Chapter 10
Henry sat next to Elizabeth in the waiting room at the doctor's office. She fidgeted almost constantly, eventually pushing herself to stand as she paced the far end of the room. She was a week overdue and miserable didn't begin to convey how she felt. "McCord?" the nurse called from the doorway.
Henry stood and waited until Elizabeth made her way to the nurse. "How are we doing today, Elizabeth? Is this your husband?"
"Unfortunately, I'm still here. Yes. Marissa, this is Henry. Henry, this is Dr. Brooke's nurse, Marissa." She sucked in as deep a breath as she could, wondering when it happened that walking across a room winded her. She kicked out of her shoes and stepped up on the scale.
Henry sneaked a peek at the numbers. 160. That doesn't seem like a lot. Of course I don't know how much she weighed before becoming pregnant. He caught the nurse grimace and Elizabeth returned it.
"Henry, you can have a seat in Exam Room 2. Elizabeth will join you in a minute." Henry looked a bit confused. Elizabeth noticed immediately.
"I have to pee in a cup. You can join me if you like." She smirked at him as he shook his head.
"I think you can manage that one." Elizabeth appeared a few minutes later and sat on the end of the exam table. Henry moved to stand next to her. He rested one arm around her back and placed his other hand on top of hers, which was on top of her bump. "Thank you for letting me come with you today."
"I'm sorry. I should've been more receptive to you joining me. Mostly, I just felt like this was my burden. And I know you asked and your mom mentioned it more than once, but it just felt like something I needed to hide."
"I don't want you to hide anymore. Not this baby. Not being young and married. Nothing. You are an incredible person, Elizabeth and the world needs to know it." He moved to kiss her cheek and she turned her head so that he caught her mouth instead. He grinned against her lips and laced his fingers through hers. "I love you," he whispered. He felt her smile, but she didn't respond. One day she would be able to verbalize it. Until then, he would wait.
Marissa knocked and entered the room. She asked how Elizabeth was feeling and shared that her urine sample looked good and everything looked good. "Dr. Brooke will be in shortly. You're her next patient." She disappeared from the room and Henry looked around at the tiny exam room. There were a couple beach themed paintings on the wall and three medical posters-the female anatomy, the developing fetus, and something about gestational diabetes.
"Are you okay?" Elizabeth asked. Henry turned an nodded. "They don't do much at these appointments. The doctor is going to come in and tell me I've gained too much weight for this late in my pregnancy and measure my belly and tell me that the baby will come anytime." She sighed. "How can I wish that it would come right now and never at the same time?"
Henry thought about how to answer that, but was interrupted by a knock at the door followed by the entrance of the doctor. "Hi, it's Henry right? I'm Jennifer Brooke. It's nice to finally meet you." Henry gave Elizabeth a look.
"I'm glad I was able to make it. Our classes don't line up very well, so when Elizabeth can come, I'm usually not available."
The woman nodded and turned her attention to Elizabeth. "Looks like you gained four pounds since last Friday. That's quite a bit for this late in your pregnancy."
"If Henry's pasta wasn't so good, I wouldn't have this problem. Although it gives me terrible heartburn now."
Dr. Brooke seemed unmoved. "Good news is that the heartburn will almost certainly go away once Baby McCord isn't displacing all of your organs. Bad news is that it will just be more to lose later on." Elizabeth nodded as if she'd heard this lecture before. "Okay, let's lay you back," she said as she pulled out the end of the exam table for Elizabeth's legs. Elizabeth lay back on the crinkling tissue paper and Dr. Brooke fished a plastic tape measure from the pocket of her coat. She pressed down, putting the end on Elizabeth's pubic bone and stretched it over her belly, feeling around for the top of her uterus. "Looks like a ¾" increase. We should see baby anytime."
Elizabeth looked at Henry and grinned, causing him to chuckle. The doctor continued, unphased. "Is there anything else we need to talk about?"
"Well, I'm a week overdue. Is there anything we can do to get this process going? I'm really tired of being pregnant."
Dr. Brooke went through a short list of things that were thought to aid the start of labor, but ended it with "and sometimes babies come when babies want to come. If you want, we could strip your membranes?"
Henry moved to stand next to Elizabeth. "What does that mean, and what does it do?" He looked at Elizabeth who looked as lost as he did.
"I manually separate the amniotic sac from the uterine wall. It releases a hormone that stimulates contractions. In some women, it jumpstarts labor in as little as 24 hours." Henry's question must have been easily read from his facial expression. "I use my gloved hand."
