Chapter 49 – A Child is Born
Kimber awoke very early the Sunday before her due date. She was very cold and wet and shivery, and in her half-asleep state, thought she was merely sweaty. Then, a tight cramp seized her abdomen and woke her fully. She sat up and began shaking Seth, thank goodness he was home! Since returning from the South American tour, he hadn't worked any house shows, just RAW.
"Mmmmph?" He asked, and rolled over, then sat up with a start. "Fuck, did I piss the bed? I'm sorry, my love-"
Kimber couldn't help but laugh. "No, darling, the baby's coming."
He kissed her, and rubbed her tummy. "Get ready to go, I'll tell your folks and make the calls."
Kimber went to rinse off. While standing under the spray, she got another contraction. It really wasn't so painful. She dried off and got dressed in a black sweatsuit. A third contraction came while she was doing her makeup, and she noted the time: 5:51. Just after it had passed, her parents and Brynn came in, still in their pajamas to hug her and wish her luck. Brynn braided her hair and promised to come up to the hospital as soon as she'd showered and had breakfast; she was so excited about becoming an aunt.
Then, the camera crew was there, and Kimber, from her vanity table, said: "Today's the big day! My water broke, and I've been having contractions...in fact, I'm having one now." She looked at her phone. 5:59. "I'm really happy it's a Sunday, and Seth is home. One of my biggest worries throughout my pregnancy was that Seth wouldn't be around when the time comes. But, the time is now, and my man is here, and we're heading to the hospital to have a baby."
Once she was settled in at the hospital, her labor confirmed, Seth put out the word to the world, and Kimber's phone immediately whistled. "Renee," she told Seth. "She says 'Don't be a hero, get an epidural'. I don't think I need one."
"Not yet, anyway," he teased.
"Hey, you're supposed to be my support person, supporting me in my decision to attempt a natural birth without drugs."
"Of course I support you," he said, and stroked one of her braids. "I know you're strong enough to do it. Just keep rising above, like you always do."
Kimber's labor progressed a lot faster than Renee's had, and by mid afternoon, she started feeling like she needed to push. She no longer thought of the pain as not so bad, it was bad, it was really, really bad, but she had not caved and asked for an epidural nor accepted the frequent offers of "something for the pain" from her nurse. She'd allowed the camera crew in from time to time, but for the past two hours, when the intensity of her contractions increased, she'd only wanted Seth there. She just wanted him to hold her, so he climbed into bed with her and rubbed her back and shoulders while she tried to focus on her breathing, and kept reminding herself that women had given birth since the dawn of mankind without pain relief. She reminded herself of all the bumps she'd taken in the ring over the years that were worse than this. She moaned, cursed, and cried when she needed to, and her husband was unwavering in his sweetness and support.
Dr. Sportiello came in to check her progress. Kimber, in the midst of a very strong contraction, could only bury her face in Seth's shoulder and sob. She was exhausted. She was very thirsty; after the intense pain had caused her to vomit, she'd been denied her ice chips. And she hadn't eaten since dinner last night. She felt like the only thing keeping her alive was her saline drip.
"Are you ready to have a baby?" The doctor asked, cheerfully.
The words seemed to renew her strength, and she sat up a little. "Yes. Can I start pushing?"
Seth seemed amazed at the calm determination that had come over his wife, who'd been more or less a mess for the last few hours. "I'll alert the guys, and everyone else." He picked up his phone.
Kimber had only agreed to allow the actual birth to be filmed because she and Seth wanted the raw footage for their memories. They set up while the doctors set up, and she drew more strength from seeing the medical staff stand ready, everything ready for the baby. It was so close. Her husband stood off to the less-crowded side of her bed, and wrapped his arms around her. She reached up, grabbed hold of his arms, and kissed him. "I love you."
"I love you."
"When you get your next contraction, I want you to push, okay?" Dr. Sportiello told her.
