CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Four and half months had already passed by. Chloe had been having what she referred to as “flutter pains” all day long. She had called the doctor’s office before she told Derek because she knew that he would want to insist on rushing her to the hospital right away. They had only moved into their new house in January and she had been working hard to get things ready to bring the baby home. She thought that was probably all that it was, she over-exerted herself. When she called them, she was told to time them, how far apart they were and how long they lasted and call them back. She did and she timed them and they varied from fifteen minutes apart to an hour. They told her to just keep an eye on things; they wouldn’t admit her yet. She was excited and nervous anyways because things were beginning to happen. She still didn’t tell Derek. She didn’t want to stress him out. He already seemed like he was having a convulsion each time she had the slightest flutter.

He had been so cute through her pregnancy. When the baby started kicking especially. He would sit with his hand resting softly on her belly for hours sometimes just waiting for it and then he would say,

“Did you feel that? She’s so strong!” He gave her foot rubs and he walked with her every morning that he was able to when he didn’t have to go to Rhode Island. Then towards the end, he refused to go, just in case. He was scared to death that he would miss it.

That night Chloe had a dream about being in labor. When she woke on Saturday morning, her first thought had been that the dream seemed so real. That was about the time she had another contraction and realized that it wasn’t a dream. She was still having them and they were getting closer together. She begged off breakfast which made Derek suspicious. She was trying to time them and have them without him knowing it, but he followed her around with that panicked expression. By about nine that morning they were about ten minutes apart, but still really mild in her mind. She went about her routine, still not telling Derek. He had calmed down and was finally working in the nursery and leaving her alone.

It was around one o’clock that afternoon when they started to be about five minutes apart. That was when she went to the nursery to find Derek.

“Hey baby, I think we should head to the hospital.”

“What? Why?”

She giggled. “Because we’re having a baby.”

“Now? Did your water break?” Derek had read everything he could get his hands on regarding childbirth.

“No, but I’ve been having contractions.”

“You’ve “been having” them? For how long? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Baby, maybe we could debate this on the way.”

“Shit! I’m sorry. Yeah, where’s your bag?” Chloe had shown him where the bag was at least five separate times.

“It’s okay; I’ll just get it…”

“No! I’ll get it.” He swept past her in the hallway and then he turned back around and said, “I’m sorry. I wasn’t yelling at you.”

She smiled. Derek never yelled at her or anyone else. The closest she had ever heard him raise his voice was the day when Vince Donavan came to the hospital. Vince hadn’t moved forward so far with the civil suit. Jesse’s case had gotten a lot of publicity in Rhode Island and Jake thought that was probably why. He still had some time, but Jake and Kevin both thought he had probably given up.

“It’s okay. I know you’re not yelling.” He went into the bedroom and came out with her bag. By that time she had gone down five steps.

“Chloe! Let me help you.”

“I can maneuver the stairs honey, thank you.”

He took hold of her arm anyways and led her down excruciatingly slow. When they got to the bottom step, she had another contraction. It wasn’t bad, but she noticed it was closer to the last one.

As they got into the car, Derek said, “Should I call your parents?”

“Let’s wait and see for a bit. It’s still possible this is Braxton-Hicks.”

“Braxton-Hicks are sporadic. You said these were regular now.”

“They are. I suppose you can call it real labor. I just don’t want to work everyone up over nothing.”

He shook his head at me and said, “Even for false labor they would want to be there, and so would I.”

When they got to the hospital, Derek took care of the paperwork and they took Chloe straight into a triage room. They had her change into a gown and they put her in a bed. The monitors were all strapped on and she laid there while they watched. Derek came in after about ten minutes and wanted to know what was going on.

“They’re watching right now.”

Derek looked up at the monitors. “Why is your blood pressure so high? Do they know it’s high?”

“They didn’t say anything.” Derek got up and Chloe reached for his arm. “Baby, they’ll be back soon. Relax, okay?” He was starting to freak Chloe out a little bit.

When the nurse came back in, Derek pointed out the B/P. The nurse checked the strip since it was taking it every five minutes and said, “We’re going to have you turn on you left side and we’re going to watch you again for thirty minutes, okay?”

“Okay.”

“What are you looking for?” Derek asked her.

“Sometimes laying on your back during labor compresses the main artery that goes to the placenta. Lying on your left side often relieves it and will make the B/P go down.”

“What if it doesn’t?”

The nurse must see a lot of nervous daddies. She was very patient and she said, “Let’s just see if it does.”

