Handle With Care

by Dahlia Rose

  “Hey honey, you had a late one today,” she said with a smile and rubbed her belly. “We missed you.”

  “I missed my girls too,” Ben said and felt the love surge through him.

  This was his home and he was looking at his family with one addition soon to be added. Ben smiled at Tricia and closed the door, leaving the world outside.

  Chapter Eight

  It was a week before Halloween, one of the biggest holidays in New Orleans, and a late in the season storm was wrecking havoc on the celebration. Tricia hoped by the day of that the weather dried out and she could actually get some decorations up. For the past few days, she had been nothing but tired and cranky. She burst out crying in frustration a few times, Lever du Soleil would be opening mid-November for the Thanksgiving and holiday rush.

  She’d even gotten a jewelry supplier and started making bracelets with scented Mali beads and earrings with beads made out of semi-precious stones. Creating and designing was her favorite part and when she posted pictures on the store website, she was getting pre-orders nationwide. Right now she was lying on the sofa and her back was aching. The dinner she prepared was sitting on the coffee table and she had only taken a few bites of the chicken and broccoli casserole. Ben was putting the crib together while the thunder rumbled loudly outside and she could hear the wind pelting the windows.

  “Babe, come see,” Ben called from upstairs.

  “Coming,” she answered.

  Even though she just wanted to lie down because she felt crummy, Tricia got up slowly and went up the stairs. Her back ached worse with every step and she decided that after she looked at the crib, a shower and bed would be perfect. She stepped into the room just as he was finishing up the mobile that hung from the roof. Tricia forgot how uncomfortable she was as she looked at the pink frilly dust ruffle that went around the base of the crib and sheets to match. The cloud stencils on the wall and animal-themed mobile swing put the finishing touches on the room she had been crafting with love. The braided strawberry and crème rug looked so inviting on the floor, she actually thought about going to lay on it. You’re just tired, she thought and instead leaned against the wall.

  “It all looks so perfect,” she said with a smile.

  “Thank God, hanging that mobile was a bitch,” Ben teased. He walked over and wrapped her in his arms. What’s wrong, honey?”

  She sighed and lay her head against his shoulder. “Still feeling crummy and tired. I hope I’m not catching a cold or something.”

  He pressed a kiss on her forehead. “You don’t seem to be running a fever.”

  “Is that how you take someone’s temperature?” Tricia asked with amusement.

  He ran his hand under her hair and began to knead her neck. “That’s how my mom did it. Like she said, you would know the feeling of someone’s skin better than any thermometer.”

  “Now I know, I never had a mother growing up to check a fever like that,” she murmured as he rocked back and forth while holding her.

  “You’ll be a natural at it when Lenora makes her debut...”

  “Holy mothballs, something popped and water is running down my legs!” Tricia said and pushed him away to look down. She could see the damp circle getting bigger on her thighs.

  “No, no, your water broke,” Ben said. “Tricia, have you been having contractions?” “Just the Braxton-Hicks and the usual backache,” she looked at him panicked. “It’s too early, I have like eight weeks left, oh God! Ben, she’s too early.”

  He took her by the shoulders and led her to their bedroom. “Calm down, sweetheart, you are almost thirty-four weeks and babies are born at as early as twenty-seven weeks and they’re fine. They stay in the hospital until they gain weight and go home healthy and happy.”

  “I did everything right. What did I do wrong to make this happen?” Tricia began to sob.

  Ben cupped her face so she looked at him. “You did nothing wrong, babies come early sometimes. She’s impatient to meet us. I think you may have been in pre-term labor for a few days. The last time your cervix was checked, Aubrey said you weren’t even dilated.”

  “I didn’t know I was in labor, I’m supposed to know!” Tricia cried out.

  “Honey, calm down, not all women know. It doesn’t always start with big pain but now your water broke, you’re going to feel it.” Ben explained. “I need to check you and get you to the hospital.”

