TWENTY SIX
Four hours later, Rachel had made the decision to take Martha to hospital. She was in a lot of pain and although Martha was refusing to take anything that might harm her baby, she had thought it would be best to put her in the doctor's care. It was her first pregnancy, so naturally she was terrified as well as being in quite a bit of pain. It had caused her to pass out three times while at home and she was vomiting occasionally as well.
Jack sat beside her on the hospital bed, holding her hand. He was doing his best to keep her calm, but she wouldn't even listen to him. All she wanted was to get the baby out of her.
"Martha, you need to calm down. The more you stress the harder this birth will be," one of the nurses said to her.
Martha took a deep breath in and her body relaxed. She smiled at Jack. "Are you okay?" she asked.
Jack smiled at her and nodded. "I am fine," he assured her. "Just focus on yourself, okay."
Martha nodded. "I love you," she said to him.
"I love you too," Jack replied. He kissed her lips gently and Martha squeezed his hand. She then turned to the doctor who had just come back in to check on her.
"Is this baby coming yet?" It was almost a complaint.
"Not yet," the doctor replied. "You still have a while to go. I understand you have been suffering from very painful contractions?"
"Well just the same s everyone else," Martha said. "Just, I can't cope with it." Her voice dropped. Jack could tell she was angry with herself.
"I don't think that is the case," the doctor said. "I believe you are suffering worse than what ninety-nine percent of women suffer. And considering that, you are coping very well."
"Are you saying that Martha is in more pain than most?" Jack asked.
The doctor nodded.
"You are doing fine," Jack said to her. "I will be here for you the whole time."
"Everything so far is in good order," the doctor continued, studying a piece of paper. "For now, your pregnancy is going well. We will leave you on your own. If there are any problems, give us a yell, alright?"
Martha and Jack both nodded and the doctor, along with the two nurses left. They had a half hour on their own until Alf and Tony came into the room. Tony was carrying a bunch of flowers.
"From Beth," he told them.
"How are you feeling, love?" Alf asked his granddaughter.
Martha nodded. "Okay at the moment," she said. "The doctor said everything is fine."
"This is the hardest part," Alf continued. "But if you get through this, you will be holding your little one in no time."
"I don't know how to feel," Martha admitted. "I'm excited, terrified, happy... sad... all at the same time." She rested her hand on her stomach – something she had refrained from doing too often since she had gone into labour. She hated the feel of it.
"Well, we should be off now," Alf then said. "We only came to wish you luck. We will definitely be back to see you afterwards."
Martha nodded and smiled, allowing Alf to kiss her forehead. Tony said goodbye to her and the two of them left.
For six more hours, Jack and Martha waited, both bored of the hospital. The pain for Martha was becoming more frequent, but wasn't getting any worse. She wasn't sure if she would know when the baby was ready to come, but when Jack was out, getting her a glass of water and she felt a stab of pain, she knew. She pressed the button beside her bed to call a doctor. Her doctor came in very quickly to find her doubled over on the bed. Two nurses pulled her back so she was lying on her back.
"I think this baby wants to come out," the doctor said to her. "And it will be very soon."
"Where's Jack?" Martha cried, the panic starting to set in again. "I need Jack!"
"I'm here," Jack soothed, taking her hand. He had seen the doctor and nurses rush in and had followed. He continued to hold her hand while doctors rushed around the room, preparing for the baby.
The rest turned into a blur for both of them. One minute the baby was inside Martha and the next, Jack could hear a cry. He let go of Martha's hand and went a few steps to see his baby. The nurse handed him the equipment to cut the cord. She showed him what to do and soon he was holding his little girl in his arms.
"She's amazing," he said, unable to wipe the smile from his face. He kissed his new baby's forehead and then placed her gently in Martha's waiting arms.
Martha had tears running down her face. They were a mix of relief, happiness and joy as she held her little girl in her arms. "Jack, she's beautiful," she sobbed. "Look at what we made." She kissed her daughter gently. Jack took her tiny hand in his.
"I love you," he whispered to both of them.
OOO
Tony and Alf stood up as Jack came out. He had a look of bewilderment on his face and barely saw them.
"Jack, is everything okay?" Tony asked. "Martha? The baby?"
Jack turned to them. "They are both fine." He smiled. "They are both very beautiful."
Tony and Alf smiled.
"She has the tiniest hands and feet and she is the most perfect thing I have seen in my life," Jack continued, rambling. He sat down on a seat. Tony and Alf sat beside him.
"That is good to know, Jack," Tony said. He smiled. He had known if Jack had survived the pregnancy then he would be fine.
They sat in silence for an hour or so, until Rachel appeared, wheeling a tiny bed with her. Jack stood up and went over to her. He smiled, staring down at his baby girl. She was all cleaned up now and was sleeping soundly. It was clearer to see her features. She had dark brown, curly hair and the roundest face. To Jack, she was more beautiful than anything he had ever seen.
"Are you okay?" Tony asked his son, coming to stand beside him. When Jack had seen the baby, he had gone silent. "She's beautiful. My first grandchild."
"Am I meant to be feeling like this?" Jack questioned.
"How are you feeling?" Tony asked.
"If she was ever taken from me, I think I would rather die," Jack answered truthfully. "I feel like I would do anything for her to protect her, but I don't even know her."
