Chapter 25

Both Dr. Matthews and Audrey stared at one of the heart monitors for a moment before turning to Olivia and Bran.

Dr. Matthews walked over to Olivia where she was still sitting on the ball, breathing through another contraction. The doctor leaned down to squat next to Olivia so she would be at eye level with her patient. "Everything is okay, for right now, but I'm going to have to get you back in the bed. The baby's heart rate seems to be dropping during your contractions. Sometimes that can be because she's just not reacting well to them or sometimes we find that the way the mother is positioning herself is putting pressure on the baby or causing the baby to lay on the umbilical cord." Dr. Matthews explained to Liv.

Olivia just nodded. She didn't know what else to do or how to react. She figured as long as Dr. Matthews wasn't worried about anything be wrong right now, she wouldn't stress herself out worrying.

Brian and the doctor helped Olivia stand up, off the ball and get back onto the hated bed. Brian knew that if Olivia had to stay on her back in bed for any lengthy amount of time, his girlfriend would be one unhappy woman.

Dr. Matthews stayed in the room, until Olivia had another contraction to watch the heart monitor for the baby. It seemed to be a little steadier since Olivia had changed positions. But the doctor asked Audrey to stay in the room with Liv and watch the monitor. Before leaving though, Dr. Matthews checked Olivia once more. "Okay, so you're about 6 centimeters now, Olivia, and 75% effaced. So you have made some progress." The doctor took of her latex gloves and threw them in the trash can. What she didn't tell Olivia was that she wasn't making enough progress. A major reason the baby was reacting was the intensity of Olivia's contraction and her lack of progress. She was thinking it was looking like Olivia may end up having a C-section, but she'd seen women go from 6 to 10 centimeter in an hour's time, so she was going to give her a little more time and just see what happens.

As an excruciatingly long hour went by, Olivia was ready to give up. Her back felt like she was being stabbed over and over again and the contractions only got stronger as each one passed. The nurse had placed a cold compress on Olivia's forehead to keep her temperature at bay and it Liv did admit that it felt good.

Brian stood at her side through every round of pain that surged through Liv, allowing her to grip his hand as hard as she needed to. But he still felt so helpless. It had been 13 hours of contractions for Olivia and all he had been able to do for was massage her back and hold her hand. He wanted nothing more than to take the pain away from her, to ease it somehow, just to give her some kind of relief, but he couldn't. Instead he had to sit on the side-line and watch.

They gotten through another hour without the heart monitor beeping. Olivia was torn. She hated being in bed, absolutely despised it, but it was helping her daughter and helping her avoid a C-section. But when another contraction rippled through her, she was questioning whether it was really worth the immense pain she was in.

She also questioned whether it was worth it as the heart rate monitor started beeping once again. This time though, there were two monitors beeping simultaneously.

Audrey who hadn't left the room in the last hour, dashed out as quickly as she could, returning with Dr. Matthews.

This time, though, both Brian and Olivia were aware of the looks on both their faces. This time they couldn't hide the obvious. Something was wrong.

"Olivia, can you turn on your side for me?" Dr. Matthews asked. She was going to see if that would be a better position.

Olivia did just that, but after two contractions like that the beeping was still consistent.

"Alright, let's try the other side." Dr. Matthews helped Liv face away from her towards Brian.

Brian watched as Olivia had yet another contraction the beeping still persistent. He could see her biting her bottom lip, all she could do to suppress a scream. He could also see the tears forming in her eyes. He wasn't sure if it was from the pain or out of worry or both.

"Okay, Olivia, we're going to put you back on your back." Brian helped her flip back over.

"Audrey, can you grab the oxygen mask for me?" They both heard the doctor ask her attending nurse.

Audrey nodded, grabbed the necessary items, and handed just the mask to Dr. Matthews.

"So, Olivia it's not just the baby's heart rate that's dropping now, yours is too. I'm going to use the oxygen to see if we can't steady your heart rate." Dr. Matthews explained, knowing that Olivia needed to understand what was going on.

