When A Child Is Born

Kat Carter picked up her case and canvas bag as the train decelerated and began pulling into Union Station. It was Christmas Eve and she was going home for a three week vacation. Classes at Harvard had ended a few days ago, but she had stayed behind to finish some things up, and her eventual attempted departure and inconveniently coincided with a custodial rail staff strike. She had been stuck in Boston Memorial Station for the last two days. Her dad had offered to come collect her from Union Station, but on hearing that her half-sibling was now two weeks overdue, had told him to stay put, she was nineteen years old and perfectly capable of hailing a cab.

Pulling her case out of the trunk fifteen minutes later, Kat handed the driver a twenty and told him to keep the change. She selected a key from the heavy bunch in her pocket and opened the door. The first thing that met her eyes was Anna trying to get off the sofa and muttering obscenities under her breath.

'Anna?' She hurried into the living room. 'What do you need?'

'I got it.'

'No, really. You should be resting. What do you want?'

'Okay. I need to go to the bathroom.'

Kat put her stuff down on the floor. 'Yeah, okay, that is all you.'

'I thought so. I feel like an elephant.'

'Still showing no signs of moving, huh?'

'Unfortunately, not.' Anna was by this point shouting through the bathroom door. 'I'll be going into labor in the middle of Christmas dinner at this rate.'

'Where's my dad?' she asked, pulling her coat off.

'He had to go into work; he left his cell phone and his wallet in his locker. Oh, but, um, first he was going to pick some food up for tomorrow. He's cooking.'

'You think that was a wise move?'

'Probably not.' Her voice changed. 'Uh-oh.'

'Everything okay?'

'I think my water just broke.'

Kat looked up sharply. 'How can you tell? You're peeing.'

'Well, yes, I was. But then I finished and stood up, and now I think my water's broke.'

'Have you had any contractions?'

'I don't think so.'

'Any back pain?' Kat was trying very hard to make it sound like she wasn't panicking.

'For the last four months. Worse in the last couple of days.'

'Okay, great. Anna, get your coat, we're going to the hospital.' Grabbing the nearest phone extension, she dialed the ER. 'Hi, Randi, it's Kat. Is my dad there?'

'No.'

'Well, he's coming in to pick up some things he left in his locker. When he gets there, do not let him leave.'

'Okay… oh, is it time?'

'I think so.' She slammed the phone down and looked for her car keys. She left the Porsche in Chicago while she was in college, as in Boston she didn't go anywhere far enough to merit driving. 'Anna! Let's go!'

Even in a fast car sticking just under the speed limit, it soon became painfully obvious that Christmas Eve traffic in the middle of the city was no laughing matter. Somehow, despite the fact that the journey time from the apartment to County had doubled, they still managed to arrive before Carter, and Luka and Deb loaded Anna into a wheelchair, talking fast.

'Who's your OB?' Deb asked.

'Coburn.'

'Dr Coburn's in Wisconsin with her family for Christmas,' Luka supplied helpfully.

'Then page Abby,' Anna snapped.

'You don't want an OB attending?' he asked dubiously.

'I could be at this a while,' she replied. 'Besides, I'm sure John and Abby have delivered enough babies between them to handle this one. Just send him up to L&D when he gets here, okay?'

'Okay.'

~~~~~~

'Dr Carter!' In her regular OB visits during the last nine months, and as an on-call paediatrician for deliveries, Anna had got to know the desk staff pretty well. 'Everything okay?'

'I'm having a baby!' she said irritably. Turning to Kat, she hissed at her, 'Can I please get out of this thing? I feel like a circus animal?'

'Hospital policy,' her stepdaughter said. 'Quit arguing.'

'Who's your OB?' the clerk asked. 'Dr Coburn, right? She's…'

'In Wisconsin, I know. The ER docs are paging Dr Kovac for me.'

'The senior resident?'

'She was an OB nurse for eight years and my husband will be here shortly. I think she can manage.'

'Whatever you say, Doc.'

'Hey, Anna.' Abby Kovac came up behind them. 'Where's John?'

'God knows. He was coming into the ER to pick some stuff up, Luka said he'd send him up.'

'Okay.' Taking over the wheelchair from Kat, they walked down the hall. 'Have you had any contractions yet?'

'One. About a half-hour ago.'

How dilated were you on your last OB visit?'

'Three centimetres two days ago.'

'Well, we'll check you out and do an ultrasound, but it sounds like you might be in for a long night. That tends to happen with first deliveries. Do you want an epidural?'

'No.' Carter had said she was mad, but she had been adamant that she was going to do this naturally.

'Okay. I'd have it, especially after last time…' When Erica had been born, it had happened too quickly for Abby to even be offered analgesia. 'But hey, it's your call.'