Tony rested a hand on Jack's back. "She's your daughter and you loved her from the moment you saw her. Jack, that is exactly how you should be feeling."
"I think someone might want to see their mum, though," Rachel said. "Jack, do you want to take her in to Martha?"
Jack nodded and Rachel led him into the maternity ward and into the room which Martha was in. He found her lying on her back, staring at the ceiling, clearly waiting to see her baby. As soon as the door opened, she sat up and smiled at nothing but the baby in the bed Jack was wheeling in.
"Someone will be in to check on you in an hour or so," Rachel told them. "Until then, you can use this time to get to know her." She smiled at both of them and left the room.
"How is she, Jack?" Martha asked.
"She is incredibly beautiful," Jack answered. He lifted his daughter out of her bed and was about to hand her to Martha, but she shook her head.
"You hold her," Martha told him. "I've had nine months with her close to me, but you have had no time."
Jack smiled down at the sleeping baby and then sat in a chair beside Martha. She was so tiny. The nurses had dressed her in a hospital outfit and she was wrapped tightly in a blanket as she slept soundly. He didn't even know what colour her eyes were yet, because they had been shut since he had seen her. One of her tiny hands moved within the blanket somewhere.
"What are we going to call you?" he asked.
"Didn't we come down to either Brianna or Anna?" Martha asked. They were her two favourite names.
"That was what you decided," Jack said. "You are still yet to hear my favourite names."
"Well, what are they?" Martha had been dying to hear what Jack liked. He had kept it really quiet and had refused to tell her until their baby was born.
Jack smiled. "I was thinking of names for boys and girls, unlike you, so-"
"But I was right," Martha interrupted. Jack could tell she had been dying to say that to him.
"-so for a boy I really liked the name Alexander," Jack continued. "I also liked the name Jordan, but I couldn't decide whether I liked it for a girl or a boy. But my favourite name out of all of them is the one I had for a girl. And from the moment I saw her... I think it is perfect for her," He looked at Martha, who was watching him impatiently. "I like Olivia," he said.
"Jack, it is perfect," Martha replied instantly. She hadn't even given herself any time to think about it. "Olivia Kate," she added.
Jack looked at her.
"I always had Kate for the middle name to matter what," Martha explained. "She will never get to know her grandma, but it will be nice to have her name."
"What about your mother?" Jack asked.
Martha's reply was a shrug.
"Olivia Kate Holden it is," Jack confirmed.
Martha smiled. Her daughter finally had a name. Olivia suited her and the minute Jack had said it, she had known it was what she was going to call her little girl. And it was a name her and Jack had chosen together.
Jack was about to hand Olivia over to Martha when the door opened and Alf, Tony and Beth walked in.
"You don't mind if we pay a visit, do you?" Tony asked.
Martha shook her head, smiling cheerfully. She let Jack hold Olivia for a little bit longer.
"Look at her," Beth cooed, looking at Olivia over Jack's shoulder. "Have you given her a name yet?"
"This is Olivia Kate," Jack introduced his daughter. He looked at his dad, who smiled. "Olivia Kate Holden." He finally gave her to Martha, who rested her gently in her arms. The movement caused Olivia to stir and she wriggled in her mum's arms. Eventually, she settled back into a comfortable position and was sleeping soundly again.
"I am very happy for both of you," Tony said.
Beth nodded. "As am I. She's amazing."
Martha smiled at Jack, who smiled back at her. He sat on the end of her bed, giving Alf his seat beside the bed.
"Would you like to hold her, grandad?" Martha asked. She knew everyone was dying to hold her. If she was in their position, she would be the same. It didn't matter that she hadn't yet had much time with her daughter. She had a whole lifetime.
Martha gave Olivia to Alf and for the next half hour she was passed between Alf, Tony and Beth. By then it was way past midnight.
Beth handed Olivia back to Jack and she, along with Tony and Alf, left.
"You should go too," Martha said to Jack.
"I'm not going anywhere," Jack replied bluntly. "I'm staying here with both of you."
"Jack, you need to sleep," Martha argued. "Anyway, I think the nurses are going to take Olivia to the nursery for the night. If grandad and that hadn't been here, they would have done it a while ago."
Jack looked at her.
"It's normal," Martha assured him. "Every other baby in the hospital will be there too. She will have lots of babies to talk to." She smiled.
Jack was reluctant. He didn't want to go home to an empty house. He wouldn't be able to stop thinking about his new daughter anyway.
"Jack, go home," Martha demanded.
Jack sighed and put Olivia back in her bed, but not before kissing her goodbye. He then kissed Martha. "I will be back first thing tomorrow," he promised. "Otherwise I will miss you both too much."
Martha smiled and kissed him again. "Bye," she said.
When Jack had eventually gone, Martha settled herself into the hospital bed and closed her eyes. She was exhausted, but she was unable to sleep. She was only dozing when the nurses came in to collect Olivia.
"We will bring her in if she needs you," one nurse whispered. "But until then, it is best to sleep."
Martha nodded and closed her eyes again. It felt weird not having a baby inside her anymore and it felt weird to not have her new daughter in the room with her.
Soon, she drifted into a deep sleep.
I'd like to aplogise for my lack of knowledge on this topic when I was 14 or 15. This is all I understood. Now that I study this for university, I am aware that this is wrong/there is more to it.
Reviews are still appreciated.