by Karen Woods
“Don’t worry about me. I know what I’m doing. Child’s play mate.”
Benny raised his eyebrows. This lad was a nut job. John left the house and they heard the front door slam behind him. Jess let out a laboured breath. “He’s dicing with fucking death. I’m glad you walked away from that one, our kid. You don’t want any part of anything like that. Do yourself a favour, keep well away from him. It will be on top soon and he will be a dead man walking.”
Benny agreed, “Don’t you worry about me. I wouldn’t touch it with a barge-pole.”
Diane lay in bed. She’d not been feeling well all day. Her cheeks were bright red and she was having hot flushes. Vanessa came into the bedroom and walked over to the window to open the curtains. “Come on love, you’ve been in here all day. Come down stairs and get a bit of something to eat. You might feel a bit better after eating. I know I always do.”
“Mam, I’m tired. I’m exhausted. I just need to rest. Please, just leave me alone.” Diane rolled on her side and dragged the duvet over her head hoping this woman would leave her to sleep. She shouted over her shoulder. “Mam, if you want to be helpful can you get me a cold drink, I’m burning up all the time. Honest, I’ve been dripping in sweat.”
Vanessa left the room and Diane closed her eyes as she placed her hand on her stomach area. She’d had pains all day. Weird pains that kept coming and going. Her bladder was full again and she was sick and tired of going to the toilet. With a stressed expression she hung her leg out of bed, she had to wee again. The moment she sat on the side of the bed, a wetness filled in-between her legs. Diane shot her eyes to the wet patch and she was distraught. It was her own fault for leaving it until the last minute. She stood up and a gush of warm wet liquid flooded from her.
Vanessa had just walked back into the room and her eyes shot down to her daughter’s wet legs. Panic set in. “Oh, bleeding hell, your waters have broken. Diane, sit on the bed and don’t move. Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
“Mam, what does this mean. Is the baby alright?”
“Yes love. It just means the baby is getting ready to be born.”
Diane felt a wave of heat travel up her body. Her eyes were wide open, and tears filled her eyes. “I’m not ready yet! Make it stop mam. Mam! Tell it to stop.”
“You can’t stop it now love. We need to get you to the hospital. I don’t want you having a home birth. Once the waters have broken you are prone to infection. You need to go to the hospital.”
Diane curled up into a tiny ball on the bed and rocked her body too and froe. She was in a state of panic and wished this would all stop. The pains started now, sharp hot pains that crusaded across her stomach like lava pumping from a volcano. Diane sat up and the colour drained from her cheeks, she was green, without a second to spare a spray of projectile vomit left her mouth. She was spewing her ring up.
Vanessa was shouting from another room. “I’ve rung an ambulance. You just stay where you are my dear and they’ll be here before you know it. Have you got your bag ready?” Vanessa was rushing around like a headless chicken, she popped her head into the bedroom and froze when she spotted the vomit all over the floor. “Bleeding hell, what have you eaten, there’s loads of it. Bloody hell, it stinks. I need to clean this up before we go, it will stink the bleeding house out. Oh my God, I’ll have to write your dad a note to tell him to come to the hospital. They should be home soon anyway. Bleeding hell, let me get this mess cleaned up.”
Diane was hyperventilating. She wafted her hand in front of her face. “Mam, I’m so scared. What will happen when I get to the hospital?” There was no time for drama here today, Diane should have thought about all this before she dropped her knickers.
“You’ll go to the hospital and have the baby. Lots of women do it so stop worrying. You’ll be fine,” her mother said tersely.
Diane wasn’t listening, and she stood up and ran to the bathroom. She bolted the door behind her and sank to her knees. Her chest was rising at speed and she was in a state of panic. Vanessa motored behind her screaming at the top of her voice. “Open the door. Diane, they’ll be here in a minute. Stop being silly. Open the door.”
“No mam. I can’t do this.”
“Open the door and let me see you, stop being daft.”
Diane was sobbing her heart out, the pains crippling her body. “You don’t know, you don’t know anything.”
