"Alright, let's have a look." He didn't disturb her positioning, allowing her to mewl through the end of her contraction before he reached down and checked her dilation. Sam watched sadly, a slight clench in his jaw. It was almost dehumanising in a strange way. Her animalistic vocals partnered with the lack of decorum surrounding internal examinations. He was a medic and knew this was all standard procedure but at the start of the day there was no way he'd have just internally examined her without warning, yet when she was positioned vulnerably on the floor, out of it, exhausted and bleeding it was suddenly alright because she wasn't fully aware? That wasn't the case at all but he couldn't help but feel that way. A sort of possessive trait within him maybe?
"Well?" Sam questioned, his fatigue getting the better of him too now.
"She's fully dilated, with the next contraction we'll get her to start pushing." He smiled with relief for them and stood up, pulling his gloves off quickly. "I want close eyes on her from now until baby arrives, particularly on the amount of blood she's losing." He directed his words towards Evelyn who was gloving up in preparation too now. "The first sign of any complications, I want her back on the bed and page me immediately."
"Woah, wait a minute! You're not staying? She's about to start pushing." Sam panicked instantly, his eyes fixed on Dr Goldman's face under the fluorescent light.
"I'm hopping from room to room, I'm afraid. I have three labouring women tonight. You're in good hands with Evelyn and I'll be in and out every ten to fifteen minutes." He bowed his head apologetically and ducked out of the room again as quickly as he'd entered. Sam was honestly at a loss for words as his gaze met Evelyn's across the room.
"I guess it's just us then." He breathed, moving his attention to Connie's back. She was almost motionless between contractions now, her body trying to conserve as much energy as possible before the next one hit. He felt like he was quickly falling in tune to them too now, as if he was feeling them when she was. At the first glimpse of movement he saw in her, he immediately knew another one was fast approaching. He felt his stomach drop with the realisation that this was it. It was go-time. "Okay, Connie." He cooed soothingly. "You heard the man, with this next contraction, start pushing." He rubbed at her back as he had been with each and every contraction so far, praying this would be enough to help her through the next stage of this ordeal.
"Is Sam still here?" Her raspy voice was monotonous but Audrey could still hear a hint of hope in her words. She couldn't help herself from popping in to see the troubled ex-girlfriend. It still felt so strange to address it that way, but he was with Connie now. She'd been moved to another ward, a psych assessment inevitable for her future.
"Yes, yes they're all still here." She cleared her throat, summoning her next words carefully. "Grace is stable, just waiting on the transplant."
"So she's had her baby then? That's where Sam is?" She immediately teared up. That should have been her. It should be her cradling her newborn baby with Sam by her side but instead reality had served her a dish of cold, hard truths this evening.
"No, no she's still in labour, they induced her early." There was a slight pause. "Yesterday's events caused quite a stir."
"Yes." She barked. "I tried to kill myself, Audrey." Her American accent only emphasised her anger. "So don't sit there and tell me I caused an argument between them at a sensitive time when I'm laying here in this state, please!"
"I didn't come here to upset you, Emma. I really didn't but Sam ended the relationship with you and he has his family to focus on now, you need to let go-"
"Let go?!" She choked up instantly. "How dare you? He has ruined me and you think I can just dust myself off and carry on? I lost my baby, my sweet baby boy." She wailed. "I had everything I'd ever wanted, I was so happy and now look. It was all snatched away in the blink of an eye! I'm alone with nothing but painful memories of my dead child." Quickly sniffling as her pain turned to anger she tried to gather herself. "He was with her on the night of our engagement party."
"No, he wouldn't do that-"
"Oh, please." She snapped. "I found an earring on the back seat of his car, the same earrings I'd seen Connie wearing that night. I'd complimented her on them in some sort of desperate attempt to talk to her, maybe get to know her more since I'd be a part of Grace's life." Scoffing lightly, she shook her head at Audrey's sheer ignorance. "This perfect picture you have painted of your son is just that, a picture. He's done some awful things and the sooner you realise he's not the angel you think he is, the better."
"I think I should be on my way now." Getting to her feet, she was seriously regretting her visit. "You're right, he's not perfect. In fact, he's far from it but I assure you, with the right person, his heart is pure gold. He'll stop at nothing for those he loves, perhaps you just have to consider that was never you." Throwing a little bit of shade before she grabbed her bag, she stopped once she reached the doorway. "I am sad for you, truly I am, but he's moved on and so should you."
