“Time of death, 10:09 p.m.,” I announce.

A baby wails. He cries as though he understands what I have said. As he took his first breath in this world, his mother was taking her last.

Life and death seconds apart.

A mother who will never get to hold her son. A son who will never feel his mother’s touch.

She was rushed to the ER due to hemorrhaging. Preeclampsia. The placenta had detached from the uterine wall. We tried our best to save both.

Now I must deliver good and bad news to the family.

My heart breaks.