Chapter Thirty-Four
March 2006(Cont)
"Bella, you're in no condition to be sitting in that hospital and their hard chairs half the night while we wait and find out…"
"It's not that," she said. "I...I think my water just broke, Edward. I think the baby is coming right now."
Edward's mouth fell open. "What?"
"My water, Edward; it broke…I think. I mean…I just peed…"
"Holy fucking shit!" he screamed at the top of his lungs.
She let out a giggle before she whimpered again. He was at her side in an instant. "What is it?"
"I…I think this is really happening, Edward. Like, now."
He looked toward the door. Alice had ridden along in the ambulance with Jasper; she had refused to budge when they tried to get her out of the bus. Rosalie and Esme were gathering up their kids to take them to Carlisle and Esme's house where Lynessa said she would watch them, Carlisle was driving Emmett, who was a wreck and Jake was going with the women so he could drive Rose and Esme to the hospital. And that left Edward and Bella alone. All alone.
"What the fuck do I do?" Edward whispered.
Bella's eyes held the fear she wished she couldn't show. "I…we need to get me to the hospital, Edward. This baby is coming. Now."
He just stood there for a moment. "Edward?" Bella said, touching his arm lightly. "Edward!"
He looked at her flatly for a moment. "Edward!" she screamed again. Still, he did not move.
She walked over to him and slapped his face. "Snap the fuck out of it! I need you here, Edward!"
He blinked and then his eyes grew wide before he grasped her arm and all but pulled her toward the door. "Towel, Edward! I don't want to get fluid on your seats…"
He stopped dead in his tracks; his thoughts shifting to his Vanquish before he nodded and ran to the bathroom, grabbing one of the fluffiest towels he could find.
He looked at her every two seconds on the way to the hospital. "Edward," she said and he would turn his eyes back to the road. Finally, after what felt like the hundredth time, she said, "Edward! I want to get you, me, and our child to the hospital in one piece and we can't do that if you are looking at me! Keep your eyes on the motherfucking road!"
His eyes grew wider, he paled, and he then kept his eyes on the road.
They arrived at the hospital in record time and he all but leapt from the car, returning only seconds later, panting slightly, with a wheelchair and a nurse following two steps behind. They helped Bella into the chair and the nurse said, "I'll take care of your wife, Mr. Masen, you just go park the car and everything will be fine."
He looked at Bella like she might evaporate if he didn't stay right by her side. She grasped his hand and squeezed it. "I love you," she whispered. "I'll be waiting for you."
He squeezed her hand back. "I promise I'll be right there."
She nodded and they parted ways. He was true to his word and before she could finish filling out her paperwork, he was by her side. They were then taken back to a triage room in the OB/GYN department where another nurse was waiting with a bubble-gum smile and big starry eyes. "Oh my gosh! Welcome, Mr. and Mrs. Masen! I'm Penelope, your nurse! I promise I'll take good care of you both!"
"Penelope, will you stop with your mooning and get Mrs. Masen into a gown?" another nurse said. "I'm Patrice, and I'll be another of your nurses. I will be with you all through the birth of your baby. We'll give you two a few moments. Mrs. Masen, Bella, if you would, get into a gown and get onto the bed, we need to check and see if your water actually broke or not."
Bella was affronted by her attitude immediately. Of course her water had broken. She had been leaking onto the towel under her ass ever since she left the house. She wasn't an idiot. But, she figured this nurse must have come across more idiots than she could count in the past, so she did as she was told.
She slipped into her gown and Edward helped her get onto the bed where Patrice or "Nurse Bitch" as Bella had begun calling her was waiting. After she performed some kind of swab test that showed that Bella was, in fact, leaking amniotic fluid, she was hooked up to a fetal monitor and was left waiting for her doctor to arrive.
Doctor Baumgartner arrived fifteen minutes later. "Hello, Bella," she said warmly. "Edward, how are you?"
"Scared shitless," Edward said, running a hand through his hair.
Doctor Baumgartner laughed. "I get that a lot from first-time parents. Trust me; we'll take good care of Bella and your little one. Have you picked out any names?"
Edward and Bella looked at one another. They had a few ideas, but nothing concrete.
Doctor Baumgartner smiled. "Well, I think you guys will have a little while yet to decide. Bella, since you're at thirty-seven and a half weeks and your water broke, plus, due to the fact that at your last examination, the baby was weighing in at well over six pounds, I'd like to go ahead and let you progress and see what happens. Do you have your birth plan with you?"
Bella nodded and asked Edward for her purse, where she extracted her notes. She had wanted to have a natural childbirth and was sticking to her guns on that fact. "Will this affect anything? My water breaking early?" she asked cautiously.
"We'll just have to see, Bella," she said as she looked over the fetal monitor. "Right now, your baby looks good, so we will proceed with your birth plan as written but keep an open mind, alright?"
Bella bit her lip and nodded.
After an hour, she was still only dilated one centimeter, so she was taken off the fetal monitor and asked to walk around the Obstetrics department. She was making her third round when Rosalie came walking down the hall. "Bella! Edward!" She stopped and hugged Bella. "Thanks for calling us," she said sarcastically.