Vanessa placed her flat palm on the bathroom door and tried a different approach. “Love, when the time came for me to give birth to you I was petrified. Honest, I’d never been so scared in my life, but I got through it and when I held you in my arms the pain was gone and all I felt was love in my heart for you. Everything will be alright.”
“Mam, say the baby doesn’t look like Gary?”
“What do you mean, of course the baby will have some resemblance to him.”
Diane sobbed and her voice was faint. “What if Gary isn’t the father?”
The front door was being hammered on. Vanessa was alert. “Diane, the ambulance is here now. Open the bleeding door before I boot it down myself. Don’t be showing me up like this.”
Vanessa stormed down the stairs. If they carried on knocking like that they’d have the door off its bleeding hinges. “Right, I’m here,” she screamed at the top of her voice.
Diane looked at herself in the mirror. She’d got herself in a right state. She dabbed some tissue paper into the corner of her eyes and tucked it up her sleeve. She inhaled deeply and placed her hand on the wall as another pain hit her body. She needed help, she couldn’t stay here on her own. The midwife had spoken to her about pain relief and the sooner she got some the better. She opened the lock with trembling hands. The medic was there waiting for her and she fell to her knees. “Help me, give me something to take this pain away please.”
Diane was quickly assessed, and everything was under control within minutes. They helped her down the stairs. “Hold on a minute. I have to get her bag and write a quick note for my husband,” Vanessa screeched. The medic’s started to take Diane to the ambulance, her legs were buckling, and she had to stop as the labour pain made her body fold in half.
Vanessa slammed the front door shut and ran towards the ambulance. Her neighbour was stood at her doorstep and she shouted to her on the way past. “She’s in labour, the baby is on the way.”
The neighbour rubbed her hands together. “Hope everything goes well. I’ll let the other neighbours know.”
This was a big thing on the estate. Every day for the last few weeks the neighbours had been asking when the baby was coming. “Are you still here,” they had joked with her. At first Diane didn’t mind but after a few days it was doing her head in. Diane lay in the back of the ambulance sucking on a pipe that was filled with gas and air. Her grip was tight and her knuckles were turning white with every breath she took. Vanessa was in the back of the ambulance with her now and she sat next to her trying to calm her down. Diane was at it again, talking gibberish, nothing making sense. “It’s all going to come out. Gary needs to know the truth,” she sobbed.
Vanessa wasn’t listening, she was just wiping her daughter’s brow and speaking in a low calming voice. “Darling, just try and calm down. You’re having a bit too much of that pain relief. Try and give it a break until we get to the hospital.”
“Fuck off, you know nothing about me,” Diane was humming a tune now as she rolled from side to side trying to cope with the pain surging through her body.
Melanie had heard through the neighbourhood gossip that Diane had been taken to hospital. She ran and found John in the bedroom and stood there gasping for breath. “Get ready, she’s having the baby. We need to get there as soon as possible. I told her I would be there, come on, don’t just stand there looking at me as if I’m mental, the baby is about to be born.”
John was frozen, his eyes wide open. He stuttered. “I’ve got stuff to do. You go. You don’t need me there.”
Melanie snapped, he was such a selfish bastard. �
��John, Gary is your best mate. Don’t you dare let him down when he needs your support.”
“Gary doesn’t need me there. This is their moment, leave them to enjoy it.”
“Are you being serious? We have said all along that we would be there to see the baby when it’s born. We are going to be the God parents for crying out loud.”
John could tell by her voice that she wasn’t giving up. “Right, for fucks sake. Let me shove some clothes on.”
Melanie stood watching his every move, if he could move any slower he would have stopped. Her patience was wearing thin. “I’ll ring a taxi. How long are you going to be?”
“I’ll be ready when I’m ready. Stop fucking rushing me.”
Melanie cringed, who the hell did this prick think he was talking to? For months now he’d been treating her like a dickhead and she was sick to death of it. “Do you know what John, you stay here. To tell you the truth I don’t think I could sit in the same room as you for long without wanting to punch your face in. In fact, I’m done with you. Go and find someone else who will listen to your shit.”
