The Baby Shower

by Tasha Blue et al.

  The nurse looked at her with sad eyes and shook her head. “I’m sorry, Elise, we can’t. You’re too far along in your labor. There is no way to stop it now. We will do what we can to help you and the baby.”

  Elise felt terror rip through her and freeze her body. She was alone and her baby was going to be born prematurely. Fear closed its icy grip tightly around her and all she could do was wish with all of her heart that her baby might survive. Nothing else mattered to her, nothing else in the world except the little one in her who was rapidly losing a chance at life. She looked down at her swollen belly and rubbed her hands over the hardness of it.

  “Don’t you worry, baby, we’re going to do this, you and me… together, and you’re going to make it! You are! I’m not going to let anything happen to you, little one, don’t you be afraid! I’m going to take care of everything! Just be safe! Please be safe. Please be okay…” Tears streamed in rivers down her face as she laid back and clenched the bed in agony while another contraction tore at her.

  She gritted her teeth as hard as she could to get through the pain, struggling to breathe and hold back her cries. But as the contraction began to release, she cried out in pain and then laid her head back against the pillow with her eyes closed.

  A warm touch on her arm and a soft voice brought her out of her dark torment. She opened her eyes to see Sarah looking down at her through her own tears. Elise had never been so relieved to see anyone in her life. She wept happiness in rivulets and smiled at her best friend as Sarah leaned down to hold her. Elise rested her forehead against Sarah’s neck and Sarah comforted her with the strength of a giant.

  “It’s going to be alright,” she said quietly in Elise’s ear. “You’re going to have this baby and it’s going to be just fine, don’t you fret now, I’m here.”

  Elise looked up at her in total gratitude. “Thank you so much for being here with me. I was so scared I was going to have to go through this alone! I couldn’t do it alone!”

  Sarah smiled at her. “Yes you could honey, once those babies start coming, there is no stopping it, no matter who’s around. Besides, you don’t have to think on that anymore. I’m here for you, and I even called your Rent-a-Husband for you, too. David’s on his way down, so you won’t be alone at all.”

  Elise was horrified. “You called David?” she asked, aghast.

  Sarah knitted her brow and looked at Elise with a shake of her head. “Of course I called him. The nurse told me you were here alone, so I knew he probably didn’t know you were in labor!”

  “I’m here!” David called out, rushing through the doorway, his eyes wide with worry and alarm. “What’s going on? What’s happening? Where’s the doctor?” he looked around for some help and hurried toward Elise.

  She glared at him with utter rage. “Get him out of here right now!” she screamed as another contraction wrenched at her body.

  Sarah stared down at her and looked at David who stopped in his tracks, looking at Elise with desperation.

  “Please! Elise! It’s our baby! I have to be here, I want to be here!” he cried out to her as she writhed on the bed.

  He was desperate to be in the room with her, to experience his child’s birth but he saw the agony and pain in her face and in her eyes, and he knew that he had gone too far with her. He had pushed her too far. His stomach clenched tightly at the realization that she was probably in labor because of him, because he had upset her so much with his devices and plans, with his part of Carlson’s scheme. If his child was born too soon and didn’t make it, it would be his fault. The enormity of the situation weighed upon him like the world on Atlas’ shoulders.

  “OUT! GET OUT!” she screamed at the top of her lungs, holding tightly to the bars on her bed.

  Sarah didn’t need to be told again. She marched around the bed and began to shove David toward the door. He pushed against her, trying to keep himself in the room but one of the nurses saw them and looked at Sarah, asking what was happening. Sarah told her that Elise evicted David from the room, and the nurse dragged him out into the hallway, demanding that he stay outside.

  “I can’t have you upsetting her while she’s in labor. Stay out here,” she scolded him sharply.

