A/N: See Chapter 1 for Disclaimer.
Chapter 7: Uncle Ward's Diary
George, Lionel, Jenny, the Willises, and Florence all showered Louise with love and affection when George brought her home from the hospital the next day. And after everyone else went home, George and Florence continued to wait on her hand and foot. They had definitely learned their lesson about not taking Louise for granted anymore. After everything she'd been through over the past several months, George and Florence were completely cured of taking their family's queen for granted, and it was a mistake they would never make again.
The next four weeks raced by, and before they all knew it, it was the eleventh of June, six weeks before Louise's due date. It was a Sunday, and following church, Lionel and Jenny came to visit George and Louise that afternoon, and they could all tell that Lionel was just not himself.
"What's the matter, Lionel?" asked Louise once they all sat down together in the living room. "You seem like you're upset about something."
"Yeah, Lionel," Jenny chimed in. "You haven't been yourself all day."
"What is it, Lionel? What's the matter? What have you got to be upset about? You've got everything I ever dreamed of at your age. You've got a college degree, a well-payin' career, a nice home, nice clothes, financial security. I wouldda killed to have those things back when me and Weezy were expectin' you."
"It's not that I don't appreciate having those things, Pop," said Lionel. "I do appreciate all my blessings. I really do. But the thought of taking on the responsibility of another person's entire life…it can get pretty scary at times. I could end up making a mistake that's going to scar this child for life."
George and Louise looked at each other and knowingly laughed, and then George quipped, "You were raised by a loudmouth fool like me, and you still turned out alright!" Naturally, they all laughed at that.
"Oh, we know how you feel, Lionel. We really do," Louise said sympathetically. "George and I were both so scared before you were born. In the last week before my due date, George suddenly lost his job, and we were already behind on the rent. It was so scary. Those were some very hard times. But the good Lord got us through it all, and no matter what problems you and Jenny have or what parenting mistakes you might make – and we all make them – He'll get you through it, too. And mercifully, God made children very resilient, and I think He did that because He knows that no parent can ever be one hundred percent perfect, no matter how hard we try to be. God's got your back, son. Just trust Him."
"Yeah, and we've got your back too, Lionel," George assured him. "Don't forget, your mom and me are doin' this for the second time around, after twenty-five years. We've got a lotta things we need to relearn, too. You and Jenny ain't in this by yourselves. We're all gonna be figurin' this whole thing out together, all four of us."
"Mr. Jefferson is right, Lionel," Jenny told him. "We're all going to be figuring this whole parenting thing out together, all four of us, step by step, day by day. We just have to take it one day at a time."
"That's right," Louise agreed. "And I, for one, couldn't be more thrilled that the four of us are doing this together."
Lionel smiled and said, "Yeah, I feel the same way. I never imagined that I'd be getting twin baby sisters when I was twenty-four and that Jenny and I would be expecting our first baby at the same time, but to tell the truth, I wouldn't have it any other way."
"Neither would I," said Jenny, and then Lionel gave her a big kiss. "And speaking of our babies, what are your plans for your birth, Mrs. Jefferson? Are you going to try to go natural like Lionel and I are?"
Louise fervently shook her head and told Jenny, "Absolutely not. I had a natural childbirth with Lionel, and it's an experience I never want to repeat. Lionel was born during a big snowstorm in November, and it took George and me forever to get to the hospital, and by the time we finally arrived, it was almost too late. Lionel was born just a couple of minutes after they got me back into one of the rooms. Quite literally. There wasn't any time for ether or any other kind of medication. There wasn't even enough time to get the doctor in the room! It was one of the nurses who had to catch Lionel as he was being born. It was the most hellish pain I ever experienced. No, when I have these two," said Louise as she put her hand on her ever-growing belly, "I'll be having them at the Allied Health Services Center, with medication, thank you very much."
Jenny nodded and said, "I understand. Lionel and I are going to start going to Lamaze classes next week, and what they teach you at these classes is supposed to help you manage the pain and cope with it. I'm willing to give it a shot, and I do want to try to avoid medication if I can, but unfortunately, I don't have a very high pain tolerance. I'll probably end up giving in and getting the epidural."
