Past Forward- A Serial Novel: Volume 4

by Chautona Havig

  The relief from the epidural was nearly instantaneous. The anesthesiologist watched for five minutes to see if she responded well to it, and then gave her a full dose. Her eyes nearly glazed over in abject relief and gratitude. “He is my new hero. I want to name the babies after this man. What is your name?”

  “Jasvinder. I am thinking you’ll want to choose another name perhaps.”

  Marianne, satisfied that Willow wouldn’t be splitting in half anytime soon, kissed her forehead. “I’m just going to call Christopher and tell him you’re resting easier now. I’ll call Chad too. He’s going crazy with worry.”

  To David’s surprise, she smiled her thanks and turned to him without a murmur. He’d expected her to come unglued as Marianne left, but she hardly noticed. “You doing better, sweetheart?” The moment his hands moved away from her, she whimpered as her eyes pleaded for him to hold her. “I’m not going anywhere, Willow. I’ll stay right here until Chad comes.”

  “Please stay.”

  “I’m staying little girlie, I’m staying.”

  Chapter 1 39

  At a quarter past seven, Chad finally burst through the emergency room door, his gun holster still strapped to his belt, his heavy jacket covered with snow, and eyes blazing with frustration. “It’s a nightmare out there,” he muttered as he rushed down hallways, through doorways, and finally into Willow’s room.

  “Hey, lass.” His entire demeanor changed as he sought his wife’s side. “How are you doing?”

  Marianne slipped from the room, and David started to follow, but Willow’s hand shot out and grabbed him. “You said you wouldn’t go.”

  “But Chad’s here now.” Willow’s eyes pleaded with him not to leave. David saw the pain and confusion in Chad’s eyes and bent low, murmuring “Willow, you’re hurting Chad. He’s been trying to get to you to be here for you. I’ll go call Carol, get a cup of coffee, use the restroom, and be waiting outside the door inside five minutes. All you have to do is have Chad come get me, and I’ll be right back.”

  David’s eyes met Chad’s and spoke volumes. Chad, uncertain about what to do, dropped her hand and smiled. “I’ll be back in two seconds. I just have to ask the nurse a question.”

  Outside the door, he threw David a confused look. “What’s going on in there?”

  “It was bad, Chad. Very, very bad. I think she just latched onto me because I was there.”

  “Well I tried to be!” Chad stuffed his hands in his pockets. “I don’t understand.”

  “She’s reliving Kari’s labor—I think. She’s hurting, and just now she’s received a little relief.” David squeezed Chad’s shoulder. “She needs help. Not just physically, right now the worst of it thanks to that epidural, is emotional. She’s barely hanging in there.”

  Nodding, Chad hurried back into the room and seeing his uniform reflected in Willow’s eyes, picked up the phone. “Hey Joe, I need you to come get my belt. I can’t leave Willow, and I forgot—Oh, good idea. Thanks.”

  “Okay, how are we doing? What did the doctor say?”

  “About thirty minutes ago or so I was halfway there.” Her voice sounded weak and exhausted.

  “You ok? You look so pale. I’m so sorry it took so long to get here. Brad is kicking himself for bungling this.”

  “Tell him it’s ok. Grandfather was here. I was fine.”

  “You’re angry with me.”

  “Of course not. I’m just glad you’re here.”

  They were interrupted by Dr. Kline. “Oh, Chad. I’m very glad to see you here. So, how are you doing now, Willow?”

  “Much better. Much. I feel twinges every now and then but the pain—the real pain, is gone.”

  Chad cringed for his wife as the doctor watched the monitor, waited for a contraction, and then did an internal check. “Well, for some people, epidurals seem to speed up labor a little, but I think you’re one of the majority. Still at five. Sorry.”

  “At least it isn’t as painful,” she whispered weakly.

  “I want you to try to sleep. I need you to get as much rest as humanly possible so that you are rested for pushing. We want to avoid that C-section if we can.”

  “Can she eat? She hasn’t been able to keep much food down at a time, so I’m thinking that after five and a half hours, she must be hungry.” Chad’s voice sounded almost imploring, but his eyes demanded help for his wife.

