Phil dropped the pillows and scanned the aisles, looking for someone who could help them. Then, he looked back down at Keely and yelled. "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! We gotta' get to the hospital!" He put his hand on Keely's back and helped her stand up more and lean against him.
On the aisle next to them, a lady who appeared to be in her fifties was shopping and listening to their decision making about the pillow. When she heard Keely say her water had broke, the lady wandered down the aisle they were on, thinking it was a joke, pushing a shopping cart and gazing at a list in her hand. She looked up and saw Phil, panicking, and Keely, clutching her stomach, and approached them. "Hi. I'm Molly Wallace! Is everything ok?" she asked, flicking her eyes back and forth from Phil to Keely.
"Uh, not quite. My wife here just went into labor, and we need to get to the hospital."
"Well," Molly started, "I can't take you- my husband's not picking me up for another forty-five minutes. But let me go to the front of the store and find someone who's leaving that can take you!"
"Thanks, Molly. And can you get the manager while you're there?" Phil yelled down the aisle while Molly hurried off.
Then, Phil turned to Keely, who was leaning on him. "Keels, are you doing ok? You think we need to call an ambulance?"
Keely didn't say anything for a few seconds. And, when she did talk, it was mostly a whimper. "Yeah, I'm ok Phil. Could you try to hurry, though?"
Phil and Keely remained standing there for a couple minutes, anxiously awaiting Molly to come back. Keely was leaning with her right side against Phil, her left hand wrapped around her stomach, while her right clutched Phil's hand tightly. The pillows had been forgotten, they were strewn across the speckled tile floor of the store. Keely was pale and was trying hard to take normal breaths. Phil was holding on to Keely tightly, supporting her.
Molly finally got back, manager in tow. She was a little breathless, and her cheeks were flushed, but she still managed to get her message across. "There's a car out front. Navy blue, Jeep Grand Cherokee. Go get 'em."
She then clapped Phil on the back, and stepped to the side, allowing Phil and Keely to pass. That's when the manager stepped up. He appeared to be in his thirties or so, with a well-kept head of hair and a muscular appearance. He nodded to Phil, who helped Keely turn around so Phil was on her left and the manager was on her right. Then, he mumbled "one, two three!" and they lifted Keely up, so she looked like she was sitting in a chair off the ground. "Let's go!" Phil said, and the headed to the front of the store.
When they got there, they saw the blue Jeep Grand Cherokee, parked right out front like Molly said. A lady got out and opened the passenger door for them and they quickly loaded Keely into the seat. Phil reclined it a little, then stretched the seatbelt around her belly and buckled her in.
The lady shut the door gently, and then opened the back door for Phil to climb in. A car seat was strapped into the middle seat of the car, and a two-year-old little boy was peeking out, Cheerios and sippy cup in hand. He laughed and threw a handful of Cheerios when he saw Phil start to climb in. Phil stuck one foot in the car and heard a dry crunch under his shoe. He looked down to see Cheerios covering the black-grey speckled carpet, to the point where the carpet was almost unrecognizable. However, Phil just ignored it and buckled up, closing the door behind him.
The lady bustled around to the driver's seat, hopped in, then started the car and drove away. They had only made it a short distance down the road when the lady slammed on the brakes, causing Phil to lean forward against Keely's seat and causing her to groan loudly and grip the armrest next to her.
"Sorry about that," the lady started to say. "Oh, by the way, the name's Charlene. This here's Gracen," she said, removing her hand from the steering wheel to point to the kid next to Phil. "We were expecting a girl, who would have been Grace, but when all was said and done, we ended up with this rascal." Charlene paused and looked over at Keely. "You know if yours is a boy or girl?"
Keely groaned again and started taking short, quick breaths. Phil reached his hands around the headrest for her seat and rubbed her shoulders, trying to relax her. He then stuck his head up between the front two seats and told Charlene "It's a girl."
Suddenly, Phil felt a whack in the back of his head. He turned around to see Gracen pelting him with board books. His hands immediately moved away from Keely's shoulders and went to cover his face, in attempt for protection. Gracen just continued to pelt him and started laughing. Charlene turned around in her seat, while still driving, and said to Gracen, "You mister. You cut it out!" She continued to scold him until Keely said, in a pained voice, "Stoplight." However, Charlene didn't hear her. She tried again, much louder this time, "STOPLIGHT!" And again, Charlene stomped on the brake, sending all of the passengers in the car flying forward.
