“The baby’s coming?” Chris looked seriously concerned. “What can we do, Dad?”
Cord was calm on the outside but on the inside, he was apprehensive like any father. “Get the dogs in,” he told them evenly. “I’m going to take Alix over to the hospital.”
Alix started shaking her head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she was panting. “I’ve got a huge amount of pressure in my pelvis right now and that pain was really strong. I don’t know if we’ll make it. You’d better call the ambulance and tell them to bring an incubator.”
Cord’s composure took a hit. “Seriously?”
She was breathing easier now that the pain had passed and turned to look at Cord. “Seriously,” she said, her voice softer. “Did I mention that I had Rose in forty-four minutes from start to finish?”
Cord’s eyebrows lifted. “You did not.”
She nodded wearily and turned for the stairs. “Help me upstairs,” she said, turning for the boys that were still standing in the kitchen. “I want you guys to find all the clean towels you can and bring them up to our bedroom. Then I want you to pull out a bunch of those baby receiving blankets from the nursery; they’re in the bottom drawer of the dresser and they’ve already been washed. Bring those in as well, along with a couple of diapers.”
She said it so calmly that the boys moved to do her bidding without much reaction, but the more they thought on the fact that Alix was about to have the baby right there at home, the more terrified they became.
As Cord helped Alix up the back stairs, he was feeling the terror as well. Well, shock was more like it. He’d delivered his share of babies, but never his own child. He tried not to think about what could go wrong and the fact that they weren’t in a hospital. He just tried to focus on Alix and take his direction from her.
“I’m sorry, baby,” she said as she reached the top of the stairs, breathing heavily. “I’d do this myself, but I don’t think I’m going to be able to deliver my own baby.”
He smiled at her, trying to be calm and confident in order to keep her calm. “Not to worry,” he said. “I’ve done this a few times. Everything will be fine.”
Alix was holding on to both of his hands as she waddled stiffly into their bedroom. Then she stopped, looking at the bed.
“That’s a new mattress,” she sighed. “I really don’t want to get it all messy.”
Cord lifted an eyebrow at her, prying his hands away from hers so he could start getting everything ready. He went straight to the bed and yanked off the covers.
“I don’t think we have a choice unless you want to give birth in the bathtub,” he said, pushing the covers up against the wall to get them out of the way. “Besides, there’s a waterproof mattress pad. It won’t get messed up.”
He went over to the phone on the night stand and dialed 911 as Alix shuffled into the dressing area by the bathroom. As Cord explained to the 911 dispatcher the situation, he could see her struggling to get her pants off so he made his way over to her, phone cradled between his ear and shoulder, and helped her peel her pants off. Just as he was hanging up with the operator, another hard contraction seized her and she doubled over, falling forward onto her knees as Cord dropped to his knees beside her. He held her tightly as she grunted through the contraction, encouraging her to breathe, breathing with her so she’d get into the rhythm. He felt her go limp in his arms as the pain subsided.
“Ouch,” she finally gasped, her head resting against his bicep. “That one really hurt.”
He kissed her forehead, her cheek, as she slumped exhaustedly against him. “Come on.” He stood up and carefully put her on her feet. “Let’s get you changed and onto the bed.”
Alix simply nodded as he held her with one arm and began digging through drawers with the other. He came across a summer nightgown, a light garment he’d seen her wear a few times, and set it aside as he stripped her of the rest of her clothing. He could hear the boys running around downstairs, and dogs barking, as he pulled the nightgown over her head. Then, holding on to her hands, he walked her over to their bed and gently sat her down.
Alix lay back on the bed, sighing heavily. “Do you want to check me?”
Cord nodded. “I probably should. Let me wash my hands.”
As he went into the bathroom to wash his hands, Chris and Kyle appeared at the bedroom door with the towels and blankets Alix had asked for. Due to the angle of the room, all they could see was Alix lying on the bed, but they could hear their dad in the bathroom with the water running.
“Alix?” Chris said timidly. “We have the stuff. Where do you want it?”
