Baby of Panem

Interviews

I stare into the mirror, taking deep breaths to steady myself as I attempt to pull up my hair for the third time. My hands are shaking, my entire world is about to change in just a couple of hours. Peeta and I have our doctor's appointment this morning, and we are going to be having our baby at the appointment. I know Peeta doesn't agree with my decision, but I'm not risking taking our baby into the games, at least I know she will be safe with Haymitch if I have her today. Peeta steps out of the shower and walks over to me, taking the hair tie and pulling my hair into a loose bun. He is calmer than I am.

"Are you sure about this Katniss?" He asks me the same question he has asked me ever since I told him about my decision.

"Yes. Get dressed, I'm ready to leave."

"Okay," he walks into the room, the bathroom door closing behind him.

I follow him out, pulling a sweater out from the closet to carry with me. He finishes getting dressed and walks over to me, wrapping his arms around me. He is trying to calm me; I know he can tell that I'm nervous. Admittedly, being in his arms calms me down as I take another deep breath. As he releases me, I nod and walk to the door. He follows me and we head to the elevator in silence. He tells Haymitch that we have an appointment, and we get in the elevator. I'm glad he doesn't go into details, the less everyone knows right now the better. He squeezes my hand as the elevator descends.

"I love you Katniss. Just know, if you want to change your mind, I will protect you two. Nothing will happen to you or our baby, I promise. Snow will never touch her." I turn and face him.

"You can't promise that. No one can promise that. As long as she is attached to me, she will never be safe from him. She will be safer here with Haymitch and Effie than she will be in the arena."

"If you deliver in the arena. There is still a chance you won't deliver until you are back home."

"Don't you get it Peeta? I won't be going home. The only way for our baby to go home is if she goes home without me, if she is separated from me now, before Snow kills me."

"Katniss, that..."

"Yes, it is. He isn't letting me go home again and there's no chance we will both go home again. Our only chance is to have her now and get you back home."

"Katniss," he starts but doesn't finish.

"I love you. Now can we please go have our baby?"

"I love you too. Let's go have our girl."

The elevator finally slows and we exit, walking down the hallway to the medical unit. Peeta leans over and kisses me softly before we enter the unit. We are immediately greeted by a young man, dressed in scrubs with a name tag identifying him as a doctor.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Martin. You must be Katniss and Peeta," we nod in response, but don't speak, "It's nice to meet you. I know you all must have been expecting Dr. Adkins; however, I have been assigned to your care now. Shall we go see your baby?"

He motions for us to follow him into a room. We follow him and wait for the door to close. I lay back on the table, Peeta sitting beside me as the doctor prepares the ultrasound. I glance at Peeta, he doesn't seem concerned by the change in doctors. Maybe I'm just nervous, but I have a feeling that I can't shake. Dr. Adkins wouldn't have just reassigned us to anyone for a random reason. I look at Dr. Martin as he squirts the ultrasound gel onto my stomach.

"So, where is Dr. Adkins?" I ask him.

"Dr. Adkins was recommended by President Snow to take an early retirement. He personally assigned me to your case and told me to look into delivering you before the games," He moves the probe over my stomach, "told me about the medication and everything. I'm very informed about your case. Although," he removed the probe from my stomach and prints pictures off the machine, "I'm afraid I'm unable to proceed with delivering your baby. I don't believe it's in the best interest of either of you. I'm sorry Miss Everdeen, but you will have to carry this baby during the games."