Kimber nodded. "I'm ready. Here it comes..." She sucked in a sharp breath and bore down.
"Good, good, keep going... Good! Now relax and push again on the next one."
"Yes, Ma'am," she replied, and felt her belly tighten again. "Here we go again." She began pushing again, and again, but by the fifth push or so, a new source of sudden, almost unbearable pain forced her to scream and stop the push. It was what all the books and articles she'd read called "the ring of fire", and that's exactly what it felt like.
"You're almost there, Kimber!" Dr. Sportiello cheered her on.
"I'm so proud of you, my love... So, so proud. You're...you're getting through this like a champ." That was Seth, in between pauses and sniffles.
"Don't cry... you're going to make... me cry, and... I'm supposed to be... pushing," Kimber panted out, and bore down again, forcing herself to stick with it, and she was rewarded for the effort. She felt a strange release.
"Head's out," Dr. Sportiello announced. "Hold off on pushing for just a second while I clear out the baby's nose... Okay, one more big push, Kimber."
She closed her eyes, squeezed Seth's forearms, and gave it all she had. She felt movement, then emptiness and right afterwards, her baby's first cries. "It's a boy!" Dr. Sportiello announced, before laying him on Kimber's chest. "Come cut the cord, dad."
"He's so beautiful," Kimber whispered. "Happy birthday, Johnny." She held him close and kissed his little face while Seth cut the cord. He calmed down, likely soothed by the rhythm of her heartbeat, which he'd been listening to for months. His eyes were open, but no telling whose he'd gotten yet. "He does have your hair," she told Seth when he returned to her side to really see his newborn son, but he was crying so much she didn't know how much he could see.
Now she could cry, and did, but had to stop, for Seth had handed off his phone to a nurse, who took a picture of the family before the new addition was taken away to be cleaned up, weighed, measured, and all, and he cried anew.
Kimber needed to deliver the placenta and get cleaned up, too, so the camera crew followed Seth and baby Johnny to the nursery. She was exhausted, but while she was being tended to, she called Renee, not even bothering to look at the messages and missed calls that had stockpiled. "I'm sure Seth has already posted a picture of Johnny's debut, but I just wanted to let you know I did it all natural."
"And you're still alive?" Renee asked, and laughed. "Wow... Lady Madonna. How are you feeling?"
"Tired and hungry, and like I've got a diaper on. Honestly, I'm not even sure this is a pad." Kimber shifted in her bed, uncomfortable in the padding. "Otherwise, I'm actually feeling really good, and I'm just waiting to be taken to my recovery room. If all keeps going well, we'll be going home tomorrow."
"Seth's post said you were ready to flip tires or something like that. And, you looked great in the pic. If you weren't holding Johnny, never would have guessed you'd just given birth."
"Really?"
Renee chuckled. "No. But you did look really good. I looked like the creature from the black lagoon in my first picture with Justin."
"You also had a much longer labor than I did, and you were stressed out because you thought Dean wouldn't make it. My doctor said I had a perfect labor and delivery."
"Lucky."
"Very." She heard a knock, and looked over at the doorway to see an orderly with a wheelchair. "Renee, I gotta go, they're moving me now, and I want to see if they'll take me by the nursery to see Johnny."
"Okay. Congratulations, and I'll talk to you soon."
While Kimber sat in the wheelchair, waiting again, she looked for Seth's post. He had posted another picture of himself holding Johnny in the nursery, but she wanted the one before it. No, she did not look too bad in the picture, but his words were what she really wanted.
Our son Johnny was just born at 4:17! 7lbs, 8oz, 21 inches long. Healthy and beautiful. I am truly blessed. The perfect words don't come to mind to describe how special this feels, and how much I love my family. Kimber crushed labor and birth like she does the most brutal WODs and is ready to start flipping tires. She is so strong, the most amazing woman in the world, and I'm so proud, and so lucky I get to call her my wife, and the mother of my son.
