Chapter 42
Reba groaned as she felt a contraction coming on and she clutched her daughter's hand tightly. Cheyenne winced as her mother tried to break her hand. "Oh! Baby time!" Barbara Jean squealed as she watched Reba bent over in pain.
Reba turned her head toward Barbara Jean and glared. "I don't think you're helping Barbara Jean." Cheyenne said when she saw her mother's look. "What do we do?" Cheyenne asked a little panicked.
Reba breathed in and out, waiting for the contraction to pass. "We need to get to the hospital and call Vic as well."
"Okay mom. There is no need to panic, we have everything under control." Cheyenne said giving a strained smile. Cheyenne knew that if she didn't stay calm, her mother wouldn't stay calm and that wasn't good for neither her nor the baby.
Barbara Jean of course didn't think of trying to stay calm was necessary. "Let's go." Barbara Jean grabbed Reba hand and tried to pull her.
Reba glared and pulled her hand out of the woman's grasp. "I can't run and I am not about to even try to run. Labor could take hours. We just need to calm down and…ahhh." Reba screamed as she bent over in pain. She kept a firm hand on her daughter and grabbed Barbara Jean's hand as well. Both of them felt like their hands were being crushed.
"Is everything okay?" A concerned employee asked as they saw the scene unfold.
Cheyenne nodded and smiled. "My mother is in labor. We have to get to the car.
The employee eyes widened and it looked like she was about to panic as well. "Is there anything I can do? Do you need an ambulance called?"
Reba shook her head. "No, I just need to get to the car. Let's go." Cheyenne and Barbara Jean carefully led Reba out of the baby section of the store and to the escalator. "Ooo…" Reba groaned as she bent over, almost falling down the stairs.
Cheyenne quickly stood in front of her and made sure that didn't happen again. "Mom, just relax now, Barbara Jean and I have everything under control." Cheyenne said as they stepped off the escalator. Cheyenne tried to move a bit faster to the door because it seemed they were attracting a lot of attention and this wasn't what her mother needed right now.
They were only a few feet from the door when they were stopped by an old woman. "Reba, Cheyenne, how lovely to see you here."
Reba rolled her eyes. It was Mrs. Hersh, one of the older woman at Reba's church. Reba wouldn't have been a bit surprised if this was the woman who spread the rumors around about Reba having a drinking problem and drinking while she was pregnant. "Mrs. Hersh now is really not the time." She said. She hissed as she bent over as another contraction surged through her body.
Her eyes widened. "Oh, you're in labor." Reba nodded and had to fight the urge to hurt the little old lady. "Is there anything I can do?" she asked in a sweet voice.
"You can get the hell out of my way." Reba said with a groan. The woman's eyes widened and she stepped aside.
Cheyenne and Barbara Jean giggled as they walked out of the store and to where they parked the car. "That was great mom. I mean really…"
"I appreciate the compliments you are giving me right now but in all honesty I could care less about anything else other than getting this baby out of me, so please just don't talk to me, don't try and encourage me. Just call Vic and get me to the hospital on time." Reba said in her nicest voice possible but it wasn't coming out like that.
Cheyenne just nodded and helped her mother into the car. She helped Barbara Jean as fast as she could into the car and she ran around to the driver's side of the car. "Who is going to call Vic?" Reba asked as she tried to get herself to relax.
"I will." Barbara Jean announced as she dug in her purse for her cell phone.
"Good, his number is…"
Barbara Jean waved her off. "I already have his number. It's in my phone log."
Reba turned her head slightly and stared at her confused. "How do you have his cell phone number?"
"Never mind…now turn around and concentrate on you and the baby." Barbara Jean said firmly. Barbara Jean brought the phone up to her ear and waited for Vic to answer it.
"Hello?" He answered after about the fifth ring. Vic didn't want to answer the phone because he was in a meeting but it could be Reba and she was way more important. He was quite lucky he answered.
"Vic!" Barbara Jean yelled in the phone.
Vic had to hold the phone away from his ear. "What is it Barbara Jean? Now is really not a good…"
"Reba is in labor!" Barbara Jean said cutting him off mid-sentence.
Vic eyes widened. "She is?"
Barbara Jean rolled her eyes. "No this is a prank call! Of course she is in labor. I wouldn't have called you otherwise. Now get to the hospital…now!" she yelled. She hung up the phone and turned to Reba who was having another contraction.