"I understand," said Louise. Naturally, she deeply hated it that she couldn't tell Lionel and Jenny about the Akira medication that she would be receiving during her labor and delivery with the twins, but she didn't dare mention it because she knew just talking about it with them could endanger theirs and the baby's lives.
"Say, Mrs. Jefferson, Mr. Jefferson, do you two have any names picked out for the twins yet?" Jenny inquired.
"We were thinking…Sarah and Savannah," Louise replied with a smile.
"Oh, those are such beautiful names," said Jenny.
"Yeah, those are pretty names, Mom. Women really have a knack for picking out names. Jenny came up with Eli Paul for a boy and Kathryn Grace for a girl," Lionel told them.
"Yeah, my maternal grandfather's middle name was Eli, and Mr. Jefferson, I know your father's name was William Paul Jefferson, so I thought it might be nice to name our baby after our grandfathers if it's a boy. And Mrs. Jefferson, I know that your middle name is Kathryn, and Mom's middle name is Grace, so that's where we came up with Kathryn Grace for a girl."
George laughed and said, "You know, that's a crazy kind of half-coincidence. Weezy decided that she wanted the girls' middle names to be our mothers' names. We're namin' our older twin, 'Sarah Olivia,' after Mama, and we're namin' our younger twin, 'Savannah Abigail,' after Weezy's mother."
"Oh, I know how much Grandma would love that," said Lionel.
"What made you decide on the names, 'Sarah' and 'Savannah,' Mrs. Jefferson?" Jenny asked.
"It seemed like a nice way to honor and remember my Uncle Ward. I never knew my own father, but Uncle Ward was just like a second father to me when I was a girl. You see, I never knew this about my uncle, but a couple of weeks ago as I was thinking about him and going through some of his old things, I came across the diary of a sweet young lady named Savannah Johnson – his wife."
"His wife?" said a puzzled Lionel. "But wait a minute, Mom. Uncle Ward was never married."
"Oh, yes he was. As you guys know, my mother was ten years younger than my Uncle Ward, and their parents died when he was twenty and she was ten, so he ended up raising my mother. And shortly after my grandparents' deaths, my Uncle Ward – who was still living with my mother in Savannah, Georgia, at the time – met and fell in love with a seventeen-year-old girl named Savannah Johnson. They got married a year later, and then one year after that, when Savannah was just nineteen, she died in childbirth with their baby girl, whom they named, 'Sarah.'"
"Oh, that's so tragic," Jenny said sadly.
"I know. It really ripped me apart reading about it. Savannah wrote her last entry in the diary as she was going into labor, and later entries were written by Uncle Ward after hers and Baby Sarah's deaths. He couldn't bear to talk to anybody about what he was going through, so he just poured his heart out in her diary. Living in Savannah, Georgia, the city that bore the name of the love of his life, was just too hard for him when he was younger, so he managed to find a job as a cook in a hotel in Manhattan, and he and my mother moved to New York and he raised her here. After I read that diary, so many things just fell into place. I never understood why Uncle Ward wouldn't even look at a woman all those years, but now I know. He was head over heels in love with his wife Savannah, and after her death and the death of Baby Sarah, he just couldn't imagine ever having another woman in his life. He loved Savannah so, so much, and losing her and the baby like that really tore him up inside. Ironically, in the last entry he put in her diary on the day he retired, he admitted that it was actually because he missed Savannah so much that he decided to leave New York and return to Savannah, Georgia. He couldn't bear to be around all the places where they spent time together in Savannah after he first lost her, but once it was time for him to retire, he admitted that he longed to be near those places once again and be reminded of her. He said that he wanted to die in the city that bore the name of the love of his life."
"That's so heartbreaking," Lionel said soberly.
"Yeah, it is," Louise agreed. "And that's why George and I want to name our daughters, 'Sarah' and 'Savannah.' We want to honor Uncle Ward and his wife and daughter, yes, but we want to do it in a way that joyfully remembers them and their love. We don't want to focus on the tragic way that Savannah and Sarah died, because death isn't the end. Not for everyone who's trusted in Christ. Both Uncle Ward and Savannah dearly loved Jesus and trusted in Him, and I know they're in heaven with their daughter Sarah today, and I know they're all filled with joy beyond their wildest dreams here on earth. And we're naming our daughters after Savannah and Sarah because we want to focus on that and celebrate that."
