Summary

The first section is made up of 14 short chapters. In the opening lines of the first chapter—also entitled “The Chronology of Water”— Yuknavitch (who refers to herself as “Lidia” in the story) describes holding her stillborn daughter. She is in the hospital with her sister, her mother, and the baby’s father. Her body still bleeding from delivery, Lidia takes a shower and sobs, remembering the pain of the 38-hour labor. In the following days, weeks, months, and years, she lives as though she is half dead. She does “crazy” (37) things like rearrange unworn baby clothes in rows spaced by rocks on the carpet, and lies to strangers and acquaintances that her daughter is still alive. Lidia then switches time and place and describes what she knows of her own birth—a caesarean—by a mother born with one leg...