"Oh," Henry said, looking at Elizabeth. She looked like she was about to be sick.
"Okay, let's do it," she said softly
Dr. Brooke pulled a gown from a lower cabinet. "You can just slip your bottoms off and put this gown on, opening to the back, and I'll be back in shortly." She tossed the gown onto a chair and helped Elizabeth sit up before disappearing.
Henry looked at Elizabeth. "Are you sure? It sounds painful."
"Henry. I'm about to squeeze a human through a slit that's normally the diameter of a quarter. I think this is the least painful of all the things that will be happening in the upcoming days." Henry just nodded, understanding her point.
"Should I stay or go? I'm not sure what you're comfortable with, and we haven't really talked about it." Elizabeth held out her hand and Henry helped down off the table. She stepped into the corner and pulled a cloth curtain around her. Shimmying out of her pants and underwear, she left them on the floor, both unwilling and unable to pick them up in the tight quarters. She slipped her arms through the holes and tried to wrap it around herself as best she could. Pulling the curtain back, she planned to pick up her clothes, but Henry jumped up and did it for her, laying the items on the chair.
"I'd like you to stay," she murmured. "For everything. I could do this by myself, but I don't want to." She reached her hand out toward him which he took. "Thank you."
"No babe. Thank you for allowing me in. I want to be part of this." He helped her sit back down on the exam table and then hugged her. He held her like that until Dr. Brooke returned.
Henry laid her back and she put her feet up in the stirrups. "This is the most compromising position ever," Elizabeth muttered.
Dr. Brooke laughed. "It's only going to get worse from here on out. Modesty becomes a thing of the past once you go into labor." She talked Elizabeth through the procedure and Henry took Elizabeth's had once it started.
Elizabeth felt a lot of pressure and there was pain, but not as much as she thought there might be, and then it was over. Only a couple minutes really. Before long, they were walking out of the office, hand in hand. "How are you doing?" Henry asked, noticing that Elizabeth was moving slower than she had been earlier in the day.
"I'm fine. Just exhausted. I'm so happy it's Friday and midterms are over. Maybe I can rest this weekend." Henry knew she was really worn out because she leaned into him without him stepping in to prompt her to do so.
They spent a quiet afternoon together, watching a bad TV movie while eating sandwiches for dinner. Elizabeth went to bed early to try and get some sleep before the baby started kicking, ending her rest for the night. Henry was putting his things away the the first time he heard her moan. He stood stock still and waited. There was nothing. He finished cleaning up and made sure the door was locked and went to get ready for bed. He heard her again while brushing his teeth.
Henry crept into Elizabeth's bedroom and watched her. She was still sleeping, her hand resting on her belly. The light from the street shone in through the cracks in the blinds, illuminating her face. She looked peaceful and calm and strikingly beautiful. He carefully sat on the edge of the bed and kept vigil.
He checked his watch and noted that it was roughly every ten minutes that she tensed, her mouth becoming a tight line. Sometimes she whimpered, but mostly not. It lasted for 30 seconds or so and then she visibly relaxed. Henry watched this cycle for about an hour before rising and making sure Elizabeth had clean clothes laying on the end of the bed and he placed her, already packed, bag near the front door. He was ready. When he could think of nothing else to do, he climbed in behind her to rest himself.
In her sleep, Elizabeth relaxed back into him and grabbed his hand, pressing it to her belly. Henry smiled. She was always more willing to accept his affection when she was sleeping. He supposed she was more relaxed and in tune with what she wanted when she was sleeping. He quickly prayed for her safety and the baby's and fell into a light slumber.
Elizabeth's dreams were all over the place. Moments of peace and calm followed by discomfort and eventually pain. She willed herself to stay asleep, relaxing when she felt Henry's presence. When the pain came frequently, she moaned loudly, waking. Henry was beside her, holding her hand.
"Good morning," he said. "How do you feel?"
"Like I slept forever, but not at all." Elizabeth was sure she had something funny to add, but the contraction gripped her entire body in a vise and she couldn't move or breathe. When it finally eased, she gasped, trying to catch her breath. Tears filled her eyes, but didn't fall. "I think we're going to have to go," she whispered.
"I'm right here. Don't forget that." Henry kissed her forehead and helped her to her feet. Elizabeth wanted to shower but when another contraction held her hostage for more than a minute, causing her to cling to Henry hoping he could keep her upright, they decided it was best to just go straight to the hospital.