  “Sorry. No. There is still a very real chance of a C-section that we can’t risk food in her system if we need to put her under for surgery. We can add a bit of glucose to her IV in order to keep up her strength.”

  Before Chad could say anything else, a nurse came into the room. “Officer Tesdall, there’s an officer out here for you?”

  “That’ll be someone from Brunswick. They’re going to take my gun for me. I can’t believe I brought it in.”

  Dr. Kline watched as Chad left and then looked at Willow sternly. “I overheard him out there talking to your grandfather. He’s hurting. He feels rejected. If you don’t want him in here, say something now before it gets any worse.”

  “Of course I want him in here. I just—I need Grandfather too.”

  “Why?”

  “He didn’t get to help Mother. He had to read about her being all alone. He felt rejected and helpless. He was helping me, and he was good at it. I think he needs that.”

  “Tell your husband, Willow,” Dr. Kline advised. “He needs to know you’re not rejecting him.”

  Chad’s entrance stopped Willow’s exhausted response. “Chad?”

  He hurried to do something, anything, to make her more comfortable. He’d thought about twice the pushing, twice the nursing, twice the diapers, and sleepless nights, but he hadn’t imagined twice the pain. Willow had a strong threshold for pain, but according to the nurse Sandi, she’d been out of her mind with agony.

  “I’m here. What can I do? Do you want your grandfather back? I can go get him.”

  “I do, Chad, but not before we have a few minutes alone. I missed you. I needed you.”

  “I’m so sorry.” Chad felt like a heel. “I didn’t know—”

  “I just need you to know how important it is to me that you’re here. I’m not asking for Grandfather because he’s more important to me right now. I’m asking because helping me is important to him right now.”

  The light of understanding dawned in his eyes. “Of course. I’ll go get him.” He turned to leave, but she caught his hand. “Can’t you even give me a hello kiss before you rush off to bring other men into my life?”

  Around midnight, things grew intense. Dilation was at eight, and Willow’s exhaustion was evident to everyone who entered the room. Marianne came in from time to time to brush her hair, clean her face, and give the men a chance for more coffee. Carol sat quietly in the corner, praying like she’d never prayed before, and Cheri paced outside the door like a father from the forties.

  The men, however, rarely left her side. David sat next to the bed kneading her shoulders, adding pressure to her back, and whispering encouragement. Sometimes he sang; others he was silent, trying to disappear into the background so that Willow and Chad could spend this special time together. He was relieved to see the pain that had been etched in her eyes replaced with fatigue. As much as he’d love her to be at her best, tired was better than tormented in his opinion.

  Chad, once he got past seeing his vibrant wife pummeled by labor, became a rock. He sat at the head of the bed and supported her as she reclined for maximum lung capacity. He talked to her about names, about plans, and about his day—anything to keep her distracted. At one point, he gently rubbed her arms. Immediately, he realized his mistake. Willow’s hand involuntarily jerked upwards and gave him a lovely bloody nose in less than two seconds flat.

  The nurses from then on called her slugger and joked about reporting her for spousal abuse. Chad promised to fill out the forms next time he went to work. Just before one o’clock, the new night nurse, Wanda, strolled in, and with the tact an
d gentleness of a back alley dentist, checked for dilation and turned to leave the room. “Can you tell us where she is?”

  “She’s at nine. At her rate, she’ll be there for a few more hours, so get some sleep. She’s got work ahead of her and then motherhood. This is her last chance to get some rest without someone interrupting it every two minutes.”

  Just as the woman barged through the door in search of another victim to invade, the blood pressure cuff went off automatically. “She’s joking, right?” Willow’s shocked expression mirrored Chad and David’s.

  “How is that woman still employed. She has the bedside manner of a bull in Pamplona.”

  “That’s insulting,” Willow retorted angrily.

  “I call them like I see them, Willow.”

  “I still feel sorry for the bull.”