Vic had just hung up the phone and smiled at the guys in business suits who were waiting impatiently for him to continue the meeting. Vic chuckled nervously and held up the phone. "I hate to cut this meeting short but I have to leave. That was my wife. She's in labor. I have go." Vic shot out of the office so fast before any of the people in the meeting room knew what was going on.
Meanwhile Barbara Jean was trying her best to calm Reba down, who was having another contraction on top of another. "Now let's imagine…birds…lovely birds…just singing along…cheap, cheap, cheap…"
Reba glared at Barbara Jean and placed a hand over her mouth as best she could from the front of the car. "Let's imagine drugs okay."
Barbara Jean frowned when Reba finally removed her hand from her mouth. "Reba, you can't use drugs to have the baby."
Reba scoffed and rubbed her stomach. "The hell I can't."
"I thought your plan was to have it natural. It could hurt the baby."
Reba rolled her eyes. "They have been giving epidurals to woman for years, now there is no way I am having this baby natural, not with the pain I am feeling."
Barbara Jean frowned. "What would Vic have to say about it?"
Reba scoffed at the sound of her husband's name. "Vic doesn't get to have a say. It's his fault I am going through this. Why did I have to marry that man?" Reba screamed as another contraction came on.
"Because you love him." Barbara Jean said with a smile.
"I am beginning to think I made a mistake."
Cheyenne had to giggle. She had seen her mother like this before. She couldn't really remember Kyra but she remembered how she was when she finally went into labor with Jake. She screamed at her dad and kept telling him not to touch her. At the time Cheyenne thought something was seriously wrong with her mother but once she went into labor she understood why her mother would yell like that and now it was just quite amusing, not amusing that she was in pain but the way she liked to yell at the soul person who was the reason she was in the pain.
Just as they were pulling into the parking lot of the hospital, Reba's cell phone rang. Reba glanced at the phone number and glared at it. "What do you want?" she asked coldly when she answered.
Vic, who was on the other line, was a bit taken aback. "I was only concerned with you. How are you doing?"
Reba hissed when she felt another contraction. "I would feel a lot better if you were here."
Vic grinned. "I wish I could be there right there too."
"I only want you here so I can bash your head in for doing this to me."
Van chuckled. "I will blame that on your pain but don't worry honey. I called because I'm tied up in traffic at the moment and I will be there as soon as I can, even if I have to abandon my car and just run. I promise you I will not miss this."
"You better not." She said warningly.
"I promise I will be there but how are you? Seriously, I need to know."
Reba sighed. "I am doing okay for now. We just pulled up and Cheyenne is circling the parking lot."
Vic furrowed his eyebrows together. "Why doesn't she just use the valet parking? They will do that for you."
Reba rolled her eyes. "I don't know. The contractions are slowing, I have noticed so I don't think I will be giving birth within in the next few minutes. We have time but I think she just is getting cheap like her father. She looks so much like Brock and she has his personality, it was only a matter of time before she started to get his cheapness. Although I am sure her shoe splurging will cure that."
Vic chuckled. "Well, honey, were moving. I would stay on the line but…"
Reba smiled. "I know. I will keep you posted though on anything that happens until you get here. I will see you soon. I love you."
"I love you too."
"Bye." Reba flipped the phone shut and she finally noticed Cheyenne who was waiting to help her out of the car. Reba smiled. "Sorry."
"It's okay. You're the one in labor. Come on."
Reba cringed as she stood up. She bent, placing her hands on her knees, trying to calm herself. "Someone needs to call Dr. Parks and the rest of the family."
"Already done." Barbara Jean said smiling. "I called them while you were so engrossed with talking to Vic. Van and Brock will be here as soon as they can. Kyra promised to stay with Danny and pick up Elizabeth when it was time. She also volunteered to wait for Jake as well. She is such a good kid."
Reba scoffed and nodded. "Yeah, now she becomes a good kid. Where was her maturity when I was trying to raise her as a teen?"
"Is this really the time to be worrying about stuff like that?"
Reba nodded and sat up and started walking towards the front hospital doors. "You're right, let's go. I just want this kid out of be already." Reba breathed with relief. She was afraid though because her contractions were slowing just a bit. She knew there was no turning back because her water had broke but she just had to wonder how long it would take the baby to actually decide to make an appearance.
