Chapter 11

My heart is beating out of my chest, sweat glistens my body. Ian pushes the hair from my forehead as I nervously watch Doc rummage through his bag. I watch him pull out bottles of Heal, Inside and Out, No Pain, Clean, Heal, Seal and scissors. He lays each of them on a towel by my legs. Then I see a battered white bucket in the corner of the room.
"Doc, what's the bucket for?" I ask curiously.

Doc looks over his shoulder to see what I'm talking about. "Oh," he begins. "After the babies are born, you'll stand over that to pass the afterbirth," he explains. "Then we'll dump it into the sulfur river. I nod. "Ian, I want you to help Wanda sit up, and behind her." Ian nods and helps me up, and sits behind me, leaning me against him. His strong arms wrap around me. Doc removes the towel covering my private parts, exposing me to the world. Jamie and Melanie get on either side of my, and each take one of my legs in their hands. They separate my legs and bring them halfway up to my chest. Doc must have already instructed them on what to do. Ian reaches his bruised hands around me to take my hands in his.

"Don't let me go." I whimper so quietly only Ian could hear.

"I won't." He promises and kisses the top of my head.

Doc takes his place by my spread legs, bringing several towels over with him. "Are you ready?" His eyes were compassionate. Hell yes, I'm ready. I've been waiting for so long for this. Doesn't mean I'm looking forward to it though. I nod. "When I count to three, I want you to push down hard, and hold it. Okay?" Doc locked his eyes with mine, and Ian kissed my head again.

"Ready? One…Two…Three."

"Oh!" I grunt. The pain I felt all over my body makes the last twenty hours look like a walk in the park. I stop to take a breath, and lean back against Ian. I clamp my eyes shut, grit my teeth and push again.

"You're doing great, Wanda! The head is coming, I can see it." I can barely hear Doc's encouragements. The pressure of the baby's head coming out of my body is excruciating.

"Come on, Wanda, push!" I see Melanie's eyes glittering.

I squeeze Ian's hand and push hard again. I hear a loud, shrill sound and realize I'm screaming. I stop pushing to rest and I let go of Ian's aching hands to give them a break. Ian rubs my arms and puts his lips to my ear. "You're doing great, sweetheart." And he kisses my cheek. I take several deep breaths and push with all my might. All of a sudden, I fell a pop between my legs and a bloodcurdling scream escapes my lips.

"Great, Wanda! The head is out!." Doc pats my knee, smiling.

Jamie starts to rub my leg comfortingly. "Wanda, this is the most amazing thing I've ever seen! This is beautiful." I see in his smiling eyes that he truly means it. I'm glad, I was sure this would have disgusted him. A contraction seizes my body . "Push, Wanda, push." Jamie chants.

"Jamie, quick! Put a towel on her chest." Twenty minutes of pushing leaves me exhausted. Jamie lets go of my leg and spreads a towel on my chest. "One more push, Wanda, ,one more! Doc smiles over at me. I breath deeply and push. I feel the baby's tiny body slide out of me. I open my eyes to see Doc catching my baby as it slides out of my body. I hear the angry scream of a newborn child.

"It's a girl!" Doc laughs and lays the baby on my chest. Tears stream from my eyes as I look at my baby daughter. I look up at Ian and see a few tears escape his eyes. I turn my attention back to my daughter. Her plump little body is pink and covered in my blood. She has a thick head of black hair, the spitting image of Ian. Ian takes a corner of the blanket to clean her off.

"She's going to be a heartbreaker, I can tell." He beams down at the baby we've created together. I can tell he's right. Seeing her scream and cry really is breaking my heart.

"Ian, do you want to cut the umbilical cord?" Doc scoots up by my side with the scissors, Clean, Heal and Seal. He passes the scissors to Ian, and shows him where to cut. He severs the long piece of flesh connecting me and my daughter. Doc begins to Clean, Heal and Seal the baby's cord.

My joy is momentarily taken from me as another painful contraction wracks through my body. I pass the baby into Melanie's waiting arms. She wraps her in a clean white towel. "Here comes Baby Number Two. This one should be easier." Doc explains.

And it was. The head came out in only two pushes. And then, I hit a wall; the baby's shoulders were stuck inside me. For half an hour I try to push the shoulders out, to no avail. I'm exhausted. "I can't do it!" I scream.

"Yes you can, Wanda, push!" Doc says.

Ian puts his lips by my ear and whispers, "You can do this, Wanderer. You know you can. You have to push." Though Doc, Melanie, and Jamie were shouting encouragements, I heard none of them. All I heard was my partners gentle whispers in my ear. "Come on, Wanderer. Push it out, you're almost there." I push as hard as I can, and the shoulders rip their way out of my body. Doc sensed my exhaustion and pulls the baby out of me. Another angry cry rings through the tiny room.

"Another girl!" Doc announces and he puts the bloody baby on my chest. I start to cry from joy and exhaustion. Ian cries too. Ian cuts the cord and Doc seals it up. Then he turns to me and gives me the Inside Heal. Miraculously, the Inside Heal shrinks my stomach down to it's original size, from before I got pregnant.

"Wow!" Jamie stares at my stomach with wide eyes.

"We'll leave you guys alone. You'll want to feed them within the hour, Wanda. " Doc says and leaves the room with Mel and Jamie. I wipe the blood off the baby and wrap her in a clean blue towel. I lean forward and kiss her head. She looks just like her sister, only a little bigger. Ian picks up the other baby and we sit back and admire our daughters. Then I feel a large mass drop into my vagina, the afterbirth. I hand the second baby to Ian and crouch over the bucket Doc left.

"Uhm, Ian?" I begin, starting to blush. "Could you throw me a towel, please?" He puts down Baby Number One and tosses me a towel so I can cover myself. Ian laughs at me.

"You know you don't have to do that." He smiles.

"No, I think I do. This is gross." He laughs at me again.

I settle myself on top of the bucket and start pushing the afterbirth out. It's a lot harder and more painful than I thought it would be. Ian looks over and sees me struggling.

"Wanda? Are you okay?" Concern is evident in his face.

"Yeah, it just hurts." I say and push again. I feel the mass move down inside of me. One more push and I feel a sharp pain, making me scream, then relief. It's out. I start crying again. Ian puts down the other baby and rushes to my side.

"What's wrong?" His eyebrows are knitted together.

"It's over! It's all over." I smile and cry at the same time. "I did it!" I did it.

Ian smiles broadly and cups my cheek. "You did it, baby." He leans forward and kisses me on the lips. He takes me by the hand. "C'mon. Let's get you cleaned up." He smiles and leads me to the mattress. I take a dark towel and start wiping between my legs. "Here, let me do it." Ian takes the towel an wipes the blood off of me gently.

When he finishes, Baby Number Two starts to cry. "I think she's hungry." I say, and straighten myself up into a sitting position. Ian helps me out of my shirt and bra so I can feed the babies. I pick up Baby Number Two and lead her to my breast. She latches on immediately. A single tear runs down my cheek as I watch my daughter eat. I look at Ian, and he's staring at Baby Number One in his arms. "Rose." He says.

"Rose O'Shea." I agree.

I look down at the baby suckling at my breast. "Sarah." I say.

"Sarah O'Shea." He agrees.

He hugs me around the shoulders and I lean into his chest. We sit back and watch the two baby girls we just brought into the world. Rose and Sarah. Our daughters.