Dark Road (37 page)
Authors: David C. Waldron
“Let me get this taken care of and talk to the kids, and then we need to make some plans,” Joel stopped what he was doing and looked over at Rachael who was making a face and waited several seconds. “Another one?”
Rachael nodded and exhaled. “I’m going to go lay back down.”
…
“Oh, honey.” Angela, Rachael’s midwife said as she came into her room at the clinic with a grin. “About time?”
Rachael nodded as she was just starting another contraction.
Joel was holding her hand and counting through it with her, actually
for
her as Rachael was focusing on her breathing. They’d done this twice before, but, by now Rachael had been counting down the seconds to the Epidural, and that wasn’t going to be an option this time around.
As the contraction wound down, Rachael took deeper breaths and was able to talk. “I have no idea how dilated I am, but my water broke about twenty minutes ago.”
“Ok.” Angela said. “I don’t want you laying down much at all unless that’s more comfortable for you, but I need you to for just a second now so we can check on the baby and see how far you’ve progressed.”
…
Dan could hear Rachael from several rooms down as he came rushing into the clinic.
“I came as soon as I heard.” He said as he came into the room.
Rachael was bouncing gently as she breathed her way through a contraction while sitting on a large exercise ball, with Joel holding her hand and Angela counting and looking on.
“Why,” Angela asked as she looked up.
“Um,” Dan stammered. “Because, I thought, you might need…” Dan stopped.
The contraction passed and Rachael took a deep breath as Joel wiped her forehead and the back of her neck with a damp washcloth.
“Be right back, hon,” Angela said to Joel and Rachael, who were mostly off in their little world of in-out-out-out-out-out breaths every three minutes.
As Angela gently escorted Dan into the hall, she heard Joel tell Rachael, “I honestly don’t know how you do that without getting light-headed.”
“Dan,” Angela said. “I appreciate it, I really do, but I think I have it covered for now. I’m not saying I don’t need you, and if something bad happens it will be good to have you here but, well, how many babies have you even delivered?”
Dan immediately got defensive. “I’ve delivered seven very healthy beautiful babies thank you very much—and some in far more primitive environments than this.” Dan said. “And although I’m sure you’ve delivered more than I have, that wasn’t my primary line of work. How many appendixes have you removed? How many fingers have you amputated to save a hand? How many pieces of glass have you pulled out of someone’s eye and still saved the eye?”
Dan’s voice had been rising because Angela had called his medical ability into question when he had only been trying to help someone he cared about, and it was starting to carry.
“We can hear you!” Joel called from the delivery room.
Angela and Dan both turned red, Dan because he’d raised his voice and Angela because she felt awkward for starting it.
“I’m sorry,” Dan said. “I’m only trying to help. I care about Joel and Rachael very much and I want to be here for them.”
“And I’m sorry for questioning your motives,” Angela said. “Let’s go deliver a baby. Truce?”
…
“Rachael, it’s time,” Angela said. “You’re going to have a baby.”
“I know,” Rachael said with an exasperated look on her sweat-damp face, and the loose hair from her braid stuck to her cheeks. “That’s why I’m here!”
“No, hon, I mean it’s
time
time.” Angela said. “The baby is crowning.”
“I’m so thirsty!” Rachael said.
“You can have something to drink in a few minutes,” Joel said.
Rachael glared at him. “
You
have been saying that for
four
hours, Mr.!”
Joel swallowed his grin and just kept holding her hand, which hurt, but not nearly as bad as Rachael did, he was sure.
“I love you,” he said.
“Oh stow it,” Rachael said as another contraction started and she began to breathe through it.
“Rachael,” Angela said. “On the next one I’m going to want you to push. Keep breathing now, but on the next one I want you to push until I say stop. It’s going to hurt, but don’t stop pushing until I say stop.”
“I know, I’ve done this before,” Rachael said. “Couple of times.”
“Yes, but it’s going to hurt a little bit more this time so I need you to trust me, ok?” Angela said, looking at Rachael to make sure she was paying attention and not being flip.
Rachael finally stopped for a second after the contraction passed, in the brief seconds between them—since they were almost right on top of each other at this point—and nodded. “Ok.” And then the next one hit.
“PUSH!”
“You can do it honey,” Joel said, wearing out the single most tired phrase of husbands in delivery rooms worldwide.
“Push, c’mon,” Joel said.
It started as grunt, but built to a roar, and ended as a yell. “NnnrrrrrRRRRRRAAAAAAAAA”
“Keep pushing,” Angela said over Rachael.
And then the contraction ended.
“One more,” Angela said, “maybe two.”
“No, I can’t,” Rachael said.
“Yes you can,” Angela snapped, “your baby is counting on you and you have about two seconds to take a breath and get ready.”
Joel looked at her and saw she was worn out and realized that words didn’t matter. It didn’t matter to Rachael that women had been doing this for hundreds of years, with and without doctors, with and without medication, in rice paddies and in luxurious hospitals with the latest medical equipment. Rachael was here, right now, and she was exhausted—more so than from the fourteen hours of labor with Josh when they almost had to do a Caesarean, more than from the half marathon that she hadn’t
really
trained for.
Telling her that she was amazing and could do anything wasn’t going to be enough. Telling her that he was so proud of her and that she was incredible wasn’t going to kindle that spark. When Angela had told her that her baby was counting on her, Rachael had started to cry, but she was just shy of dehydrated at this point so there weren’t a lot of tears left.
There was fear in Rachael’s eyes, she was scared of not being able to do this, and he could feel the contraction building. He couldn’t do this for her and that scared him, so he did the only thing he could do.
He leaned down and kissed her. Not a chaste kiss, but not a kiss you want your daughter to get on her first date either. He let her know he still loved her; above all else he still
loved
her. And when he was done he told her so.
“Rachael Marie Carlson Taylor, I love you.” He said.
Rachael took a deep breath and pushed.
…
“So, what are you going to name her?” Angela asked.
Rachael was sitting in a tub of warm soapy water in a soaking wet robe, holding her brand new, utterly perfect, clean, pink baby girl. This bonding experience being the reward for a “natural” childbirth at the hospital where the midwife had worked before the power had gone out.
“Well, we were thinking of naming her Aurora.” Joel said.
Acknowledgements
First and always thanks go to my family. They have put up with me, or—more accurately—put up without me for the last six months. My wife is the most incredible support I could have asked for. She was there from day one, and I couldn’t have done this without her. Editing, alone, was a full-time job, and she did it in addition to getting the kids ready for back-to-school along with everything else. I’m
truly
not worthy!
Then there are my kids. When I handed my teenager a beta copy of the e-book, she actually squealed; they really are the greatest. With all the late nights and ‘no TV’ evenings, because Daddy was working and it would be too loud, I haven’t heard a single complaint. I think I still owe them ice-cream from the last book, come to think of it.
To my Mom, who did a great job on the cover, again! Risking life and limb to get the picture of an only “mostly” deserted highway. I can just picture the conversation…“Go quick, before another car comes, you’ll be fine.” It looks great, and I couldn’t have done it without you.
And to you, the reader, thank you. I hope you continue to enjoy it as much as I do.
--David
http://www.davidcwaldron.com
http://www.facebook.com/AuthorDavidCWaldron
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Table of Contents