Chapter 4: Almost There
Later
20 minutes later, Kel pulls into his driveway. He throws open the car door and runs for the house. He runs into the door, painfully remembering that he had locked it when he left. He pulls his keys from his pocket and unlocks the door.
Dixie is pacing the floor, back and forth. She's had another contraction, 25 minutes after the first one. She turns to the door when she hears Kel's key in the lock. He suceeds in opening the door, this time. He comes in and hurries over to her.
"I'm fine, Kel," she say by way of a greeting, slightly exasperated.
"Come on," he says, much too excited. "We're going to Rampart."
Giving him one of her signature eye rolls, Dixie allows him to lead her out to the car. On the way out, he grabs the suitcase that he packed two weeks ago and stashed in the coat closet. Dixie notices, and shakes her head with a smile.
He throws the suitcase in the back seat, and opens the passenger side door. She climbs in, slowly, but refusing Kel's assistance. Giving up, he walks around the front of the car and climbs into the driver's seat.
"Kel," Dixie sighs. She's the one in labor, and yet she's much calmer than her usually-unflappable husband. "You're an ER doctor, for God's sake. One of the best doctors in the country. Why are you freaking out."
"Dix," he says, "this is not some medical emergency like a cardiac arrest. You are MY wife, this is MY child, and this is NOT my field of expertise."
She keeps talking, trying to reason with him, until another contraction hits and she can no longer find the words.
"Are you keeping track?!" Kel practically screams.
"20...minutes," she replies, breatless from the pain.
"We're almost there, Dix," he says, calmer now. "Almost there." His voice drops to a whisper. He is finally begining to realize what it all means. This is real. He, Kelly Joseph Brackett, is going to be a father.
They pull into Rampart's main parking lot. Kel helps Dixie out of thw car and over to the main entrance. They walk through the big double doors, and he calls for a wheel chair. The entryway of the main hospital is huge compared to the ER that they are both used to. A nurse, unfamiliar to the two of them, comes over with a wheelchair. When they see Joe Early walking towards them, they both sigh.
"I called your OB, Dix," Joe says. "He'll be here any minute."
"Thanks, Joe," she replies, settling into the chair.
Joe and Kel wheel her to the elevator and get her into a room. Then Joe has to return to Emergency. They're already short a doctor since Kel had to leave.
"Thanks so much, Joe," Kel nods to his best friend.
"Sure thing," Joe smiles. "Come get me when the baby is born."
"Oh, he will," Dixie says, teasing.
After another contraction, Dixie's OB arrives. No sooner had Kel and the doctor gotten her into a gown and settled, another contraction forced her water to break.
After that, the contractions were very frequent and they got her to a delivery room quickly. Kel scrubbed in so he could stay with her.
"Almost there, Dix" he whispers in her ear as she lies on the gurney. "Almost there."