  David looked on helplessly as the door was closed and he listened to Elise screaming behind it. He was awash in fear and panic as he waited, not knowing what was going on, and every time anyone came out of the room, he grabbed at them, begging for information. He knew deep in him that everything happening just then was his own fault, and regret tangled with fear inside of him, wreaking havoc in his heart and mind. All he could do was wait, and he knew that it didn’t matter what side of the door he was on, she was in the delivery room because of him. All he could do was wait and hope. He knew he would never forgive himself if anything happened to either Elise or their baby.

  Elise struggled through her contraction, sweat pouring from her face, her teeth gritted tightly against the intense pain, and when it finally let her go, she took a deep breath and laid back against the pillow while the nurse checked her again and called the doctor. Sarah held on to her hand tightly.

  “I think it’s time,” she said encouragingly to Elise. “We’re going to get through this.”

  Elise could only close her eyes and cry, praying in desperation for the safe delivery of a healthy baby. The doctor came in and David scrambled to look through the open door until they closed it. He couldn’t see enough to sooth the anguish that was engulfing him.

  The contractions were nearly constant as the doctor pulled gloves on and readied Elise for her delivery. Sarah held her hand tightly as she closed her eyes and listened to the doctor while he instructed her to push and breathe. She pushed for what seemed like forever, and the doctors and nurses were anxiously working around her trying to help her. The baby was turned so that it wouldn’t come out when she pushed, and the pain felt to her as though she were being torn right in half from the legs to the top of her skull. She cried out and pushed over and over, losing her breath and straining hard from the pressure, and just as the medical team was about to give up and cut her open to deliver the baby cesarean, the baby turned just enough that Elise was able to push again a few more times, panting in exhaustion, and then in a moment of wonder, the doctor was holding her baby in his hands.

  Sarah was weeping with joy, and she looked down at Elise and said happily, “It’s a girl! You have a girl!” Elise felt some relief as she looked at the doctors and nurses rushing around her tiny baby.

  They let her glimpse the baby for a moment, and in that moment, Elise fell in love with her daughter for the rest of her life. She had caramel colored skin and tiny dark curls on her head. They cleaned her quickly and rushed her out of the room and past David, who was waiting just outside the door. The doctor helped Elise finish her delivery and the nurses cleaned her up and let her rest.

  David caught a quick look at the baby and the nurse who had sent him out the door smiled at him as she rushed by, letting him peek for an instant at the infant screaming in the plastic bassinet tub she was wheeling past him.

  “It’s a girl, David, you have a daughter. You’ll have to wait to see her.” And with that, the nurse rushed the baby away. David watched them wheel her swiftly down the hall and he covered his mouth with his hands, closing his eyes and weeping silently in gratitude that she was born alive. He hoped with everything in him that she would be alright. One of the other nurses stepped out of Elise’s room and he grasped at her arm and asked with wide anxious eyes, “Is Elise alright? Is she okay?”

  The nurse nodded and patted his hand. “They are both alright, but your daughter is going to need some time to grow. They’ll both be okay.”

  David thanked her gratefully and eased himself down into a chair with a long winded sigh, letting some of the stress in him go as he focused on the positive aspects of it all.

  ***

  Sarah held her hand almost the whole time, comforting her and promising her that things were going to wo
rk out. The nurse gave Elise a sleeping pill, and wheeled her out of the delivery room toward her own room. When they passed David in the hall, Elise turned her head away from him and refused to look at him or answer him as he called out to her. She looked at Sarah and the nurse as they got her to her room and she said, “I don’t want to see him at all.”

  The nurse looked at her sympathetically. “Well, we can keep him out of your room, but he is the father of the baby, so if he wants to see her, he can. You let me know if you need anything. My name is Mary.” With that, Mary walked out of the room and left Sarah holding Elise’s hand as she slipped into a deep and dreamless sleep.

  When she awoke, Elise saw that Sarah was sitting in the chair near her bed, reading a book.

  “You’re still here?” she asked, looking at her best friend in surprise.

  Sarah looked up at her with tired eyes and smiled. “Of course I’m still here, what kind of a question is that?”

