One Plus One Equals Three – Part II

I bite my lip as I hand my daughter Mia over to Frank, my partner. The urge to ‘snatch’ her back is overwhelming. I watch them both like a hawk, not resting for one moment.  After what seems hours, but is in fact minutes, Mia is finally handed back to me. The next few days follow a similar pattern as I struggle to overcome the new mum jealousy stage. It was just one of many real life emotions I was to face!

The nerves I felt as I arrived at the maternity clinic, surrounded by my Second Life family, were driving me mad. I remember following Dr Porter (of Heaven Lil Lights Maternity Clinic) up to the delivery room; my mind filling with every horrendous scenario. Despite telling myself it was ridiculous – my HUD doesn’t cater for breach births – I still had to battle the very real emotions! Thankfully, having my family there helped calm me, even when I did want to tell Frank to “Shut up!”

Dr Porter did everything she could to reassure me, but we still had one role play ‘scare’ when she discovered  my temperature was high. I remember almost freaking out when I ‘heard’  those words. Thankfully, the doctor just ‘said’ that it meant we had to encourage things along.

With my waters broke, the pregnancy moved along swiftly. My HUD contractions were increasing and I was trying to not hyperventilate in real life as I found myself panting! Every contraction threatened to break Frank’s hand as slowly, inch by inch, Mia made her first appearance. Soon she was laid on my tummy, letting the world know she had arrived with great cries while Frank cut the cord. I will not lie when I say that I don’t remember much at that time. I was doing mental somersaults in joy!

All I remember, and that’s because I made sure I remembered, was that she was born at 2:18pm SLT (Second Life Time) on the 18th of January 2013. She weighed a healthy 7lbs 13oz. I also remember Dr Porter saying that I wasn’t torn ‘down there’ – something that made me chuckle for some mad reason.

In my first post, I described Dr Porter handing Mia to me in the recovery room and the emotions I felt. I know a lot of people say Second Life ‘is just a game’, but in that room, surrounded by my Second Life family, I truly felt loved.

So yes, in Second Life, if a person wants to, they can experience the most real of emotions. For me, my pregnancy, birth and the caring of my AI (Artificial Intelligence) baby was and is, a very emotional journey.

Thank you for reading about my Second Life, perhaps one day, I’ll share more of it.

Carissa