Melanie stormed out of the room. John was stunned. He just watched her leave with his mouth wide open. Had she really just finished with him? He dropped his head into his hands and tried to get his head straight. Was this what he really wanted? Time wasn’t on his side and he had to be quick if he wanted to catch her before she left for the hospital.
Melanie was waiting for the taxi. Where the hell was it? Lenny Jackson pulled up next to her and opened his window. “What’s up with your face?”
“I need to get to the hospital. I’ve rang a taxi but it’s not here yet?”
Lenny leant over and opened the passenger side door. “Jump in, I’ll take you.”
Melanie rushed around to the other side of the car. “You’re a life saver Lenny. Diane’s having the baby and I don’t want to miss it.”
“I’ll have you there in a jiffy. Fasten your seat belt.”
Melanie slammed the door shut on the red Capri. Lenny screeched from the car-park and put his foot down as he hit the open road. “Are you going to watch the baby being born?”
“I don’t think so, but I just want to be there for her when it’s all over.”
“You’re a good mate you are Melanie.”
She smiled. “I know I am. I’ve just finished with John too. He’s a selfish prick who needs knocking down a peg or too. Honest, over the last couple of weeks his head has been somewhere else. He just talks to me as if I’m a nobody. Well, it stops here. I’m not putting up with it anymore.”
What on earth was she thinking telling Lenny all about her private life? He was alert. His fingers gripped the steering wheel tighter as he spun around a corner. “You were too good for him anyway. I’ve never seen eye-to-eye with him, he’s a shady cunt in my eyes. I don’t trust him.”
Melanie knew there was no love lost between Lenny and John. They were always at war and nothing would ever change that. Lenny turned the music up and started singing his head off to a “Blondie” track. Melanie sniggered and watched him closely. He made her smile. Maybe, he was boyfriend material after all.
Diane was screaming the ward down. The midwife was by her side and doing everything she could to make sure there were no complications. “Just breathe Diane, we’re nearly there now. You’re eight centimetres dilated. You need to stop screaming and save your energy for the last stages of labour. Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths, another contraction will be here in a minute and you need to be ready.”
“Fuck off and leave me alone. Mam, tell her to fuck off.”
Vanessa was beetroot. “I’m so sorry love. She’s not usually like this. I think it’s the pain killers.” Vanessa gripped Diane’s arm and squeezed at it. She was so embarrassed. “Listen you! How dare you speak to someone like that. This lady is helping you. Show some bleeding respect.” Vanessa clenched her teeth tightly together and made sure Diane could see her look. She knew she meant business.
“And you can fuck off too” Diane was on one now, “I don’t need you here sticking your nose in where it’s not wanted.”
Vanessa stood in disbelief, if she’d been alone with her daughter she would have knocked her block off. The midwife gave a gentle smile. “I’ve heard a lot worse if that’s any consolation. Just let’s make her comfortable and ready for this next contraction.”
Vanessa needed a breath of fresh air, she was hot and sweaty. She informed the midwife she would be outside for a few minutes if she needed her. Vanessa stepped outside and checked her watch. Where on earth was Gary and her husband? They should have been here an hour ago. Just then Melanie barged through the double doors and spotted Diane’s mother. She was breathless as she ran to Vanessa’s side, “Has she had the baby? Is the baby okay, is she okay?”
Vanessa leant back on the corridor wall and sighed. “No love, she’s had the place up. She’s not coping at all. Gary should have been here by now, I don’t know where the hell he’s got to?”
Melanie turned her head quickly as the double doors opened again. John was here. She completely ignored him and placed her hand on Vanessa’s shoulder. “She’ll be fine. She’s as strong as an Ox is Diane. She’ll get her head around it sooner or later.”
“I hope so love,” Vanessa snivelled. John edged closer to Melanie as Vanessa went back into the room with her daughter. Melanie’s eyes were wide open as she heard the screaming coming from inside. John touched her fingers and smiled. “I’m sorry. You know I’m a stress head. I’m here now aren’t I and that’s what counts.”