"I'm sorry, who's the one giving birth here? You or her?" Evelyn's Welsh accent was strangely soothing given the current circumstances. She was poking fun at Sam's excessive amount of sweating, his forehead glistening under the lighting in the room.
"Maybe she could go in the birthing pool? It might be easier for her in the water." He asked hurriedly after her contraction had ceased. That was her first push and in all honesty, it wasn't great due to the plain and simple fact that she was utterly exhausted.
"Not with an induced labour, I'm sorry. We can't monitor the baby efficiently, we need her where she is right now. Close to the gas." She was checking in as frequently as she could but at the same time was trying to offer the couple some space in-between pushing. They hadn't moved since Dr Goldman had been in but she looked to be getting restless in her current position. Speaking of the gas, Evelyn saw her chance to step in and help where she could. "Alright, love." She soothed gently. "You're doing absolutely great, keep going on this in-between contractions alright, you'll find it'll help more. Even if there's no pain right now, it'll kick in as the next contraction begins." Leading the gas mouth piece to her face she encouraged her discreetly. It felt slightly wrong to be instructing her on how to use it when in reality it was something she was extremely familiar with. However, under the circumstances, she was obviously just too distracted with managing her contractions.
"I want an epidural." She breathed her words out quickly, her head finally coming up as she gently took hold of the gas.
"An epidural is completely pointless now, I promise you by the time it's taken effect you'll be holding your baby girl and it'll all be over." Hearing those words alone were an encouraging embrace for both parents. Putting it into time-perspective like that made it seem like there was less of a traumatic process ahead. Even though that was definitely not the case. Sam felt himself tensing up again as she moved to a more upright position, her breaths quickening as the pain started again. Her body had obviously taken over, her chin coming down to her chest as she remained on her knees. The bed in front of her acting as a good leaning device as she bore down. She was silent with each ten second push so far but as soon as it drew to a close she let out an anguished growl followed by uncontrolled panting. "That's it, that's wonderful." Evelyn coached as she sanitised and slipped a fresh pair of gloves on again. "Can you feel the baby's head yet?" There was no response as she tried to control her rapid breathing, her arms were resting on the mattress as her head hung tiredly.
"Connie?" Sam prompted, managing to stir her from the tranced zone she'd submerged herself into to manage her pain. "Can you feel the head?" His question was heard.
"No." She whispered exhaustedly.
"That's alright, we'll give it one more big push and you should be able to feel her starting to crown." She sounded as calm as could be but she was starting to grow concerned with the little energy Connie seemed to have. Moving towards them, she crouched down too. "Sam, I'm just going to swap places with you. If you come over here, I'll sit behind her and help out a little bit." He didn't question her, his main focus on Connie as she started using the gas again, her posture tensing whilst another contraction started to ripple through her like a tsunami of pain. He was at a much more accessible spot now, she'd pushed herself away from the bed as she had done before to pull her chin down and push. Her left hand gripping on the the metal underlay of the bed whilst her right hand searched to the side for his comforting touch since he was no longer rubbing her back.
"Hey, I'm still here." His words were soft and calm, guiding her forearm to rest up against his chest as her hand still gripped on to the gas mouth piece. As the feeling intensified, she moved herself back a little, her weight pressing on to Sam as she moved her left hand down to the floor. This one seemed to be more extreme judging by her louder, more distressed groans. Evelyn waited for the torment to be over before she talked.
"I know you're exhausted, love but I need you to really give it your all." She made eye contact with Sam, worrying him slightly. "Baby still isn't crowning and the longer this takes the more distressed you're both getting. So with the next push, I want you to really go for it." She pulled her hand away, having checked for the baby's head herself .
"Maybe she should get back on the bed? That way you can keep a better eye on things as well." Sam's suggestion to Evelyn was immediately out of the window as Connie shook her head adamantly. The pain in her back was too much to handle laying down. His main concern was that her current position wasn't favourable for Evelyn to efficiently monitor how things were progressing.
"No, no I think hands and knees is more favourable, gravity is on our side that way." Evelyn was quick to agree, a technique coming to mind. "With your next contraction, I'm going to do a double hip squeeze, you sing out straight away if it's in any way uncomfortable for you, alright? But it might help things move on a little more quickly."
"Will it hurt her?" Sam asked worriedly, he wasn't sure how much pain he could witness her in. This was torture enough.
