Vetted Again

by K'Anne Meinel

  “Are you okay?” Allyssa asked, a familiar refrain as she always worried that Fey was tired and over-doing things. She could relate as she was exhausted from carrying her own bundle of joy. She smiled down at Erin, who lay in his bassinet. An identical bassinet sat empty beside his.

  “I’m fine. I’m feeling good actually,” she said as she expressed her milk with the pump, grateful Allyssa had suggested it. “How are you feeling?” She looked at her wife, wondering if she had imagined the fact that she had gotten even bigger since Fey had given birth. She looked enormous and very uncomfortable.

  “I’ll be glad when this,” she indicated her big belly, “is there,” she pointed to the empty bassinet.

  Fey finished with her breast and covered up, putting a pad between her nipple and the bra, so it would catch any leaks. She poured the breast milk into a bottle and placed it on the counter.

  “I’ll wash that,” Allyssa offered, pointing to the pump. “You can put that bottle in the fridge for Erin.”

  “Maybe we should put a fridge up here too,” she mumbled, gathering her robe and then picking up the bottle.

  Allyssa laughed at her wife’s grumblings and quickly cleaned out the pump, so it would be ready to go next time Fey needed to express her milk. The breastfeeding had looked painful for Fey and she wondered if she would be able to do it. She looked at herself in the mirror, wondering when her baby would decide to be born. It was already a week overdue, and she was so fed up with feeling like this. She only hoped Renee would be around to drive them to the clinic when the time came. She wasn’t planning on giving birth in the RV.

  She looked out the window as the lights of the Jeep returned to the ranch. Renee had driven the interns up to Pendleton to catch their flights. The next two interns would arrive in a month, and she wondered what their personalities would be like.

  “Renee is back,” Fey announced, coming into the bedroom as Allyssa put the clean pump back on the dresser, ready to be used again.

  “Yeah, I saw through the window,” she admitted. “The two new interns sound interesting,” she began, sounding Fey out on how she felt.

  “They do, don’t they? One is so enthusiastic in his writings, and I can’t wait to meet him. What’s his name again?”

  “Bart Mallows?” she asked, to be sure she read the same emails.

  “Yes, that’s it, Bart. In my mind, I imagine he’s dark and handsome, and we’ll call him Black Bart.” They shared a laugh.

  “Well, Westley is an old-fashioned name. I wonder if he goes by Wes?” she asked, referencing the second intern.

  “I hope they like the arrangements with one staying in the cabin and one in the mobile home.”

  “Do they have a choice?” she asked, feeling they had given the other two too much leeway.

  “No, not really,” she agreed. She’d had to write assessments of the other two that they would read when they got back to school. She’d finished them after much contemplation of their abilities and attitudes and included that in what she wrote. She hoped they wouldn’t resent her for her honesty, but at the same time, she felt it was important. The odds of her ever seeing either of them again were very small, so she didn’t really worry about their opinions of her or her practice. They’d both been judgmental and rude at times, but she felt they had learned a lot under her direction. She saw Allyssa stop and rub her stomach. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  “Just Junior and his big foot,” she lamented, rubbing where the foot had lodged under her rib for the umpteenth time.

  Fey came up to take her wife in her arms, loving that she could now that her own belly was no longer in the way. She could feel movement; the baby was very active. “Are you certain Junior is a boy?”

  “No, I’m actually hoping for a girl, so we can name her Molly. Maybe we should name her Margaret and Molly could be her nickname, in case she doesn’t like the name Molly when she’s older?”

  “Who says she wouldn’t like her name? Do you think Erin won’t like his name?”

  “There will be some who read the book and realize he is named after a woman,” she pointed out, remembering how she had deliberately kept her 4-H moms in the dark on that subject. It was a good story and it needed to be told, and their opinions on the sex or the subject matter didn’t matter.

  “Do you think the blog will bring in sales?”

  “Did we publish the journals for sales?” she countered, turning and bumping her baby against her wife, smiling down at the bulge where she could see the foot moving across the roundness. When the other foot visually crossed the other way, she realized this baby was going to be a soccer player. She winced at the pain of it.

