Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, illness, mental illness, and pregnancy loss.

A third-person narrator tells Jane’s story as the narrative shifts into the past.

The night before Max’s birth, Jane studies the city beyond the window, unable to find her usual artistic inspiration. She’s felt bleary since the start of her pregnancy. She thinks about her mother’s death and everything she wishes she could ask her mother now. She also remembers losing her first pregnancy and her surprise when she got pregnant again. She’s been careful throughout these past months, quitting her smoking and jogging habits. Still, she feels restless, sick, and unsure of who Max is.

Abe is asleep in the bed behind her, but Jane feels alone. She’s felt alone for months and wonders if this is how it will now feel being a mother: “always and never alone” (173). Uneasy, she takes a walk in Central Park and goes into labor. Somehow, Abe knows where to find her and brings her to the hospital. After Max’s birth, Jane doesn’t want to hold him right away.