Bella shrugged. "Well, it's not like you guys aren't a little busy…" she trailed off as a small contraction hit her.
"How far apart are they?" Rosalie asked.
"Too far," Bella said on a slight growl. "I just…I want everything to go as planned…"
Rosalie smiled. "Honey, that won't happen. It never does…"
"How's Jasper?" Edward asked softly.
Rose just looked at him and shook her head. "He's hanging in there…but he's not regained consciousness and the doctors are working as hard as they can."
"How's Alice?" Bella asked.
"She's a basket case. The doctor had to give her a shot of a tranquilizer or something because she was screaming and refusing to leave his side. Emmett's holding her and whispering to her and I just…I can't do anything for them. They don't really need me anyway at the moment…" she trailed off and tears fell gently down her beautiful cheeks before she said; "So, I decided to check my voicemail and I got the one from you, Edward." She looked around. "Where's Renee?"
Edward blew out a breath. "She's in Bella's room, on the phone. She's trying to get Charlie a flight and trying to call every fucking person she knows on the motherfucking planet…"
"Edward!" Bella said. "Be nice!"
"She's annoying the fuck out of me, Bella."
"Like she's not me?" Bella shot back.
Just then, Rosalie's phone buzzed in her hand. She read the text and her eyes grew wide. "I've gotta go…that was Esme…Jasper…" She didn't pause to tell them goodbye as she shot down the hall, her five inch heels clicking wildly as she ran.
Bella grabbed Edward's arm. "Edward. If Jasper doesn't make it…"
Edward's face was pained. "Yeah, baby?" he asked softly.
"If it's a boy…I want it to be named 'Jasper', okay?"
He somehow managed to hold in the tears as he said thickly; "Anything you want, love."
Six hours later, Bella was only dilated to a three and effaced plus two. "Bella," Doctor Baumgartner said, "I think we need to start you on Pitocin. You haven't advanced as far as I'd like and with your water already broken, I don't want to take any chances with the health of your baby. Would you consent to that?"
Bella was having more frequent contractions, but none really bad yet. "I don't…I don't want to be strapped down to the bed, Doctor B, but…if you think that's the best course…"
The doctor nodded. "It really is."
Bella sighed. "Then, let's do it. I want him or her to be as healthy as possible."
The doctor nodded once more and stepped outside. Penelope was back in with her bubblegum happy self and brought over the medication. "I'm supposed to leave, but I told them I wanted to be here with you, a celebrity and all…I hope you don't mind, but it's easier on women to have a familiar face…"
Bella smiled at her. "That's fine, Penelope, if you're sure." The poor girl had worked herself to death getting Bella ice chips and bringing Edward and Renee soft drinks and helping in any and all ways she could. She was such a sweetheart, Bella thought.
Patrice was there as well, often stopping in with a grouse and a grumble as she switched out Bella's IV bag of fluids and checked her blood pressure. Apparently the doctor had ordered her to stay and keep an eye on Penelope and her…over-eagerness.
Esme came in shortly thereafter to check on Bella and give them news about Jasper. They had him stabilized, but for right now, it was touch and go. His lungs had been affected, and at the moment, they had him on a ventilator. But that wasn't the only problem. The doctor had found that he had Acute Hepatitis C. It was apparently new to his system, the doctors thought. As such, it was probably transmitted through dirty needles or through sex, which was rare, but had been known to happen, or had happened when he'd gotten his latest tattoo – a black broken heart with a bloodred scrolled 'A' curving around it, right over his heart. Alice had sobbed even harder when she had seen it.
Esme had sat with Bella while Renee went to get some dinner and Edward had gone to check on Emmett and all the others.
Time passed s-l-o-w-l-y as they watched and waited. Renee kept getting call after call on her cell phone, Edward flipped through to CNN and ESPN by turn, not really paying attention to what was on, and Bella just began to contract worse and worse. But it was when Doctor Baumgartner checked her a few hours later, and Bella hadn't dilated any more, even with the Pitocin, the doctor had bad news. "Bella, I think your best course of action is a cesarean section."
"But…but I don't want surgery, Doctor!" Bella all but screamed as tears poured down her face. "I wanted to have my baby naturally!"
Doctor Baumgartner looked at her sternly. "I'm sorry; Bella, but you don't have any choice. The baby's decels are starting to deteriorate. It's slight, but it's a progression to where we don't want and right now you need to stop thinking about what you want and start focusing on what your baby needs. Period. I'll give you one more hour, but that's it. No more." With that, she turned and strode back out the door.
When the doctor came back in an hour later, Bella was really feeling the contractions and she still hadn't dilated further. "I'm sorry, Bella. I have the surgical team waiting for us."
Bella was sobbing by this point. "Why, Doctor? Why isn't the baby coming?"
"It could be any number of things, Bella. Your body may not be able to deliver the baby, it's not the end of the world. Believe it or not, I've done this a few times."
Bella gave her a small smile and took in a deep breath. "O-okay." She squeezed Edward's hand. "I'm ready to see our baby. Let's do this."