Reba smiled and waddled up to the front desk. "Hi, I'm Reba Mariano…My water broke." She said casually.
The receptionist was quite surprised Reba was so calm but she just nodded and logged Reba into the computer. She had an orderly bring around a wheel chair and Reba eased herself in it. "Are you going to need a chair too?" the orderly asked when he saw Barbara Jean.
She shook her head and smiled. "Oh no, I'm fine."
"Let's roll." He said. Reba smiled and shook her head as he wheeled her down the hall to her room. Barbara Jean and Cheyenne closely followed behind. "How are you doing?" he asked as he wheeled her into the comfortable birthing room.
"The contractions are slowing a bit. They went from about five minutes and then shot to ten but now their closing in on about twelve minutes apart."
The orderly smiled and set a gown on her bed after he helped her out of the chair. "You need to change into this gown. The nurse will be in soon to check on you and hook you up to a monitor."
"Thank you." Reba said with a smile.
The orderly left and Barbara Jean and Cheyenne walked in. "So, this is exciting." Cheyenne said, not able to contain it any longer.
Reba rolled her eyes and grabbed the gown from the bed. "Exciting for you maybe but not for me. I have to change." Reba walked into her small private bathroom and quickly changed into her hospital gown. She exited the bathroom to find the nurse setting up a fetal monitor.
The nurse looked up and smiled when she saw Reba enter. "Hello Mrs. Mariano. I am Nurse Becky. I will be assisting Dr. Parks today."
"Hello." Reba said as she sat down on the bed.
Nurse Becky smiled as she helped Reba get into a comfortable position on the bed. "How are you feeling? How are your contractions?" She asked as she checked Reba's stomach.
Reba shrugged. "They are slowing down a bit."
The nurse nodded and checked her watch as she continued to check Reba's stomach. "How long ago did your water break?"
Reba sighed and thought about it for a moment. "I would say about twenty minutes ago, maybe half an hour."
The nurse nodded as she felt Reba's stomach just a bit more and then she smiled down at Reba. "With the position of your baby it looks like you're going be here for a while, so just relax. Now let's get you hooked up to the monitor and then we will see exactly how far along you are."
They hooked Reba up to a monitor and then Reba forced Barbara Jean and Cheyenne to leave the room as the nurse checked to see how far along she was. "You're about five centimeters but everything looks good. I think we can invite your family back in."
"Do we have to?" Reba asked, not kidding.
The nurse chuckled. "It will be okay. If you do want them to here at anytime just call for me or the orderly and we will remove them."
Reba laughed at that. "Thanks, I guess you can let them in." The nurse smiled and stepped outside. A couple of seconds later Barbara Jean and Cheyenne entered with Van and Brock shortly behind them. Reba groaned. "Why did you have to bring them?"
"We wanted to be here for you Mrs. M. I can't wait to see my new…sister or brother-in-law. That's weird."
Reba chuckled and rubbed her stomach gently as she felt another contraction coming. "It's true what they say. You always forget the pain; of course it has been almost fourteen years since I've been through this."
"Just breathe mom." Cheyenne said as she pulled a chair up to her mother's bed side.
Reba glared at her daughter. "Do not tell me to breathe. I will breathe if I feel like it."
"How long do you think you'll be here?" Brock asked, trying to change the subject.
Reba shrugged. "I don't know. The nurse said a while. I just hope this kid isn't another Kyra. I can't handle that many hours of labor again. Why are you guys here? I'm not trying to be mean but I will be here for quite a while. Maybe just Cheyenne should stay. The rest if you should go home."
Van frowned. "We want to be here when the little one shows up."
Reba shook her head. "I will call you when I am ready but the nurse said it will be quite a while and sitting here bored out of your minds won't do any good. Just go home and if you don't…" Reba said with a smile and holding up the nurse button. "I will call the nurse and she said will be happy to escort anyone I didn't want in the room out."
Brock shook his head and rolled his eyes. "You promise you'll call?" Barbara Jean asked with a frown. She really wanted to be by her best friend's side but if Reba didn't want her there she shouldn't upset her by fighting to stay.
Reba nodded. "Yeah, just home, Barbara Jean, you should rest too."