  “No, we did it for this,” she gestured to Erin in his bassinet and then patted Allyssa’s stomach, “and for my sister and brother and our future offspring, so they will always know they came from the two strong women who settled this ranch.”

  Allyssa looked in her wife’s brown eyes, unsure if she was talking about them or about Erin and Molly. She smiled as she leaned in to kiss her. “I love you. Do you know that?” she murmured.

  “Good thing since I love you too,” Fey answered and then turned to let Allyssa go when Erin murmured in the bassinet. She placed a hand on his back, patting him and letting him know she was there for him. She was hoping he would go back to sleep and maybe sleep through the night. These every two- to four-hour feedings were exhausting. Fortunately, Allyssa helped by taking alternate feedings, but she too was exhausted. She couldn’t imagine what it was going to be like when the second baby came.

  “If your baby decides to wait much longer, we are going to have to induce,” Leslie warned Allyssa at her weekly checkup. She smiled at the two moms, pleased to see Erin was thriving already. Fey sat in the chair and Erin was in a carrying basket that clipped into the larger car seat.

  “Can’t we do that today?” she groused uncomfortably.

  “Would you rather wait to see if the baby will come out in his or her own time?” she asked kindly, knowing how hard it was to wait but how important it was to let the baby come in its own time.

  “I’m sick of being pregnant. There is so much I’d rather be doing.”

  Fey smiled. She understood that and was disgruntled that she didn’t have the same energy and stamina she had depended on for years. Having the baby didn’t mean you got that energy back instantly, but she wouldn’t have given up having Erin for the world. He was so sweet.

  “Let’s give it another week,” Leslie told her and patted her on the shoulder kindly.

  “Easy for you to say,” she groused again.

  It was two weeks to the day after Erin’s birth when Allyssa went into labor. Unfortunately for them, it happened in the middle of the night when Allyssa was feeding Erin, so Fey could get some well-deserved sleep. She had stood up to put Erin back in his bassinet when she felt a tearing sensation and a gush of fluid between her legs. She looked down at the now soused pajama bottoms she was wearing. Gently, she put Erin in the bassinet and then leaned down awkwardly to pull the clothing off, wiping herself to get every drop.

  “What are you doing?” Fey asked sleepily, seeing her wife bent over in an odd position.

  “My water just broke,” she whispered.

  Fey woke up quickly at those words and got up. “Come on, we should go to the hospital.” She began to panic and headed to get the hospital bag for her wife.

  “Fey, don’t you think you should help me get dressed?”

  Fey looked at Allyssa standing there. She had no bottoms on, her maternity top was stretched out, and she looked so sad. She pulled the bag out and left it by the door to their room, then helped Allyssa to the bathroom, so she could wash up. “I’ll get you some clothes,” she whispered, not willing to wake Erin or the others until they had to. It took a little time to get the pregnant woman dressed, and Fey seemed a little more distracted than Allyssa as they made their way to the door.

  “Don’t you think we should bring the baby?�
� Allyssa reminded her, taking the hospital bag from her wife.

  “Of course, because bringing a baby to see another baby born just makes sense.”

  “Well, what else are we going to do with him?” She was envisioning Fey picking him up like a football, placing him under her arm, and walking off.

  “We’ll wake Sean and Traci. They can watch him while you’re in labor.”

  “They aren’t going to like that,” she pointed out.

  “Sure, they will,” she said confidently, knowing her wife was right. Traci woke up as soon as Fey told her Allyssa was in labor and they had to go to the hospital. Sean was another matter. It was terrible trying to wake him up in the dead of night. It took threats and a little water splashed on his face to ensure he was awake enough to be coherent.

  “Whaaaat?” he grumped.

  “Allyssa’s water broke, and we’re going to the hospital. Do you want to come or stay home with Erin?” she asked, hopefully.

  Not wanting to be alone with a two-week-old baby, Sean woke up very quickly. “I’ll come,” he said, forcing a cheerfulness he was not feeling.

  They wedged the two kids in the back of the Jeep and Allyssa, who was now experiencing labor pains, sat in the front seat.

