Chapter 13

Brother and friend ran for the house hand in hand to find Brother in Law standing in the hall way pulling at his hair. "I was trying to time the contractions but the last one didn't finish before the next one started."

"I was afraid this might happen," Laura shook her head with a calm smile.

"Mike, can you drive? I'm too nervous. The hospital is half hour away."

"More than that buddy, it's rush hour." Mike exclaimed significantly calmer than his brother in law but not quite as calm as Laura.

"We're not going anywhere," Laura instructed with a giggle. "You," she pointed to the expectant father, "Stay with her and keep her calm. Slow your breathing down or you're going to pass out and miss all the fun. "You," she pointed to Mike, "I need something I can use to suction out the baby's airway. You," she pointed to the expectant Grandmother "I'll need a couple of towels, toss them in the dryer and get them warm for me. And you," she pointed to Sarah, "Go call an ambulance." Stepping into the room she looked at the mother in heavy labor, "you, Breath, I'm going to go wash my hands good and I'll be right back."

Mike ran to his truck for the first aid kit there knowing it had at least some of the stuff Laura was going to need and returned to find his sister on the phone and Laura in the bathroom vigorously scrubbing her hands with a heavy lather of soap. "Have you done this before?"

"I've assisted the paramedics a couple of times."

"A seasoned pro it sounds like. Do you by any chance have any sterile gloves in that thing?" She asked nodding toward the first aid kit in his hands.

"A couple of pair."

"Good, with this infection in my shoulder I don't want to take any chances." She rinsed her hands and shook them dry, "Get scrubbed up and don't take to long, Uncle." Laura took the first aid kit from Mike and headed for the bedroom.

Mike followed Laura's example and scrubbed his hands thoroughly and by the time he was at Laura's side the baby was crowning. His modesty made him feel a little uncomfortable seeing that part of his sister's anatomy but his professional side took over when he asked, "What do you want me to do?"

"Can you pull out what ever suction device you have and then get me a set of vitals on your sister?"

"Sure thing" Mike placed a large syringe on the bed near Laura's elbow and moved with blood pressure cuff in hand to follow his instructions. He had just taken her wrist to count a pulse when.

"Don't push, don't push, breath, keep breathing, this little monkey's been playing jump rope in there and forgot to duck his head." Laura could be seen grimacing as she moved her shoulder.

"Mike I need you," She called and Mike hurried back to her other side. "Break out the clamps we're going to have to cut the cord. I can't get it to slip over the head. Hang in there Momma, keep breathing."

Mike pulled the package containing some plastic clamps and umbilical tape from his box and opened it up for Laura dumping it out on a clean cloth on the bed.

"Is that all you got?" Laura looked at Mike, "I need something with a longer handle."

Mike franticly fumbled around in his first aid kit and came up with a pair of long handled clamps but only one pair.

"That will have to do," she took the tool from his hands and quickly placed it on the cord, "Mike I need you to hold the cord here." She pointed. "Make sure you hold it tight this kid can't afford to loose very much blood at this point."

Mike did as he was told and Laura cut the cord and then proceeded to unwrap the cord around the baby's neck, once, twice, three times, five times the cord had been wrapped around the kid's neck. She then proceeded to suction the air way.

"Okay Mellissa one good push, come on, here we go," Laura coached.

Grandma appeared in the doorway at the same time sirens could be heard, "I have the towels but I didn't know if you needed blue of pink so I brought both."

"Blue," Laura answered then with out looking away from the baby, "Mike I need oxygen fast!" The baby wasn't crying yet.

Mike bushed from his squat to his feet and sprinted out the front door and to the curb, as soon as the squad pulled up he was pulling at the compartment door where he knew the oxygen was stored. "we need this fast," he explained to the stunned paramedic getting out of the squad as he grabbed the oxygen system and started to run, "First right through the door and at the end of the hall way," he called over his shoulder as he carried the heavy tank and ran ahead of them.

Mike shouldered his way between his mom and sister and was at Laura's side, familiar with the equipment he pulled a mask off and turned the oxygen on as Laura took the mask from his hand and placed it over the baby's face while she proceeded to massage his chest and suction mucus from his mouth and nose. Just as the paramedics reached the doorway a cry sang out followed by loud sighs from one nurse and one fireman. The rest followed through with their sighs as Grandma stepped forward to try and calm the baby.

