“He’s right there. You’re doing great. He’s almost out,” Tom said. His eyes were full of tears.
She took a huge breath on the next contraction, exhaled through pursed lips, pushing as nature told her to do. Then she made a thin, keening sound, and the baby’s head slid right out with no tearing.
“Perfect. The hard part’s over,” I said, smiling at her. She was breathing hard and damp with sweat, but she smiled back. “Next push, and you get a baby to hold.”
She took another deep breath, exhaled long and hard, and the baby was in my gloved hands. I slid him right up onto Elizabeth’s chest, tears in my own eyes as he reached out a little hand.
“Hi!” she said, her eyes shining. “Oh, God, thank you! Hi, baby! Hello! Hi!”
This was the best part. The wonder. The awe at what her body had done. The beautiful, perfect infant. He opened his eyes and looked around, then opened his mouth and gave a hearty cry.
“You did it,” Tom breathed. “Oh, honey, I love you so much.” They stared at him, and then at each other. Elizabeth turned her head and kissed her husband, tears streaming down her face as they marveled over their miracle.
This was what I got to witness. Best job in the universe.
I covered the baby with a blanket, clamped the cord, delivered the placenta and put it aside. No stitching necessary. After we’d cut the cord and Elizabeth had held the baby for a while, Jane came in to help me check the little guy and do the necessary tasks.
“Seven pounds, ten ounces,” I said. “Apgars are ten and ten.” I burrito wrapped him, put a little striped cap on his head and gave him back to Elizabeth. “Congratulations, guys. I’m so happy for you. Does he have a name?”
“Silas John,” Tom said. “Named after my dad.”
“Oh, how lovely! Elizabeth, how do you feel, sweetheart?”
“Amazing. Oh, Lillie. Thank you. You were wonderful.”
“Eh,” I said. “You did all the work. I just caught him at the end.”
* * *
Turned out that when I went to Dr. Barton’s office later that day to lodge a complaint about Carline, I found she’d already lodged one against me.
“What?” I said, jerking back in surprise. “The baby and mother are doing great! Thirty minutes of pushing, ten on both Apgars, no stitching, no pain meds. What’s to complain about?”
Dr. Barton sighed and pushed her glasses up her nose. “She doesn’t like you, Lillie.”
“That goes both ways. She suggested the baby might have microcephaly right in front of them! Told the mama she needed Pitocin because labor was taking too long, and it wasn’t, and she didn’t.”
“Look, I know she’s . . . old school.”
“Archaic.”
Dr. Barton grimaced, not contradicting me. “She’s good in the OR and only has two more years here, and then she’s retiring. But, Lillie . . .” She looked down at the paper in front of her and read aloud. “?‘Nurse Lillie Silva spoke in a hostile and unprofessional manner. In addition, she put her hands on me and dragged me out of a patient’s room.’?”
“I’d use the word ‘escorted,’?” I said. “Firmly escorted.”
“But you did put your hands on her?”
“Yeah. I took her by the arm and walked her out of the room.” A sense of foreboding darkened my earlier euphoria. “Shit.”
“She’s saying you assaulted her.”
“Dr. Barton! I was protecting my patient’s labor process and abiding by her choices. Dr. Schneider was intrusive, demeaning and wrong.”
“Look. I understand, believe me. But she said she won’t file charges if we suspend you for a week.”
My mouth fell open. “Suspension?”
“I’m sorry, Lillie, but we can’t have this accusation out there. Effective immediately. Do you have any patients who are due in the next few days?”
“No,” I said, blinking. But what if someone had an emergency?
“So it’s almost a moot point, and it’ll make her feel powerful and we’ll avoid a scandal. Imagine the Cape Cod Times lead story—‘Midwife Assaults Elderly Doctor.’ I’m so sorry to do this, but . . .”
“I get it,” I said. “It’s okay. Let me just check on my patient before I go, okay?”
“Are they staying overnight?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll discharge them myself tomorrow morning.” She gave me a kind smile.
“Wanda can take care of it. They know her.”
“Okay, great,” Dr. Barton said.
Carline Schneider was a horrible old crone. I gave myself five minutes to hate on her in the ladies’ room, then substituted my irritable thoughts for the beautiful rehashing of Silas’s birth. Elizabeth had been incredible. Tom had been amazing. And that baby was so stinking cute. I checked Elizabeth, saw that Silas was already nursing, gave Willow a blue sticker proclaiming her a big sister, and told them I’d see them in the office. Then I headed home.
Zeus greeted me at the door as if I’d been deployed overseas for years. “Hello, you beautiful boy! Hello!” I kissed his head and scratched behind his ears. Went downstairs to the kitchen and found a note on the island. Zeus had a very happy day on board the Goody Chapman. He’s had his dinner. —Ben.
“Did you go out to sea?” I asked my wonderpup. “You did? You are the captain now, eh? You are?” He wagged, then collapsed and offered me his belly. Yeah, he did smell a bit fishy. “But what an adventure, right?” I said. He yawned.
The dog had a point. Fishy or not, he was a great cuddler, and the bed warmed up a lot faster with him on it. I pulled off my clothes, took a shower and fell into bed.
What a great feeling.
It took me till the next morning to realize I’d barely thought about Brad and Melissa all day.
CHAPTER 27
Lillie
Being suspended gave me a little bit of celebrity, I found. Wanda fully supported my action and filed a protest on my behalf to go in with the complaint (for HR purposes). Tom and Elizabeth had been glowing when she checked them the day after the birth. She also told me to take the week off, because I’d be pulling double duty when she went to Jamaica to visit her parents at the end of the month.
So. An unexpected vacation week. I checked ticket prices to Missoula, but they were ridiculous—ski season, I guessed. Instead, I sent out a group text to Dylan, Dad, Hannah and Mom, giving them a summary, saying I had a one-week suspension and was therefore free if anyone wanted to do anything fun (though there wasn’t much to do on the Cape in the winter). My father told me he was surprised I hadn’t decked Carline Schneider, and Hannah said I had done the right thing. Dylan even FaceTimed to tell me how proud he was, and what could be better than your kid saying he was proud of you? Nothing.
Mom didn’t respond, though the message had been delivered. I shouldn’t have included her. I don’t know why I still tried. If I left her to her own devices, she would probably forget she had a second daughter.
The first day off, I cleaned the house and baked cookies to FedEx to Dylan. Asked Hannah, Carol, Wanda and Beth if they were free for dinner and a movie, and so we had a fabulous meal at CShore and then got the world’s best popcorn at Wellfleet Cinemas.
The second day off, I went grocery shopping, did laundry, took a long walk. That used up the entire morning. I made and ate a heavy, delicious lunch and took a nap. That brought me to 3:00 p.m.
I was itchy and scratchy. What to do, what to do.
I texted Ben. Want to go to the Ho tonight? My treat as thanks for taking Zeus on his first boat ride.
He didn’t answer right away . . . out to sea, I supposed, or just busy. I started a book called How to Marry Keanu Reeves in 90 Days, only to find out it was, alas, fiction and not an instruction manual. But it was funny and smart, and I read until dark.
Finally, my phone dinged. Sure. Pick you up at 7?
Sounds good! I answered.