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Helen had just breathed through another contraction, and she reached over for her phone again, wondering if Max was any closer to arriving. Go figure, the day he had his big conference presentation was also the day she went into labor earlier than anticipated. That was enough to stress her out, even though he was attending the conference virtually and was just a quick train ride away from New Amsterdam.
“You must be bored,” she said to Elizabeth, who had arrived to keep her company after Karen left to go to a lunch meeting she couldn’t reschedule. Helen had texted Elizabeth upon settling into her OB room to let her know what happened since she would be her deputy once she left for maternity leave. Ben was also patiently standing nearby, interpreting everything that Maya (Helen’s OB nurse), Helen, and Lyn were saying.
“I’m sorry your role is starting earlier than you anticipated.” Helen added. “Believe me, I wasn’t expecting this either.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Elizabeth assured her, touching her hand. “I’m a doctor, after all. Expecting the unexpected is kind of a part of the job. I can handle it. Doctoring that is. Labor, I’m not sure about, which is why I’ve never really considered having children of my own.”
“Did you ever want to be an OB?”
“Oh no. I mean, as much as I love babies, it would be hard to do a delivery because I really wouldn’t be able to communicate with anyone while getting the baby out; I’d need two hands for that job. It’s a lot easier to do surgery and have an interpreter. What about you?”
“You know, I briefly considered it. But when I was in medical school, I left the room and cried when I witnessed a stillbirth. OB is mostly a happy specialty, but I felt like I could never handle the sadness that comes with a mother losing her baby. For as many sick patients as I deal with, the hard parts are easier to absorb when it’s a part of your daily life.”
Elizabeth’s face fell, but she nodded in understanding. “I feel bad I asked that,” she said. “You shouldn’t be focusing on anything sad. Your pregnancy has been going great, and yeah, you’re a little early, but Lyn doesn’t seem worried. Let’s just hope Max can get here soon. How can I help in the meantime?”
Helen giggled. “You sound just like Max when you ask that. Why don’t you try and convince me to get an epidural? I thought I could go through this without drugs, but I’m not so sure now.”
“Take the epidural,” Elizabeth replied without hesitation. “I would. Pushing out a baby hurts! You shouldn’t be ashamed of wanting to experience as little discomfort as possible.”
“You’re right. Epidural it is. I think I’ll talk to Maya about getting that show on the road when she comes back. Do you think you can stick around long enough for me to get it?”
“If I don’t get paged, sure.”
Helen smiled in thanks, and then her phone buzzed. Much to her relief, she saw Max’s name on the text notification:
I am so sorry; I finally finished my presentation. I thought about canceling it, but there was really no way to get off the agenda at this point. I’m on my way now. Are you still OK?
I’m fine, she answered. Wilder is with me and Lyn said the baby is looking good. I’m only four centimeters now, so I’m not exactly progressing quickly. Unless I go from four to 10 in the next half hour, you should make it in lots of time. I’m actually going to ask for an epidural soon. I can’t do this naturally. I must have been insane to think I’d last over 12 hours without drugs, if what they say about first-time mothers having a longer labor is true.
No shame in a change of plans. I’m sure you held out as long as you could.
She laughed again and showed Elizabeth her phone. “Look. You and Max are on the same page about the epidural. Therefore, majority rules, in case I had any doubt.”
Max had arrived in time to support Helen during her epidural, as it had taken some time for anesthesia to get to her after they were called to do two other epidurals. She had apparently gone into labor at a very busy time, as she’d been told the OB floor was nearing full capacity. But since the baby was doing well and she was tolerating labor without complications, Maya and Lyn had placed her on a lower priority for check-ins so they could be free to handle higher-risk cases and more immediate deliveries. She knew she could call the nurses’ station if something changed anyway, so that was OK with her.
“I’m so glad you made it,” she said to him. “Not that I had any doubt that you would but…it happened so fast, I was thinking…what if this is like the movies and I have the baby before you can get here?”
“Oh, you mean the whole theme where your water breaks and then 10 minutes later you’re eight centimeters dilated?” he asked. “Yeah, I was wondering about that too. Especially when you said Karen was with you. She’s great at a lot of things but she doesn’t know the slightest thing about how to deliver a baby.”
“Or being a labor coach, but God bless her, she tried.”