  Before the men stopped laughing, Dr. Kline came through the door. “I thought I saw Wanda leaving. I’ve never known her to be all that—” he paused searching for the right word. “Funny.”

  “She’s not, but Willow is.” David brushed damp tendrils from Willow’s head.

  “Can we request that she not be allowed in this room again?” Chad didn’t even attempt to hide his fury. “I will not have that woman attacking my wife again.”

  “She attacked—”

  “I can still feel where her fingernails raked me.” Willow’s whimper was barely audible, but the pain in her tone was unmistakable.

  “She won’t check you again. I’ll talk to her. Until delivery, I’ll keep her out, but I want her during pushing. She’s the best delivery nurse around. If we end up in the OR, I want her there.”

  “OR?”

  “Operating Room,” the three men said simultaneously.

  “Why the OR?”

  “Sometimes the second baby needs to be taken cesarean. I told you that.”

  At one-thirty Barb the Bubbly came in and checked her, shaking her head sympathetically at their eager expressions. At two, she returned but still no progress. By three-thirty they were all growing antsy. Dr. Kline entered at four o’clock and rearranged her. She sat up a slight bit straighter, legs drawn up closer, and as the next contraction came, he gave her one last exam. “If I just do a little stretching…” He smiled at Willow and gave the men a slightly bloody thumbs up. “Dilation complete. Time to push. I can feel your body bearing down already.”

  “Baby is coming?” The hopefulness in Willow’s voice touched the hearts of the doctor and Willow’s family alike.

  “Babies are coming.”

  “Come on, lass. You can do it.” Chad held her hands, supported her shoulders, and found himself straining with her through each push. He’d have hemorrhoids before they were done if he wasn’t careful.

  The room was dimly light, a light at the end of the bed for the doctor’s benefit, but the lights by Willow’s head were out, and the overhead lights were off. Marianne, Carol, Cheri, David, and Christopher all stood outside the door, plastered against the wall and listening to Willow as she moaned, groaned, and screamed throughout each contraction. Chad alone sat at her side glaring between contractions at Nurse Wanda at Dr. Kline’s side.

  After the first ineffectual push, Dr. Kline turned down the epidural drip leaving her with more feeling and much less comfort. The pain, however bad it might have been, was nothing like her initial contractions. She handled each one as it came, stayed on top of it, and then relaxed between them, prepared for the next before it hit. It seemed as though she’d finally found her groove and was ready to take on this business of birthing babies.

  By five, she’d been pushing for forty-five minutes and the head was just beginning to crown. By five- thirty, Dr. Kline was ready. “Ok, on this next one, push hard. I mean hard. I want you to push like your life depended on it. It doesn’t. You’re both fine. But push like it anyway.”

  The contraction began and this time, Willow felt it before Dr. Kline announced. She grabbed the rails of the bed and practically pulled herself up off it. She pushed with every ounce of strength she had, until she was sure her organs would explode out of her. A new sensation began building slowly. In her exhausted state, it took a minute to recognize what was happening but suddenly she exclaimed, “It’s burning! Is it supposed to be burning?”

  “Keep pushing, Willow. Don’t stop now. That head is coming and…” On and on the doctor went, encouraging, urging, demanding, and consoling when the head slipped back into the canal. “It’s ok. That happens sometimes. Next time it’ll come through. Take a deep breath. Chad, get her some ice. Now let’s get ready, because I think the next one is almost here. Come on…”

  Several minutes passed as they waited through the next contraction before she pushed. Her body, exhausted, didn’t have the strength to try again, but as the next contraction built, she was ready. As the contraction peaked, she bore down with everything she could and the head was born. “We’ve got a darling head of blonde fussy hair! Get ready for the next contraction, Willow. Take a breath—no stop pushing. Just relax until the next one.”

  “I feel constipated!” she shrieked. “I want it out of there!” Before the doctor could respond, she gave one more strong push and nearly sent the baby flying into the doctor’s hands.

  “Well? Is he, she, it ok?”

  “Don’t call our baby an it,” Willow snapped. The next contraction was already building.