"No, let him cry," Laura instructed, "It's the best way for him to fill his lungs." Laura then turned her attention to the paramedics standing in the doorway. "Welcome to our little birthday party we kinda started with out you."

"So it appears," one of the paramedics responded letting Laura's t-shirt be her credentials at the moment.

"Now were you the ones bringing the cake?" Laura joked before assigning. "Can one of you boys get a set of vitals on the mother? We might need to start and IV."

Until the ambulance arrived Laura called out instructions and as soon as Mellissa was moved over to the gurney Laura placed the bundled baby boy in her arms. "Watch those APGAR scores on the way in." She instructed as mother and baby were loaded.

Grandma, Aunt Sarah, and Papa Marty climbed into a car and followed the ambulance as Laura and Mike stood by and watched. "Well Uncle Mike, that was good work in there, now we better go clean up the mess we made."

Mike did his best to keep Laura from stretching her arm or lifting more than he thought she should but was only marginally successful. When the last of the blankets from the bed made it to the washing machine Mike was quick to sit Laura down with a couple of fresh ice packs on her shoulder.

"I really expected this beast to be feeling better than this by now," Laura confessed. "Since I've done what I came here to do I should probably head back in the morning and get the Dr. to look at it again."

"I'll take you." Mike was quick to offer.

"I can take a bus, there's no reason for you to leave your family."

"I'm headed home tomorrow anyway. Now that the baby's here no one's going to have time for me," Mike informed his guest. "And I'm afraid I don't get as excited about changing diapers and clothes as my mom and sisters do."

"You're not jealous are you?" Laura chided the fireman.

"No, I'm not jealous, I just don't know what to do now except buy the kid a teddy bear." Mike tried to put his feelings in to words. "It's not like I'll be given a chance to play with him till he's older."

"No he won't be playing ball for a while yet," Laura agreed.

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Back at Station fifty one five men lined up for roll call and Hank didn't miss the books that two of them were holding behind their back. It seamed that his two paramedics' curiosity had been peaked enough to purchase their own copies of 'keep the rescuers rescuing,' and at least one of them held a finger between the pages in the general area of chapter 23.

Hank handed out cleaning assignments and proceeded to make sure the replacement engineer was familiar with fifty ones particular engine. As they walked through the knobs and gages Hank kept his hearing tuned on the paramedics as they compared thoughts on the book more than they counted supplies.

When he was sure the engineer knew how to get water from the engine he left with Chet to go hang some hose and Hank turned his full attention to his paramedics.

"I see you two have decided to do a little reading." He started the conversation as he leaned against the squad.

"It's a really good book Cap." Roy responded to his Captain's remark.

"And your comments about us were a real compliment, thanks Cap," John added.

"Yeah, thanks for the compliments," Roy confirmed.

Hank blushed a little but looked at his paramedics sternly. "What ever you do don't let Kelly read chapter 23. If you know what I mean."

"Oh don't worry Cap," Roy was quick to answer.

"We'd never dream of it." Johnny finished for him.

"See to it that you don't or we'll all be hating life around here."

As Captain Stanley stepped into his office to get going on his paperwork Marco covertly snuck around the back of the squad. "Quick guys, what's in Chapter 10?"

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It was mid morning when Mike was finally able to pull himself away from his mother.

"Thank you so much for what you've done to help our family heal." Mom said to Laura before she was allowed to climb in the truck. "And for delivering my Grandson safely, things were a little scary there for a moment."

"That's why the doctor's don't recommend home deliveries," Laura offered. "He should be just fine now though."

"I hope we meet up again some time." Mom offered and then finally allowed Laura to climb into her son's truck. Laura didn't make any statement concerning Mike's mother's parting words.

The ride was quiet for the first while then Laura started asking Mike how he was feeling now. He still felt like he was being psycho analyzed but it wasn't as unwanted as it had been before. Still he turned the tables.

"You said that you were married once. What happened?"

