The room was filled with quick motions and mixed commotion, as nurses crowded around the doctor seated at the foot of the bed, delivering assistance with his demands and focusing on giving Topanga a smooth, safe delivery.
Cory stretched himself between both them and his wife, giving his wife moral and physical support as he gave her encouraging words and gripped her trembling hand while trying to peer at the work of the doctors. He wasn't even sure if Topanga could hear him while he tried to calm her, as the chatter from the doctors and the volume of her struggling, pained breaths between pushes created too much noise for him to even think straight.
Through all the sounds in the room, Cory tried to listen for the screaming of his newborn daughter, but as the minutes passed, he still hadn't heard her cry.
The stress of the moment and overwhelming sight of Topanga in so much pain made Cory feel empathy for his dad, wondering desperately how he and his mother had survived through four deliveries. He also couldn't stop thinking about those who he had previously considered pathetic saps that passed out as their wives gave birth in the home video tapings on TV.
Oh gosh, Cory thought faintly. What if I become one of those pathetic saps and end up passing out and missing my child's birth?!
Shaking his head to keep himself free from those worries, Cory turned to focus on Topanga and forget about his silly fear of passing out. He knew Topanga needed him, so he wasn't about to fall unconscious and leave her and the baby all alone.
"You can do it, Topanga," Cory encouraged his wife, grasping her hand with both of his hands as he glanced from her tightened facial expression down to the busied doctors. "Keep it up, honey, you're doing great. You're doing great."
"Give us a couple more strong pushes, Mrs. Matthews. You're almost there." The doctor urged.
Squeezing Cory's hand even harder, Topanga lowered her head and spent all of her effort on what small amount of strength she had left.
Cory soothingly began to rub her hand with his thumbs, reaching to her ear and saying repeatedly, "Keep going, Topanga. You're okay, honey, keep going. You're almost done, keep going, keep going..."
Topanga must have been listening to her husband's encouragement, as she slowly nodded her head and continued pushing as hard as possible, striving to hear the cries of her baby girl.
"Almost...almost..." The doctor said without looking up, waving his hand to signal her to keep up the effort. "Almost...good! Great job!"
Topanga finally exhaled heavily, releasing her grip on Cory's hand for the first time in hours as everyone in the room heard the first cries of Riley Matthews.
"You did it, Topanga! You're done!" Cory said, his grin bursting from ear to ear as he peered for his first look at his daughter. "There she is!"
The doctor gingerly handled the Matthews' little girl, her twitching limbs and scrunched-up face covered in white, sticky vernix as the doctors smiled over her and began wiping her skin. Her darkly colored hair was messily slicked down on her scalp, her cheeks were a hot red, and her tiny toes and fingers wiggled freely.
She wouldn't even dare to open her eyes as the bright lights covered her face, screaming from the new feelings in the atmosphere as she was washed gently and wrapped in a warm blanket.
"Congratulations, Matthews!" The doctor held the crying baby in his arms as he smiled at the elated parents. "Ready to hold her?"
Cory eagerly stepped forward, carefully receiving his daughter as the doctor placed her in his hands. Whether she knew it or not, Riley was finally wrapped in her father's arms, and Cory couldn't be anymore overjoyed at that moment.
Topanga, smiling just as much as he was and nearly crying with relief and joy combined, followed her daughter with her eyes as Cory slowly sat on the bedside and lowered her a little for Topanga to see.
"Hey, Riley..." Cory said softly as she choked on her frightened sobs, beginning to open her eyes a little to see who spoke in the soothing tone.
Riley seemed to recognize that she was with her parents now, as her cries quieted a little while she stared at Cory through slightly opened eyelids. Both Cory and Topanga barely breathed as they watched her stop crying, beaming at their daughter's reaction to her first encounter with her parents.
"Here's Mommy..." Cory said as he gently placed Riley in her mother's arms for the first time.
Topanga quietly cooed under her breath as she held her daughter, sniffling as her own eyes gleamed with tears. After carrying her around for months and fighting through the most pain she had ever experienced, she felt more rewarded from it all than she ever had from anything else in her life.
Just like the nurse had told her, Topanga didn't remember the pain from minutes before as she cradled Riley in her arms and gently gave her her first kiss.