  The nurse felt for the baby’s head and nodded at Dr. Kline as he clamped the cord and offered for Chad to cut it. Chad shook his head violently. “You get it. Thanks.”

  Barb stood in the corner, working over the baby and making Chad very nervous. Dr. Kline and Wanda checked Willow’s vitals, watched the monitor, and felt for the second baby’s head while Barb suctioned out the first one, cleaned it up, and wrapped it in a blanket. The child’s wails drove Willow nearly insane as the next contraction built. “Someone pick up my baby and comfort it!”

  “It?”

  Willow whacked Chad again restarting the blood flow she’d caused earlier. “Ohhhh it’s coming!”

  For the next few minutes, things blurred. Willow pushed, the doctor encouraged, and Chad prayed more fervently than he’d ever prayed in his life. He could see Willow’s strength fading quickly, and if this baby took half as long to push out as the last…

  Dr. Kline saw the sack bulge and ripped it away from the head. “Ok, there’s the head. You did very well, Willow. One more push and it’ll be over. You can do it. Take a deep breath, exhale. Come on, exhale. Do it again, you want to get some good air in those lungs before you start pushing again. Chad, get her some ice. Barbara, how is baby one doing?” Dr. Kline kept talking without a break, change of tone, or anything to indicate that things had changed.

  The next contraction built and with a fraction of the effort expended to deliver the first baby, the second slipped from the birth canal into the doctor’s waiting hands. The room erupted in laughter when Willow sighed, “Oh that felt good.”

  “Good? You’ve got to be kidding me! I saw your face. That was torture.”

  “No, not the whole thing,” she gasped. “Just that last two or three seconds when the body slipped through. It felt like I’d been holding my bladder for nine months and I finally got to go. Oh man, that was almost worth the pain by itself.” She looked at her stomach critically. “You know, it’s a lot smaller—a lot smaller. But are you sure there isn’t another baby in there?”

  Contrary to Willow’s concerns, there wasn’t another baby in her womb. However, she did have two good-sized placentas to deliver before she was able to hold her children. As she accepted the first baby from Barb’s arms, she realized she still didn’t know if they had boys, girls, or one of each. “Is he a he or a she?”

  “Boys. You have two very healthy boys.”

  “I got my boys, Chad!” Willow said, her eyes filling with tears. “I always thought I’d have two boys and I do! I have sons. I can’t believe that I have sons!”

  Chad, overcome by the beauty of the infa
nt in his arms, stood, walked to the door, and beckoned the family waiting there. “Come see the lads. You’ve got to see them.”

  Wanda huffed and muttered something about visiting hours, but Dr. Kline sent her from the room. “Barb can handle it; I need you with Mrs. Pham.”

  “She’s supposed to have a nurse for each baby, Dr. Kline.”

  “Bethany is on her way in. They’ll call if they need help. I need you with me.”

  The babies were passed from grandmother to great grandmother to grand and great grandfather. Uncle Chris arrived just as Aunt Cheri picked up the first boy, gazing adoringly into his eyes. “I thought I wanted girls, but he’s just so perfect. Which one is he?”

  “The hospital band says. I’ve got baby two so you have baby one.”

  “They’re not identical are they?” Christopher suddenly had visions of mixing the children and for some reason that bothered him immensely.

  “No. Fraternal but you can’t tell right now, can you? I think they look identical.”

  “No they don’t,” Willow argued. “Baby one’s head is longer than two. He looks like he’s wearing a stove pipe hat.”

  “That’s just because he was in the birth canal for a longer time. It shapes the head. In a day or two it’ll be fine.”

  Chad whispered something to Chris before taking his son back from Cheri and sitting next to Willow with him. “It seems strange to realize that he’s a firstborn.”

  Sleepy, the babies hardly moved as the family played musical infants, passing them around until Chad realized Willow still hadn’t held her second son. “Ok, Willow’s turn.”

  David brought the second child to Willow’s side and whispered something in her ear. She nodded, a grateful look in her eyes, and whispered, “Thanks. I’d appreciate it. I can’t tell you—”