“Don’t be mad. I’m gonna need you to be well-rested so you can help me later. Consider it a conspiracy to weasel work out of you.”
“I’m not mad, baby doll.” I rub her hip. “Where are you hurting?”
She shows me using her hands. “It starts in my back and radiates around to my lower abdomen.”
I know pain is part of the normal laboring process but I want to take it away from her. “Can I do anything to make it better?”
“I don’t think so. I just want to get up and walk to see if that feels better.”
I slide from the bed and help her to her feet. “Should I take you to the hospital?”
Avery leans over and uses the dresser for support. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to be seen by the staff any more than necessary. I sure don’t want to be sent home so let me make sure the pains aren’t gonna stop. If I’m still having them in an hour then we’ll give Dr. Knight a call and see what she wants us to do.”
An hour passes and the contractions are coming every three to four minutes and progressively getting stronger. “You’re breathing louder and moaning more often. I think it’s time to call Dr. Knight.”
“I won’t argue with you. I’m hurting pretty bad so I think this is it. If it’s not, I better be worrying.”
I phone Dr. Knight and she’s easily convinced by my description that Avery is most likely going into labor. “Okay. She’s gonna meet us at the hospital.” Avery is leaning over the bed rubbing her lower back. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I’m just trying to relieve the pressure. It feels like they’re gonna drop out any moment.” Oh shit. I hope we didn’t wait around too long.
I scoop her from the floor and carry her toward the car. “You’re being ridiculous. I can walk.”
“Maybe you can but it’s not fast enough to suit me.”
“It’s time.” I say those two simple words as I cross the living room with Avery in my arms and the room becomes chaotic.
“What’s happening?” Lairah asks.
I don’t have time to stand around answering their questions so I continue walking as I call out over my shoulder, “Contractions every three to four minutes so we’re meeting Dr. Knight at the hospital.”
Shit. Her suitcase. I forgot to grab it. “Lairah. Can you get the bag Avery packed for the hospital? It’s in the chair next to our bed.”
“Sure thing,” she says.
I stop to catch a breath before starting the ignition after Lairah places Avery’s bag in the backseat of our new sports utility vehicle. “Do we need someone to ride with us just in case?”
She wrinkles her brow the way she does when she’s confused. “In case of what?”
“I don’t know. In case a baby starts coming out.” She glares at me like I’m nuts. “Don’t look at me like that. It’s been known to happen. And there’s two in there. The second one could shove the first one out.”
She has a worried look on her face–almost one of panic–so she rolls her window down and calls out, “Will someone ride with us? Just in case.”
I lean over and add, “One of the girls.”
Even if something happens on the way, I’m not letting one of these guys see what only belongs to me. “I won’t have to kill Lairah or Gia if they see you naked.”
Lairah volunteers and climbs into the backseat. “You know it’s only like a fifteen minute drive to the hospital, right?” She’s nonchalant as if nothing could happen in that amount of time.
I put the vehicle into drive and pull away from the house. “Avery’s feeling pressure.”
I see her gaping reflection when I look up into the rearview mirror. “Whoa. You didn’t say that part when you asked for volunteers.”
I pull onto the road before she has time to consider getting out of the car. “That was for a reason.”
“Asshole.” She scoots to the middle of the backseat and leans forward. She peers over and sees Avery holding her abdomen. “Step on it, buffoon. No way your wife is hatching in this car on the way to the hospital if I’m in here.”
I take Lairah’s advice for the first time in my existence and drive much faster than I should. I breathe a sigh of relief when I pull up at the admissions entrance and see a staff member waiting with a wheelchair. “You must be Mrs. Alexander. Dr. Knight called ahead and instructed us to be waiting for you at the entrance.”
Avery’s put to bed and fetal monitors are applied to record the heartbeats of our babies. A labor and delivery nurse begins a health questionnaire and Dr. Knight enters just as she is finishing up. The good doc makes her usual opening joke–to put Avery at ease about what’s going to happen next–but then she gets down to the real reason we’re here when she puts on an exam glove. She lowers the head of Avery’s bed and then her hand disappears under the covers between her legs. I might be a little weirded out about it if I hadn’t already seen her do it in the office. “You’ve definitely changed from the last time I checked you. How much were you dilated last time I checked you?”
“Two to three centimeters and seventy-five percent effaced.”
She smiles as she nods. “I’d call you five and ninety so you’re definitely in labor. Number one is still head down so I’m comfortable with proceeding with a vaginal delivery if you’re still on board with that.”
We had already made the decision to attempt a vaginal birth since it is safer than a major abdominal surgery. It was worth a shot. If she had to go to surgery at some point, she would be no worse off unless she delivered number one naturally and then had to go to the OR to get the second. “That’s still the plan.”
“Perfect,” Dr. Knight says. “We’ll have the operating room ready in the event we need it. I’m satisfied to let nature continue its course since you’re changing your cervix. I know you had thought of doing this without an epidural but I really prefer you have one placed. If the first baby delivers and I need to give the second one some help on getting out quicker, you won’t appreciate the pain associated with the things I’ll need to do.”
