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Alice had indeed opened her eyes and was looking at the board, at the doctor.

“Obviously, going through reinduction’s not ideal,” Eisenstatt continued. “The stress on your body is not something to take lightly. But if,
if
we have to go this route, we’re fortunate in that, as we were saying, you’re young, you’re coming into this strong and healthy, you have your beautiful baby, a positive attitude toward your recovery. You’d be on the ward as an inpatient for at least four weeks. So what we’d shoot for:”

A small voice asked if she might see the board, please.

Alice held out an open palm. In two strides, Eisenstatt propped the dry-erase board against her sheet-covered thighs. Now he set the marker in her waiting palm. Without so much as a glance in response, Alice turned her attention to the board. One motion added a short, crooked line across the bottom of the T;

She kept writing: