Chapter 55
"I could only confirm it by touching her."
Gain could not exactly say,
Because I treated countless babies with torticollis in another world.
Jo Eunjae did not ask anything further.
Instead, she turned to the next patient's chart and scanned the vaccination questionnaire.
There had been absolutely no item requiring an examination for torticollis.
"Doctor, you're amazing."
Jo Eunjae whispered so quietly that Im Gain did not hear her.
Gain only noticed the divine power surging again.
She marveled at the way it was increasing in two different layers.
Jeong Yeseo really is like a tree that gives endlessly.
Could the baby be grateful too?
She did not realize the second source was Eunjae.
"The next patient is here for infertility."
Jo Eunjae lowered her voice.
Gain nodded.
"Send her in."
"Ms. Yoo Seongyeong, you can come in."
A woman in a fitted business suit entered carrying a briefcase.
Her makeup was heavy enough to hide the shadows under her eyes.
But it made the lines around her mouth stand out even more.
She looked exhausted.
"What brings you in today?"
At Gain's greeting, Yoo Seongyeong hesitated.
"I..."
***
A detached house in Somang City.
At dawn on Thursday, thirty-six-year-old bank employee Yoo Seongyeong had taken the day off work and gotten up early.
The first thing she did after waking was not wash her face.
She sat on the toilet.
She tore open the packaging of a pregnancy test and checked the clock.
7:07.
She timed exactly seven seconds before dipping the test strip into her urine.
She knew it would not change anything.
The result already existed.
The exact testing time could not change it.
But she wanted to do something.
Anything.
Am I being punished because I thought that way at first?
Early in marriage, she had been happy that no baby came.
She had wanted to enjoy newlywed life longer.
Watching her friends raise babies also made parenting look frighteningly difficult.
But after five or six years, anxiety set in.
Every time friends who married later than her had babies, then celebrated one hundred days, then first birthdays, her heart sank.
It had been nine years without pregnancy.
She was already halfway through age thirty-six.
People called pregnancies after thirty-five advanced maternal age.
She was already there.
Eventually, Yoo Seongyeong decided to seek medical care.
At the first clinic, she was told to lose weight.
She struggled through diet and exercise and lost eight kilograms.
It changed nothing.
That hospital also suggested her husband should be tested.
Her husband said a semen analysis was humiliating.
Going into a tiny room and collecting semen into a cup while someone timed him was something he simply could not do.
Seongyeong became angry.
She told him lying on an examination table with her legs spread for a pelvic examination was humiliating too.
They had their first major marital fight.
Her husband stopped speaking to her for a week and refused to eat at home.
Their wedding anniversary fell on Sunday.
Yoo Seongyeong wanted to be happy.
So she cooked for him first.
And apologized even though she did not believe she had done anything wrong.
She should not have done that.
At the second clinic, they repeatedly told her not to stress and to relax.
Being told not to stress became another source of stress.
Her husband stopped coming to appointments altogether.
He said he was too busy with a project.
At the third hospital, they recommended hysterosalpingography.
A test to image the fallopian tubes.
It hurt as though her abdomen were tearing apart.
She had heard that in rare cases, blocked fallopian tubes could open during the procedure itself.
So she endured the pain.
Her husband came as her guardian.
But he said the parking lot was crowded, so he came upstairs too late to attend the consultation.
He was only there for the procedure itself.
The result made no sense to her.
Both fallopian tubes were completely open.
Nothing abnormal at all.
Then why had the test hurt so badly?
And if nothing was wrong, why had she never become pregnant?
Her husband said that hospital must be strange and suggested they switch again.
Yet whenever there was an appointment, parking somehow always took him too long.
He's avoiding this.
Her mother-in-law was kind and gentle.
She even held Seongyeong's hand and sincerely offered to accompany her to the hospital.
Seongyeong could never quite bring herself to say that she had already been to enough hospitals.
Then a small OB-GYN clinic opened near their house.
People lined up outside.
The dying market came back to life.
While Seongyeong was debating whether to visit, a banner appeared announcing infertility treatment.
Apparently they were going to start deliveries too.
It was close enough to walk there after work.
A location where her husband could not escape by claiming he needed to park.
"Haah."
Yoo Seongyeong stared at the test strip.
The pink control line appeared first.
Normal.
Moisture slowly spread across the white strip.
Now, if another line appeared above the control line, she was pregnant.
"Ha."
What was the point of matching 7:07 and seven seconds?
No second line appeared.
Yoo Seongyeong tossed the test strip into the trash.
Then crushed the urine cup in her hand and left the bathroom.
I'll go today.
Her friend Chae Seunghui, who worked as the school nurse at a girls' high school, had praised Hyundai OB-GYN many times.
Seongyeong had been curious.
If the test had shown two lines, she would have used her day off simply to celebrate.
But it showed one.
So she decided to go.
***
"We want a baby, but I can't get pregnant."
Yoo Seongyeong took out a notebook as she spoke.
"My periods are regular."
"I've used ovulation test kits."
"I've gone to several hospitals and had all kinds of tests, but they keep saying everything is normal."
"I had a hysterosalpingogram too. They said both tubes were fine."
Im Gain quietly listened.
Seongyeong seemed meticulous and organized.
She had documented all her previous medical visits.
"I've reviewed all your papers."
Gain looked at her.
"Today was originally the day your period was due, right?"
"Yes. I did an hCG test this morning, but it was negative."
"Let's take a look."
Gain called out.
"Nurse Eunjae."
Jo Eunjae pulled the curtain.
Yoo Seongyeong closed her eyes.
Gain put on gloves.
"No pain anywhere?"
"No."
Gain covered the transvaginal probe, applied blue gel, and spoke gently.
"Look at this screen."
Yoo Seongyeong raised her head.
"This is your uterus."
Gain pointed.
"Its shape looks very healthy."
She indicated the bright white stripe in the center.
"This is the inner lining."
"It's ten millimeters thick."
"That means it's well prepared for implantation."
"If this lining is too thin, implantation can be difficult. Yours looks good."
Gain pointed toward a round shadow inside the ovary.
"This is the corpus luteum."
"It tells us you ovulated this month too."
"...This month too?"
"Yes."
Gain smiled.
"Your body has been doing what it's supposed to do every month."
Both ovaries had healthy follicles.
The size and proportions were good.
After finishing the examination, Gain removed her gloves and explained.