Derek didn’t take his eyes off the monitor even when Chloe tried to distract him with conversation. Her contractions had slowed down, so she really thought this was false labor and they would be sent home. When the nurse came back in she had a pitcher of water.

“Your labs are showing you’re a little dehydrated. That’s likely the blood pressure issue and could be why the contractions are slowing down as well.”

Derek poured Chloe a cup of the water. As soon as she put it to her lips, she felt like she would vomit. “I can’t, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry,” the nurse told her. “Let’s do a cervical check and see where you are and then we’ll start an IV.”

The nurse put Chloe’s feet in the stirrups and checked her. It was extremely uncomfortable, but Chloe tried not to flinch again. Derek looked completely spun out. “You are 2-3 centimeters dilated and 80% effaced,” she said.

“One station,” Derek said.

The nurse smiled indulgently and said, “I see someone did their Lamaze homework. Yes, Mr. Stark, she is at one station. I’m going to call Dr. Enloe and then I’ll be back to start the IV.”

“Thank you,” Chloe said. Suddenly she had a contraction that felt like someone was trying to peel her stomach open from the inside out. She couldn’t help it, she flinched.

“Are you okay?” She didn’t answer him. Instead, she began her breathing exercises. “I’m sorry,” he muttered. He began breathing with her. When the contraction passed and the nurse had the IV started, Chloe asked her, “Can I get up and walk?”

“No honey. You’ll need to stay there on your left side because of your blood pressure. Dr. Enloe wants us to admit you now. By the time they moved her into a labor room, the contractions were getting intense and she was also having back pain. Each time she grimaced or moaned Derek did too. He would try to refocus her back to her breathing, but she was in excruciating pain all of a sudden and wanted no part of it. She started snapping at Derek, which she had never done before. In between pains, she would feel bad and apologize…and then another wave would hit and she needed someone to yell at. Chloe had gone in with the idea that she wanted to do this all naturally. She had a high tolerance for pain; she should be able to handle it. After the first two hours of the contractions coupled with the back labor, she wasn’t so sure. During one excruciatingly intense contraction, she told Derek, “I need medication!”

He didn’t hesitate. He went and got the nurse right away. The nurse gave her something called Nubain through her IV. It took that sharp edge off of her contractions but made her head a little bit fuzzy. She was nicer to Derek, but her thoughts became a little strange. She told herself at one point that she couldn’t do this without an epidural. She made up her mind to tell the nurse, so next time she came in. The nurse came and went and Chloe said nothing.

The next crazy thought she had was that she just couldn’t do this. She was just going to go home and eventually the baby would just fall out right? She looked at Derek and said, “I want to go home.”

He looked like his heart was breaking. “I’m sorry baby. Soon you’ll be able to go home and take our baby with you. You’re doing great!”

“I want to go home now. I can’t do this.” She had a tear rolling down her cheek.

“You can do this honey. You’re the toughest person I know. You can do this.” Another contraction hit then and poor Derek got told off. As soon as she came down from the pain, she said, “I’m sorry. I love you.”

“I know,” he told her. “Hang in there, okay?”

The doctor finally came in and checked her after she had been there for over four hours. “You’re five centimetres now, Chloe. You’re making progress.”

She grimaced, in the middle of a back contraction. The doctor told Derek, “If you’ll put some pressure on her back with your hand when she has those that will help.”

“Okay.”

“Did you call my parents?”

“Yes, on the way here, remember?”

“Did you call Kevin and Jake?”

“Samantha was doing that for me.”

“We’ve been here for hours. Why aren’t they here yet?”

“They probably are, but we’ve been back here.”

“I want my mother.”

Derek looked up at the doctor. “Her mother can come in until she’s ready to deliver and then one of you will have to step out.”

“I’ll go find her,” Derek told her.

Derek came back with Samantha in tow and for a while, having her calming presence helped them both. Eventually, when she was up to seven-eight centimeters, nothing was relieving the pain. She had her eyes closed and she was moaning. Poor Derek kept a cool cloth on her head and tried to get her to breathe, but she wouldn’t…or couldn’t. He looked like he felt so helpless and Chloe felt bad but only for a minute.

The doctor finally checked her and said she was ready.

“Finally.” Chloe breathed out.

Derek stepped up to the bed and said, “Do you want me to go out and let your mother stay?”

That made her feel horrible.

She grabbed his hand and said, “No! I can’t do this without you. I don’t want to.”