Weary, in pain, Alix motioned the boys to come in. “Bring them over here,” she said, pointing to the end of the bed. “Just set them down.”
They did as they were told, lingering apprehensively at the edge of the bed. “Do you need anything else?” Chris asked. “Shouldn’t we be boiling water or something?”
Alix laughed softly. “Only in the movies,” she said. “But you can stay if you want. I don’t mind if you watch the birth.”
Cord picked that moment to come out of the bathroom, drying his hands. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” he said, looking at his boys. “It might be a little much at their age.”
“Why?” Alix wanted to know. “It’s all part of life. Think of the bond they’ll feel with this baby after having watched the birth.”
Cord looked at his two oldest sons, who were gazing back at their father with some fear. He chuckled weakly and shook his head.
“Although I agree it is a natural part of life, the truth is that the experience will probably scare the crap out of them.” He motioned to the door. “Go downstairs and wait for the ambulance.”
The boys were gratefully fleeing the room when Alix suffered through another contraction. She grunted loudly, bringing her knees up as Cord went to the bed and reminded her to breathe. Hand on her hard belly, he waited until the contraction subsided before grasping her ankles and parting her legs. He sat there for a moment as if indecisive. When he spoke, it was hesitantly.
“I’m trying to be clinical about this, I swear I am,” he said, meeting her gaze. “But I have to tell you that this is really strange for me.”
“Why?” she asked.
He shrugged, running a hand up her soft calf. “Because the only time I’m down on this end of you is when we’re, you know, doing sexual things, and sticking my fingers up you to check and see how much you’re dilated….”
“… turns you on?” she finished for him.
He nodded. “Honestly, yes,” he made a face. “That’s kind of sick, isn’t it?”
She laughed. “Absolutely not,” she said. “I’d worry if it didn’t turn you on. You’re my husband – putting your fingers there is supposed to turn you on.”
He fought off a grin. “Are you sure I can’t get a little something out of this before the baby stretches you all out and I have to wait six weeks before I can resume my husbandly duties?”
Alix started laughing. “Are you saying you’d rather check me with your penis instead of your fingers?”
He laughed in return. “Would you have a problem with that?”
Alix was really laughing now. “What do we tell the paramedics when the baby is born with a big wad of semen on his head? That you’re turned on by a woman in labor?”
Cord was giggling like a fool, running a hand over his face at the mere thought. “God, that’s so pathetic,” he snorted. “I feel like a depraved maniac.”
Alix just laughed and laughed. The humor was good, loosening her up, but another contraction slammed her and the laughter vanished as she grunted again and closed her eyes, breathing through it until it passed. Cord gently rubbed her thighs, waiting for the pain to pass, before slipping his fingers into her to see if he could determine just how dilated she was. Within a few seconds, his eyes widened and he withdrew his fingers.
“Honey,” he said, rather frankly, “the baby’s head is right there. How long were
you having that cramping?”
Alix was quickly entering the realm of misery. The last contraction hadn’t subsided completely and she could feel another one coming on.
“A while,” she admitted. “But it wasn’t particularly painful. Just dull aching, like I told you. Why? What’s wrong?”
Cord shook his head, bracing her legs further apart and laying towels down around her pelvis. “Nothing that I can tell,” he said. “Except the baby is going to be crowning with the next few contractions.”
Another strong contraction rolled over Alix and she grunted loudly, grabbing her legs behind the knees and drawing them up. “Oh, God,” she groaned. “I really need to push.”
Cord kept focused. “Go ahead,” he told her calmly. “Push with the next contraction and let’s see where we’re at.”
Panting, struggling to control her breathing, Alix could feel the contraction subside. She lay on the mattress, staring up at the ceiling, feeling her body start to tighten again and a huge amount of pressure in her pelvis. This contraction was a stabbing pain all throughout her pelvis, back and thighs, and she labored not to cry out as it gripped her.
“Oh …God,” she grunted, bearing down with all her might. “Is he crowning yet?”
“Not yet.”
She pushed harder. “Now?”
