*a little over two months later*
Celine groaned as she tried to get out of bed for the fifth time that morning and realized she couldn't. She was just a little over six months along, but already she was hurting more than usual. The uncomfortableness when Elise kicked- though she couldn't quite have called it a pain- had started, and her feet and ankles were now so swollen that she wished Willem could massage them, but he was likely off somewhere, probably captaining the ship by that time in the morning. At any rate, she couldn't see him. On top of all this, Celine had very little, if anything, to make baby clothes with, and she worried their daughter would be naked for the first three months of her life. And worst of all, she could no longer wear her wedding ring- not on her finger, anyway. That bothered her most of all, for some reason she didn't know how to explain. How ironic that the consummation of their marriage meant she could no longer wear the ring! It nearly brought her to tears. Willem would probably think it was laughable. And all of a sudden, right when she thought this, the child kicked her in the ribs, which did hurt. She writhed in agony, and even though she couldn't quite breathe right, she cried out with it. It would sound strangled and desperate, and the tears spilled over onto the pillow. "I want you out, Elise!" she muttered through clenched teeth when she could speak again. Her forehead was glistening with sweat.