The hospital became visible just a few minutes later, and Phil secretly pumped his fists in the air from the back seat. They hurriedly parked in front of the emergency room, then Phil got out fast and opened Keely's door to help her. A few nurses waiting just inside the door saw Phil helping Keely out of the car and came out pushing a wheelchair. When Keely saw it, she let out a breath, and said "Thank the Lord!" then sat down.
Phil got behind her and wheeled her in and up to the desk. Charlene and Gracen followed. Phil explained to the receptionist that Keely had gone into labor in the store, and they needed a room—fast. While the receptionist was checking out the possibilities, Phil turned to Charlene and said "Thank you so much. We really appreciate it."
"No problem," she returned warmly, "just glad we could help! Good luck with your little girl."
"Thanks." Suddenly Keely groaned from the wheelchair and gripped the sides. The receptionist stood up, peeked over the desk, said loudly "Oh, my!" then typed something else on the computer.
"Ok, I need you to wheel her right over there," the receptionist said, pointing to a couch, "and we'll be with you as soon as we possibly can."
"No! This baby is coming, and it's coming fast. We need a room and a doctor NOW!" Keely had stood up from the wheel chair and pounded her fist on the desk, then stared the receptionist down.
"Let me check and see if there's anymore availabilities." The receptionist typed something else in the computer, then laughed a fake laugh, clapped her hands together and said "Oh my! Looks like something is available! Donna, take these two to room 224, please."
A tall, thin, blonde nurse took off down the hallway, and Phil pushed Keely behind her. They made it to the room, got Keely changed into a gown and on the bed, gave her an IV, and then the doctor came in. She was brunette and average height. Keely was lying in the bed, propped up on a few pillows, and Phil was sitting on the edge, holding her right hand in his with is left arm around her. The doctor came over to the bed, on the opposite side of Phil, and placed her hands on the side rail of the bed.
"Hey Keely," she started, "I'm Erin Haywood, and I'm going to be delivering your baby tonight. You're looking good so far, we have to wait until you progress a little more before we have you push." Keely nodded, then grabbed Phil's hand and held on tight as another contraction passed.
When Keely's contraction was over and she was lying in the bed semi-calmly, Phil let go of her hand, despite all of her protests. She looked up at him, clearly confused, and he told her "Keely, I have call your mom, my family and Owen and Via." She nodded, then he slipped off the edge of the bed and stood up. Upon seeing his cell phone had no batteries, he excused himself into the hallway and went to find a pay phone.
"Hey, Owen? It's Phil. I know this is going to sound so familiar, but Keely and I can't make dinner. I know we were supposed to meet you two hours ago, but she's in labor. We're at the hospital. You're welcome to come, we'll be here! Ha-ha." Phil said, not pausing for breath until the end.
"Dude, be there in like ten. Bye." Then, Owen yelled up the stairs to Via, explained what was going on, and ran outside to start the car. Benjamin and Brenna were at Via's parents house for the night, so Via just ran out the door and hopped in the car, then they drove off towards the hospital.
Phil called Mandy Teslow next. She wasn't home, so he left her a quick message. "Hey Mandy, it's Phil. It's time! Keels and I are at the hospital, call her cell when you get this. Well, call mine and leave a message, and I'll try to charge it. Or just come. Room 224. See you here!"
Then, lastly, he called his parents. Luckily, they were home and his mom picked up the phone. "Hello, Hello, Hello, This is Barbara!" she said.
"Hey mom, it's Phil."
"Hey Honey! How's Keely doing? Is she counting until the baby's due date yet?"
"Uh, yeah mom, she definitely is. And, well, the countdown's at zero right now, because she's in labor."
MEANWHILE IN KEELY'S ROOM
Doctor Haywood was bustling around, hooking Keely up to machines and monitoring her contractions when Owen and Via burst through the door. Via came up to the left side of the bed and rubbed Keely's arm, while Owen went around to the right. Suddenly, Keely felt the first big contraction, grabbed Owen's hand, and squeezed the living daylights out of it. She screamed, and when Owen felt what was happening to his hand, he screamed too. When the contraction passed and Keely leaned back on the pillow, now sweating profusely, Owen looked down at his hand and was shocked at how red it was. "Keely Diffy, WHAT did you do that for?" he asked, shaking his hand.
Suddenly, Keely was almost sitting up again, and screaming as another contraction passed. "This," she breathed as she squeezed his hand, "is for all the CRAP you put me through in high school!"
