by T L Swan
Owen patters into the room. “Dad.”
“Hey, buddy.” Cam smiles softly as he pulls his son into a hug. “Get into bed with Momma.”
He pulls back the blankets and Owen crawls in sleepily. Cameron tucks him in and Owen snuggles into me and I kiss his little head. Although Owen’s night visits are far less frequent, they still happen sometimes.
I think Cameron actually prefers him to sleep with us. He tears those blankets back so quick when he sees Owie, it’s almost laughable.
With one last look he leaves the room, and I fall back into my uncomfortable slumber with two little arms cuddling my back.
“Come on, Owie, grab your school bag,” I call from the bottom of the stairs.
I hold my stomach and wince. Fuck’s sake…I’m so uncomfortable.
This baby has moved into the most sadistic position possible…right on my spine.
I push one side of my stomach, hoping to move it. I say it because we have no idea what it is. We don’t know the sex of the baby yet, as we both wanted a surprise.
Owen smiles as he comes down the stairs, and he pats my stomach as he walks past me. He doesn’t really talk to me much anymore, he talks to my stomach. He’s so excited about being a big brother.
Between Cam and Owen, this baby is going to be spoiled rotten. We make our way to the school and I sit in the car in the drop-off lane. “I might not walk you in today, Owie.” I rub my stomach. “My back is a little bit sore.”
“That’s okay, Mom.” He leans over and kisses my cheek.
“Have a nice day.” I smile
“Okay.” He jumps out of the car and runs past the school’s front gates with his back pack on.
My stomach tightens and then releases. Oww! What was that?
An uneasy feeling sweeps over me. “It’s not.” I talk out loud to myself. I blow out a breath and pull back into the traffic.
Imagine if it was labor? Cam can’t leave surgery because he doesn’t have any backup,
No…it’s not…don’t worry…it’s way too early for that.
I get home and decide to have a shower. I undress, and as I’m stepping in it happens again. I frown as my stomach tightens and then releases a few seconds later.
It’s not painful… what is it?
Braxton Hicks… yes… of course.
It’s just Braxton Hicks.
My body is getting ready for labor, that’s all. I smile as I stand under the hot water and it feels so relaxing on my sore back, I might even go back to bed once I get out.
For nearly an hour I stand under the water, simply because I have nowhere to be and it feels so good not having to rush around. I don’t think I have ever had a not- rushed shower since I started med school seven years ago.
My stomach has been tightening and relaxing, but it’s not painful at all, so I know it’s not labor… just Braxton Hicks.
I hop out of the shower and get dressed and lie on the bed. I really do feel out of sorts today.
I am woken by the house phone ringing and I frown. That’s weird, nobody ever calls the house phone. I scramble over to the bedside table and answer.
“Hello?”
“Oh, my God. Where have you been?” Adrian demands.
“What?”
“I’ve been trying to call you for half an hour; I was beginning to panic.”
I roll over; my stomach clenches and it hurts. I screw up my face.
Fuck.
“What’s wrong?” I frown as I rub my hand over my stomach.
Not today, baby…Daddy’s not here.
“Where do you want to go for lunch?” Adrian asks. “I’m going to book somewhere now.”
“Do you just want to pick something up and we can eat here?”
“Oh, okay.” He pauses for a moment. “Are you all right?”
I close my eyes and I know I’m worrying for nothing. “Just a bit of a sore back. Being a whale will do that to you,” I joke.
“Oh.” He thinks for a moment. “All right, see you soon.”
I slowly get up and walk around the room.
Okay, even if this is early stages of labor, which it’s not… but if it is…
Cameron will be finished in surgery by the time the baby comes anyway. I glance at the clock.
11am.
Shit, his big surgeries normally take at least twelve hours, and he would have started at 7am… so we’re looking at either eight or nine o’clock tonight before he’s out.
I take out my phone and type a ridiculous question that I already know the answer to.
How to slow down labor
I wait for the answers to appear.
Empty your bladder. Lie down tilted towards your left side; this may slow down or stop signs and symptoms. Avoid lying flat on your back; this may cause contractions to increase. Drink several glasses of water, because dehydration can cause contractions.
Ok, I lie down on my left side and try to calm down. I’m not even in labor. I’m just being silly, I know that. Stop being overdramatic.
I Google again.
The latent phase can last several days or weeks before active labor starts. Some women can feel backache or cramps during this phase. Some women have bouts of contractions lasting a few hours, which then stop and start up again the next day. This is normal.
Oh good, this is normal. Great. See, nothing to worry about.
I search again, and frown.
Preterm labor is labor that happens too early, before 37 weeks of pregnancy. If you have preterm labor, your health care provider may recommend some treatments that may help stop your contractions and prevent health problems in you and your baby. These treatments are not a guarantee to stop preterm labor.
Fuck. I search.
Problems for baby born at 36 weeks’ gestation.
The answer comes back.
