Chapter 7 week 36and birth
The first stage of labour
Declan was on his way to the gym. Kate joined him as she was trying to walk off the Braxton-Hicks contractions that she had been having over the past few days. She was getting fed up when them and remarked to Helen one, "I wish my womb would just hurry up and have contractions for real."
Helen replied, "Be careful what you wish for."
Kate was about to understand the full meaning of Helen's reply. In one of residential corridors, they bumped into the Big Guy, who was returning from the laundry with clean linen for the infirmary. Declan innocently asked why the Big Guy wasn't using the elevator. The Big Guy answered, "Taking the stairs is a good way to keep fit."
Kate chuckled, knowing the real reason why he never, ever took the elevator unless he really, really had to. Her smiled fell as soon as she another wave of pain in her belly. Seeing that she was in pain, Declan rubbed her belly, hoping to relive her pain. He tried to hind his excitement when he felt her uterus contractions under his hand, hoping that this time was the actual event.
Then the lights started flickering, right before the big, heavy metal lock down doors fell down at both ends of the hall. Declan got on his radio after checking that Kate, Biggie and he were trapped in this corridor, "Henry? What's going on? Why are we in lock down?"
The answer was, "Er...I'll have to get back to you guys on that."
Henry had been in his lab, trying to find a match for Dunja's shield's coat-of-arm against what had been downloaded from the Hollow Earth map. Now, he was busily working on his computer trying to work out what was going on. Henry was grateful that this time, he was locked in his lab
'Kate, what's wrong?" Declan asked with a trace of fear in his voice as he saw Kate try to double up in pain in front of him.
"I don't think that these are false contractions any more" Kate panted with both pain and fear in her voice. Sensing that she was on the brink of panic, Declan gentle wrapped his arms around her chest and calmed her down and helped her breathe.
Kate stared to inviolately shiver and it stared to unnerve her, Biggie told her that it was just another labour symptom. Kate was aware that the Big Guy and Declan had both acted as midwives for abnormal mothers and she had helped both of them at times, but she still wanted Dr. Magnus with her. So, she got on the radio to inform Henry about the current situation she was in.
"Hi, Hank. I am going into labour and I would very much like the Doc's help delivering this baby. HANK, MAKE IS HAPPEN!" Kate panted down the walkie talkie. Declan took the radio off her and tried to calm her down. He also tried to make Kate feel as safe as possible, having heard that feelings of not being somewhere safe can cause a woman's labour to stall. As Kate freaked out and Declan calmed her down, Biggie couldn't help but think, 'This is worse than when Magnus had Ashley.'
Helen was on the radio trying to help calm Kate and she assured Kate that Biggie knew what he was doing and the he had helped at Ashley's birth.
The Big Guy decides that it is better to wash the clean linens again rather than try to clean Kate's blood off the floor and out of the rugs. So he makes a nestlike bed near the wall. Basically Biggie just piled up between the two walls of the corridor until he was sure that Kate's blood wasn't going to reach the floor.
Biggie went through the check list of things he needed: some large clean towels to dry and cover the baby, a baby blanket to keep her warm and a large bowl or plastic bag to put the placenta in. He found the towels quickly and got a washing bracket empty for the placenta. Declan took his jacket off to use as a baby blanket.
At the same time Henry discover that his system had been hacked, again. Also, the Sanctuary was being remotely hacked by not one, but two hackers. One of the hackers had triggered the maximum lockdown.
And these to hackers were fighting each other while trying to take control over the system that he created. Well, there were at least two hackers that Henry had found out that point. And one of them had got into the furnace and cranked up the heat. Also Henry felt awful knowing that Kate was going into labour and he can't even get the doors open for her to get the infirmary!
Declan snuggled with Kate on the bed Biggie made her as he was trying to encourage her to rest. After all, she had been in labour for 4 hours. And she had nearly fallen asleep until her water breaks. When her waters break, Kate thought, "Right. This is the most undignified day of my entire life. I'm standing in the corridors naked because I am boiling hot and my breaking waters makes me look like I am incontinent!" And she couldn't help but think about how on TV it going goes in one sudden quick go and how she looks like she's pissing herself and her waters show no sign of slowing yet.
Once her waters had stopped, Kate went on all fours to ease her back pain while Biggie was on the radio updating Magnus while he tried to find the nearest first aid kit to get gloved up. She also rocked her hips as much as possible to keep the baby moving down into her pelvis. Declan tried to keep her breathing rhythmically. He knew that rhythmic breathing would maximise the oxygen available to both Kate and the baby.
Despite the pain, Kate was not going to scream. She would groan, moan and swear many times both in English and in Hindi, but she refused to scream. Kate was not going to do that cliché.
