Caroline works as a math professor, her husband Ivan at an arts foundation. The two tried for years to have a baby, and only conceived after they'd given up hope. Overjoyed at first, Caroline's body soon gives way to paralyzing nausea and unbearable fatigue. Basic responsibilities become intensely difficult, and she loses all energy for love-making or any sort of recreation. Ivan becomes bored, impatient, and hurt by her lack of interest. When she's finally revived from the torturous first phase of the pregnancy and ready to go out again, Ivan becomes lethargic and moody. He complains when she reads into the night, unable to sleep, and he seems to lose interest in the baby altogether. Only when Caroline breaks down sobbing in the middle of the night does he reassure her that the he'll be there for her and things will return to what they were. But just weeks later they dissolve into a bitter argument again, when Caroline needs to leave Ivan's work event early and he insists on driving her home, fuming.

As the birth approaches, the two put their blights behind them and focus on birthing preparations. Caroline's labor is short but exquisitely painful - she feels she's being split in two right down the center of her body and she squeezes Ivan's hand fit to break. When he shows her the welts later she apologizes profusely and he reassures her that it doesn't matter, the hand didn't break, she just had a baby, it's okay.