  “Are you sure you feel up to driving?” Allyssa asked Fey.

  “I’ve got this,” she said, tacking a note on the office door for when Renee and the others came in. Rex and Lexy were looking on hopefully, following their humans from the farmhouse to the Jeep to the cabin.

  Fey drove very carefully, and finally, Allyssa asked, “Are you hoping to have this baby in the Jeep?”

  “No. Why?”

  “If you drive any slower, it will be faster for me to walk!” She sounded a bit grumpy.

  “I’m driving the speed limit, and you aren’t even in hard labor,” she pointed out reasonably as she eased onto the road from their long driveway.

  “I know you’ve been through all this,” her wife said with an edge in her voice, “but this is a first for me, and I don’t appreciate it!”

  “I’m sorry, babe. I know you’re doing the best you can.” Fey patted her hand and Allyssa slapped it away angrily. She adjusted herself in the seat, wishing Fey would just drive.

  It was a long drive to the clinic in the pitch blackness. Erin fussed once or twice but more because they had woken him up to take him from his warm bassinet. Fey had packed plenty of bottles, and at the last minute, she put her pump in the diaper bag. Who knew how long they would be? Already, Sean was snoring. He was laying in the far back, out of sight, but all of them could hear him. Traci had looked over the back seat several times as though hoping her glare would get him to stop. She looked down at her nephew, pleased that her sister and her wife would soon have a second baby and wondering at the baby’s sex. She thought it was so cool.

  Fey had called from the house, so the clinic was expecting Mrs. Herriot. They knew who Allyssa was now, after Leslie had ripped into a few people for the way they had treated Doctor Herriot. Leslie felt the fact that they were a same-sex couple should have no bearing on their care.

  “Ready for this, Allyssa?” one of the orderlies asked her cheerfully.

  “For weeks now,” she admitted as he rolled her inside.

  “Do we have to come into the delivery room?” Sean asked as they were escorted through the second set of doors and he saw the rooms.

  “No, you can go sit in the waiting room and watch television, but could you take Erin? He’ll still sleep for hours, and when he wakes up, there are bottles in the bag.” Fey watched him carefully, unsure if the now thirteen-year-old was able to care for a two-week-old baby.

  “I’m not sure I can...” he began.

  “I’ll take him,” eleven-year-old Traci volunteered.

  “I can take him,” Sean asserted stoutly, not willing to let his little sister show him up.

  “You can both help, and it truly is a help. Thank you. I should be with Allyssa during this, and I’ll come out and check on you if it takes a long time.”

  As Sean carried the baby to the waiting room, he felt like he had somehow been outmaneuvered. It wasn’t like he hadn’t changed his nephew’s diaper, but the little guy was quite small, and it unnerved him when he started stinking and crying.

  Traci smirked behind his back, knowing he had been about to refuse and she’d goaded him into helping their older sister. Erin wasn’t that hard to take care of at this stage, but it was a big responsibility. Still, it was important that Fey be with Allyssa during her labor and delivery.

  “That’s it, babe. Breathe,” Fey was encouraging her as the pains were coming more frequently.

  “Could you get me some ice chips or something?” Allyssa asked, glaring as Fey turned to get some. She didn’t want to yell at her wife, but she was annoying her.

  “Okay, Mrs. Herriot. You’re all set,” the tech said after inserting an IV into her vein.

  “Thank you. Please call me Allyssa,” she said, examining the connection and wondering if it hurt as much when she did it to animals. He’d poked her three times before getting her vein.

  It seemed to take a long time before Leslie joined them in the room, and by then, Allyssa was writhing in pain.

  “She doesn’t seem to be handling it well,” Fey confided in the OBGYN.

  “She’s doing fine. I know you don’t remember everything, but you were just like that two weeks ago,” Leslie told her before approaching the bed. “Hi there, Allyssa,” she said, examining her vitals and looking at both the fingernails and pupils of her patient.

  “This hurts more than I expected,” she admitted.

  “I know. Are you sure you don’t want an epidural or something for the pain?”