"It isn't fair." Barbara Jean wined. "I want to go into labor. I hate being pregnant."
Reba chuckled. "Yeah me too, I just wish this baby would hurry up but don't worry Barbara Jean I will call you." Barbara Jean rushed over and gave her best friend a big hug and then was ushered out by her husband and Van. Reba rolled her eyes and turned to smile at her daughter. "I can't believe they left so easily. I thought I would have to call the nurse and get security in here or something."
Cheyenne chuckled and held her mother's hand. "How are you feeling?"
Reba smiled. "I'm doing okay. I wish Vic was here but I'm doing okay."
Cheyenne patted her mother's hand and let go. "I know. He will be here soon. He wouldn't miss this." Reba nodded and fell silent. She looked around the room and sighed. It would be better if he was here. She would be more comfortable and she would have someone to blame. "Are you scared?" Cheyenne asked breaking the unbearable silence.
Reba's head shot towards her daughter but she wasn't going to be able to hide the fact that she was a little scared. "I am a little. I mean, no matter how many children you have its always frightening."
"I know but I am talking about your blood pressure and…"
"Dr. Parks said I am fine." Reba said, reassuring her daughter and herself. "She said I did everything right and that everything should be fine." Reba said with a smile.
Cheyenne nodded. "But even if you did everything right you're still a high risk and…"
Reba chuckled. "Cheyenne are you trying to scare or…"
"I'm sorry mom." Cheyenne said with a smile. "I'm just worried and…" Cheyenne paused for a moment. "I think I'm going to call Vic, see if he is any closer to getting here." Cheyenne said nervously. She stood up and was about to walk out until the door opened and in walked Van.
Reba glared at him. "I thought I said for you to go home."
"Yeah I would but I thought I would let you know that Barbara Jean is in labor."
Reba's eyes widened. "What?"
Van nodded. "Yup, we got as far as the parking lot and then she smacked Mr. H in head from the pain she was suddenly feeling."
Reba relaxed her head against the bed. "This is turning out to be some day isn't it?"
Cheyenne laughed. "That's for sure. I am going to call Vic. Van stay with mom."
Before Reba could stop Cheyenne she left and Van nervously sat down in the chair that Cheyenne once occupied. Reba felt another contraction and this one hit her hard. She gripped her stomach and Van seemed to become even more nervous. He didn't know what to do. This was his mother-in-law but she was more like a mother to him and he did care about her but what were his limits. Should he hold her hand and let her squeeze the life out of it? Should he give her words of encouragement or should he just sit there?
"Van…" Reba said, still wincing as she. She knew he was uncomfortable. She figured she would get him out of here and make him useful. "Can you go and get me some ice chips please?" Van nodded and Reba chuckled as he practically ran out of the room to find some ice chips.
Reba rubbed her stomach gently and leaned back to close her eyes. She was happy to finally be alone. She could relax, reflect, whatever she needed to do before Vic and the rest of her family showed up and fussed over her. She didn't like that. At that moment she didn't want to be touched or fussed over. She was always like this when she was in labor. She just hated being around people. She did hope Vic would get here soon. He wouldn't want to miss the birth of his first child. It was quite an experience.
She would never forget when she first held Cheyenne. She had pain and she was dumb enough to have the baby natural but once they placed that baby into her arms, all the pain of that day went away. It was pretty much the same with her other two children and she knew this child wouldn't be any different. She couldn't wait to hold her baby. She already loved him or her and she couldn't wait to bring them into the world.
Reba was going through another contraction when the door burst open and in walked Vic, completely out of breath. "Hey." Reba said breathlessly.
Vic smiled and went straight to her side. "How are you?"
"Having a contraction, which causes severe pain but I'm great." She said sarcastically. Vic immediately took her hand but soon regretted it for Reba squeezed it tightly and wouldn't let go. She finally relaxed and Vic moved his hand and held it in front of his face. It was red and sore. How could a small woman like her produce so much pain? "Why were you out of breath?" Reba asked when she finally regained her composure.
"Oh, I ran here."
Reba's eyes widened. "You didn't leave your car in the middle of the road did you?"
Vic chuckled and shook his head. "No, I only made it two blocks from the office before I decided there was too much traffic. I drove it back to the office and left the car there. I ran the way here."