Then, Phil breezed through the door, and grabbed the hand Owen was holding. "You two can go into the hall," Phil told them. "My parents are there, Pim and Rich are there, and Mandy's on the way—she just got the message."
"Be careful man," Owen whispered to Phil as he headed towards the door, "She's got a death grip. It's like a python on a prey." Then, Owen clapped Phil on the back, went to the other side of the bed and wrapped his arm around Via, then headed out of the room.
Just then, the doctor breezed back in. No one had even noticed she had left, but she was back again, and checking the results on a monitor next to Keely. Keely had another contraction, but this time she reached up and wrapped her arms around Phil's neck, hugging him tightly. When it was over, Phil turned to Dr. Haywood and asked "can't you give her some medicine?"
He looked down at Keely who was nodding. However, Dr. Haywood told him "Sorry, Phil. She's too far along. That normally is a window we can jump through with pregnant women, but that window has closed."
Keely piped up from the bed, "CLOSED? What? Open the window!" Then, turning to Phil, she said, "Phil, break open the window!"
Keely was in the bed whimpering, between contractions, when Dr. Haywood patted her hand, turned to her, and said "Ok, girl. You ready to push?"
Keely silently nodded, and Phil resumed his position standing next to her, holding her hand. The doctor set everything up, then looked at Phil, nodded her head, and said plainly "Phil, count to ten."
The number ten couldn't come fast enough for Keely. She collapsed back onto the bed, breathing hard and drenched in sweat. "Here we go!" Dr. Haywood called, and they did it again.
Quite a few pushes later, Keely was tired out. "Come on, Keels. One more push. That's all we need." Phil was holding both of her hands now, gazing into her eyes, encouraging her. "Come on. You got to push. You can do it. One more push and we can meet our baby!"
"Yeah. I really want to meet our baby."
Phil turned to the Dr. Haywood and nodded. Then he started counting. "One… two… three… four… five…"
Keely was screaming by five. She was ready to have this baby out of her.
"Six…seven… eight…"
When Phil got to count eight, a baby's cries filled the room. Keely was crying too, and Phil had a hard time counting "nine…ten…" because he was getting misty-eyed also.
"It's a girl! The baby's a girl!" Dr. Haywood yelled. Phil went to the base of the bed where the Doctor was and cut the umbilical cord. The baby was then placed on Keely's chest, still crying.
Phil moved to where Keely was in the bed, holding the baby, and sat down on the edge then wrapped his left arm around her. Nurse Donna came and took the baby away to clean her up. Phil and Keely were both crying tears of joy as Keely leaned up towards Phil and kissed him on the lips. He leaned down, giving her better access, and they continued to kiss until Phil pulled away and whispered in her ear "Keely, we're a family!" this had her crying all over again. Phil was crying too when Donna brought the baby back over and handed her to Phil. They were just so happy.
Keely was sure that the last nine months of discomfort had definitely paid off to get to look at their baby now. Phil cradled the baby in his right arm and lowered her down so she was in Keely's lap also. Keely pulled her knees up to her chest, so the baby was cradled between her and Phil.
Dr. Haywood was cleaning up the sheets at the end of the bed and unhooking Keely from monitors while Donna was filling out the birth certificate. "Date of Birth: April 17th. Time of Birth: 1:19 am. Legal Parents: Keely Teslow Diffy and Phillip Lloyd Diffy. Height: 21 inches. She's a perfect size. Weight: Seven pounds, nine ounces. That's also just fine! Ok, Name:" she said, then looked up at Phil and Keely for a name.
Phil looked at Keely and wiped a tear that was falling down her cheek. "Tell her the name, Keels." He said, then removed his hand from her cheek in order to wipe a tear off his own.
"Her name, her name is Mackayla. Mackayla Danielle Diffy."
TADA! We have a baby:) Thank you so much for all of your wonderful reviews—this story has potential to break 100:) WOO HOO:) Keep 'em coming y'all!
The car ride from the store to the hospital is actually a true story-- when i was seven and mymom was pregnant with my sister we had to ride with some lady with a junky car and a two year old who pelted me with books. But, we don't know her name, so i had to make something up. :) It was pretty funny!
Sorry if there's mistakes... i just skimmed it.
I think I might do one more chapter to close everything up, or should I just stop right here? Please let me know what you think:)
Happy New Year's EVE!
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