Four hours later, Elizabeth lay in the hospital bed with her feet in stirrups, her body seemingly revolting against itself in what felt like a whole body muscle spasm. When it finally eased, she heard a voice. "Okay, Elizabeth, when the next contraction comes, you need to push." It was Dr. Brooke and she sat at the foot of the bed ready to deliver their baby.
Elizabeth had a fleeting thought that at some point in her life, she might have been embarrassed about having her legs spread open for view to the five people that roamed the room, but at this point she no longer cared. Coming back to reality, Elizabeth nodded taking in huge gulps of air and as she tried to steel herself for the next wave. Henry wiped her forehead with a damp cloth and she turned to look at him.
She had never seen him look so distraught. She reached up and touched his cheek. "Keep your eye on the prize McCord," she murmured. He kissed her forehead and wrapped his hand around hers as her muscles contracted, and she pushed.
Elizabeth felt like she'd run a marathon. Every single part of her body felt like it was beyond the point of exhaustion. She'd been pushing for an hour and didn't think she could go on. The contractions kept coming one on top of the other, and she just couldn't gather enough strength to push. "Come on baby, you can do it. Let's get it done." Elizabeth lay motionless as another contraction ripped through her and she could only lay there and take it.
"Doctor." Henry watched the nurse who was standing on Elizabeth's other side shift her eyes from Dr. Brooke to the monitor above Henry's head.
Dr. Brooke stood up and leaned over Elizabeth, causing Henry to wonder how he hadn't noticed her height before. She towered over them both, and he could honestly say he was a bit intimidated in that moment. She spoke, her voice low and commanding. "Elizabeth. I need you push and push hard. This needs to happen right now because if it doesn't, your baby will be in danger." Elizabeth rolled her head to the side and closed her eyes, taking a slow breath. "Do you hear me Elizabeth?"
Elizabeth didn't move, which caused Henry to move to plead with her, but one look from the doctor shut him down. "Look at me Elizabeth." Henry let out a sigh of relief when his wife turned her head and looked at the doctor. "This is your first lesson in motherhood. Being a mom is about doing whatever you have to do to protect your child. I don't care that you're tired. This baby doesn't care either, so it's time to get your head on straight and dig deep and push this baby out. You have about 3 minutes before I call to have them prep the OR and I don't think you really want to go that route if we can avoid it. Got it?" When Elizabeth didn't respond, the doctor looked to the nurse. "Call and have them prep OR2 for me."
"No," Elizabeth said, causing the doctor to turn back and look at her. "I'm fine." Elizabeth's tone of voice was nothing short of venomous and both the doctor and Henry recoiled.
"That's better. Now, let's do this." She moved back to her position at the foot of the bed and with the next contraction, Elizabeth rolled forward and pushed. "That's more like it. Hold it. Keep holding it. Relax." Elizabeth fell back against the pillows. "Again," Dr. Brooke said, and Elizabeth pushed again.
"Ahh," she moaned, her eyes closed, tears seeping out of them, dripping on her hospital gown. The burning was fierce, and just as she was about to give up, it stopped. Everything stopped.
"Babe," Henry whispered, his head against the side of hers. "Look." Just then she heard the wail of tiny baby lungs filled with air. The nurse had the baby around the chest vigorously rubbing all of the gunk off. Elizabeth's only thought was that looked terribly unsafe, but she couldn't vocalize that. She was too exhausted. Instead, she raised a hand toward the baby.
Henry noticed. "Can she see our baby?" he asked. The nurse nodded and quickly finished and moving toward them. She placed the baby facedown on Elizabeth's chest and pulled the sheet Elizabeth had across her stomach over them both. "We made a baby, Elizabeth." She nodded weakly. He grinned, "Do you think at some point we might want to find out if our baby is a boy or girl?" She smirked.
"Are you really that curious?" Henry just looked at her. "Fine," she murmured, looking down at the baby. "Daddy is impatient. I just pushed you out through an impossibly small opening and he's anxious to see if he's buying trucks or tutus."
"I might buy both regardless," he said, taking the blanket from the nurse before picking up the baby. "We've got a Benjamin Patrick, babe."
Elizabeth grinned in spite of her exhaustion. "I want us to raise him to be just like his dad." She pulled him down by his shirt and kissed him. "Thank you."