She rubbed her stomach and tried to look down, as if making sure there were no signs that she was ready to push. “Do you want to take bets on how long I’ll be in labor? Look, we don’t have much else to do but wait, so we may as well have some fun.”
“I’m optimistic that you’re an exception to the longer labor rule and say another six hours.”
“Six? Well, it’s already been two. I could settle for eight hours; that’s the length of an average work day. But I don’t know. I feel like I won’t be having this baby until tomorrow. Even though it would be nice if she came early enough so Luna could be awake and meet her new sister before she goes to bed.”
“Oh yeah. Don’t worry. I called Gwen as I was leaving and she’s on her way in to pick up Luna. It’s just that when she comes I have to leave you for a little bit to show her where the daycare is; she’s never been to that part of the hospital. Plus I have to be there for all the compliance stuff, like verifying that it’s OK for her to take Luna and signing the paperwork. Do you mind if they visit before going home as long as you’re still doing well?”
“Not at all. I think it would be good for Luna actually. That way she won’t be so in the dark about what’s going on and she’ll get to see us before things really pick up.
“Can you believe this is happening? I mean, not that I went into labor. Because if it didn’t happen today, it was going to happen at some point. But it feels so much more real now. The next time we come home, we’re going to have our new baby girl and Luna’s officially going to be a big sister.”
“Did it not kick in until I got here?”
“Actually, I absorbed it pretty fast once Lyn confirmed I’d have to stick around a while. But now that you’re here, I say what are we waiting for? Let’s get this show on the road.”
It took the rest of the afternoon, all through the evening, and early into the next morning, but finally, Helen and Max got a special delivery.
Nora Eve Goodwin was born at 4:24 a.m. on February 8, weighing in at seven pounds, three ounces, and measuring 20 inches long. All in all, Helen had won the bet between her and Max, as she had guessed she’d have 20 hours of labor, but clocked in at 16. Max had remained hopeful, believing it would be 12 hours. He was convinced Nora would have been born by midnight, and Helen did get stressed at around 11:30 when she realized she wouldn’t be delivering at a more “normal” hour, but knew there wasn’t much she could do about it. Fortunately, since she had had an epidural, she had gotten a few hours of rest before the big moment.
Now it was just after 7, and Max had just brought her a breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast, which she happily accepted.
“Do you want to have donuts and coffee too?” he asked as he walked around the room while holding Nora.
“After this, I want to go back to sleep for a few hours. Coffee later, maybe. I just hope you didn’t invite visitors yet.”
“Not yet. I’m going to call Gwen once you’re done eating, make sure Luna’s up for the day and having breakfast, or getting close to it. I’ll see how everything went last night and then we’ll try to work out when would be a good time for Luna to come by. Don’t worry; I’ll make sure you get as much sleep as you need. Want me to ask Karen to stand guard and keep people out? She’s really good at kicking me out of conference rooms, so I think she’s up for this job.”
“I think we can handle it.” Helen smiled. “All in all, the delivery went pretty smoothly and Nora is healthy, so I know everyone will be excited to get here as soon as you send her picture and the birth announcement. I want Luna to see her first, though, and then our friends can come.”
“That sounds like a great plan.”
She took a bite of bacon and watched him look down at Nora. Although he had showcased his goofy side in the last few weeks, especially with getting himself a #GirlDad shirt and making sure Luna had a big sister shirt, he really was a great father. He looked happy as a clam holding Nora, and he’d given Helen plenty of compliments and support while she was pushing. Plus, after the trauma of Luna’s birth, he was relieved that everything had gone well at the birth of his second daughter and his first with Helen.
“Just don’t ask me if I want to try for a son,” she teased him. “At least not right now.”
“Oh, yeah. Let’s enjoy Nora and give her bonding time with Luna first. But then we can see?”
“You want to start trying next month? Don’t start with your big ideas already or I will go to sleep. With earplugs.”
“You know I’m just kidding.” He gave her a kiss and unwrapped Nora’s swaddle blanket a little so Helen could look at her. “I think she’s already tired too. But it’s OK. It’s been a long day and night. I just can’t wait for all the time together that’s still to come.”
“I know. I love all of you so much.”
“I love all my girls too.”
Helen kept eating and tried to relish the moment. After all, it wasn’t often that she’d get to experience her new baby’s first day on Earth. It was about time she let herself enjoy it.