  “You’re not sticking your hand up my . . . . You know what,” she shook her head defiantly as panic and embarrassment set in. “That’s why Dr. Golding took over...”

  “Tricia,” Ben said her name firmly. “I’ve been a doctor longer than I’ve been your fiancé, this is nothing I haven’t seen before and my hand has been up there a few times already. So again, I know the area. You’ve got to trust me, this has to be done.”

  She nodded. “Okay. We need to call Isa and Bryce too.”

  “After I check your cervix.”

  Ben sat on the bed and helped her out of her soaked leggings and underwear. He went to the bathroom and got a towel for her to lie on and one of the huge sheets to cover her with and as she lay there he went downstairs to grab medical gloves from his supplies.

  “Ok, I need your legs bent, soles of your feet together and then let your legs fall apart,” Ben said gently when he came back. He snapped blue surgical gloves on and continued to explain what would happen. “You’re going to feel some pressure from my hand.”

  She nodded, knowing what it entailed and waiting for the sensation of his exam. An actual painful contraction came just at that time and she tried to squirm away.

  “It hurts,” she gritted her teeth and gripped the sheets on the bed.

  “I’m sorry, Tricia, this is the best time to check to see how you’re dilating and–holy shit,” Ben said.

  “What...what?” she cried out.

  “Your water breaking was because the baby is pretty far down the birth canal.” Ben looked at her. “Honey, you’re having the baby now.”

  “No, I’m not,” she said firmly, refusing to accept the situation. “This is supposed to happen in the hospital eight weeks from now.”

  Ben had his phone up to his ear and she reached for her phone. She called the only person who would understand, her best friend.

  “Hey T, what’s up?” Isa’s voice was bright when she answered the phone.

  “I need you to tell Ben I’m not having this baby now and my water did not break,” Tricia said.

  “Are you kidding me?” Isa screeched. “Tricia Turner, are you in labor? It’s too early. Bryce, Tricia is in early labor.”

  “I know,” she teared up again and began to cry. “It’s painful, oh God, another contraction.”

  “I need a rescue squad with a neonatal respirator to this address immediately,” Ben said firmly and rattled off the address. “We have a mother, thirty-three to thirty-four weeks pregnant, water has broken and the baby is fully effaced.”

  Tricia was listening to him talk with authority and trying to focus on Isa to calm herself. This was not the kind of labor she wanted, there was supposed to be music and drugs to help the process along.

  Ben took the phone and put it on speaker. “Isa, Ben here. She is in full labor. The baby is on its way. The rain and some downed trees are making it difficult to get to us but I have rescue squad on the way.”

  “Is the baby going to be ok?” Isa asked.

  “I’m sure she will be, she’s early so she will need the neonatal unit in case of breathing problems,” Ben said. “She is going to be ok, you guys can meet us there as soon as the weather clears up.”

  “I feel like there’s pressure and I want to push,” Tricia said between gritted teeth.

  “You can’t. Not yet, panting breaths, let me check you,” Ben ordered.

  “I need to push. Don’t tell me not to push because I feel it right there,” Tricia yelled.

  “T, be strong and do what Ben says, pant through the pain,” Isa’s voice was a calming
force coming from the phone. “You can do this, don’t cry. Focus on my voice like we practiced and breathe.”

  Ben lifted the sheet. “Oh hell, she is crowning, Tricia, on the next contraction you’re going to push, sweetheart. I’m going to go get an umbilical clamp and a few other things. Isa, talk to her and keep her calm.” He took his cell phone with him and as he left the room she could hear him yelling at the nine-one-one dispatcher. “I don’t care if you have to row the fucking rig here, she is about to deliver a premature baby and it’s my kid. Get your ass here now.”

  “You got it. T, are you breathing for me?” Isa asked

  “Why is it all going wrong?” she moaned.

  “It’s not, she’s going to be great, she wanted to meet her aunt and uncle,” Isa said with a gentle laugh. “All the tired and cranky hormonal thing was you being in labor. Even your labor was easier than mine, lucky.”