"Right on, Mom," Lionel said with a smile.
"I hear what you're saying, Mrs. Jefferson. But still, it is very sobering to think about how Savannah and Baby Sarah died, knowing how close you and I are getting to giving birth, ourselves. It's so tragic that back in those days, a woman was basically risking her life to give birth to a child, and it was almost as risky for the baby as it was for the woman. I'm just so grateful to God that there have been such great advancements in medicine in recent decades. Thank God that giving birth isn't nearly as risky for women and babies today as it was back then."
"Hear, hear!" Lionel heartily agreed.
"And now that I've got all this money, thank the Lord, I'm gonna make sure that all the women and babies in my family have the best. The very best. Y'all ain't gotta worry about nothin'. There ain't gonna be nothin' risky goin' on with you two or with the babies when the time comes. You're gonna have the best doctors in the state of New York. All the women and babies of the Jefferson family are gonna come out of childbirth perfectly healthy and happy. I'll see to that. So help me God."
"We know you will, George," said Louise with a loving smile, and then she gave her husband a big kiss. "And I'm sorry, everybody. I didn't mean to scare you guys by talking about how Uncle Ward's wife and baby died."
"No, you didn't scare us, Mom," Lionel assured her.
"But Savannah's and Baby Sarah's story is a good reminder to all of us to be grateful for modern healthcare and for all the Lord's blessings that we tend to take for granted," said Jenny. Although Jenny and Lionel had both come to faith in Christ as children, unfortunately, as they got older, their faith had become something they only thought about once a week on Sundays – if that. But thankfully, Louise's unexpected medical crisis had caused Lionel and Jenny, as well as the Willises, to start drawing much closer to the Lord over the past few months.
"It certainly is, honey," Louise agreed.
"Oh, Mrs. Jefferson, Lionel told me that you and Mr. Jefferson and Florence finally finished the twins' nursery the other day," said Jenny.
"That's right. We did," Louise confirmed with a smile. "As you kids already know, when Florence decided to come to work for us full-time, we gave her our guest room, and Lionel, we've turned your old bedroom into a nursery for Sarah and Savannah. George and Florence and I have been working on renovating it since I came home from the hospital a few weeks ago. We finally finished it the day before yesterday."
"Oh, I'm just dying to see it," Jenny told Louise.
"Yeah, me too, Mom," said Lionel.
"Come on, you two. We'll show it to you right now," George said with a big smile.
"Yeah, kids. Let's go," said Louise with a smile as big as her husband's, and then George and Lionel helped their wives up, and they all went into the new nursery.
"Oh, it's beautiful," Jenny gasped the moment she saw it. George and Louise had had brand new light-pink carpeting put in, and the wallpaper was filled with the most adorable rainbows on a white background. There were two white cribs side by side, and a matching white changing table on the other side of the room, as well as a big light-pink rocking chair that perfectly matched the carpet. And the closet was filled to the brim with baby clothes and toys for Baby Sarah and Baby Savannah.
"Yeah, Mom, Pop. It's gorgeous," Lionel agreed.
"The price we paid for it all was rather steep, but it was more than worth it," Louise said happily.
"Yeah, George Jefferson's daughters ain't gonna have nothin' but the best. Me and Weezy wanted to make this a nursery fit for two princesses, and that's just what we did," George bragged, and then he put his arms around Louise and gave her a big kiss.
"I just love the rainbows," Jenny commented.
"Oh, as soon as I saw this rainbow wallpaper, I just had to have it for the girls' nursery," said Louise. "It made me think of the very first rainbow God put in the sky after the great flood in the book of Genesis. Rainbows are a symbol of God's promise to humanity; a symbol of His faithfulness."
"Well like I said, Mrs. Jefferson, it's beautiful," said Jenny.
"Thank you, dear," Louise said kindly. Just as she was about to say something else to George and the kids, though, Louise's water suddenly broke. "Oh, no! I don't believe it!" she cried out.