  The corner of Elise’s mouth turned up and she looked around her room. “What happened to the baby? Where is she? I want to see her!”

  Sarah stood up and took her hand, holding it gently. “She’s alright; she’s in an incubator right now. They said she’s going to be here for a couple of months.”

  Elise closed her eyes to hold the tears back, but they came anyway, rolling down her cheeks as she drew in her breath and let out a sob. Sarah hugged her tight and held her close to her heart. “It’s alright, she’s going to be alright, she just needs a little more time here, that’s all.”

  Elise took a shaky breath and looked up at Sarah. “I want to see her.”

  Sarah nodded. “I’m sure you can. We’ll call the nurse and get you in there.” She reached for the call button on the bed wand and pressed it.

  “Listen, I don’t think this is a good time to talk about whatever is going on between you and David, but you should probably know that he’s here and he’s in there with your daughter since you don’t want him in here with you. I don’t know why you don’t want to see him, but if you go in there, you’re going to see him. I’m just telling you right now.”

  Elise closed her eyes and shook her head. “You were right about him. You were right all along.”

  Sarah held her hand and stroked it. “We don’t have to talk about that now, Elise, this is a happy day. Your baby girl is here and I’m betting she needs her mama right about now.”

  Elise nodded and smiled through her tears. A few minutes later, Mary came into the room, loaded Elise into a wheelchair and rolled her down the hall to the NICU room where her daughter was.

  Sarah had been right. David was sitting right beside the machine that their daughter was laying in. He looked up when he heard them coming and rose immediately to his feet. His eyes were red and swollen and his face showed all the emotion he had wrestled with that day.

  He looked from Elise to Sarah for a moment, and Sarah only looked back at him with a poker face, no story to tell him at all about what might be happening with Elise. Elise did not look at him at all, her attention was solely on the little angel resting in the machine before them.

  She gazed in through the plastic and looked at her daughter laying there, tiny and sweeter than anything she had ever seen. Elise lifted her hand to her mouth and tried to hold in some of her emotion, but she wound up smiling through her tears.

  Mary addressed all of them. “Elise, you had a hard delivery, so we’re going to keep you here for a couple of days just to be sure you are alright. We also want you to start pumping breast milk for your daughter so we can feed her the good stuff right away. It’ll be the best thing for her. She is going to be here for a couple of months, until she passes all of her tests and weighs enough to go home. You are both welcome to see her any time you want to, and I’ll tell you now, from all of my experience here in this unit, the more often you are here, the better it will be for her.”

  Mary smiled at both David and Elise. “I’ve seen babies born sooner than she was that made it just fine. I have no doubt that she will be healthy and strong and home with you soon.” They thanked her and she left them to go to the nurse’s station.

  Elise stayed as long as they would let her, watching her new baby girl in silence, smiling at her and feeling overwhelmed by all of the emotion in her heart, and after a time, Mary took her back to her room and put her to bed so that she could rest. Sarah said goodbye to her and told her she would be back to visit. David stayed beside his daughter, watching her and talking to her, coaxing her along and encouraging her to be healthy and strong so she could go home.

  Chapter8

  When Elise awoke again, she was disoriented for a few moments. Then, all of the memories came flooding back to her and her heart was pulled into a tug of war between sorrow and happiness. She called for the nurse and Mary showed up in her room a short time later.

  “You’re still here?” Elise asked in surprise.

  Mary chuckled softly. “I’m almost always here. I’ll go home in a while, then I’ll be back again later on today.” She paused a moment and then looked at Elise and said, “I’m not the only one who hasn’t gone anywhere. Your husband hasn’t left your daughter’s side since she was brought in there. He slept part of the night in the chair there, but the rest of the times he’s been awake, he has been talking to her and singing to her. I’m not sure what’s going on with you two, but I thought you should know that. He is truly dedicated to that little girl.”

  Elise listened to her in surprise. “He sang to her?”