  Bryce piped in. “We already made a deal that I was buying her first car, so she wanted to get a head start.”

  Tricia’s laugh broke off in a moan as her stomach tightened painfully. “Shoot, another one. Ben needs to hurry up.”

  “I’m here baby, I’m here,” Ben said he sat at the end of their bed and changed his gloves. “Ok my love, head down to your chest like you’re doing a sit up and bear down.”

  With Isa and Bryce on the phone and with Ben’s encouragement it took four strong pushes to bring baby Lenora into the world. She thought not hearing her cry would break her heart but the thin, weak cry put a fear deep in her soul. Ben took the baby and placed her on Tricia’s chest wrapped in towel.

  The worry was evident Isa’s voice. “Is she ok, Ben is she all right?”

  “She breathing but having some difficulty. Going to hang up now,” Ben said. “Meet us at the hospital.”

  Ben hung up the phone just as she heard wail of the sirens and in minutes they were in the house. Two emergency technicians worked on her while two took care of Lenora under Ben’s direction.

  “I want to be with her,” Tricia begged as they took her out.

  “She needs her own ambulance with the incubator,” one of the EMTs explained.

  “Ben, go with her,” Tricia called out.

  “You know I will, honey, don’t worry.” He rushed to her side and kissed her hard before they got her outside. “You did great and I promise you I’m with her every step of the way.”

  In the ambulance she gnawed her lip with worry and at the hospital when they got her up to the labor and delivery ward, all Tricia kept asking was for information on her baby. With no one giving her answers and Ben not there she felt her panic begin to rise. Isa and Bryce came in and together they sat and waited. They both tried comforting her but she already felt the emptiness in her stomach where the baby use to be and now not knowing if she was ok was the hardest thing Tricia had to bear. Finally Ben came in wearing his doctor’s coat over his jeans and t-shirt. Isa and Bryce stood as he entered the room and all their worry was palpable.

  “How is she?’ Tricia asked from the bed.

  “Lenora is three pounds, two ounces,” Ben said with a smile. “She has some fluid in her lungs and she has a tube to help her to breathe. But her eyes are open and she responds to stimuli, very angrily mind you. In essence, she is perfect.”

  Tricia held her trembling hands over her lips to hold back a sob of relief. “Can I see her?”

  “Yes, you can,” Ben smiled and reached outside the door to bring in a wheelchair. “You guys can come along and look at her through the window. It’s the NICU so they limit who goes in and out to parents to cut down on germs or contamination, it has to be sterile.”

  “That’s ok, we don’t mind being on the outside looking in for this,” Bryce teased.

  With Ben’s help she got settled in the wheelchair and he took her to the room where children who were born early or with heath issues were cared for and nurtured back to health. Before they went in, she had to have her hands washed in an outer room and both she and Ben put on gowns. Tricia found herself holding her breath as he wheeled her in next to an incubator. Lenora lay there with a breathing tube run down her nose. She was so tiny and looked so helpless lying there that Tricia felt the tears well up in her eyes.

  “You can hold her,” Ben said gently.

  Tricia looked up at him. “Won’t I hurt her?”

  He shook his head. “No sweetheart, she needs to be close to you and feel your heartbeat. Your body heat will help and trust me they know when they are in their momma’s arms.”

  “Ok, if you’re sure,” she said doubtfully, suddenly scared.

  But as soon as Ben and the nurse arranged the wires and put Lenora in Tricia’s arms, she felt like it was perfect. The baby opened her eyes and Tricia swore that she knew exactly where she was.

  “Hey, baby, welcome to the world,” Tricia said gently.

  She looked up to see Isa and Bryce looking at her through the window. Isa wiped away tears and waved while Bryce wrapped his arm around her and the silly smile on his face was priceless.

  “That’s your goofy aunt and uncle, don’t worry they’re harmless. And you have two older cousins to look out for you,” Tricia explained. Ben leaned over and gave her a kiss and Tricia leaned her head against him for a minute. “This big guy that rode with you to the hospital, that’s your daddy, also harmless but good to sleep on.”