Cord could just see the top of the little head making its way into the world. “Almost,” he told her steadily. Then he noticed something unusual but kept his calm. “Honey, he’s sunny-side up. I’m going to have to turn him a little.”
The baby was coming face-up instead of face-down. This made things more difficult for Alix, to be sure. She was in extreme pain but she didn’t do anything more than scrunch up her face; no screaming, no crying. She just kept blowing out her cheeks, puffing.
“I can tell,” she gasped. “It hurts like hell.”
Cord tried to slip his fingers in to turn the baby slightly so the shoulders could pass through, but he had a very big head and movement was tight. Another contraction came and Alix bore down, grunting as she pushed, and Cord was able to turn the baby slightly as most of the head slipped forward. But he could already tell that the baby was very big and he tried not to panic; the child was wedged in tightly. Face-up babies had a tendency to get stuck.
They could both hear sirens coming down the street, telling them that the ambulance and paramedics had arrived, but Cord kept focused, trying to keep Alix calm as the infant seemed to be somewhat stuck. With every contraction, Alix bore down as hard as she could and Cord was able to turn the baby a little more, trying to get those big shoulders through, but they weren’t making much progress. By the time the paramedics thundered up the stairs and charged into the room, Cord had just managed to get the shoulders turned enough so that the baby’s entire head popped through.
There were four paramedics in all and two ambulance attendants. The paramedics, seeing the state of the birth, gently but firmly rolled Cord out of the way. They all knew Cord to varying degrees and an older paramedic, who had worked with Cord years ago, just grinned at the somewhat pale-faced father and had him sit at Alix’s head.
“We got it from here, Dad,” he said. “You sit there with the wife until it’s over.”
Bloodied hands and all, Cord did as he was told and got in behind Alix to help support her back as she tried to push the massive baby out. With their equipment and tools, two of the senior paramedics settled in between Alix’s legs to do the rest of the dirty work.
Alix winced at the gentle tugging and twisting going on, struggling to push forth the child. At this point, however, most of the battle was over and with another few good pushes, the baby slid out into waiting hands. Immediately, lusty screams filled the air.
“Is he okay?” Cord demanded. “How does he look?”
The paramedics were suctioning out the nose and mouth, but they were grinning. One of them wrapped the baby up in a green, sterile, scrub-like wrapping and put the squealing infant on Alix’s chest.
“That’s one big baby, Cap’n,” the man said. “Congratulations on your daughter. She’s got to be nine pounds easy.”
Alix let out a triumphant, if not exhausted, crow. “A girl!” she gasped, trying to get a good look at the squirming child. “Baby, it’s a girl!”
Cord had tears in his eyes as he wrapped his arms around Alix and the baby, trying to get a good look at the red little face.
“I heard.” He kissed Alix repeatedly on the cheek, the lips. “Thank you, honey. Thank you so much. She’s gorgeous.”
Alix accepted his kisses, returning a few, wallowing in the love and adoration filling the air between them. It was sweet and warm, making her very emotional. She began to unwrap the baby, inspecting her fingers and toes, running her hand over the shoulders and collarbone to make sure nothing was broken or out of place after the lightning-fast, but tough, delivery. Cord had his hand on the baby as well, gently touching her round little belly.
“Hello, Katharine,” he said, then looked at Alix. “Is that still what you want to name her? After my mother and grandmother?”
Alix nodded, all warm and cozy as she gazed at her blond-haired daughter. “Katharine Mary Hendry-Trevor,” she said. “I love that she’ll go by Kitty like your grandmother did. That’s such a sweet little name.”
Cord grinned. “Rosie is going to be disappointed that we didn’t name her Princess Luna.”
Alix laughed. “She’ll get over it,” she said, pulling her eyes off the baby long enough to look at Cord. “Speaking of Rosie, you’d better go tell the kids everything is all right. Tell them they have a new baby sister.”