"You ran the whole way here?" she asked sympathetically. He nodded, still a bit out of breath. "I know you run every day but that's a pretty far run."
Vic shook his head and scooted closer to her bedside. "Right now, my only concern is you."
Reba smiled. He was so sweet. She then glanced at the door. "Where is Van with my ice chips?"
It was about an hour later Reba was still lying in bed. Dr. Parks had finally showed up half an hour ago to check on her and she was still the same and according to Cheyenne Barbara Jean was apparently moving quite fast, her kid didn't want to wait. Reba was getting more excited with each contraction because they were becoming closer and closer together.
Vic didn't mind anymore Reba holding his hand, mainly because it was now numb from all the squeezing she was doing to it but he was happy to be there for her any way he could because he couldn't do what she was doing. He wished he could take over for her. He hated to see her in pain but there was nothing he could do.
"Well…" Dr. Parks said excitedly as she stood up and removed her gloves. She had just finished checking Reba. "You are progressing quite well." She said as she washed her hands. "The baby is now moving quickly and you are eight centimeters. I have a couple of other patients to check on and I will come back to you, hopefully by that time we can start pushing." Dr. Parks left quickly.
Reba made and face. "Why did she say we can push? No one pushes anything but me. I have to endure the pain and…"
"Reba, she didn't mean anything by it." Vic said, trying to calm her down.
Reba glared at him. "Right now is not the time to disagree with me."
"Sorry." He mumbled.
Just then Brock burst through their door with a huge grin on his face. "It's a boy!" He beamed.
"What?" Reba asked shocked.
Brock nodded. "It's a boy! Seven pounds, six ounces!" Vic stood and gave Brock a congratulated hug. "I have to get back to Barbara Jean but I just had to come and tell you." Brock quickly left back to his wife.
Vic turned back to Reba. She looked sad. "This isn't fair." She simply stated.
"What?" he asked, sitting down next to her.
"I've been here longer than she and she already had her baby."
Vic chuckled and took her hand into his. "You were only here about a half an hour ahead of her." Reba still pouted. Vic kissed her hand and put his other on her stomach. "The baby gets to decide okay, the longer he or she waits only proves how stubborn he or she is."
"Something they get…"
"From their mother." Vic finished for her.
Reba glared. "I was going to say from you."
"Well…"
Vic was about to retort when Dr. Parks came in. "Hello Reba, how are we?"
Reba shrugged. "The contractions are about four minutes apart now." Reba said cringing as another one came on. Vic held her hand and Reba tried to practice her breathing, which wasn't helping. She wondered who ever came up with breathing deeply as a technique to ease contractions, probably a man because it didn't seem to be working for her. "Let's check to see where you are." The doctor quickly checked Reba and then smiled. "You're fully dilated. We're going to push on the next one."
Reba, for the first time, breathed a sigh of relief, the end was in sight. "This baby moved pretty quickly." Dr. Parks commented. "When I first checked on you I was sure we would be here for most of the day."
"Hey…" Cheyenne said, entering with Van following close behind her.
Reba was so happy, at that moment that the door was to her far right instead of right in front of her. Vic shot up and ushered them out. "She's about to push, you guys just wait outside."
"So, have you picked out any names yet?" Dr. Parks asked as she prepared herself with new gloves.
Reba cringed and clutched Vic's hand. "As much as I appreciate the small talk Dr. Parks, I feel the need to push."
Dr. Parks quickly went to Reba. "All right Reba, this is it, you need to push."
Reba squeezed her husbands hand and pushed with all her might. She had decided after all not to have any kind of help and now she was sincerely regretting it. "You're doing great honey." Vic said, kissing her already sweaty forehead.
Reba pushed him away and continued to push with all of her might. "You can rest." Dr. Parks said a moment later.
Reba collapsed back onto the bed and closed her eyes for just a second. She was already exhausted. "You're doing wonderful sweetheart but I want you to know that if I could help you I would."
"You really want to help me?" she asked harshly. Vic nodded and smiled. "Then don't ever come near me again."
Reba thought she had just closed her eyes when she heard, "All right Reba one more big push." Reba pushed with all her might and didn't stop until she heard the beautiful cry of a new baby fill the room. She smiled with tears in her eyes and collapsed back onto the bed out of pure exhaustion.
End of Chapter