"If she's not too sensitive it shouldn't hurt at all, so any sign of discomfort and I'll stop straight away." Sam licked his lips and nodded anxiously, looking back to his pained partner as she started moving again. Both palms were on the yoga mat in front of her now, as he remained at her side and facing Evelyn behind her. The trio were swiftly joined by another as Dr Goldman re-entered the room, going through the usual process of sanitising and gloving up before approaching the three of them. He watched on patiently as Evelyn proceeded to put an adequate amount of pressure on Connie's lower back and hip area as she pushed. This time it wasn't silent like the others, she hummed lowly to her chest as her palm moved to clutch at Sam's spread out hand on the yoga mat beside her. It felt like the longest ten seconds Sam had ever experienced so God only knows how Connie was feeling right now.
"How are we looking?" Dr Goldman managed to slip his question in as soon as the contraction ceased and her panting breaths now replaced the low growling. He moved down to the floor, crouching next to them. Sam was preoccupied in trying to soothe a breathless Connie but his eyes darted up to Evelyn in time to witness the worried look upon her face as she glanced at Dr Goldman. "Moving a little slowly still I see?" He awaited a head nod from Evelyn to confirm his previous sentence. "Okay, let's give it one more shot and if there's no sign of baby crowning we'll get her prepped for an emergency C-Section." His words were terrifying, yet his mannerisms were calm and collected. Sam felt no more at ease because of this though.
"I have been saying this from the beginning." He urged frustratedly. "She should have had a C-Section, full-stop." Breathing shakily he couldn't contain his upset. "But instead you decide to induce her and put her and the baby through all of this unnecessary stress! It's been over twenty-four hours, she's exhausted!"
"Stop." Her breathy plea was followed on quickly by a tormented growl. Anger starting to take over, agreeably one of her strongest emotions. In this situation it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Sam instantly silenced, having grown accustomed to her being absent he was surprised to hear her speak.
"Evelyn I can take over here if you could organise some clean towels and a tray of equipment for me." The pair more or less switched places as though it had been a rehearsed move and Evelyn left to do as he'd asked. "That's it, Connie, keep going." He coached loudly and confidently as her head drooped and her chin pulled down to her chest. Sam felt so useless, watching her struggling as he could do nothing but squeeze her hand back. "Keep going, don't stop, if I don't see her head at the end of this you'll be delivering via section." Finally Sam could see what he was doing, lighting a fire beneath her, so to speak. Regardless of the fact being true, just hearing that sentence alone was enough to rattle her into channelling every last bit of energy she had into this delivery. Every aspect of this birth had been out of her control and she wasn't about to let the final stage of it be tampered with as well. Her push was finalised with a pained whimper before she tried to control her breathing again. Her forehead tacky with sweat, her panted breaths were more vocal now due to the utter exertion. She was still positioned as she had been for the last forty minutes or so, on her knees making it hard for Dr Goldman to visually asses the situation but he didn't need to. He'd reached under the large, baggy T-Shirt and was pleasantly surprised to feel what seemed to be the baby's head. She was just barely crowning. The relieved smile on his face automatically told Sam the good news. "There we go, that's more like it." He grinned as Evelyn moved to his side again.
"Baby's heart rate is a little elevated." The latter of her soft sentence was interrupted as Connie began to stir once again.
"She's crowning, provided there are no more complications it shouldn't be too long now." Talking quietly, he reassured Evelyn amidst Connie's increasing discomfort, his hand placed at the ready as the baby's head continued to crown. He had very little room to work with, forcing him to pull the reins in. "Okay, well done, you're almost there." He breathed, now moving his spare hand to help support the baby's head. "She's sunny side up, no wonder things were progressing slowly." Making eye contact with Sam, he could see the clear relief in his face that the ordeal was almost over despite the baby being in the wrong position and facing the opposite way to what she should be. "Alright, I need you to raise yourself up a fraction, I know you're tired but I need a little more room back here." His request was acknowledged silently as she slowly gripped onto the bed frame with one hand and Sam's forearm with the other to assist her in being more upright. Sam immediately rotated to help her, towelling down her forehead as the hair framing her face had began to stick to her glistening skin.
"You're almost there." He whispered softly, sitting himself more upright to be level with her. She looked absolutely wrecked, her chest heaving with exhaustion and her eyes closed with fatigue. Lightly grazing her temple with his lips, he offered her the encouragement she needed.