“No, it’s not just that John. It’s a lot of things. This isn’t the time or place to be discussing it either. Diane’s in there and she’s not coping, her mam said. That’s all I can think about for now, not you and your strops.” John dropped his head. No one said a word as they listened to Diane screaming her head off.
Finally, Diane was ready for pushing. She’d had a bad time for sure and she had nothing left, no energy whatsoever. She was exhausted. Her eyes were closed when the last sharp pain surged her body. Her eyes opened wide and she gripped the corner of the bed, her knuckles turning white. Her mother prepared herself and her voice was firm. “Come on, one more push and this will be over. You can do this. Come on love, give it one last push.” Diane’s chin was jammed deep into her chest and her knees where hitched up high. The sweat rolled down her forehead into her eyes. Another midwife had come to join them in the labour room and it looked almost certain that they would have to cut Diane to get this baby out. Diane gripped her mother’s fingers. She screamed from the pit of her stomach and with one last mighty push she finally gave birth. She collapsed onto the bed and her body was shivering. The midwife placed a blanket over her straight away, her body was in shock. Vanessa fell back onto the small chair at the side of the bed and sobbed her heart out as she heard her grandson cry for the first time. Her emotions were high and for now she just sat in the chair watching everything that was going on around her. Maybe she was in shock too.
The baby weighed in at seven pounds two ounces. Once he was cleaned up he was passed to Diane. She barely looked at her baby, she closed her eyes and pulled the blanket tighter around her body. Vanessa took the baby in her arms and rocked him gently. Tears of joy rolled down her cheeks. “He’s perfect Diane. He’s an angel. Honest, he’s bloody lovely.”
There was a knock at the door and the midwife opened the door to Gary. “Vanessa, I’m so sorry we are late. None of spotted the letter until half an hour ago. We thought you’d gone to bingo. Is she alright, is the baby alright? My heart is in my mouth.”
Vanessa choked up and looked down at the baby. “Come on, sit down and hold your son. Diane needs a rest, she’s had a bad time and she’s exhausted.”
Gary swapped places with his mother-in-law and cradled his son for the first time. Tears of joy filled his eyes and he couldn’t stop looking at him. Melanie and John were invited into the room after an hour had passed. Diane was barely
awake, and her eyes kept opening and closing. Gary was on top of the world. He was a proud father for sure. “Come and meet my son, John. He’s going to be the best footballer Old Trafford has ever seen. Look at his feet, footballer’s feet they are.”
John raised a false smile. “Well done pal. He’s lovely.”
“Sit down and you can have a hold of him.”
John looked left then right, there was no way out. He sat down, and Gary passed him the baby. Melanie watched him carefully and she was sure she could see a tear forming in the corner of his eye. Maybe, he did have a heart after all. Diane stirred and tried to sit up in the bed. Her eyes were squeezed tightly together but she could see John holding the baby. Her eyelids fluttered, and her mouth was moving but no words were coming out. Gary was at his wife’s side and he kissed her forehead. “He’s perfect. Do you want to hold him now?” Diane nodded.
Gary turned his head and spoke to John who’d never taken his eyes from the infant. He could see a resemblance to himself. Why didn’t he just claim the baby as his own, tell them both the secret that was lying heavy on his lips? “Be careful with him John, bring him here so Diane can hold him.”
John’s legs were shaking as he stood up, each step he took was small and precise. When he got to the bed his body bent slightly and he passed the baby over to Diane. For a split second their eyes met. Melanie was watching his every move. Diane folded the blue blanket down slightly and smiled as she gazed down at the infant. Here he was, her son. She snuggled her nose next to his cheek and kissed his warm pink soft skin ever so softly. Gary smiled and dropped his head onto the bed next to his wife. “We need a name for him now Diane. What do you think?”
Melanie was eager to hear the chosen name. For weeks she’d been firing names at her and she hoped she might have picked one that she’d suggested. Diane looked at her baby closer. She took a deep breath and paused. “John Thomas, he will be called.”
Gary pulled a sour expression. “I thought we might have called him Gary after me?”