  Mary nodded. “He did, a few times. I think he was telling her stories about some big bear waiting for her at home, too.”

  Elise sat in silence, wondering at David’s actions and though she wouldn’t admit it to herself, it touched her that he was doing all that he was for their daughter.

  Mary walked Elise into the NICU and she sat at a chair beside David in awkward silence for a little while, watching her daughter.

  David didn’t want to further damage his situation with Elise, but he knew they couldn’t sit there beside each other, ignoring each other for ages while visiting their daughter. He took a deep breath and spoke softly to Elise, without taking his eyes off of the baby.

  “We should come up with a name for her,” he said quietly.

  Elise stiffened at hearing his voice, but she knew he was right. The silence was almost unbearable to her anyway.

  “I like Sirena and Jaden,” Elise said in a quiet tone.

  David thought about the names and smiled a little. “What if we use them both? Jaden Sirena?”

  Elise almost smiled but stopped herself. “I think that would be beautiful.”

  “That’s what we’ll do then,” he said.

  It was quiet a while between them, and then Elise broke the silence. “Mary said you were singing to her.”

  David pursed his lips and blushed in embarrassment. “I did sing to her, it’s true.”

  Elise couldn’t hold back the slight upward curve at the corner of her mouth. “I didn’t know you could sing,” she said in a hushed tone.

  He shook his head. “I can’t sing but Jaden doesn’t know that.”

  Hearing her name spoken aloud for the first time touched both of their hearts and made her seem more real to them, and made them both feel like parents.

  After another long silence, David said, “I’m sorry. I never wanted to hurt you.”

  Elise felt ire rise up in her and she lowered her brow. “This is no place to talk about it,” she said. “Jaden doesn’t need any negativity around her.”

  “Then let’s go sit over there in the hall and talk about it, please.” David looked at her fully and implored her.

  She shook her head. “I’m not here to talk to you and listen to your lies. I’m here to be with my daughter.”

  David felt like she had gut checked him, but he knew he deserved it. “I realize that, but soon enough it will be time for her to leave here and then we’ll have to make decisions about what we are going to do. We
need to talk. We’re here, so let’s talk. Please. We’ve got to work it out for her, however it ends up.”

  Elise sighed heavily and nodded. She knew he was right. She owed it to her daughter to get the mess between her and David sorted out as quickly as possible. So she stood up and walked slowly toward the hall. David tried to reach out to help her but she swatted his hand away from her. They reached a corner of the hall that was lit by wide windows. They sat together.

  David looked at Elise and shook his head, sorrow spilling out of his heart. “I can’t begin to tell you how sorry I am that you found out the way that you did. I didn’t intend for any of it to happen the way that it has. I’m going to tell you the whole thing from the beginning and you can do what you like from there.”

  Elise sighed. “Alright. I’m listening.”

  He took a deep breath and sat up. “A little over a year ago, I was working on a few possible business deals and one of them was a take-over of a small company in Oakland. The company is owned by a man named Marvin Jackson. His company was in real financial trouble and he wanted to do a merger with me, allowing me to absorb his company into mine and keep on all of his employees. I wanted to buy him out and close down the company because the company was, and remains, dead in the water. It’s a financial ruin and it would be bad business on my part to take it on. I like taking on dead weight and expecting to swim far with it, it just doesn’t work. We discussed it over a few meetings and, at first, I was willing to buy him out and kill the company but he was dead set against it.

  “He had started the company from scratch and he wanted to keep it going and keep all the employees. I understood what he wanted and why he wanted it, but it would have been such a bad decision on my part to do what he wanted me to do. He begged and pressured and even tried to bully me, even guilt me into it, but after looking at it from every angle, I decided that the best thing I could do would be to walk away from it. That was when he went over the edge and he fought with me, telling me that I was turning my back on him because he was black. He called me a racist, and came at me, attacking me. I fought with him and when the police arrived, they arrested us both.”