I've never had this much attention in my entire life.
Presently, I was making my way down the hallway dressed in my hospital gown, my robe, and my slippers. My entire family surrounded me on all sides, each of them watching my every move. From a distance, my nurse had her eye on me as well. She was the one who had suggested I walk to speed things up a bit.
"Another contraction?" Mom responded to a brief hesitation from me. Mom, Aunt Peaches, and Sheri were studying me more closely than the other members of my family, probably because they had all been through labor before and knew what a difficult task it was.
"Not yet," I replied. "But look at this."
"Oh, wow," Claudia pressed the area right above my ribcage that had actually flattened out now that the baby was so much lower. Her eyes met mine, and it seemed like we were on the same train of thought. I was reminded of when she first did this way back when I was only ten weeks along.We smiled.
When I had arrived at the hospital several hours ago, I was already six centimeters dilated. No one could believe it, except for me. I had been in denial about being in labor. I realized that these contractions had really started yesterday when I came home with a sore back and sore hips. They had picked up this morning and continued throughout the day. They kept getting more and more intense as the hours passed...
After about three more steps, the pain hit me again, and I gasped and gripped the rail. As they had done before, James stood in front of me, and I wrapped my arms around him and buried my face in his shoulder. Mom stood behind me and stroked my back very gently.
They were coming much faster now and lasting even longer, and the pain was stronger than anything I had ever experienced. Between contractions, I felt constantly uncomfortable and during them, I was unable to do anything but gasp for more air and wait for it to pass.
When it finally did, I managed to straighten up and look at my family.
"Enough of this," I said firmly.
"Walking?" Mom asked.
"No, labor," I said. Gentle laughter from my family followed.
A girl approached me. She looked younger than my nurse. Probably a nursing student, I guessed. "It's been awhile since we checked your progress, Mrs. (check the clipboard) ...Yamawa."
"Yamakawa," Zach piped up. It was one of the few things he had said since his arrival. I think seeing me like this was making him pretty uncomfortable. Will kept a distance from me, too.
James chuckled, although it sounded very forced.
The tension was driving me crazy.
"Back to your room, please?" The nursing student asked impatiently.
I responded by glaring at her. She deserved it. Couldn't she see that I was heading back to my room as fast as I could? Claudia saw my expression, too, and made a face. Luckily, my nurse approached in time to witness this.
"No hurry," she said to me. Then she turned to the student. "Faye, would you grab Mrs. Yamakawa's chart?"
"Thank you," I said to the nurse as I eased my way into the room. "What was your name? I never caught it."
"I'm Anna," she replied, helping me into the bed.
"Anna," I repeated. "That's a pretty name."
The rest of my family lingered outside, except for James, who never left my side. As soon as I had settled into the bed and was hooked up to the fetal monitor, another contraction hit me.
"Ohh..." Groaning, I rolled over on my side and curled into a ball. James rubbed my side gently, and Anna watched the monitor closely. I squeezed my eyes shut as the pain pratically paralyzed me.
"Doing good, doing good..." Anna muttered. "The worst is over. Keep breathing. Don't hold your breath."
I sighed loudly, the sound escaping my lips unintentionally. This one hurt a lot. Oh, Lord, it was the worst one yet. I sighed out again as it gradually died down. Then I opened my eyes.
"Do you want the epidural?" Anna asked.
I considered that. Again. And again, I shook my head.
"No, I can take it. Better this way."
Anna smiled. "There are benefits either way," she said, while checking my progress. "Although they take away some of the pain, it also takes away the urgency to push. Besides... you've already made it to eight and a half centimeters."
"So it shouldn't be much longer?" I asked, hopefully.
"We-ell," Anna scrunched up her face. "There's really no way to tell. Right now, it's 9:45. Perhaps you'll be able to deliver before midnight if things continue to move along quickly."
"Mmm," I closed my eyes and shifted around, trying unsuccessfully to be comfortable. It was not happening. In every possible position, I was constantly aching.
Anna encouraged me to try to get some rest, and then she left. My family came into the room and we gave them the news that I was two and a half centimeters closer to being ready for delivery. It was encouraging, but I still knew that I long night lay ahead of me.
"What's today's date?" Claudia suddenly asked.
"The eleventh," said James.
"Tomorrow would be Mom's birthday," my mother added.
I had realized that earlier today when I was in the principal's office. My grandmother, Mimi, was born on October the twelfth. And now there was the possibilty of her great granddaughter being born on the same date. Unless she came before midnight.
"Maybe it'll be someone else's birthday, too," Claudia grinned. "What will you name her?"
I groaned. For two reasons. One being that we had not settled on her name. Two being that another contraction had come over me. The subject was dropped as my family tried in vain to ease my pain. Surely, this was the hardest thing that I would ever do.
Several hours later...
"Janine's shaking!" someone (maybe Claudia) gasped.
"Why is she doing that?"
"Janey? Janey, what's happening?"
"It's normal," a new voice was in the room. My nurse?
"I'm about to check to be sure," she went on. "But I'm fairly certain that it means she's fully dilated and ready to deliver."
Ready? Was I really ready?
"Ten centimeters," I heard her say after a moment. "The head is very low. Janine, do you feel like pushing yet?"
"Hmm," I answered. I was dying to push. "Mm-hmm."
