TYCE 3

by Shareef Jaudon

“Yeah. I got a pregnant woman here and she’s lost a lot of blood and she’s unconscious!”

  “What’s your exact location sir?”

  “Ummm I, I mean we’re in the ladies rest room at the Crenshaw Mall! Hurry up and get here!”

  “Has she been injured?”

  “I don’t know, but she’s bleeding from her vaginal area!”

  “Is she breathing normally?”

  “She’s barely breathing. It’s…it’s real shallow!”

  “Paramedics are being dispatched now sir, just stay where you are until they arrive.”

  “Ok, but hurry the fuck up! She’s pregnant!”

  Rushing

  Why does it always seem like you hit every fucking red light when you’re in a hurry? Why the hell do people drive like zombies when you’re trying to get somewhere fast? I swear every slow ass driver was on the road as I made my way to Cedars-Sinai hospital. The Range Rover didn’t miss a beat as I weaved through cars and sped off from red lights. My mind was racing as fast as the engine as I asked myself the same question over and over again… “Why the hell was she fighting?”

  I was going over the menu for dinner with Carmela when Sway called me and told me what had happened. I closed my mouth and opened my eyes wide as he filled me in on the bathroom battle. My heart stopped beating in my chest when he told me Angelique was being put into an ambulance. He tried to explain the details, but all I needed to hear was the word ambulance and seconds later I was in my truck peeling out the circular driveway almost hitting my fountain in the process. However, I did manage to find out what hospital she was being taken to, and that’s where I was headed. The only thing standing in my way was these slow ass Sunday drivers!

  My right hand gripped the steering wheel tightly as I thought about Dallas. I made it a point all throughout my life to never ever hit a woman, but this broad was pushing it. I swear if anything happened to Angelique or my baby I would make her regret the day she was born!

  Finally after what seemed like a year I whipped into a parking spot reserved for patient visitors, jumped out of the Range and ran inside. I was in such a rush to leave the house-I didn’t put on a shirt, so I entered the crowded emergency room wearing dark blue jeans and a black wife beater.

  “May I help you sir?”

  The attendant at the high front desk looked up from her paperwork with a pleasant face.

  “Yeah, do you have a patient by the name of Angelique Dupree here? She came in an ambulance. She’s pregnant.”

  The lady grabbed a chart on her left and scanned the page with her forefinger.

  “Yes, yes, here she is, she’s just been admitted. What relation are you?”

  “I’m her boyfriend.”

  There goes that word again ‘boyfriend’. It just didn’t seem to fit.

  “Ok, I’ll need your ID please.”

  I gave her my driver’s license and tapped the counter impatiently.

  “Is she ok? I mean how’s she doin’? Is the baby ok?”

  “The doctor will be able to tell you more once you’re back there.” She said with a sincere smile.

  She added my name to the visitors list and gave me back my driver’s license.

  “Ok, so you’re going to head through the doors behind me. Turn right at the end of the hallway and go all the way down to the elevators. Go up to labor and delivery located on the fifth floor. As soon as you get off the elevators make a left and give the nurses at the desk your girlfriend’s name.”

  “Ok, thank you.”

  “You’re welcome sir. God bless.”

  My palms were sweaty as I walked briskly down the long hallway. I was trying to stay positive, but it was hard because despite my best efforts I was thinking the worst. I couldn’t lose Angelique. I didn’t know what I would do if she or the baby didn’t make it.

  The elevator doors opened to the fifth floor and I walked out toward the labor and delivery help desk.

  “Hey, I’m looking for Angelique Dupree. I was told she was admitted here.” I put both palms on the desk top.

  Again the female attendant scanned a piece of paper before she answered me.

  “Yes sir. She’s in room 517. It’s down the hall around the corner.”

  I was grateful for the assistance, but no one was telling me anything about her condition. Walking to the room I felt nerves rumbling around in my stomach, making me feel like I had diarrhea. I opened the door to her room and took in the intense scene. I saw Angelique laying in a hospital bed with an IV running from her wrist and oxygen tubes in her nose. Three different machines clicked and beeped all around her. Sway was sitting quietly in a chair across the room. He looked up and came over to me giving me a customary pound laced with genuine concern.

  “Wasup bro?” Sway embraced me.

  “Thanks for callin’ me man. Good thing you were there cuz this shit coulda been worse. Aint no tellin’ how long she woulda been in there had you not shown up.”

  We stepped back and looked at Angelique who seemed like she was sleeping. Her body lay still except for the gentle rising and falling of her basketball shaped belly as she breathed slowly.

  “Where the fuck the doctors at?” I asked angrily. Sway put his hand up to calm me down, “They were jus’ in here. They’ll be back in a minute.”

  I walked over to Angelique and stroked her forehead gently.

  “What did they say? What’s wrong with her? Is the baby ok?”

  “She’s still unconscious, but her breathing has returned to normal.”

  I leaned down and kissed her lips. She didn’t respond to my affection. I rested my hand on her stomach rubbing it up and down lightly. Just then the door opened up and our doctor came in.

  “Hey Dr. Rosent. How is she? Please tell me what’s goin’ on.” I stepped toward her.

  She’d been Angelique’s doctor since the beginning of her pregnancy and we both felt comfortable with her. She was 42 years old and was one of the best Obstetrical Gynecologists in California. She had short black hair and wore bright colored eye shadow. Fire engine red lipstick adorned her thin lips. Under her bleach white Dr’s coat she sported a leopard print skirt coupled with a black tight fitting blouse. Despite her party appearance she was all business as she took charge.

