“Well look at you.” Dr. Newman grinned at me as she came into the room and grabbed a set of latex gloves out of the box on the wall.
“Hi.” I sighed. Using my arms, I tried to adjust myself to sit up in the bed.
“Relax, relax.” She touched my shoulder, stopping me from getting up. “What’s wrong? I thought you were ready to get this baby out of you.”
“I am, but Brody’s out of town. We can’t get a hold of him.”
Mom, who was sitting in a chair next to my bed, reached out and squeezed my hand. “Fred has left a few messages and we’re gonna keep trying.”
“Relax back. I’m just gonna check you real quick.”
Dr. Newman’s hand slipped under the blanket on my lap. A quick pinch as she was pulling her glove off, frowning slightly.
“What?” I asked, panic swelling up in my chest.
“How long ago did you say your water broke?”
“Uh…” I looked at my mom and then at the clock on the wall. “About six hours ago?”
“And you had your epidural three hours ago?”
I nodded.
“Okay, because you’re at nine centimeters. This baby will probably be here in about an hour, maybe less. We’re gonna start prepping the room.”
My heart sank. “Okay.”
My mom stood up and draped her arm over my shoulders, leaning her head against mine. “Oh, honey, I know you’re sad, but I’ll be here and we’ll see if we can keep trying to get a hold of him. Maybe he can come home earlier and at least be here tonight sometime.”
Everything from that point on moved very quickly. They had the room prepped in no time, my legs in stirrups, and Dr. Newman was in her gown with her clear face guard on, sitting at the end of the bed.
Taylor, one of my coworkers and good friends, stood next to me, watching the monitor and holding my hand.
“All right, Kacie. As soon as you feel the next contraction, go ahead and start pushing.”
Tears streamed down my face, but I felt no pain. I didn’t want to push. I wanted to keep this baby in until Brody got here and could see it. I wanted him to hold my hand and kiss my forehead. I wanted him to be the first one to hold his baby.
My stomach tightened up as a contraction started. I squeezed my mom’s and Taylor’s hands and closed my eyes tight, pushing as hard as I could as Taylor counted down for me, “Five… four… three… two… one. Relax.”
My head fell back against the bed and more tears fell.
Taylor gasped above me.
I looked up at her, but she was looking somewhere past me, over my shoulder. I followed her eyes and my breath caught too.