"Sam, how would you like to help bring your daughter into the world?" Dr Goldman saw a moment and seized it. "She's starting to contract again now, as she does I want you to support the baby's head and guide her towards you whilst Connie pushes." The overwhelming emotion was quite evident in Sam's face as he rubbed Connie's arm sweetly before moving forward to do as Dr Goldman had just said. "I'm not going anywhere, I just need to prepare everything for the transplant. I want the cord clamping and cutting quickly to avoid interfering with baby or mum any further than we already have. Once the placenta is delivered we'll take a sample of cord tissue as well."
"Okay." Sam breathed shakily, reaching his hand under Connie's bump to feel his baby's head for the first time. His brows pulled together in the middle instantly, a look of pure amazement on his face. As soon as Dr Goldman felt the baby's head resting in Sam's hand, he quickly moved himself away to organise what needed to be done before the next contraction hit her. "She's almost here, you're doing so well." His words were so breathy they were quieter than a whisper but Connie heard them through her pained humming. She let go of Sam's arm, bending forward a little and moving her hand down over her front and between her legs to support her baby's head too. She let out a loud breath, her emotions crashing over her too before she bore down again. The end of this was in sight, her body thrown into overdrive at the mere thought of holding her baby after such an uncomfortable labour and delivery. She was unrestrained now, her spent body finding a surge of energy in the final stretch as she grimaced with once last push. It was finally over. The room seemed to slow for both of them as Sam swiftly moved his other hand in to move the baby up to Connie, he felt the full weight of his tiny daughter in his palms as Connie's hand cupped at her head too, the pair of them guiding her slowly as Connie sat back a little to hold her baby close to her chest. Her breaths heavy and full of relief as Evelyn swiftly rushed to her side with towels at the ready. It was almost as if the room had lost all noise, they were all that mattered right here in this moment. Oblivious to the team of other medics entering the room, they both marvelled exhaustedly at their newborn baby. Sam was a mess, his emotions well and truly bowling him over whilst Connie looked so overcome with relief that there was an air of peace around her.
"You couldn't wait one more minute for us?" Evelyn asked with a smile, the rush in her voice not registering with either of the two new parents. She was quickly trying to wrap the new born without removing her from her mother's arms in order for Connie to clutch her a little closer. "Sam, can you get the buttons on this tent t-shirt of yours she's wearing?" Still cracking jokes about his oversized t-shirt he couldn't help but smile as he got to his knees and moved around to the other side of Connie and carefully undid the buttons one by one. On him, the row of buttons would end mid-chest but on Connie's petite frame they ended almost on her upper abdomen, exposing enough skin on her chest to hold the baby up against securely. During the small period of man-handling she started to squawk out her first cries, her tiny pink arms flailing before being secured in the white fluffy towel. She settled extremely quickly as soon as her skin came into contact with Connie's. "There we go, she'll be nice and warm there." Evelyn cooed gently, pulling her hand away as soon as she could see Connie supporting her up against her front. Sam was beside her, looking down over their baby's dark head of hair before kissing the side of Connie's head gently.
"Too impatient to wait on us I see?" Dr Goldman approached quickly, quite startled to see the baby already in her mother's arms. Next to him was another middle-aged woman, ready to take the cord blood donation for Grace's transplant. "Let's get this cord cut, thanks for clamping Evelyn." He nodded gratefully, she'd dived in and prepped everything without encroaching on the first few moments of them meeting their baby. "This will only take a few minutes, no pain for baby or mum." He moved back slightly in order to let Evelyn cut the cord.
"And how long until Grace get's the transplant?" Connie croaked exhaustedly, her presence finally floating back down from cloud nine.
"We'll have to run the cord blood through all the standard screening procedures before it's infused into Grace, but my estimate is two to three days if we fast track it." He answered honestly, his heart going out to the fatigued couple before him. After having gone through everything they had over these last two days and now, only minutes after birthing her newborn baby her mind was thrown straight back into worry mode. "She looks like a fighter this little one." He smiled, looking over the small baby. "Evelyn is just going to take her for a few minutes whilst we deliver the placenta, she'll get her weighed and measured before we get you back in the bed comfortably. Alright?" As much as she didn't want to let her baby be taken even a foot away from her she could feel mild contractions starting again as the euphoria wore off. "Sam can go with her if you like, so she's not alone?" He stooped his head to find her reaction as she nodded feebly, slowly moving their un-named baby away from herself she handed her to Evelyn cautiously. Sam kissed the side of her head again sweetly before following Evelyn across the room, the tiny being now wailing again at being removed from her mother's protective embrace.
The rest was all a horrific blur.