"Lionel, go call Dr. James. Now," George said firmly.
"Right, Pop," said Lionel, and then he quickly left the nursery and picked up the phone at the living room desk and began dialing.
"How could this happen now? I'm not due for another six weeks," Louise said fearfully. "It's too soon for the girls to come, George. It's way too soon. What are we going to do?"
George put a loving arm around Louise's shoulders then and told her, "Don't worry, sweetheart. Don't worry. Everything's gonna be alright. It's gonna be okay. The girls are gonna be fine. They're gonna be just fine. And so are you. Jesus didn't bring us this far to abandon us now, Weezy."
Louise tearfully nodded and said, "You're right, George. You're right. Thank you for saying that."
"And thank you for bein' gutsy enough to get through this cancer scare and carry Sarah and Savannah this long and for not listenin' to those arrogant doctors who tried to bully you into getting an abortion," said George, and then he gave Louise another big kiss.
"Okay," Louise sighed. "I believe the good Lord's going to get us all through this, just like He's gotten us through everything else, but what are we going to do about this beautiful brand-new carpet that I just ruined?"
That gave Jenny a chuckle.
"Weezy, with our money, we can afford the best carpet cleaners in the whole state of New York. Don't worry about that, baby. Let's just get you to the hospital, alright?"
"Tell Lionel to call us a cab. I'll go get changed," said Louise.
"Jenny, you go tell Lionel to call a cab for us, okay? I'll go with you and help you get changed, sweetheart."
"Thank you, George," said Louise, and then after giving her a quick kiss, they went into their bedroom while Jenny went out into the living room to get Lionel to call a cab.
While Lionel and Jenny were shown to a waiting room on the first floor of the Allied Health Services Hospital, Louise and George were secretly escorted down to the hospital's special underground clinic, where they were met by Louise's obstetrician, Dr. Marina James. Dr. James was a lovely lady in her late thirties with curly brunette hair and blue eyes, of average height and weight, and when one of the orderlies pushed Louise's wheelchair into her luxurious underground birthing suite, Dr. James was right there waiting for them.
"Hello there, Mrs. Jefferson, Mr. Jefferson. How are you guys doing?" Dr. James asked.
"Not so good, Dr. James," George answered honestly. "Weezy's pretty upset about goin' into labor so soon."
"Don't worry, Mrs. Jefferson," Dr. James told her with a kind smile. "It is best to try to avoid a premature birth if we can, but it's pretty common for twins to come at least four weeks early. And considering your age and all, quite frankly, it's a miracle you were able to carry them this long. It's very common for women your age to give birth prematurely. This is not at all unexpected. And babies born at thirty-four weeks tend to do very well with the proper medical care."
"See, Weezy? What did I tell ya? The babies are gonna be just fine," George assured Louise.
"Thank you, Dr. James. It sure is a relief to hear you say that," said Louise.
"How many contractions have you had since your water broke?" asked the doctor.
"Three. Two in the apartment as I was changing clothes, and one in the cab," Louise replied.
"They're comin' at about ten minutes apart," George supplied.
"Alright. Well, Mrs. Jefferson, we're going to need you to change one more time, either into a hospital gown or into a gown you brought from home. And once we get you in bed and get you settled in, we'll start the Akira. That should make you feel a lot better."
"I've got your overnight bag right here, Weezy," said George, referring to the tan leather overnight bag he was carrying over his right shoulder. "I'll help you get changed."
"Thank you, George," said Louise.
"I'll go tell Nurse Jenkins to come start your I.V.," Dr. James told them.
"Thank you, doctor," Louise told her, and then she left so George could help Louise could get changed into a gown in private.
Two hours later, George and Louise were lying side by side in Louise's queen-sized hospital bed, with the lights dimmed a little, as George continued rubbing her belly. The last time Dr. James examined Louise a few minutes ago, she was nine centimeters dilated.
"How you feelin', sweetheart?" George whispered.
"I'm okay," Louise said softly.
"You sure you're okay?"
"I'm sure, love," Louise told George with a small smile as he continued rubbing her belly.
"It really doesn't hurt?" George asked in amazement.
