Chapter Six

"Okay, Anna," Mrs. Casey encouraged the exhausted woman. It had been over 24 hrs now since Anna arrived at Downton with John and almost 48 since the first pains had come upon her. "Here we go again. Tuck your chin down to your chest, deep breath…push!"

It had been three hours since Anna began pushing and the baby was making little progress down the birth canal. Anna was exhausted, weak, and unable to do much more than provide half the effort she needed. Cora, Mary, and Mrs. Hughes were also exhausted but they soldered on. "Mama, you really should have a rest. Papa will be ever so worried."

"Your Papa has enough to handle keeping Bates occupied. Anyway, I'm feeling fine,' Cora interjected.

"You mustn't endanger yourself for me, m'lady," Anna said in a mere whisper.

"I'm not, Dear Anna," Cora soothed. "I'm not." Mrs. Casey nodded at her. "Okay, here we go again."

Mary was holding one leg and was helping support Anna's back. Cora the same on the other side. Mrs. Hughes was putting pressure on her baby bump trying to help the child exit.

Three more powerful contractions came and went with nothing to show for it.

They tried everything the knew to try. They tried to change Anna's position, they tried pulling her legs further apart, but nothing seemed to work. Mrs. Casey tried herbs, and even that failed.

Anna lay almost silent between contractions. Mary was fairly certain she was sleeping in tiny spurts between. Only Mrs. Hughes heard the faint whispers calling "John."

John startled for the third time that hour. He was feeling as if he heard his name, but it was only Robert with him and he hadn't spoken. A clever move by John before the third start saw Robert lose his last bishop. "Checkmate."

Robert good naturedly surrendered his king then stood up. "I don't know about you, John, but I could use a bite of something and some rest."

John and Robert were both looking a little worse for wear. Neither had slept much or eaten much and it was catching up.

John nodded, "I can't sleep, but I think even I could take a sandwich."

"You need to at least lie down," Robert countered. "You can use my dressing room. Bed is already made up."

John agreed it would feel good to stretch his body out and take pressure off his joints but sleep was elusive even when in his bed content with Anna at his side. In this situation…

"Push, Anna," Mrs. Hughes encouraged. The baby had crowned, but Anna couldn't get tne head to pass. Mrs. Casey listened to her mound with a stethoscope. "The baby isn't handling this well and if she can't bear down more than this…we need to send for the doctor "

John and Robert had just finished eating when they saw Andy rush to the front door to admit Dr. Clarkson.

John turned to Robert for a quick second and blanched white. "Oh my God, Anna! I…"

John was starting to hurry but Robert grabbed his wrist. "It'll be all right, he's probably just here to check up on her."

"It's just that I knew it," John sighed.

"Knew what? It's been a long time, I'm sure he is just checking since they called for him yesterday," Robert offered as John watched the doctor increase his pace.

"Then why is he going so quickly?" John asked as he pulled his arm back and moved as fast as he could to get to his wife.

"John!" Robert caught up to his friend as he was about to burst in the door. "You can't barrel in there, you have to wait. As hard as it is, you have to wait."

When Dr. Clarkson finished tending to Anna he stepped out to speak to John.

"What is it? What's happened?" John asked not betraying a hint of emotion to the older man.

"The baby's head seems to be wider than Anna is able to deliver naturally. I'm going to help her and do a procedure called an episiotomy. There's no reason to fear, this happens sometimes in petite women. I'll have Mrs. Hughes and her ladyship keep you informed.

"Okay, Anna. This is going to hurt just a little bit, I'll go quickly."

On the next contraction, Anna felt the doctor slit her open a bit wider with his scalpel. "Okay, Mrs. Casey and Mrs. Hughes, fundal pressure, here we go. And push Anna."

John could hear Anna's cries in the hallway and it took all he had not push in. Robert had positioned himself in front of the door anyway and watched John pace.

Anna went from crying out to silence then crying again. One minute she was begging Mary to get John and the next begging her not to let him see her like that. Mary looked at Cora, both had tears in their eyes.

Dr. Clarkson spoke urgently the next moment. "Stop pushing, Anna! Stop pushing!"

"What's wrong?" Mary asked as Anna let out a tortured cry.

"Shoulder dystocia," Dr. Clarkson sighed, speaking to Mrs. Casey more than anyone else.

Mrs. Casey interpreted for him. "The baby's shoulder is hung up on the hip bone."

"I need to extend the episiotomy," Dr. Clarkson told Anna.

This time they heard it. They could hear the quiet followed by the tortured cries. John sank against the opposite wall. He knew this was not going to end well, he knew it.

"Turn her around," Dr. Clarkson ordered. "Push her legs up farther, knees toward her ears. Try again to push, Anna."

It was five of the longest minutes of Anna's life. Dr. Clarkson kept telling her to push, then not to push, until when he did tell her to have a go she couldn't. She couldn't will herself to give it any strength. "You must Anna," Mary encouraged. "I'll help you."

Anna gave it all she had and in the end felt the hottest most searing of all the pains she'd already endured.

John was about to finally accept Robert's suggestion to at least sit down on the chair Andy had brought up when they heard it. It was the shrillest of screams, a cry of pure agony, then a plaintive and pleading, "JOHN!!"

John burst through the door in a hair of a second. The smell hit him first, the sickly odor of blood, disinfectant, and sweat hit him. Bile rose in his throat as he took in the sight of his beloved Anna, legs flung wide at a position that was so unnatural she couldn't maintain it on her own, too weak to sit, too tired to keep her eyes open, too desperate to bear another second of this cruel agony.

