Ryan was losing all feeling in his hands Cara was squeezing them so tight.
Cara had gone into full labour moments after he took the pan of boiling water from the hob. Bianca shouted for him and he came running. Ryan was now acting as Cara's birthing partner. Both of her hands were gripped tightly in his as she leant back into his shoulder between contractions. He tried to offer encouragement and help her with her breathing but after thirty minutes, Cara's groans and cried of pain were making him feel queasy.
"You are doing great." said Bianca looking up from her position between Cara's knees. "I can almost see the head."
Cara groaned and smiled, trying to control her breathing.
"Okay with the next contraction I want you to really push."
Breathless, Cara nodded dumbly.
"Are you okay Ryan?" Bianca asked noticing for the first time that Ryan was looking a little green around the gills. "Do you need to step away?"
"No, no. I got this." he said feeling a little ashamed about the effect all this was having on him. After all Cara was the one in actual pain.
"Okay NOW!" gasped Cara with a cry, before she began to push with the next contraction.
Bianca disappeared once more between Cara's legs.
"That's it, keep pushing, keep pushing." Bianca called back. After a moment she looked up, "I've got the head, one big push."
Cara let out guttural scream as she pushed with all her might until the contraction eased. And then fell back against Ryan gasping for breath once more, totally spent.
"You are doing amazingly." Ryan said looking down at her. Cara looked up at him but was still too exhausted to speak.
"I've got the shoulders. One more push is all it will take." said Bianca encouragingly.
"Is everything all right?" asked Cara, worried now that her baby was so close.
"It's fine, you're doing fine." said Bianca, "And I can tell you that your baby had already got your hair. One more push and I can get a look at the rest of her... or him."
The contraction came fast and Cara pushed almost curling up in effort, letting out a long painful shriek. Then she fell back all the tension gone from her body, her work done.
"It's a boy." said Bianca looking up with a grin. She grabbed a clean towel from the pile Ryan had brought them earlier and set to work at cleaning up the new-born baby.
Cara was still gripping tightly to Ryan's hands.
"Is he okay, he's not crying."
"He's breathing." said Bianca and as if on cue a loud wail escaped from the new-born's lips. "There you go."
Cara let go her iron grip as she relaxed at the sound. Ryan flexed his numb fingers.
Bianca grabbed another towel from the pile to wrap the baby in.
"He's perfect." said Bianca as she handed Cara her son. "See he's already got your hair."
Cara looked down lovingly at her beautiful son; he did indeed have a full head of thick black hair.
"My baby." sighed Cara mesmerised by the sight of him. She looked back up at Bianca. "Thank you so much."
Bianca grinned,
"Hey, you did all the hard work."
"Do you have a name yet?" Ryan asked, still a little shell shocked from the miracle he had just witnessed.
"I talked to David about names." said Cara, reaching out to place a finger in one of her son's tiny reaching hands. "Say hello to Charles… Charlie."
"Charlie Castillo." said Bianca trying it out for size. "I like it."
"I want to do something for you." said Cara looking back to Bianca. "For all you've done. If you hadn't been here..."
"You would have had Ryan" said Bianca half-jokingly.
Both Cara and Ryan gave a nervous laugh.
"No, believe me I'm glad you were here as well." said Ryan.
Cara looked down once more to her son.
"Charles, David, Montgomery, Castillo." said Cara, trying out the name.
Bianca shook her head.
"Not that I'm not honoured. I am; deeply, deeply honoured but don't think Montgomery really suits him."
"Well what was your father's name?" asked Cara.
"He doesn't look like a Travis either." said Bianca.
Bianca looked around the room for inspiration and a photograph caught her eye.
"How about Zack… Zachary. He is someone who deserves to be remembered." said Bianca.
Cara looked across at the photograph of Kendall's husband. A man she knew was well respected in Pine Valley. A good man and a loving father - the perfect inspiration for her son.
"What about Kendall, would she mind?"
"Kendall will love it." said Bianca earnestly.
Cara looked down at her beautiful baby boy.
"Charles, David, Zachary, Castillo." she said with a smile. "Welcome to Pine Valley."
…
Thanks guys for all the baby names it was sooo hard to choose.
I loved all the suggestions for the middle names and the reasons why, and so I have combined a few.
And as for the first name, in the end I had to put all the names in a hat and pull one out I just couldn't decide.
So a huge, enormous thank you to kmon1, CurlyAkemy, AMCGL7, dimmingsoul, JMcDeere, nuttyeyes2012, ct2191, xSereneChaos, Casie01, and SBian75 for your suggestions.