"Well, I'd be lying if I said this miracle medication called Akira removed all discomfort. As Sarah keeps moving farther and farther down, it does get a little uncomfortable because of all the pressure. But in terms of actual pain, no, there's no pain at all. As crazy as it sounds, I feel my abdominal muscles tense up with the contractions and push the babies down and everything, but even though I feel all that tension, there's no pain when the contractions come. It really doesn't hurt. I'm starting to get a little scared, though, because I can tell that I'm going to have to start pushing soon, and I'm dreading that. Even though Lionel came out so quickly, even though I only had to push three or four times with him, those three or four pushes were sheer agony. It was awful."
"Try not to be afraid, sweetheart. If the Akira is helpin' this much with the contractions, surely it'll make the pushing less painful, too."
"I know you're probably right, but it's still hard not to be at least a little scared."
"I know, baby. I know. Try not to be too scared, though. I'm here, baby. I'm right here with you. I'm right here by your side, and I'm gonna do all I can to help you. You know that."
"I know, George. It's already been such a big help just having you here. It was so hard that night when I was in labor with Lionel. We'd just gotten to the hospital and an orderly came along with a wheelchair to take me back to the delivery room, and he pushed me away from you. That really tore me apart. I wanted you with me so badly."
"I wanted to be with you too, Weezy. I could see it in your eyes that you were scared to death. I think I was even more scared than you were. I mean, I respect our elders and all that, but sometimes, the old ways are not the best ways. Keepin' husbands away from their wives when their wives needed 'em the most…how stupid is that? Give me this, me bein' with you every moment, knowin' what's goin' on with you and our babies every moment, over pacin' up and down in some dumb old hospital waitin' room, any day of the week."
"Amen!" Louise heartily agreed. Then in the next moment, she scared George half to death when she suddenly told him, "George, call Dr. James on the intercom. Get her in here. Now."
"What is it, baby? What's the matter?" asked George as his heart began to pound away in his chest.
"I'm starting to feel Sarah's head."
"Oh, my Lord," George gasped, and then he called Dr. James in immediately.
A few moments later, Dr. James came running into the suite along with a nurse, and she had the nurse turn the lights up all the way so she could see things better. And as Dr. James was sitting in front of the bed examining Louise, George was now standing at Louise's right, holding her hand.
"Well Mrs. Jefferson, I've got some good news for you. You are going to be holding your first baby very, very soon now. You are now ten centimeters dilated and one hundred percent effaced. Now, it's time to push."
"Sorry, Dr. James, but I don't exactly consider the pushing part to be 'good news.' Pushing with Lionel was terrible. And I've really been dreading it with these two," Louise explained.
"Don't worry, Mrs. Jefferson. I assure you, pushing will be much easier and much less painful with the Akira. And didn't you say that your son came very quickly?" Dr. James asked Louise.
"He sure did! The doctor didn't even get the chance to get in there and deliver him. It was a nurse who had to catch him," Louise replied.
"You probably ended up delivering him much too quickly. Sometimes when babies are delivered too fast, the mother can tear."
"That happened, too," said Louise, and George was absolutely horrified.
"Wait a minute, Weezy. You mean to tell me that you actually tore…there?"
"Yes, I did, George," Louise confirmed. She'd never told George about it and just all knowledge of it to herself as she recovered from giving birth to Lionel because she knew how squeamish George could be, especially when he was younger. She was sure back then that he'd never be able to handle it.
And George's response proved Louise correct as he let out a very painful groan and doubled over, and Dr. James laughed at his reaction. "And they call us the weaker sex," Dr. James teased, and she and Louise chuckled.
George then immediately came around to the other side of Louise's bed, sat down on the bed, and just held her and loved on her. "Oh Weezy, baby, I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry for every time I ever disrespected you. For every time I ever disrespected a woman or looked down on women. Women are such extraordinary people."
"I need to push, George, but I'm scared."
"Oh baby, I love you so much," George whispered, and then he just kissed her face and mouth over and over again, continuing to hold her close.
"Try to give me just a little push, Mrs. Jefferson. Just a very light one," said Dr. James.