"Mr. Bates, you really can't…" Mrs. Hughes began gently but Cora spoke up.

"No, Anna has been calling him for the last three hours, perhaps this is what she needs to finish this," Cora supplied. Her own gaze looked to the open door. Robert was struck dumb and practically shaking. He couldn't have bore witness to such wretchedness when it came to her deliveries, but he had bore so much for her lately and for John. Robert had been her tower of strength when she had none and he would be again if need be, he would be for any of them.

John replaced Cora and Mary and supported Anna's back. She was still calling out for him, not noticing he was there. "It's me, my love. It's John. I'm here, I'm here now, my darling."

Anna sighed and repeated words to him she had uttered more than five years ago. "I can't do it. I'm not able."

"You can do it," John soothed. "You are doing it, my sweetheart. You just need a little more help."

Anna felt another contraction and her body started to push though she had no strength to help it. She could barely keep her eyes opened.

Dr. Clarkson was out of options and he knew it. The stethoscope said the baby was in danger as well as Anna. He could let her stop pushing and let the baby die inside and then remove it, but the infection would likely take Anna within days. He could make one more attempt at the forceps, but he could rip Anna apart and likely harm the baby if he tried to pull it out. That left one option. "Let her go, let her legs go."

Cora and Mary released Anna. She cried out of pain when she felt Mrs. Hughes and Mrs. Casey moved her lower body. "Lie her down on the bed."

John's stomach turned when he saw the doctor take out a jar of ether and much larger scalpel. He began to wash his hands and the instruments in a ghastly smelling alcohol .

John looked up to search out Robert, but his friend had gone from sight, no doubt to spare Anna embarrassment and to rid himself of this medical nightmare. This was something Robert just did not handle well.

"What are you doing?" John asked never letting go of Anna. "You're not going to cut on her."

"I have no choice. She cannot pass the baby, why I can't tell you, but I can tell you the baby is likely to die if I don't do this. Even if I do, we could lose one or both of them. Now, I want to save both, but I'm not certain I can. Once I start I'll have to go forward with a certain objective…"

"John…don't let the baby die," Anna pleaded, but John met Lady Mary's eyes and spoke to her silently. "Do what you can, doctor, but I'll only ever have one wife."

That was clear enough for Dr. Clarkson who looked at Mrs. Casey and Mrs. Hughes. "Everyone out except Maude and Mrs. Hughes. Everyone else out."

John's face turned dark as thunder and the patience and stoicism he had shown for the last two days finally ran out. He snapped at Dr. Clarkson. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm not leaving anyone alone with my wife, not anymore! I'm done with waiting! This never should have gone this far! If she dies, you will answer for it before God and the law, I'll see to that!"

"Bates," Mary sighed. "You have to let him try to help Anna. You have to let him try it."

John kept fighting. He didn't want to leave Anna. Dr. Clarkson wasn't paying attention, he was preparing to start the procedure. Mary looked at Cora, who looked at Robert who was hovering just outside the door.

Robert didn't want to go into that room. He still hated all things medical, even if he had to be there for Cora's treatments and testing. Still, he had no choice. John needed to leave that room.

Robert slowly went into the room, "John." He didn't care who heard him use Bates Christian name. "Come on now. We can wait in the dressing room, right next door. We can be so close to Anna, but we have to let them work. We have to."

John acquiesced after a few minutes and let Robert lead him away. Dr. Clarkson had already administered the ether. It was now or never.

"Just try and relax," Robert coaxed John. "I know it's hard, I know…"

John's eyes flashed angry. "No, you don't. You have no idea! You were not just asked if you had a preference for the life of your wife or the life of your child!" John shot out. "You have had the love of a good woman for almost 40 years. You have had joys and sorrows together, you have done it all together! Do I still have that chance or is she gone already?"

Robert's heart broke for John. He had lost his composure a few times during their long friendship, but not John. He was always the one to absorb whatever emotions Robert was emitting from joy to sorrow to anger to fear. To see John like this was unsettling.

"She's not," Robert soothed. "I promise you she's not. The longer he's working the better. He wouldn't keep operating if she were gone."

Robert watched John work his jaw back and forth. Robert saw the internal battle John was fighting. He didn't want to let go of his emotions, if he did he wasn't sure he would ever get control over them again.

Mary knocked on the dressing room door, "Papa, the ambulance is here to take them to hospital. Mrs. Hughes says to have Bates inside of it, ready to go."

Robert nodded, "All right, my darling. Fetch your coat if you want to come with us. There's a chill after being in a warm house."

While Robert gave paternal direction to Mary, all John could hear was the words "take them". He heard it over and over again. "Take them…" John moved quickly, trying tonget through the adjoining door. "If she goes, I go with her. I need to be with her. She needs me with her."

"She's asleeo, John. She doesnt know if you're there."Robert felt his stomach drop. "John!" Robert hurried toward the larger man and grabbed his arm. John shook his off easily. Too easily. Robert tried again. "John, they have to take her to hospital. To make sure she's okay. No one's going to hurt her. No one is going to do anything to hurt Anna, I promise."

Before John could react anymore, the heard it. They heard the sound they had been waiting for over two long days. The shrill cry of a newborn baby. It was over, the third baby Bates had finally entered the world.

A/N: I have just completed Chapter 23 of what is turning into an epic. I will pick up the pace for posting soon if time is has kind as it has been.

I know many of my readers are the silent type, but I do see the hits and the visits and appreciate each one. Thank you to my guest reviewer. I do plan to keep going, this story is developing into something dear to my heart.

Hope everyone enjoyed this update!