"Hey, Declan? Can you sing to for a bit? I find your sing soothing." Kate panted with arms around Declan's neck while alternated between shoulder and full back massages, she got so hot she stripped in the hallway to try to cool down and now she had accepted that she properly was going to give birth in this corridor.
"Sure thing. Anything in particular you want me to sing, love?" Declan asked grinning.
Kate answered, "Just something calming."
Declan obliged his lover and sang some Gaelic folksongs that his Irish grandmother taught him. Kate found them to be very soothing. As he sang, Biggie hoped that Declan could calm Kate down so her body could start releasing the good hormones, like oxytocin and endorphins, and not make this night too much worse for her. Especially as he had a feeling that, as Kate was a first time mother, this was going to be a very long night.
Declan was calm as he told himself that he knew what he was doing, he had helped abnormal mothers give birth, read books and talked with Magnus many times. He knew what he was doing, they both did. Declan just had make sure that Kate didn't panic.
Kate tried to stay positive through the pain and kept thinking, 'Each bloody contraction brings me closer to finally holding my baby' which was what she and Declan had been dreaming about for weeks.
At first Kate is embarrassed at having to empty her bladder in a separate corner of the corridor, so Biggy wouldn't have to clean it out of the carpet, but by the Transitional stage Kate doesn't care. Honestly, how much could she care after completely stripping in front of Biggie and having her broken waters make her look as though she was pissing herself?
Kate felt a strong need to squat by that point, Declan stood behind her and held her up so she focus on breathing and pushing when the time came to. Declan also held her upright so gravity could do its job and help Kate give birth while he tried to keep her calm.
Henry was in a new level of personal hell. One of the hackers had a friend, who now came to join the fight. At least Henry won a small victory over the hackers and he had turned the furnace off.
The second stage of labour
Kate had been in labour for about 7 hours when Declan said, "Kate, you are the strongest woman I have ever met and you can do this."
Then he kissed the back of her neck as he tried to keep her calm and keep her breathing rhythmically. Declan tells himself that he has done tougher stuff than this. After all, he was former SAS Special Force officer and he was a former Head of Sanctuary House. And he had helped abnormal mother give birth. He had done tougher stuff than squatting with his shoulder blades against the wall while hold his pregnant lover up right so she could focus on breathing while she gripped his hips so hard he wondered if she going to actually crush his hip bones. But she was in great pain and she was scared. More scared then he was as it was her body that was going through hell to bring their baby into the world. And if Kate did break his bones, Magnus could fix him. He was just grateful that the heaters had been turned off.
Henry and one of the hankers sort of teamed up against one of the other hankers, he tried to regain control over the Sanctuary while the hanker tried to lock the other hankers out. This system was working fine until one of the hankers tried to completely lock him out.
About 1 and ½ hours after Henry found himself battling against just two hackers, Biggy was getting worried about how long Kate had been in labour for when he saw a light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak.
"I can see the head. Black hair." the Big Guy grunted.
"Black?" Kate panted with excitement.
"What were you expecting? Ginger?" Declan chuckled in her ear before kissing her neck and made her laugh as she got ready to give the last push.
As the baby came out, the Big Guy checked if the cord was looped round her neck. Thankfully it wasn't. And he remembered that healthy human babies often have a blue tinge to their skin when they're first born, but have good muscle tone and soon cry. This was how Biggy describe Maia to Magnus before and he moved on to getting her dry and warm before putting her to her mother's breast.
Declan slide down the wall, cradling a sobbing Kate in his arms while Kate cradled their newborn daughter in her arms. He tried to wrap his head around that his daughter was finally here and how someone so tiny could make her mother's belly so big. The Big Guy thought about when Kate's water broke, how he knew that once the tears start, everyone will properly end up crying, including him. Sure enough, they all ended up crying.
The friend hacker had successful shut the other hacker, and now the pair of them seemed to be repairing the holes in the system that got them and the other hacker in. before they returned control to Henry one of the hackers sent Henry a message, "Knock, knocktie, knock.
The third stage of labour
The placate is usually delivered 20 minutes after the baby. Maia's birth followed this pattern. Which was when Henry got the doors to roll up.
Henry bolted from his lab to the corridors to find Magnus and then help Kate as best he could. He didn't count on Kate being naked when he found her or the sheer volume of blood a human woman sheds during childbirth. Nor did he count on the interesting and gross smell of a placenta. He thought Maia was very cute through as he and the big guy carefully moved Kate to the infirmary while Magnus looked over Maia.
Will had spent the evening with Abby. So he was shocked by all the events that he had missing. He actually didn't know which surprised him more, the fact the Sanctuary had been hacked again or that Kate and Declan now actually had baby. A living, breathing, wriggling, crying baby. That was here to stay for next twenty or so years. That was doing his head in.
(Yes, I did get some ideas for this chapter from Warehouse 13.)