"I'm here, baby," George said gently as he looked into Louise's eyes. "I'm right here with you now. You're not doin' this alone. Just hang onto me. I've got you."
Hearing George say that to her while looking into her eyes was enough to give Louise the courage she needed to start pushing, and in that moment, she grabbed George and clung to him while giving a light push with the contraction.
"Good job, sweetheart. Good job," George whispered to Louise while she pushed.
"I saw your baby's head just now when you pushed, Mrs. Jefferson," Dr. James happily informed Louise.
George gave Louise a big kiss and told her, "You're doin' a great job, baby. You're doin' such a great job."
Louise sighed a sigh of relief then and said, "You were right, Dr. James. That push didn't hurt at all. As a matter of fact, when I felt all the pressure of the contraction and I pushed with it, it actually made me feel so much better."
"That's just what we want to hear," Dr. James said happily.
"It sure is," said George, and then he gave Louise another big kiss.
"I'm so glad you're here, George. It's so much better with you here," Louise told him.
"I'm glad I'm here too, Weezy. You're right. This is so much better than the last time."
"It sure is," Louise agreed. "You know, when that nurse caught Lionel on the night he was born, I so wanted it to be you."
"Well, Mrs. Jefferson, maybe Mr. Jefferson couldn't be there to catch Lionel, but how about we let him be the one to catch Sarah and Savannah?" Dr. James suggested.
"Oh, I love that idea," said Louise.
"Yeah Weez, I love it, too," George said softly, and once again, he kissed Louise. "Can I really do that, Dr. James?" he asked, and Dr. James responded with a laugh.
"Of course you can catch the babies if you want to, Mr. Jefferson. You're their father," she told him.
"But I don't wanna watch Weezy tear."
"No worries, Mr. Jefferson. We're not going to let that happen," Dr. James assured him. "We're going to deliver Sarah and Savannah just as slowly as we can so Mrs. Jefferson doesn't get hurt like the last time. You just stay right where you are and let Louise hold onto when she needs to push, and then I'll call you over here after the head is born."
"But who will help her push when she needs to push the rest of the baby out?" asked George.
"I think we can trust Nurse Mills with that task," Dr. James replied. Nurse Maria Mills, a short, slim black lady in her late twenties, was a very sweet OB nurse standing nearby.
Louise then turned to her and said, "You know, my maiden name was Mills. We just might be distant cousins or something."
"We might be," she said with a pleasant smile.
"Oh, I've got to push, George," Louise told him.
"It's okay, sweetheart. It's okay," George told her in a gentle voice, and then Louise clung to him again and started pushing. "Take it slow, baby. Just take it nice and slow and easy right now. We ain't in no rush," George whispered in Louise's ear, which really helped her to stay calm and focused. The contraction ended in the next moment, and George felt Louise's whole body relax as he was holding her. He then kissed her forehead and whispered in her ear, "Good job, baby. Good job."
"The head's coming. I think we might have the head completely out when you push with the next contraction, Mrs. Jefferson," Dr. James informed everyone.
Louise then reached out for George and clung to him once again while she pushed with the next contraction.
"Easy, sweetheart. Easy," George whispered. "Just take your time, baby. Take your time. Take all the time you need. You don't have to push too hard. Just take it nice and slow. I don't want you to get hurt."
"You're doing great, Mrs. Jefferson," Dr. James assured her as the head emerged. "You did it, Mrs. Jefferson! You got the head out," she announced then. "If you both look up at the mirror on the ceiling now, you'll be able to see your baby's head."
They both looked up at the ceiling in that moment, and George cried out, "I see it, Weezy! I see it! I see it! I see her head! I see Sarah's head!"
"I see it too, George," Louise gasped as joyous tears streamed down her face.
"She's there, Weezy! She's right there!" George cried out as he began crying with his wife. He then looked over at Dr. James and asked, "Weezy didn't hurt herself when the head came out, did she?"
Dr. James shook her head and responded, "No, Mr. Jefferson. It's alright. The head came more slowly this time, so there wasn't any tearing."
"Oh, thank You, Jesus," George said with a huge sigh of relief. And then he leaned in and rested his forehead up against Louise's forehead and whispered, "I love you, Weezy. I love you so much."