"It was a mistake that never should have happened." Laura answered after a moment of silence. "We both realized that before the honeymoon was over. I guess I just wanted to be with someone after my first big earthquake. I was so traumatized by everything I saw. I wasn't prepared for all the death and suffering. Scott and I worked well together He was a doctor and I was a nurse. I thought getting married would make everything alright again. There was just nothing between us out side of working together. And the memories didn't go away."

Mike was trying to think of something else to ask Laura before she started quizzing him again but it was just about then that he was detoured off the highway because of an accident and when he made it to the on ramp to get back on the traffic was so backed up that he decided to travel off highway for a ways further. There were several others who had the same thought process making traffic frustrating but it was an eighteen wheel truck and a fully loaded school bus a head that proved to be all that Mike could see.

For reasons they never would figure out the semi tractor and trailer swerved into the bus and before motion came to a complete halt the bus was on it's side and the semi was jack knifed around it. Mike was able to stop his truck in plenty of time but both he and Laura could hear the calls for help from with in the bus and there was no way they could deny them aid.

Mike watched the pain in Laura's face as she pulled herself up on to the bus. She was using her sore shoulder as little as possible but she couldn't avoid it all together. The hardest part for him was knowing he had to just let he do what she was doing no mater how much pain she was in.

A store keeper came out reporting that he had called the fire department and that help was on the way but as Mike looked back at the traffic that was packed around them he knew it was going to take them time to get through. He and Laura were on their own and his small first aid kit wasn't going to go nearly far enough.

"This bus is full to capacity," Laura called down once she had looked through a window. "There's a window open near the front of the bus I'm going to climb in there."

"I'll check on the other driver," Mike informed as he ran around the semi. He didn't have to even check for a pulse the other driver was so obviously dead. Mike was soon climbing up on the bus to offer what ever help he could to Laura.

"How's the other driver," Laura asked looking up from a patient midway down the bus. Mike just shook his head and she nod hers to show her understanding. "The capacity listed in the front of the bus is 120 and as far as I can tell there wasn't an empty seat. The most sever injuries are on the bottom of the heap, if you can get that windshield out I think we can start moving some of the less injured so that we can get to them."

"I'm on it." Mike jumped from the bus and ran to his truck to get his tire iron and his jack. Glancing in both directions he could hear sirens in the distance but all he could see were a couple of police cars. 'Hopefully they would be able to clear a path for the engine and squads,' Mike thought as he hurried back and climbed up on the bus again. Knowing it was going to be safer to push the windshield out from the inside Mike lowered himself in through the open window, a tight squeeze, being very careful not to step on any of the victims as he found footing.

"Okay everybody I'm with the county fire department we're going to get you out of here as fast as we can, so just hang tight and don't move." Mike called out as he carefully stepped between the victims making his way to the front of the bus. The bus driver was regaining consciousness just as he reached the front and Mike carefully knelt at his side to assure him all was being taken care of before draping a jacket to protect his face from any flying glass. Mike then proceeded to break the seal around the edge of the windshield in preparations of pushing it out. He was just starting to push when a police officer started talking to him through the windshield.

Mike pulled his wallet from his back pocket and flashed his badge and Id through the window. "We have approximately 120 kids on this bus can you radio that in and tell them to send all the man power and ambulances they can." Mike informed the police officer what was needed most from him at that moment. "Do you know the ETA of the engine?"

"They're working their way here on foot now."

"Can you get them working on popping the back exit so we can start evacuating there too?"

"Sure thing,"

The first of the firemen arrived in time to help Mike pull the windshield from the bus and while they were doing that Mike called to the back of the bus where Laura was working. "The cavalry is here what do you need?"

"First thing I need is less bodies," Laura called back, "then I'll need C-collars, and back boards, at least six of them and some IV's, probably ringers. I'll let you know after that."

Mike looked to the fire captain on the other side of the windshield to see if he heard and as soon as he pulled his HT up to his mouth and started barking out orders Mike started pushing on the windshield.

With the front and back now open and fire crews and paramedics working on the victims in that area Mike and Laura set up in the middle of the bus. Mike was able to tape a blanket up to catch the broken glass and crews shattered the side windows Mike was then able to splint the more minor injuries and lift them up as Laura tackled the more sever.