At 36 weeks, the risk of health complications decreases significantly. The risk is much lower from babies born even at 35 weeks. But late preterm babies are still at risk for:
Respiratory Distress
Jaundice
Low Birth weight
NICU Admission
Developmental Delays/Special Needs
Patent Ductus arteriosus
By far, RDS is the biggest risk for babies born at 36 weeks. Baby boys seem to have more trouble than infant girls.
Fuck… calm down… it’s not happening. But if I do go into active labor, I need to get to the hospital as soon as I can so that they can try to stop it.
Yes. Okay, that’s the plan.
My stomach clenches again and I screw up my face and rub my stomach.
“Stay in there and be a good baby, please?” I whisper. “Not today. You’re not cooked yet.”
For an hour I lie on my side as my stomach clenches and tightens. Nothing else has happened so I’m just going to wait to see. If I go to the hospital too early they’ll just send me home.
My phone rings, it’s Adrian. “Hello?” I answer.
“Do you want a coffee or something?”
“Can you just come now, please?” I ask.
“What’s up?” He sounds like he’s frowning.
“I think I’m having contractions but I’m not sure. If I am, we have to get to the hospital as quickly as possible,” I blurt out in a rush.
The line stays silent.
“Adrian?” I ask.
“I’m here,” he murmurs. “Just having a silent panic attack.”
“You and me both.”
“On my way, baby.” He hangs up.
I lie down and try to calm myself some more, and twenty minutes later I hear Adrian’s Corvette roar up the driveway and the door slam with force. Then I hear his voice. “Ashley! Where are you?” he calls.
“Up here,” I call back.
He takes the stairs two at a time and comes running into the bedroom. “Oh, my God, what’s going on?”
I smile, and he comes and sits next to me on the bed and takes my hand in his. “Are you all right?�
�� he pants.
I giggle. “A lot calmer than you seem. Did you just get a speeding ticket on the way here?”
He widens his eyes. “Like I care?” He shakes his head and rubs my stomach. “What happened?”
I shrug. “I’m probably being overdramatic.” I pause. “I’ve just been having back pain since last night, and now my stomach has started to contract.”
He frowns as he listens.
“And I Googled it; if I’m in labor I need to get to the hospital to try to slow it down a little.”
Adrian’s eyes widen in horror. “You’re a doctor, Ashley. How do you not know if you’re in labor?”
“Because I’m not in pain,” I snap. “I’m uncomfortable.”
“Oh. Right.” He bites his bottom lip as he thinks for a moment. “Well, let’s call the hospital and see what they say.”
I nod. “All right.”
He Googles the number on his phone. “Do you want to speak?”
“Yes.” I hold my hand out for the phone and he passes it to me.
It rings. “Hello, can I have the maternity ward please?” I ask.
“Sure, transferring you now.”
It rings again. “Hello, maternity ward.”
“Hello, this is Ashley Tucker.”
“Hi, Ashley,” the nurse replies.
I scrunch up my face. “I’m probably being a drama queen, but I’ve been having Braxton Hicks for two hours now.”
“How far are you, Ashley?”
“Thirty-six weeks.”
“Okay. Any showing or broken water?”
I shake my head. “No.”
“All right then. Can you come in, so we can see what’s going on?”
I nod. “Okay.” I pause. “Do you think I’m in labor?”
“Probably not, dear. Don’t worry. As long as your water doesn’t break, everything will be fine.”
I smile and nod. “All right, I’m on my way.”
I pass the phone back to Adrian. “What did they say?” He frowns.
“As long as my water doesn’t break, it’s all good.”
He puts his hand on his chest. “Oh, thank God.” He grabs my hand and pulls me off the bed and I waddle into the bathroom I feel the urge to go and then bam.
I feel a sharp pop.
My water breaks… all over the floor… like, flooded.
My eyes widen. “Fuck! Adrian!” I call.
“What?” he calls.
“My water broke!”
“What?” he shrieks. He comes running into the bathroom and his face falls in horror when he sees how much there is. He puts both hands over his mouth before he regains his composure. “This is fine,” he speaks calmly. “This is all fine.” He takes out his phone and starts to dial a number.
I laugh; the look of sheer terror on his face is priceless. “Who are you calling?” I ask.
“Cameron,” he snaps. He starts to pace with his hand in his suit pocket.
“Cameron is in surgery.” I shake my head. “He’s going to be hours.”
His face falls.
“Let me call him.” I pick up my phone and dial his PA’s number. She answers on the first ring. “Hi, Ash!” she greets.
I screw up my face because I really don’t want to say this out loud. “We have a problem.”
“What’s that?” she murmurs.
“My water has broken.”
“Oh. Fuck!” she replies.
I smile; I’ve never heard her swear before.
“How long do you think he’s going to be?” I ask.
“Oh God, Ash.” She hesitates. “I’ll put him on the phone.” I hear her walking into the surgery; she sits at the nurses’ station at the back of his operating theatre. The phone goes silent; she must have covered the phone with her hand.
Moments later. “Hey, Bloss,” Cameron answers calmly. “You’re on speaker, babe,” he reminds me. I close my eyes. That means that the ten people in surgery can all hear what he’s saying but his hands are tied up doing the operation and he can’t hold the phone.