"I love you too, George," Louise whispered, and then she gave him a kiss.
"Come on over here now, Mr. Jefferson, so you can catch your baby," Dr. James told him.
"Alright," said George, and then after leaning in and giving Louise a big kiss, he got up and went around to where Dr. James was sitting. "Nurse Mills, take Mr. Jefferson's place now. Come sit down on the bed where he was and let Mrs. Jefferson hold onto you when she needs to push again."
"Yes, doctor," said Nurse Mills, and then she sat down on the hospital bed in front of Louise. Dr. James then got up from her stool and let George sit there, and she handed him a very large pink towel to catch Baby Sarah in.
"It's probably only going to take one or two more pushes for Sarah to come out, and as Mrs. Jefferson is pushing, she'll just slide out into your arms," Dr. James explained.
"Okay," said George.
In the next moment, Louise started getting another contraction, and she held onto Nurse Mills just as she'd held onto George before, and she began pushing.
"That's it, Weezy! That's it! That's it! She's comin', Weezy! She's comin'!" George cried out, and in the next instant, Baby Sarah completely came out into her father's waiting arms, and she began to cry. And it wasn't long before her parents were crying with her. "She's out, Weezy! She's out! She's here!" George cried out as the sound of Baby Sarah's newborn cries filled the suite. "I've got her," George gasped as tears of pure joy streamed down both their faces.
"You both did such a wonderful job," Dr. James praised them with a couple of minutes later. "I am so proud of you guys."
"How does Sarah look, doctor? Is she okay?" asked Louise.
"Well as of right now, I can tell you that her color is excellent. And as you two can hear for yourselves, she's got some fine lungs." George and Louise laughed at that. "I'll clamp the umbilical cord now. Mr. Jefferson would you like to cut it?"
George nodded and replied, "Yeah, sure."
Dr. James then clamped Baby Sarah's umbilical cord and allowed George to cut it. Then after examining her and weighing her and getting her all dried off, Dr. James wrapped Baby Sarah up in a thick pink blanket and handed her back to her father. "Good news. Even though Baby Sarah was born a little early, her heart and lungs sound strong, and her heart rate and other vital signs are all good. She is five pounds, two ounces, and she's almost eighteen inches long."
"Can I hold her now?" Louise anxiously asked.
"Absolutely," Dr. James answered with a big smile. "Daddy, go take Baby Sarah to see Mommy."
"Here she is, Weezy," George said softly as he placed Sarah into Louise's arms.
"She's beautiful, George," Louise told him through her tears. "She's so beautiful."
"That's because she looks so much like you," George whispered, and then he kissed Louise's cheek as she continued gazing down into her newborn baby girl's priceless little face. As both parents stared down at their newborn baby daughter in those moments, they were in awe of her perfection, and they couldn't have been more grateful to God for her.
Over the next several minutes, as George and Louise kept gazing down into Baby Sarah's precious little face, the placenta came, and Dr. James had Nurse Mills dispose of it. And just a minute or so following the afterbirth, Louise's water broke a second time. Nurse Mills exchanged the wet pads and sheets underneath Louise for dry ones, and then Louise's contractions started up again. Shortly after her contractions resumed, Nurse Mills took Baby Sarah and placed her in a warm hospital bassinet nearby, and George sat on the hospital bed in front of Louise so that she could hold onto him when she needed to push.
"Good news, Mrs. Jefferson. I can already see Savannah's head," Dr. James announced.
"Oh, thank God. I did not want this one to take a long time," said Louise.
"We're almost there, sweetheart. We're right at the finish line. We're so close," George told Louise happily.
"I love you, George," Louise whispered.
"I love you too, Weezy. And I'm so proud of you. You're doin' such a great job."
"Oh, George," Louise gasped, and then she clung to George and started pushing.
"Easy, sweetheart. Easy. Don't push too hard," George whispered in her ear. "Try to take it slow, sweetheart. Just take it as slow as you can."
The contraction ended then, and Dr. James said, "You're doing great, Mrs. Jefferson. The head is coming. Just give me a very gentle push with the next contraction now, okay?"