  Allyssa shook her head, remembering how flip she had been when they first talked about wanting drugs. She had decided she wanted all natural, and now, she was regretting it a bit.

  “You’re doing fine,” Leslie told her, but something about the vitals was bothering her and was niggling at the back of her brain. She put her hand on Allyssa’s stomach. It was hard as iron as her body prepared to deliver the baby. “Not too long now,” she told her as she examined her and saw how dilated she was.

  “Should I start pushing yet?” she asked through gritted teeth.

  “No, not yet. I’ll tell you when,” she said with a smile, knowing anything she said would probably annoy her patient. She could tell Allyssa was just barely holding in her temper.

  It took a long time. She dilated to three centimeters and then plateaued for a good hour or more. Fey left to check on Erin, Sean, and Traci and found her brother sheepishly changing his nephew. Traci had fallen asleep in a chair. She smiled at him and thanked him, letting him know that Allyssa was okay. She knew he had a tremendous case of hero worship for her wife and that was okay with her. She left her son in the good and capable hands of her brother.

  “Everything okay?” Allyssa panted through the pains that were coming more and more often, but she wasn’t dilating farther, and this worried her. What if she had to have a C-Section, or what if something was seriously wrong?

  “Sean was changing Erin and planned to feed him. Traci fell back to sleep,” she told her with a smile. She smoothed Allyssa’s blonde hair away from her brow. “For all his bitchin’ and moanin’, he knows how to change a diaper,” she said triumphantly.

  “That’s because I made him do it last week,” Allyssa pointed out, wanting to knock her wife’s hand away but knowing that was just the unreasonable anger she was feeling as this labor went on and on and on.

  “He seems to like being in charge.”

  Allyssa nodded, not willing to speak anymore as her labor continued.

  A while later, Leslie asked, “Are you sure you want natural? I can have this baby out of you in five minutes with a C-section,” she offered.

  “Is there a reason for the C-section? Is the baby in danger?”

  “Nope, I’m just asking for your convenience,” she assured he
r, checking the vitals again. The baby’s vitals seemed to change each time she checked, and that concerned her; however, she wouldn’t panic the mother.

  “Then let’s progress naturally,” she asserted.

  “Do you want to take a walk?”

  “I don’t think I could stand,” she admitted, feeling she’d never make her way back to this awful hospital bed if she did.

  They waited, and they waited. She finally took that walk and returned to her bed. She continued to labor. Finally, she had dilated to five centimeters and they were happy with her progress, but the day continued to drag. Fey felt the need to express the milk in her breasts and went to get the pump. She did it discreetly in the corner of the room as Allyssa panted and groaned in the bed.

  “I feel like pushing,” Allyssa stated after the last, long-lasting contraction. She held her breath for a moment, hoping there wouldn’t be more like the last one, but she was to be disappointed as another hit her almost immediately.

  Fey quickly finished up pumping her breasts, relieved to have that done because they were beginning to hurt. She quickly cleaned herself and the pump and went to hold her wife’s hand. “Is there anything I can do?” she asked, feeling helpless and wondering if Allyssa had felt the same way when Fey was in labor.

  Allyssa didn’t answer. She’d been angry for hours, and it wouldn’t be fair to blame Fey. She wanted to blame her, but she knew this was all her own fault for insisting they get pregnant again. She had wanted this. Still, she wanted to blame Fey even though she knew that was irrational. Saying nothing seemed like a good idea.

  “I’m going to take this,” she indicated the bottles and the pump, “out to the baby bag and check on Erin.”

  Allyssa nodded but didn’t say anything. Another pain was starting, and she watched dully as Fey left the room.

  “Okay, I’m going to ask you to start pushing,” Leslie told her when she finished her next examination. “I know this seems to be taking a long time,” she consoled her, thinking the same thing herself, “but some labors are longer. You can do this; you’re young and healthy. Push now!” she said, watching the monitor when the pain started and gauging Allyssa’s reaction. The young woman was tired, and Leslie could tell it was wearing her out. “You’ve got this,” she encouraged. “That’s it! That’s it!” she cheered her patient on as Allyssa pushed.