Fern’s panic and pain consume everything as Nurse Kent brings her by taxi to the hospital. Once inside, an orderly and staff treat Fern like an anonymous problem—registered as a “Jane Doe”—and wheel her through glaring halls into a cramped exam room where Fern struggles to cope alone, clinging to Hagar and Miriam’s protective pouch.

A gray-haired nurse briskly takes Fern’s vitals, strips her, and handles her roughly despite Fern’s protests. The nurse shaves Fern and gives her an enema without explanation, then checks her progress and reports Fern is five centimeters dilated with hours left. Noticing the pouch, the nurse cuts its string off Fern’s neck with scissors and keeps it out of reach, leaving Fern isolated amid the sounds of other women crying and screaming nearby.

Fern labors in terror, longing for comfort, when Miss Parcae suddenly appears at her bedside. Miss Parcae soothes Fern with visions of ancient, communal childbirth and offers to take the pain away if Fern “honors” her promise and lets Miss Parcae in. Fern begins to mentally slip into strange, alien words and feels herself being overwritten, but Fern resists with a desperate refusal.

The vision snaps back to the hospital as a doctor arrives; Fern tries to explain Miss Parcae’s presence and begs for pain relief. The doctor dismisses Fern’s fears, refuses medication until later, and leaves. Fern continues laboring until staff return, move her onto a stretcher, and pry the soggy pouch from Fern’s hand.

Fern is taken into a bright delivery room and restrained; a mask delivers anesthetic gas, and Fern loses consciousness. In a detached, clinical sequence, Dr. Jensen performs an episiotomy, uses forceps to deliver Fern’s baby boy, and stitches Fern—adding extra tightening “for” a future husband—before leaving. The baby is carried away toward the nursery, separated from Fern as she is wheeled to recovery.