  Ben laughed and she smiled up at him as she held their daughter in her arms. She was early and gave them all the scare of their lives, but she was never more wanted and loved. Tricia knew was it was to feel love that surpassed anything she’d ever felt. It was for the baby she gave birth to and the man who stood behind her, they were her family and for that she would feel eternally blessed.

  * * * *

  Lenora stayed in the neonatal unit for six weeks and came home just before her original due date. Tricia’s store opened under Isa’s supervision because she would only leave the hospital to go home, shower, change, and eat then she was right back sitting beside the incubator. Between his own work schedule, Ben was with her every step of the way. She was allowed to pump her breast milk so Lenore could be fed from the tiniest bottles she’d seen. Tricia watched her baby gain weight and cheered when the tube used to help her tiny lungs breathe was removed. She marveled at the little hand that wrapped around the tip of her finger and the fact that each time she got scared Ben was there to encourage her.

  When the day came to take her home, she was excited and scared to death because now she wouldn’t have the support system of the hospital staff. In the back of the car she looked at Lenora sleeping in the car seat and wondered if she could do it. The tiny mouth opened in a yawn and she smiled. Oh yeah, for this tiny person who looked to them for protection, love and warmth, she would give up the world.

  “We have to fill out her birth certificate information and all this paperwork,” she said and pointed to a folder on the table. The conversation came up one evening when Ben came to the hospital and they shared a meal in the hospital cafeteria. It had become their usual eating spot while watching over Lenora.

  “That’s easy, her name is Lenora Celeste Allary,” Ben said and bit into a French fry.

  “You’re so very sweet, honey, but we have to formally get Nico’s parental rights terminated by a court and then you can adopt her.”

  “Already done and Bryce had them filed with the courts. I’ve already filed the paperwork accepting her as my child and with the help of our friend’s team of lawyers we should have the paperwork to sign soon,” Ben grinned.

  “How, when?” Tricia couldn’t help the surprise in her voice.

  “Nico saw the errors of his ways and he didn’t want to be a father, he kindly signed his rights over and the rest was pretty much easy,” he answered.

  “Kindly and Nico can’t be used in the same sentence,” she pointed out dryly.

  Ben shrugged. “Even so we convinced him to see the errors of his way and he decided to go back to Greece.”

&
nbsp; “God, did you guys pay him off? He had enough of my money....”

  “Tricia,” Ben covered his hand with hers. “He got no such thing, not a dime. So are you ok with Allary as a last name?”

  She smiled and kissed his hand. “Since that will be my last name soon that’s absolutely fine with me.”

  In a week they got into a kind of routine, but with that routine also came the phase where they faced the sleep deprivation of having a new baby at home. Lenora Allary proved to be a tiny handful, Tricia and Ben took shifts with feedings so they could sleep. Sometimes she’d wake up to see him lying next to her with the baby sleeping between them nestled in her side sleeper pillow that made sure she had the best sleeping position. Tonight the time schedule and routine woke her and the pillow next to her was empty. Tricia walked into to see Ben bare-chested and barefoot wearing only his pajama bottoms and sitting in the nursery rocking chair. Against his chest was Lenora wearing tiny pink sleeper with butterflies printed all over it. She was obviously asleep with her tiny mouth open and Ben’s eyes were closed. He opened his eyes when she came into the room and smiled.

  “She’s asleep,” Tricia whispered. “You can put her down and come to bed.”

  “She’s been that way for awhile, I didn’t have the heart to put her down,” he admitted a small shrug of his shoulders. “She just makes your heart fill like its going to burst in your chest with love, you know?”

  “I know, honey,” Tricia walked over and pressed a kiss in his hair that smelled of mint and spices. “Let’s not let get her accustomed to sleeping in our arms.”

  He kissed the tiny head against his chest. “Fine, rob me of my addiction.”