Chapter 7

"Sully it hurts!" Michaela screamed, fighting off the agony that was the peak of the contraction she was experiencing.

"I know it does Michaela, just breathe," Sully said, coaching her with his own breathing.

"I am breathing and it still hurts," she sobbed. "Just make the pain go away!"

Sully didn't know what the do. Michela seemed to be in more pain than when Katie was born and he was at a loss as to why. He knew that every labor progressed uniquely, but he was worried. This labor didn't seem to be moving forward and after what he had told Michaela all those months ago, he couldn't bare to be the cause of any more of her pain.

"OW! OW! OW!' Michaela panted. "Make it stop. Sully, make it stop."

"You're doing it Michaela. You can do this, just a little while longer," Sully encouraged.

"You don't know that, it could be forever. I could die here. The baby could die," she cried, voicing her biggest fears.

"Don't go thinkin' that. We've done this once before and we can do it again. You're the strongest woman I know," Sully reassured her while continuing to hold her close.

"I can't do this. I really can't. It hurts too much!" Michaela shouted as another contraction started immediately on the heels of the last one.

"The contractions are getting close together," Sully reminded her over her scream. "You're going to have to push soon and then it will all be over."

"I HAVE TO PUSH NOW!" she cried suddenly, catching Sully off guard and frightening him to his core with the pain in her voice.

"Now? Are you sure?" he asked, more out of reactionary habit than real doubt.

As an answer, Michaela began to bear down on the contraction, pushing with all of her might. Seeing this Sully was at a loss. He didn't know whether to keep supporting his wife as she pushed or whether to kneel in front of her to monitor her progress in giving birth to their son or daughter. Michaela's next words made the decision for him.

"Sully!" she shouted, "I can feel the baby," hoping he would remember to position himself in front of her without her having to remind him as the contractions were too intense for prolonged coherent speech.

He now realized that he needed to be in front of her despite her desire for him to hold her because he had to be the one to coach her through the last part of the birth. Carefully getting up from his position behind his wife, he went and kneeled before her shaking knees and pulled back her dress to examine the baby's position. As he did so, he saw that the head was close to the opening of the birth canal, but was not quiet ready to crown.

"Push Michaela!" he encouraged. "PUSH!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" she screamed as she pushed along with her husband's words.

"That's it, that's a girl. Push a little harder if you can," Sully told her, his voice full of emotion.

"I can't push any harder," she sobbed as she gave into the urge to do as her body desired yet again. She felt the head slip from her body as she screamed and a moment later Sully looked up at her intently once again.

"The head is out Michaela," he stated with obvious joy and pride. "Just a little bit farther. You can do this."

Michaela barely heard his words though as a hard contraction hit and she was engulfed in pain. She spread her legs as far apart as she could and gave into the will to push one last time. A moment later Michaela's last syllables of anguish mixed with her newborn's cries as her infant daughter slid into her father's out stretched hands.

"It's a girl," he whispered with tears in his eyes, much the same way he had when Katie was born. After gazing down at his new daughter for a second longer, he carefully placed the infant in her mother's arms. By this time, Michaela had recovered from the effects of the last contraction and now took in the sight of her baby daughter with tears streaming down her face.

"She's beautiful," Michaela said to herself.

"Just a beautiful as her ma," Sully whispered, drawing himself next to them and gesturing with the scissors he had removed from Michaela's bag to indicate that he desired to cut the cord. Without a word, Michaela showed him the correct positions in which to place the clamps he had also brought to her side along with the scissors. Once the cord was clamped and cut, the new parents sat silently stroking their newborn, thanking the powers that be for their little girl's safe arrival.

When Michaela hadn't delivered the afterbirth within fifteen minutes of their daughter's birth, Sully began to get worried and questioned Michaela about the reason behind the delay. She replied sleepily that placentas could sometimes take awhile to be delivered after birth and that there was nothing to be terribly concerned about. She then attempted to lay herself and the baby down for some rest as her body ached from the delivery and from the emotional stress that had been her constant companion before it. Seeing her struggle, Sully helped her to lie down on a soft fur that he had stored at the lean to years ago. Once she was settled and the baby was nestled comfortably in the cocoon of her arms Sully laid down gingerly beside her, wrapping his arm carefully around both his wife and child.

He was so in love with this woman and so in awe of all five of the children she had given him first by adoption and then by birth that he felt compelled to whisper," I love you," to his wife as she drifted off to sleep. Michaela tensed at his words and drew slightly away from him, but he attributed this response to the unconscious movements of sleep and soon succumbed to slumber himself, unawae of the anguished tears that fell from Michaela eyes at hearing his profession.


Please review and let me know if the storyline and characters are behaving in interesting and yet valid ways consistant with the character and development of the story and show.

Thanks, Corinna