little bit."