Sam gave them both a kiss and told Chloe how great she was doing one last time before she left. Chloe was wheeled to the delivery room and Derek was given blue paper scrubs and a hat to put on. It was about one-fifteen Sunday morning by this time.

When it was time to push, the nurse taught her to wrap her arms around her leg and hold it close to her chest. She did that, starting off on her right side and switching to her left after a while. That seemed to go on and on and on. Her legs were shaking and she felt like she had nothing left. She was crying and telling Derek that she couldn’t do this. He kept telling her that she could. She loved him, but she wanted to scratch his pretty eyes out.

“Can’t we just stop for now and let me rest and start again tomorrow?”

Dr. Enloe looked like he was trying not to smile as he said, “I’m afraid not Chloe…but you’re doing so well. You’ve been pushing for over an hour now. I know you’re exhausted, but we’re getting there, I promise.”

He stepped back out and Chloe told Derek, “Maybe I just can’t do this. Maybe they need to help me.”

“The doctor says you’re doing fine baby. I know it’s hard.”

“Really? Do you?”

Chloe knew she was being a bitch, but she just couldn’t help herself at this point. Everyone had been encouraging, Derek most of all…but she was just done. She wanted to go home. She had been in labor for over twelve hours. She couldn’t do it anymore!

Around three a.m. she suddenly felt it. The baby was crowning. “She’s coming, Derek!”

The nurse ran for the doctor and there was a big rush of activity in the room. Derek held onto her with each contraction and told her she was beautiful and she was doing great and he loved her. Finally, at three in the morning on Sunday, March 15th at 3:00 AM the baby finally made her debut.

The doctor caught her and placed a squiggly, wet slimy little person on Chloe’s belly. “Oh my goodness. Look at her!” The pain was forgotten, but the exhaustion was seeping into her bones.

“She’s amazing,” Derek said. He kissed her forehead and said, “So are you, baby. You did so good!”

“Do you want to cut the cord?” Dr. Enloe asked Derek.

With wide eyes, he told him that he did. He was given a pair of scissors and told where to cut. Once the baby was loose, the nurse wrapped her in a blanket and took her away.

“Where did they take her?”

“Just to clean her up, Chloe. She’ll be back. Once you deliver the placenta…”

“Deliver the placenta? After all that I have to deliver something else?”

“I’m afraid so.”

She growled and told Derek, “Don’t take your eyes off of her, please. Watch her like a hawk.” Chloe was suddenly aware of how easily it would be to walk out of here with her tiny little baby girl. “Promise!”

“I won’t take my eyes off of her honey.”

Delivering the placenta wasn’t as bad as it sounded. They brought the baby back, clean and wrapped and laid her on Chloe’s chest. Chloe clutched onto her and the baby latched onto a nipple right away as Derek looked on in awe.

“She’s six pounds and 8 ounces and 19 ½ inches long,” the nurse told them. Once the nurse was gone, Derek and Chloe unwrapped her enough to count her fingers and toes. Derek peeked under her little cap and reported she had blonde hair. Chloe couldn’t stop looking at her. She was the most gorgeous sight she had ever seen and suddenly all of the pain was forgotten.

The baby fell asleep nursing and once the nurse helped Chloe learn how to detach her, she looked up at Derek and said, “Do you want to hold her Daddy?”

“More than I want to breathe,” he said. Chloe smiled and laid their baby girl in his arms. Derek said, “Hey there sweet girl. I’m your daddy and I love you so much. Your Mama loves you and you have all kinds of crazy relatives who love you…Oh, my!”

“What?”

“She opened her eyes. Look.” He held her down where Chloe could see her. Her eyes were blue…aquamarine, just like her daddy’s.

“She’s so beautiful that I never want to look at anything else.”

Derek laughed. “Not even me?”

“She looks just like you. That’s why she’s so beautiful. God, I love you both so much.”

“We love you too. You did an amazing job. Do you want me to get your parents now?”

“In a minute. We need a name.”

“I know you’ve been studying the baby name book. Any ideas?”

“I really like the ring to Sophia Marie?”

Sophia was Chloe’s birth name and Marie was Derek’s mother’s name. His eyes filled with tears and he looked down at his daughter and said, “Sophia Marie…it’s absolutely perfect.”

Chloe heard a sharp intake of breath and she looked up and saw Samantha and Trevor peeking in the door. She smiled at them and they smiled back at her through their tears.

None of them would ever doubt that miracles do happen.