“I will happily take something for this pain.” That was a different tune than the one she had been singing about wanting to give birth naturally without pain meds.
“Okay,” the nurse says. “I just need to do a few things and then I’ll let anesthesia know we’re ready to get started.”
She waits until the nurse is gone and then looks in my direction. “Are you disappointed in me for getting an epidural?”
I couldn’t possibly be let down by her decision. “I never wanted you to have these babies without something for pain. You came up with that on your own.”
“I have to have something. The pain is so much worse than I expected and now I’m worried about Dr. Knight needing to reach inside to help the second baby. I think that’ll be really painful without the epidural.”
Ugh! I didn’t need that visual in my head. “Get the epidural so you can rest and be ready when it’s time for the babies to come.”
“You’re right. I’ll need my strength when it’s time for the delivery.”
The next half hour is spent starting an IV and giving her fluids. I’m allowed to stay while the epidural is placed but I take a seat in the chair across the room where I don’t take so much as a peek at what they are doing to my wife.
The placement is quick and easy and Avery is dozing before it’s fully effective. Her body doesn’t require the full dose to kick in for her to fall asleep because she’s so exhausted. The pregnancy had taken its toll on her body and I would never forget how she tolerated it with a smile on her face.
The nurse doesn’t wait long before she’s back and ready to examine Avery. I had hoped she would be able to get a little sleep. “Wow. I think you were made for birthing babies. You’re already complete and number one’s head is pretty low.”
I’m terrified. “That means it’s time to deliver?”
“It means it’s time to push,” she laughs. “Pushing and delivering are two different things.” I thin
k I entertain her because I know so little about this process. “The pushing part can be over with quickly or it can take a while depending on how numb she is from the epidural.”
Avery wiggles her feet. “I’m not all that numb. I feel my legs and I’m able to move them but I’m not hurting.”
“That’s the perfect epidural when you have muscle control but you’re not in pain. It’s a good sign that you’ll be able to push well.”
Avery’s body must be perfect for birthing because it doesn’t take long for her to have the first baby ready for delivery. Dr. Knight enters the room and a frenzy of blue scrubs rush in behind her. “Don’t be alarmed. We always have the neonatal intensive care unit present for twin deliveries.”
Avery smiles at me and I hold her hand while Dr. Knight is gowning up for delivery. “I can’t believe we are about to meet our babies.”
“And find out what they are.” Huge tears form in her eyes and I lean forward to press my face into her hair as she whispers, “Am I a terrible mother for praying they aren’t both girls?”
I had never had the guts to say it aloud but I had prayed the same prayer. “No,” I keep my voice low. “You are a wonderful mother looking out for the well-being of our children.”
She pulls me closer and becomes the one pressing her face into my hair. “It makes me feel guilty to pray for such a thing if there are two healthy little girls in there.”
“I have faith that both of these babies are healthy no matter their gender. Don’t freak out if the first one is a girl because it doesn’t mean the next is a guaranteed fylgia. It could be a boy or another healthy girl.”
Dr. Knight pats Avery on the leg. “I want you to push really hard with your next contraction.”
Avery nods her understanding and less than a minute passes before she has another contraction. “I think it’s starting because I feel the pressure building.”
The nurse counts and instructs Avery on pushing as Dr. Knight reaches for instruments on the table by her side. I hear a snip and I don’t even want to know what she just cut. “Okay. Here comes the first one.”
I peer over the blue drape just in time to see a bright pink little person come out of my wife and I hold my breath as Dr. Knight places the crying baby on top of Avery’s abdomen. “You have a daughter with a headful of dark hair just like her daddy.”
Avery strokes her head while Dr. Knight clamps and cuts the umbilical cord. “Look at her, Sol. She’s beautiful. And perfect. And healthy.”
And her arrival makes it impossible for me to not dwell upon the safety of the other child as I look at her.
She’s screaming her head off when the staff takes her from Avery to the warmer so we can work on getting the next baby delivered. The nurse adjusts the fetal monitor for the second baby and I see the strange look on her face. “Looks like we’re running in the sixties.” I can only assume that isn’t good based on the nurse’s worried expression. “Now the fifties.”
Dr. Knight is watching the fetal monitor and looks at the nurse. “Give her some O2 by face mask.” She continues watching the heart beat. “Avery, the heart rate is down. I’m going to give it a minute to recover. If it does then I’ll let nature take its course and allow the uterus to do the work of pushing him or her into your pelvis on its own. If there isn’t an increase soon I’ll try to help this one come down so we can deliver vaginally.”
The next sixty seconds is one of the most important moments of our lives. “There’s no improvement so I’m going to see if I can help this little one out of there.” I watch Dr. Knight’s hand–and then arm–disappear inside my wife. I turn away because it’s more than I’m able to stand seeing. “This one isn’t coming on its own anytime soon and it’s too high for me to safely assist. We’re going to the OR if the heart rate doesn’t recover within the next minute.”
We already know that the fylgia is born second and dies after the safe delivery of the first infant–the agape. That could very likely be what is happening now but my heart isn’t ready to give up on this child. “Do whatever it takes to save this baby.”