"We're going to try pushing, now," she announced. "For ten seconds, I'll count and you push. Ready? Breathe in... "
I sucked air in and held my breath, my muscles working hard to bear down as Anna counted slowly to ten. Unwillingly, I let out a scream that took everyone by suprise, myself included. I caught sight of Claudia's face, twisted into a strange expression. I'm sure my face looked much worse.
"Good, but don't scream," Anna commanded. "You'll waste your energy. Okay, Dr. Caldwell will be here shortly. Meanwhile, let's keep pushing and see if we can move her down even more. On the next contraction, okay?"
"I'll try," my body still trembled. James reaching down to lightly touch my belly. I knew he was doing it because it was his last chance to feel her in there, but still... I did not want to be touched. I swatted him away, and he drew back from me.
"Sorry," I immediately felt awful. Then the pain came back full force, and tears were now rolling down my cheeks,"Oh, God..."
"Pull back your knees," Anna commanded me. "Dad, hold her hand. Ready? Now, go! One...two...three... GOOD! Keep going! Five...six...seven...eight...nine...ten."
The pain lingered. I knew we weren't finished, and so did Anna. She commanded me to take another breath. I did. She started counting again, and I kept pushing. And again, another scream escaped from my lips. I couldn't help it.
"Her head is right there," Anna told me. "You're doing great already."
"Here," Claudia had a damp towel in her hand. She dabbed my face and neck gently with it. Then she kissed my cheek. "Do you want me to stay or leave? I can do either."
I grasped her hand. I wanted her with me. "Stay."
She beamed at me. I managed to halfway smile in return.
"You too, Mom," I said. "Sheri, Peaches, you too." (James, too, of course.)
"Mind if I join you?" Dr. Caldwell had arrived. "I heard that this baby's in a hurry."
My response was to groan. Not because of what he had said; because the pain was getting worse. Without being commanded, I instinctively started pushing. The nurse told Claudia to count for me. I clawed at James's hand with all of my might as I used the rest of my strength to push.
"Nice job," Dr. Caldwell said. "She's crowning now. The top of her head is exposed. Let's go again, and get two strong pushes out of the next contraction."
I obeyed. Two pushes helped, but her head was not completely out. I wanted it out very badly as the entire lower half of my body felt like it was on fire. Two more pushes, and I could feel her moving even more with my efforts. Two more and...
"Her head is out!" That was Claudia. "Oh, my Lord. I'm going to... pass out..."
Mom left her post, which was holding one of my knees, to tend to Claudia who actually had grown awfully pale. She was the same Claudia who had passed out while getting her ear pierced.
"Have her sit down," Anna took notice of Claudia as well. "Put your head between your legs and take deep breaths."
"Um, excuse me?" I sounded more irritated than I meant to. "Mom!"
"I'm back, I'm back!" She grabbed my knee just in time because I was ready to push again. Once the contraction took control of me, there was just no stopping anything. I pushed whether I wanted to or not. Grunting with the effort, I felt her continue moving downward and out of me. More, more, more...
"Here come her shoulders," Dr. Caldwell took hold of her. "Okay, Janine, just a little push now. Very lightly... Good... Here. We. Go. And..."
She slid right out without much more effort. It was an incredible sensation. She was leaving my body and coming into the world. And then, she announced this fact.
I heard a tiny cry.
Tears welled up in my eyes and overflowed. "Oh, my..."
"She's out," Dr. Caldwell held her up. "A baby girl!"
I wiped away my tears to look at her for the first time as the doctor then placed her on my stomach and started to clean her off. Tiny. Perfect. All arms and fingers, all toes and legs accounted for. Here was my baby, my joy...
"Hey, there," James gazed at this tiny new baby, amazed. He touched her little head with a finger, stroking her black hair. Then the nurse handed him scissors to cut the cord. Mom snapped a picture. Claudia, who had now made a full recovery, was also wiping away tears.
"My joy..." I murmered, reluctantly letting them take her to be checked carefully and then weighed. "There she is. At last. My joy."
"Is that her name?" Anna asked. "That's my real name. Joyanna. I'm called Anna."
"Joyanna?" I repeated, loving the sound of it. "That's beautiful."
"That just might fit her," James had his eyes on our baby, who kept on crying in her own unique way. It was a sound that I would always be able to recognize as my own one crying.
"Seven pounds, two ounces," Anna announced as she was wrapping her in a pink receiving blanket. "Twenty inches long. Born at 1:14 AM on October the twelfth."
"Joyanna," I whispered. "Joyanna Rioko Yamakawa. We'd call her Joy."
"It fits," Claudia agreed. "Joy."
"Rioko?" Mom smiled. "I'm honored."
I smiled back, hoping Sheri didn't mind. She didn't seem to give it a second thought.
Joyanna Rioko was brought back to me, now wrapped tightly in a little bundle with a little cap covering the thin, black patches of hair on her head. She had stopped crying; now she only scrunched up her tiny nose, and her almond-shaped eyes opened slightly and then closed again, squinting at this strange new world with so many bright lights.
"Welcome to the family," James said as he took her from me, holding his daughter for the first time. His whole face changed as he looked at her. "Our own little Joy. Welcome to the world, Joyanna Rioko."
A/N: Another chapter or two coming to wrap things up! Please, let me know how you felt about this chapter!