Louise nodded, and then the next contraction started, and Louise clung to George and gave one very long but gentle push.
"Good job, Mrs. Jefferson. The head's out now," Dr. James informed them. "Look up at the mirror above and you'll see Savannah's head."
Louise and George looked up in that moment, and Louise cried out, "Oh, I see her, George! I see her! I see her sweet little head."
"Her little head is so beautiful," George gasped in awe at the sight of his second baby's head. "Oh Weezy, you are so special. You are so amazing. I love you so much," he said softly as more tears filled his eyes, and then he gave Louise a very big kiss. In the next moment, he turned his gaze to Dr. James and asked, "She didn't tear, did she?"
"No. She didn't tear at all, Mr. Jefferson," Dr. James assured him.
"Oh, thank God," George sighed.
"Mr. Jefferson, do you want to come sit over here like you did before and catch Savannah?"
George looked at Louise, and she nodded, and George replied, "Yeah. Yeah, Dr. James, I'm comin' now."
"Good," said Dr. James, and then she got up from her stool so George could sit there, and Nurse Mills came and sat down on the hospital bed, just like they did before. In the following moment, Dr. James gave George another big pink towel to catch the baby in, and then the next contraction started.
In the next several moments, Louise clung to Nurse Mills and pushed, and Baby Savannah came out into George's waiting arms.
"She's out, Weezy. I've got her," George announced, and then Baby Savannah let out a loud cry, and Dr. James and Nurse Mills cheered in the background as George and Louise just sobbed tears of joy.
Over the next few minutes, Dr. James clamped Baby Savannah's umbilical cord and allowed George to cut it, and then she gave Baby Savannah a thorough examination, and she soon announced to Louise and George that Savannah was just as healthy as her older sister. She also informed them that Baby Savannah weighed five pounds even and was very near eighteen inches long, just like Baby Sarah.
And then finally, the big moment came when Dr. James gave Baby Savannah, wrapped in another big pink blanket, back to her father, so that he could place her in the arms of her mother, who was waiting on pins and needles to hold her for the first time. Louise just cried as she gazed down into Baby Savannah's sweet little face over the next couple of minutes, and then she looked up at George and told him, "I want Sarah, too."
"Anything you say, Mommy," George said with a loving smile, and then he carefully picked Baby Sarah up out of her bassinet and placed her in Louise's free arm.
In the next few moments, the afterbirth came, and Dr. James and Nurse Mills disposed of it. And then, Dr. James told George and Louise, "We'll have you guys transferred to one of the suites in the maternity ward on the tenth floor in about half an hour or so. We can't allow your family to come and visit you down here since this place is top-secret."
George nodded and said, "We understand, Dr. James. Thanks," said George, and then she left.
George then got in bed beside Louise, and she gave him Baby Savannah to hold, since she was the closest to him, while Louise continued holding Baby Sarah.
"Thank you, Weezy," George whispered. "Thank you so much."
"For what?"
"For this. For all of it. For these priceless little baby girls. For letting me be here. For letting me watch them be born and catch them. For puttin' yourself through so much to bring them into the world. For bein' such an extraordinary human being. For everything."
"You're welcome," Louise whispered, and George lovingly kissed her forehead and leaned his head against hers. "When I first found out I was pregnant, I was so sure that this was the worst thing that could have happened to me. I was so terrified and devastated, knowing that I had to deal with cancer and a pregnancy all at the same time. I was so sure I was going to die. I was so sure I was going to have another miscarriage. But this just goes to show you, as long as you're trusting in Christ, nothing that seems really bad or really impossible stays that way forever."
"You're so right. I can't even begin to thank Jesus enough for all the miracles He's given me these past few months. He gave you back to me. He gave us your health back. He gave us the two most wonderful little girls in the world. I don't know why Jesus would give all these things to an old fool like me, but I'm so glad He did. I love you so much, Weezy. So much," George whispered as he looked into Louise's eyes, and she responded with a smile.
"I love you too, George," she whispered, and George leaned in once again and gave her a very long, warm kiss. And then they just reveled in the unbelievable pleasure of holding their babies. And in the unbelievable pleasure of their great, deep love for each other.