Cord kissed her, kissed the baby, and then wearily rose to his feet and made his way to the bedroom door. Just as he went to the back stairs, he could see men from his fire station lingering on the stairwell and down in the kitchen, and he descended the stairs with a big grin on his face. They must have heard the call go out, the address, and decided to roll on it. In fact, there was a whole herd of firefighters in his kitchen. His men caught sight of him and gravitated in his direction.
“Well?” Steve Cokes demanded. “What do we have?”
Cord laughed, holding up a hand as he stuck his head out into the hall. He could see the kids huddled up near the couch in the living room, with Rose on Sean’s lap. He called out to them.
“Hey,” he motioned to them. “Come here.”
The boys bolted off the couch and went to him, eager to hear the news. Cord tried not to touch them with his still-bloody hands, but he couldn’t help putting an arm around Chris’ shoulders. He just grinned like a fool.
“It’s a girl,” he said to a chorus of happy exclamations. “Katharine Mary. She’s big and gorgeous.”
Sean was holding Rose, his gaze looking up the stairs. “How’s my mom?”
Cord looked at the young man, seeing how worried he was. He softened. “She’s fine,” he said. “Do you want to go upstairs and see for yourself?”
Sean nodded and Cord let him go upstairs to see his mom. He held his boys back a moment to let Sean and Rose see their mother first. He could hear their soft voices upstairs and Alix’s voice as she introduced them to Baby Kitty. Cord was conversing with his men, talking about going out and celebrating that night with a few beers, when Sean and Rose came back downstairs. Cord looked rather surprised to see them.
“So that’s it?” he asked. “You don’t want to see her any more than a couple of seconds?”
Sean shrugged and set Rose to her feet. “The paramedics told us to come down and get you.”
Cord’s smile vanished and he took the stairs two at a time. By the time he got there, one of the paramedics was holding the baby while two of them were doing something he couldn’t see. They looked very busy.
“What’s going on?” Cord demanded as he walked up to the bed.
The older paramedic turned to answer him but Alix, flat on her back and staring up at the ceiling, answered instead.
“Hemorrhaging,” sh
e said softly. “The placenta tore.”
Cord knew he went pale and it was a struggle not to panic. He drew on his training, every ounce of it, to calm himself down and think clearly.
“How bad?” he asked.
The older paramedic gave him a long look. “Bad enough,” he said. “We need to move.”
Cord had to let the shift captain take charge of moving Alix into the ambulance because he was quickly becoming a wreck. She was pale, eyes closed but conscious, as they labored to stop the bleeding before carrying her downstairs to the waiting gurney. It was his worst fear come to life and he stayed with Alix, holding her hand, stroking her forehead or her face, as she piped up now and again to give them direction, but she was fading. They had to get her to the hospital.
Two of the paramedics had the baby and were setting her up in the incubator in the kitchen as six firefighters, including Cord, brought Alix down the back stairs and lay her on the gurney. Cord could see the kids standing in the doorway of the utility room, watching with big eyes, so he quietly directed Chris and Kyle to take the kids back into the study to get them away from the scary activity going on. Rose, however, started to cry when Sean picked her up to take her back to the study, which brought Alix around.
“Rosie?” she turned her head weakly, looking for her daughter. “It’s okay, baby. Mommy’s going to the hospital for a little while but I’ll be back.”
Rose wouldn’t be soothed. She was frightened by the strange men and bustle going on in the kitchen and reached her arms out in her mother’s direction even as Sean tried to carry her away. Cord was distracted by the crying little girl and turned to say something to her. It was then that he noticed tears on Sean’s face and he left Alix in the care of the paramedics to go and comfort her children.
“Hey,” he put his big hands on Sean’s shoulders. “She’s going to be okay. Sometimes when women have babies, they have some … issues. We’re taking your mom to the hospital to make sure she’s okay and the doctor needs to check the baby out, too. Okay? I don’t want you to worry about her.”
Sean was struggling. Seeing his mom looking so awful on the gurney, with a half-dozen guys hovering around her, scared him. He wiped at his eyes while trying not to be too obvious about it. In his arms, Rose howled.
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