Once in her recovery room, Kimber fell asleep and didn't awaken until almost midnight. She was awoken by a pretty brunette nurse who'd stepped in to check on her. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."
Kimber slowly pulled herself into a sitting position, and saw her husband sleeping on the couch, and all kinds of gifts and flowers all over the place. She was very sore. "It's okay," she whispered. "I've been sleeping for hours."
The nurse smiled. "Sleep while you still can. I'm Tori, your night nurse. Did you need anything?"
"Food, please. I haven't eaten since dinner last night and I'm starving. I could use some ibuprofen, too."
"Are you going to be nursing?" Tori asked.
"No. I have to get back to work as soon as possible," Kimber explained.
"Then I'll help you wrap your breasts, too. Did you need the bathroom at all? I need to check your pad."
"You mean my diaper?" Kimber joked. "Yeah, I guess I could go."
Tori laughed. "Everyone says it feels like a diaper, but if you're not bleeding much, you can start using regular pads and your own undies. Do you want help up?"
"Nah, I got this," Kimber replied, even though the mere act of getting out of bed made her already-sore body ache even more. She felt more weak and drained than she ever had after any match, any WOD, and accepted the nurse's support on the way to her bathroom.
When she emerged, Seth had woken up, too, and was on the phone. "Thank you," he said and ended the call. "I just ordered a pizza," he told Kimber, and took over for Tori as he helped her back to bed. "I'm starving."
"Me too. I know I'll feel a lot stronger once I get some food in me. How long did they say?"
"About half an hour. An eternity. I'm going to hit the vending machines. Did you want anything?"
"Yes, literally anything. I can't take ibuprofen on an empty stomach, and I'm not going to lie, I need it."
Her husband left and her nurse returned with a huge elastic bandage and the pills. Kimber untied the top of her hospital gown and unsnapped the left side, where her IV line was. As Tori wound the elastic around her chest, she chatted with her patient. "Did you have a boy or a girl?"
Kimber smiled. "A boy. We named him Johnny, after my dad. I want to go see him. Can I see him this late?"
"Yes, you can see your baby any time you want. There we go. Is that too tight?"
"No, it's fine."
"Now you'll want to keep wrapping your breasts until they return to normal. It'll help alleviate some of the discomfort."
Kimber nodded, and let Tori fix her gown. Seth came back, pushing a hospital bassinet, and Tori looked inside. "Oh, he's so sweet."
Seth nodded proudly. "That's my boy." He wheeled the bassinet to Kimber's beside and the nurse left.
"How did you know I wanted to see Johnny?" Kimber asked, as she picked her son up. He was awake, but he wasn't crying. "Hi, Johnny sweetie."
"You told me. After everyone left, I came in here to check on you. You were kind of talking in your sleep and you asked me to bring Johnny in. A nurse told me you really needed to rest, and that I should, too, and gave me a pillow and a blanket. But, now that we've both had some rest, I decided to go get him."
"Thank you."
"They literally just fed him in the nursery before I showed up, so he'll probably be asleep again soon."
"That's okay," Kimber said, more to her son than to her husband as she stroked his tiny fingers.
"I brought some snacks, too." He opened the drawer on the bassinet and pulled out Andy Capp Hot Fries, Diet Dew, orange juice, and two Snickers bars.
"A bona fide feast," she declared. "I want to dig in, but I don't want to let go of Johnny."
Seth nodded in agreement. "I know the feeling. I could hold him for hours. Hard to let him go so our folks could hold him. I've got pictures."
"Who all came up here?"
"Your folks, my folks, Brynn, and Marek. And of course the crew was there, too."
Kimber looked down at her son. "He's going to look just like you," she told her husband, fondly.
"He already does. Looks just like I did in my baby pictures."
Kimber smiled, because she could literally see Seth's posture straighten with pride. "I think he's asleep. "Could you lay him back in the bassinet?"
