The baby I held for three Months

"I woke up inside a dream where I suddenly found out I was already seven months pregnant, and within what felt like moments, I gave birth in our real bedroom down the hall. Everything was so vivid and grounding—my husband brought me warm tea, my mom came over with a familiar baby blanket, and we spent weeks nursing and navigating those quiet, exhausting first nights together in our actual living room. Every street corner outside, the exact creak of our floorboards, and the warmth of holding that tiny baby felt so entirely real that I lived through those three months in complete, absolute detail. When my eyes finally opened in the dark this morning, I lay frozen under the covers in total disorientation, my chest aching with this deep, sudden grief when I realized my arms were empty and the whole life I’d just lived was gone."