Dallas, Texas

"Five centimetres. I'm afraid you have a little longer to wait before you meet your baby", the older nurse spoke in a kind and commiserative way that made Sue Ellen feel comfortable and less frustrated with the slow progression. It was almost one in the afternoon and she'd been in the hospital for hours, progressing at an even, but very slow pace, but although she knew she'd probably been admitted too early, she didn't mind; it pleased her that JR appeared to really care about her health and wellbeing and wanted the best care for she and their baby. In a funny way, she really was getting what she'd initially wanted, her husband actually present and participating in the birth process, even if it was mostly just by directing the staff to pay attention to her. Out of caution, she purposely hadn't made a big deal out of his presence in the room with her, she knew that he knew this wasn't what they'd originally planned, but she could tell that he was annoyed with himself over his original reluctance and that was enough for her. Gripping JR's hand as one of her now frequent contractions began, she found herself entirely thankful that he was there, not cautiously waiting out in the waiting room or worse, sitting at his desk at Ewing Oil, waiting for the news, as if it were just something that happened, without any real effort by his wife. She liked that he was there to support her, because he was able to calm her in a way that no one else could, and selfishly, she was glad that he was present to see how much pain she had to go through to bring their child into the world. Knowing JR, he would have been sympathetic to her, but he never would have really understood or empathised with just how much effort and discomfort having a baby required, so to have him present as a witness not only to her pain, but to the medical staff's comments and explanations was almost a blessing in disguise. Having her husband present throughout the process would save her a lot of annoyance and frustration in the future, because to have him actually understand that she didn't just check in to the hospital, deliver a baby and then leave, that there was a lot more to it than that was much easier to show than to explain.

"Mrs Ewing, how are you feeling?" walking into the room, Doctor Krane was surprised to see the infamous JR Ewing sitting next to his wife, it was unexpected, though she knew not to say anything about his presence, it wasn't her place and from the way Sue Ellen had described her husband's attitude, he wouldn't appreciate it. "How do you think she's feeling?" JR was irritable from both the lack of sleep and the stress of worrying about his wife's increasing pain and it seemed stupid for a medical professional like the woman in front of him to ask such a question, she had to know that his wife was feeling pretty terrible right now, so why she asked was beyond him. Shooting JR a serious look, as if to warn him to stay in his place otherwise he would be removed from the room for interfering, Doctor Krane then extended her hand, "Mr Ewing I presume? I don't believe we've met. I'm Doctor Krane, Mrs Ewing's obstetrician and hopefully, provided that Mrs Ewing progresses within the next eleven hours, the doctor that will be delivering your baby", giving him a polite smile, but not losing the seriousness in her eyes, she shook JR's hand and then turned her attention back to her patient, Mrs Sue Ellen Ewing. Sensing that Doctor Krane didn't particularly care for JR and understanding why, she knew more details of JR's bad side than most people, Sue Ellen attempted to move the two people she needed the most into a place where the tension wasn't so obvious; "I'm ok. It's definitely painful and I'm definitely not enjoying that its taking so long, but JR's been here the whole time and he's really helping me through the pain", holding onto JR's hand and gently squeezing it, she hoped that he got her message and relaxed a little. "I'm pleased to hear that. Now, do you remember what we discussed about breathing and relaxation techniques? Have you been using those?" gathering the information from Sue Ellen that she needed and then doing a quick physical exam, she then wrote a few notes on Sue Ellen's patient file and left the room to continue her rounds. She would be back to check on her later, but she did have other patients and right now, it appeared that Sue Ellen was in good hands, no matter what her personal opinion regarding JR Ewing was.

"Darlin'?" coming back from a quick trip to get coffee, JR had news for his wife that he wasn't entirely sure she was going to want to hear. "Mmm", hazily, Sue Ellen responded to her husband's tone; the doctors had given her some medication that not only relieved the pain she was feeling, but also made her mind a little foggy, but very relaxed. "Mama, Daddy, Bobby and Lucy are all outside in the waiting room and they'd like to come in and see you if you're ok with that?" He purposely didn't mention that his mother had called Patricia and that she and Kristin were en route from Austin at this very moment, because he didn't want to deliver two slightly negative pieces of news right now. It was just after three in the afternoon and despite the fact that she'd been given some pain relief to help her rest a little before she was tasked with the actual delivery, he knew she was still self-conscious about anyone non-medical seeing her. She'd been awake for twelve hours, in the hospital for around ten hours and with her lack of attention toward her appearance earlier in the morning, there was no way she wanted to be hosting visitors right now, even if she was feeling a little better physically. "Five minutes. Tell them the doctors don't want me to have to have a lot of visitors; I don't care if it's not true, it's what I want", feeling selfish and wanting to say no, but knowing that the family would get antsy if they weren't allowed to see her, she made a small concession and sent JR off to inform them. Doctor Krane seemed confident that she was progressing steadily and that she would deliver sometime this evening, so if the family really wanted to see her, then she'd rather it was now than later when her thoughts were elsewhere.

To be continued…

Author's Note: Just in the interest of giving a slight explanation, from what little research I did, I gather that back in the 1960s and 1970s (maybe earlier, I'm not sure?) they put women into what was called 'twilight sleep', making childbirth both painless and difficult to remember afterwards. If you're interested, you should Google it, I found it fascinating to read about.