Yan Mei gritted her teeth and huffed through the pain. The nurse hovering over her left shoulder calmly reminded her that "it's okay to make some noise dear, there is no shame in screaming if you want to"
But she just shook her head, her body in the grip of too many sensations and ongoing pain. If she had time to take a deep breath she would have told the nurse that she didn't have enough energy to scream. 12-hour labor and the first baby was just crowning.
"I can feel the head now, Mrs. Johnson you'll just need to push one more time to deliver this baby" the nurse between her legs called out. The nurse called her Mrs. Johnson because of the new identity Lei Zhao had created for them. In order to protect their children, they had fled to states to live a quiet life. With the help of her mother-in-law they had faked their death with only a few people knowing the truth.