~~~~~~

Carter parked the Jeep in the garage. He was only planning to be in the hospital for five minutes, but remembered that Mark had parked in the bay for thirty seconds and had been towed. He had already been out for over an hour more than he had said he would be, and was in such a hurry that he failed to notice his daughter's car parked in Anna's spot as he jogged past it. He walked into the ER and was surprised to be stopped by Deb as he had his hand on the door into the lounge.

'Carter, hey, wait up. Anna's here.'

'Anna is? What's wrong with her?'

'What do you think?'

'She's having the baby?' His face lit up like a kid at Christmas and she laughed.

'She's upstairs in L&D with Kat and Abby.'

'Abby?'

'Coburn's taken off to Wisconsin for the holidays, Anna asked for Abby. Go!'

He didn't need to be told twice. Dismissing the elevators as too slow, he bounded up the stairs and fell at the desk. His face wasn't as familiar up here as Anna's was, and the clerk gave him a funny look.

'Name, please?'

'I'm Dr Carter. My wife…'

'Down the hall, third on the left. Dr Kovac is in with her.'

On his way he crashed into his daughter, who was leaving the delivery room, almost knocking her over. 'Kat? How's it going?'

'She's four centimetres dilated, she's had two contractions, and I think she's starting to reconsider the natural childbirth thing.' Kat and Carter had spent the whole of Thanksgiving trying to talk her out of it, and he replied,

'See, how come two contractions make her think about doing what I've been telling her to do for months?'

'It hurts, that's how come,' she said. 'And you would want to be completely knocked out.'

'Maybe,' he conceded.

'Definitely,' Kat corrected. 'Men are wimps. I'm going to get coffee, you want anything?'

'Coffee would be good. Maybe a sandwich.'

'Sure. Go on in. She's starting to think that something awful happened to you.'

~~~~~~

By nine-thirty that night, with things progressing almost painfully slowly, Carter was out cold on a gurney. He had spent the last month hanging off the end of the bed, as it was just too small for the three of them, and thus he hadn't been getting the best nights' sleep. At eleven-thirty he became aware of a sharp finger poking him in between the shoulder blades, and a voice yelling.

'Dad! Wake up!'

'Uuhgh.'

'Move your butt.'

He finally opened is eyes and they drifted over to the other side of the room, where it had become clear that it was very much all stations go.

'What's happening?' he asked, staggering to his feet.

It was Abby who answered him. 'She's at ten centimetres and we're almost ready to push.'

'About friggin' time,' Anna grunted.

'Okay, Anna, on the next contraction push as hard as you can. Carter, Kat, grab a pair of gloves and get yourselves over here.'

'How long does this take?' Anna panted.

'Depends. It shouldn't be too long, I don't think.'

The conversation was cut off abruptly as Anna's next contraction came along. She had stuck to her guns and refused an epidural, and the result was that she grabbed the nearest solid object - Kat's hand - and squeezed it, drawing a squawk from Kat. An hour of pushing later, Abby finally said,

'Okay, this next one should get the head out. Carter, get down there. You're doing this.'

'Me?'

'Yes, you. You're the father, you're an ER attending, and you've done this before.'

'Right.'

'Just don't tell Coburn that I let you. Okay, Anna, push. Ten - nine - eight- seven - six…'

'Head's out,' Carter announced. 'Anna, honey, don't push.'

'This next one should do it.' It was something that Kat was happy to hear, as her hand became very much the worse for wear. Abby positioned herself behind Carter. 'Okay, shoot.'

The warm, messy body slipped into Carter's hands and it set up a cry.

'It's a boy,' he said. He was crying, and as he cut the cord, Abby asked,

'So, do you have a name picked out?'

They looked at each other, and said together, 'Malcolm.'

'Merry Christmas.' Almost on cue, someone at the desk started playing Christmas carols and it came over the PA.

A ray of hope, flickers in the sky
A tiny star lights up way up high
All across the land dawns a brand new morn
This comes to pass when a child is born

The silent wish sails the seven seas
The winds of change whisper in the trees
And the walls of doubt crumble toss and torn
This comes to pass when a child is born

A rosy hue settles all around
You get the feel, you're on solid ground
For a spell or two no one seems forlorn
This comes to pass when a child is born

And all of this happens because the world is waiting
Waiting for one child: black, white, yellow, no one knows
But the child that will grow up and turn tears to laughter
Hate to love, war to peace,
Everyone to everyone's neighbour
Misery and suffering will be words to be forgotten forever.

It's all a dream an illusion now
It must come true sometime soon, somehow
All across the land dawns a brand new morn
This comes to pass when a child is born

Abby took the tiny body from his daddy. 'Welcome to the world, Malcolm.'
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Kinda unseasonal, I know. The song is 'When A Child Is Born', written by I don't know who. Zacar, Dario Bembo, and Fred Day. Whoever they are, I don't own them. Nor do I own Michael Ball, the only person who I've ever heard sing the damn thing. The epilogue is half written and will be up sometime tomorrow night, if not sooner.