“Cam.” I screw up my face. “I just called to tell you that my water has broken and I’m with Adrian and we’re on our way to hospital.”
“Fuck,” he growls.
“How far apart are the contractions?” he asks calmly.
“That’s the thing, I don’t think I’m in active labor yet. It’s all right, no need to panic.”
“No pain?” he questions.
“Just back pain.”
“How long have you been having back pain?”
“All night.” My eyes widen. “That’s not…” My voice trails off. Don’t tell me I’ve been in labor since last night.
“Ash?” Cam asks.
“I’m just going to get to the hospital, and I’ll call you back, all right?” I try to comfort him.
“Oh my God,” he replies. “Drive carefully, please.”
“How long do you think you’ll be in surgery for, Cam?” I hate to ask but I need to know.
“At least two hours,” he replies.
I close my eyes and I can almost hear his heart rate rise through the phone.
“It’s okay, it’s going to be a lot longer than that,” I reassure him.
“Just get here safely. Put Adrian on the phone,” he asks.
I pass Adrian the phone and I go and get changed and put a pad in, as I’m still leaking amniotic fluid.
Fucking hell.
“Yes.” I hear Adrian answer. “Yes, I know,” he replies. “Cameron. I fucking know that.” Adrian snaps. “Yes, I know!” He listens for a moment. “Just hurry up and finish your operation, will you!” Adrian demands.
I smile; Adrian has no idea he’s on speaker. These two always scream at each other when they get stressed out. I get an image of all of Cameron’s interns and the nurses listening and what they must be thinking.
“Fine,” Adrian snaps. “Yes! I know!” he yells.
I walk out of the bathroom to see Adrian roll his eyes, his hand on his hip as he listens to Cameron’s lecture. He exhales heavily. “See you soon.” He hangs up and then quickly falls into role play and fakes a calm smile. “Ready to go, chick?”
“Yep.” I grab my handbag.
He looks around. “Where’s your hospital bag, Ash?” He frowns.
“God, I can’t believe this.” I shake my head because I’m forgetting everything.
I think for a moment. “Did Cameron remind you to get the hospital bag?”
He smirks. “Yes.”
“What else did he tell you?” I frown because it seems I can’t think without my husband doing it for me these days.
“To organize with Jenna to get Owen and to keep you calm.”
I nod. “Right.” I look at Adrian, who is now perspiring heavily. “We’ve got this, Adrian. We can do this without Cam if we have to.” I grab my bag. “And we might.”
Adrian looks like he’s about to faint.
“I know,” he murmurs.
Burning pain rips through my stomach, and I bend over and hold my stomach.
“What’s happening?” Adrian cries.
“Contraction,” I murmur. “Oh, that’s a real one.” I wince.
My stomach clenches hard and the pain is strong. “We need to get to the hospital, Adrian…and quick.”
“Quick?” he stammers with wide eyes. “How quick?”
“That wasn’t a first contraction.”
He looks at me blankly, not understanding.
“That was a ‘things are moving faster than I would like to’ contraction.”
Adrian puts his hands on his head. “What do I do?”
“Get me to the hospital.”
Cameron
I close my eyes and try to control my erratic heartbeat. Midway through a major heart operation is not the time to lose my cool.
Everyone in the room has fallen silent, as if scared to speak.
“Hanna,” I call.
“Yes, Doctor?”
Hanna is one of my PAs. “Can you get Peter Martin on the phone, please?”
“Yes, of course.”
Peter is a heart surgeon who works in the other hospitals in L.A.
I keep working.
Hanna comes back to me. “Peter Martin is in a conference in London.”
I close my eyes. “Get Hamish on the line, please.”
Hamish is a colleague who runs the country side of our practice.
“Yes, Doctor.” She disappears again, and I continue my surgery.
“He’s on the line, Doctor,” Hanna calls, and puts him onto speaker.
“Hello,” I say.
“Hey fuck knuckle,” he calls in his boisterous voice.
“I’m in surgery, Hamish, and you’re on speaker,” I snap.
Everyone laughs.
“Oops, sorry everyone,” he calls.
I roll my eyes. “I’ve got a problem.”
“What’s up?”
“Ashley’s in labor and I’m in the middle of a bypass.”
“Oh shit,” he replies. “That is a problem.”
“Can you get down here?”
“I’m fully booked this afternoon.”
“Cancel your appointments.”
He stays silent.
I bite my bottom lip. “I’ll finish the surgery, but I just need someone here in case something happens.”
He thinks for a moment. “Yes. Okay. I’ll be there in two hours.”
“Two hours?” I snap.
“That’s how long it takes to drive there.”
“Get on a plane. I’ll hire you a private plane,” I stammer.
“It will take that long getting into one airport and out of the other…it’s quicker if I drive.”
Shit.
“All right.” I pause for a moment. “Can you leave immediately?”
“Yes.” He sighs. “On my way.”
I blow out a breath and the nurse wipes the perspiration from my brow. The room falls silent and everyone is edgy. I inhale deeply as I try to calm myself down. “Hanna,” I call.
“Yes, Doctor.”