The oxygen mask was placed over Olivia's nose and mouth, meanwhile the doctor and nurse watched as she suffered through another 3 contractions, none of them showing any improvement as far as heart rate was concerned for baby or mother. Before talking to Olivia, Dr. Matthews left the room for a few minutes.

She returned to the room and grabbed the rolling stool placing it the side of Olivia's bed and sitting down. "Now I know your goal was to avoid having to go through a C-section and all that recovery, but right now both of you are not handling these contractions like you should be. The baby's heart rate is dropping slowly and not coming back up, the same goes for yours. You've been in labor a long time and your body can't handle it any longer. Right now, we need to perform a C-section and get that baby out, for your sake and hers."

Olivia nodded her head and moved the oxygen mask to answer. "Whatever you need to do." Olivia didn't care what happened at this point as long her daughter came into the world healthy.

"Great." Dr. Matthews knew Olivia understood she didn't have much of a choice. "So, I've got an operating room waiting for us. Audrey and I will take you down there, get you all prepped for surgery. While we do that, another nurse will take Brian to get washed up and scrubbed in and he'll meet us down there when you are all ready. Sound good?"

Liv didn't take the time to remove the oxygen mask, she just nodded in response.

Before they took her out of the room, Brian gave her a small kiss on the forehead and looked her in the eyes. "Everything will be fine. We're finally going to meet our daughter."

And with that the doctor and nurse rolled Olivia out of her hospital room to the OR and another nurse came into to take Brian to get cleaned up and changed.

It was 20 minutes before the couple was reunited in the OR. Olivia was laid out, flat one her back, a curtain hanging at about her shoulders to shield her from seeing herself sliced open. Next to her, at the side of the bed was stool for Brian to sit on. Because Olivia's arms were free to move the first thing he did as he sat down was grab Liv's hand, squeezing it a way to show that he was there for her.

Dr. Matthews on the other side of the curtain was ready, scalpel in hand, to bring their daughter into the world. "You ready?" The doctor aimed the question at both Olivia and Brian.

Olivia was still wearing the oxygen mask as a precaution, so Brian answered for the both of them. "Let's do it."

"Okay, I'm going to make the first incision. You won't feel any pain, Olivia, just some pressure." Dr. Matthews made a clean first incision and got on with the surgery.

Olivia and Brian gripped each other's hands, both of them seemingly in their own world. Neither one could believe that within minutes they would have a daughter. 9 months of panic and happiness, 9 months of preparing and being ready for her arrival, 9 months of waiting and excitement. It was all going to be over in moments and as much as it scared both of them, they were more excited than anything.

"There's going to be a lot of pressure now Olivia, but we're almost done." Dr. Matthews had their daughters head in her own hands. She gently tugged the baby out of her mother's womb.

Olivia gripped Brian's hand as she felt the pressure Dr. Matthews had been talking about.

"There we go." They heard Dr. Matthews announce on the other side of the curtain. "It's definitely a little girl."

Dr. Matthews held the baby up just high enough for the new parents to see their daughter for the first time.

They started, in awe of this beautiful little girl they were seeing for the first time. They were both absolutely speechless, in shock that they were now officially parents to a little girl.

Dr. Matthews took the baby and gave her to Audrey to clean her off, weigh, measure, and swaddle her.

It was while Audrey cleaned the little girl off that she let out her first cry, a sound that filled the room. The most beautiful sound her parents had ever heard.

It was that sound that brought tears to Olivia's eyes, she couldn't hold them back any longer, every emotion she was feeling overwhelming her.

Brian held it together until the first time he met his little girl. Audrey brought the swaddled infant over to him and placed the little girl her daddy's arms. That was when he let the tears flow. He had never seen anything more beautiful than his daughter.

He held her down so her mommy could see her from the position she was laying in. The water works only increased for Olivia as she planted a small kiss the baby's cheek. On her daughter's cheek.