Another minute passes and it feels like an eternity as we wait for the verdict. When it comes, it isn’t good. “There’s no improvement in the heart rate despite the oxygen. We can’t wait any longer. We have to go to the OR to get this baby out now.”
The room erupts into chaos as the staff scrambles to get Avery out of the delivery stirrups and back onto the bed so they can transport her to the OR. The staff is shouting back and forth and I’m lost as to what my role just became. “What do I do?”
Dr. Knight removes her gown and gloves and pulls me aside as the staff preps Avery. “We can’t use her epidural for the cesarean because it isn’t dosed with enough medicine for surgery. She’ll have to go to sleep so you can’t go back with her but if anything strange happens during the delivery, I’ll need you to wipe it from their minds so they can’t remember or document it.”
A full whirlwind later, Avery is whisked from the room. I catch up and run beside her bed. I stretch upward and she rolls toward me as I kiss her forehead. “I love you and everything is going to be okay.”
I just lied to my agápe. I have no idea if everything is going to be okay. And we both know it.
“I love you too,” she calls out as I watch her disappear down a sterile hallway leading to the OR where I once again have no control over her safety.
“You can wait in your wife’s room, Mr. Alexander.” I feel numb as I return to the place where it looks like a tornado just blew through leaving empty medical supply packaging in its path.
My daughter was taken to the nursery during the chaos so I’m alone behind the closed door and I drop to my knees to pray to anyone willing to hear my plea. “Please keep Avery and our child safe by placing your arms of safety around them both.” I don’t ask but it’s what I’m thinking. Please be a boy so we don’t have to worry about losing this child.
It seems an eternity when there’s finally a knock at the door. I recognize some of the staff from earlier but there’s a new face in the crowd this time. And it’s wrapped in a blue and pink beanie hat and soft flannel blanket. “Here’s your little trouble maker. I think you owe her a spanking for what she just pulled.”
My heart stumbles. She? “Another girl?”
“You seem surprised. Were you expecting a boy?” she says as she passes the baby girl to me.
I hesitate in answering because I’m too stunned as I look at my second daughter. “No. We didn’t know the gender.”
“I don’t know how you went the whole pregnancy without finding out what these babies were.” I’m so glad we didn’t. We’d have expected the worst if we had known they were both girls. “Looks like you’ll be seeing a lot of pink around your place.”
I immediately rack my brain to remember every detail I can recall about fylgias but all three have one thing in common. They died the moment they were born. And this child isn’t dead. She’s very much alive and looking at me.
I pull back her beanie to look at her hair and it’s different from our other daughter’s. This baby is blond like Avery. They are total opposites so it isn’t possible for them to be an agape and fylgia.
I’m able to relax for the first time in months knowing I have two healthy daughters. One is like me, the other like Avery. And all is right in my world.
Chapter Twenty-One
I’m waiting in Avery’s postpartum room when she’s brought in from recovery. It’s been more than two hours since she was rushed toward the operating room for an emergency cesarean and I’m anxious to see that she’s unharmed. Our connection was severed when the general anesthesia hit her vein but it’s slowly wearing off because I’m beginning to pick up bits and pieces of emotion from her.
I’m excited to tell her about our two healthy daughters but disappointed I’ll have to wait since she’s still sleeping. “I thought she’d be awake after she left the recovery room.”
“She was hurting when she wok
e after surgery so we had to give her some extra pain medicine. She’ll be groggy for a little while.” The nurse is leaving when she turns back. “She did wake up long enough to ask about the babies.”
I immediately panic. “What did you tell her?”
“I’m sorry. She dozed off before we could tell her she had another daughter.”
Good. Avery would have lost it if she had learned the second baby was a girl. I need to be the one to tell her so I can immediately reassure her both babies are fine.
Avery is assessed by the nurse and then left to rest until time for vital signs again. She looks so young lying in bed with her blond curls fanned out on the pillow beneath her head. The beautiful sight reminds me of what a sleeping angel might look like.
It’s still night but the others have gone home. They felt it was important we have this time to bond with our new babies so I’m alone with a sedated Avery when the nursery staff member brings them to the room for their first visit. Avery sleeps through the nurse’s teaching about the care of our babies and I’m left peering over at them in their cribs once the nurse is gone. And I’m scared shitless.
They’re so tiny. And fragile. I’m afraid I’ll break them so I’m content to gaze at my newborn children from where I stand hovering over them. All is well for a while until one of them becomes fretful and her crying escalates into a screaming fit.
It’s the dark haired one making all the fuss. I can’t even call my daughter by her name because she doesn’t have one. Neither of them do. We discussed a couple of options but never agreed on anything. Avery was determined one was a boy so we certainly didn’t choose names for two girls.
I don’t have a clue what’s wrong with her but I pick my elder daughter up and hold her for the first time. She continues screaming and I rock her gently without any improvement in her mood. “I don’t know what you want, little one.”
“Sol,” Avery says in the softest voice. She’s finally awake so I walk to her bedside with our screaming daughter and lean over so she may see her face. “That’s a welcomed sound.”
Blood Doll (The Vampire Agape Series Book #3) (The Vampire Agape Series #3) Page 15