  “Hey Tyce. How are you sweetie?” She touched my arm.

  “I’m alright, I’m jus’ worried about Angelique and the baby. Nobody is tellin’ me shit. Give me somethin’ to go on Dr. Rosent.”

  “I understand. She suffered an injury to her abdomen which caused some heavy internal bleeding. Unfortunately she’s lost a great deal of blood and passed out from the blood loss. Right now she’s not unconscious, I gave her a mild sedative to ease her labor pains and stabilize her. The baby is doing fine and all the vitals are normal. However we’re going to have to do an emergency C-section because she is too weak to deliver naturally. “

  I read about C-section births in the baby books so I knew they were common and fairly routine.

  “When are you doin’ the C-section?” I looked at her.

  “We’re prepping the room now-so I would say within the next 15 minutes. I’ll have the nurse bring you some scrubs and a mask so that you can be in the room with her.”

  “Ok, but Angelique is gonna be fine?” My face was plastered with worry.

  Dr. Rosent grabbed my hand and placed her other hand on Angelique’s shoulder.

  “She’s a strong woman Tyce and I’m confident she will pull through this. Despite the blood loss, her vitals are normal and her condition is stable. If this wasn’t the case I would not proceed with the operation. She’ll be fine and in a little while you both will be proud parents.”

  “Thanks Doc.” I nodded.

  “No problem sweetie. Now go to the nurse’s station and ask for Heather. She’ll get you changed out and I’ll see you in the room.”

  All of a sudden my legs felt like jelly. My mouth was dry and I couldn’t remember anything I read in the baby books! This was all ha
ppening to fast! I thought I had at least another week or so to get ready, but here I was 15 minutes away from being a father. That was not how I pictured this taking place. In my vision me and Angelique were breathing like dragons while I held her hand and helped her push. In my version I fed her ice chips and massaged her back. I wanted us to experience this joyous once in a lifetime occasion together, but I would have to be strong for the both of us because she was lying there like Sleeping Beauty.

  I tossed Sway my phone. “Call Pamela and

  Gloria and tell em what’s goin’ on. Oh, and call

  Carmela and tell her to bring the bags we packed!” I pointed at him frantically.

  This was not my character at all. Normally I was cool and calm. Sway noticed my nervousness.

  “Jus’ be cool, calm down…breathe. Everything is gonna be fine man.”

  I cocked my head to the side. “Dude how’d you go through this twice and not lose your mind?”

  Sway laughed. “Who said I didn’t?”

  Before I left the room to change I made a pit stop at Angelique’s bed. I leaned over her pretty face and smiled down at her. With her hand in mine I whispered to God whom I rarely talked to.

  “I know me and you got unfinished business, but damn all that. Your daughter needs you now so don’t stand her up.”

  Baby Time

  Ranae dropped the kids off at her sister’s house and headed to the hospital. Over the past months she and Angelique had grown quite close. Their brief physical altercation surprisingly had cemented their friendship. For one, Ranae established a new found respect for Angelique. The first impression of her being a man stealing tramp was refreshingly proven to be untrue. Secondly, she respected her as a woman for standing by her man and not letting anyone deter her love for him.

  Ranae also admired her fighting spirit and her zero tolerance for bullshit. So as she headed for the hospital she was excited, but there was no way she was going to miss this. Even though Sway informed her that Angelique wasn’t out of the woods yet, there was no doubt in her mind that she would pull through.

  Pamela almost tripped over the steps leading to her front door. Just seconds ago she was tending to her beloved flowers enjoying the inner peace gardening gave her and now the pruning shears along with other tools were completely forgotten about as she ran in the house. Pamela snatched her purse off the kitchen table, grabbed her keys from the hook and rushed to the garage to get her car. She almost didn’t remember to close the garage door as she hurriedly backed out of the driveway. The hospital was about 25 long minutes away. Pamela couldn’t wait to get there.

  Gloria answered the phone in a groggy voice having just woken up from a late afternoon nap. Her mind was a little hazy, but when she heard Sway say the words Tyce, Angelique, emergency, baby, and C-section the haze evaporated instantly and her mind was as clear as a raindrop. She threw the cover off her legs and scooted off the bed. As she slipped on some sweat pants she prayed out loud.

  “Lord, please come by here. They need you now.”

  Moments later she too was off to the hospital with a bag full of mixed emotions.

  C-Section

  The operating room was ultra white like the walls had been power washed with Clorox bleach. I was shocked to see so many people in there along with me and Angelique. There was the anesthesiologist, Dr. Rosent, two nurses, one assistant and some other nerdy looking dude in the corner watching a vital monitoring machine closely. Dr. Rosent informed me that the baby was doing just fine and pointed to another machine that was keeping track of its heartbeat. I smiled when I saw how strong the heartbeat was. The doctor also assured me Angelique was doing ok as well.

  I watched the mother of my child as she lay there completely sedated. The anesthesiologist observed her closely and kept checking her vitals and logging the information on a clip board. I kept a close eye on everyone to make sure they were doing their job. I didn’t care that this was an operating room, or the fact that they were professionals. I would slap the shit outta somebody if I had to!

  The assistant put up a blue sheet that shielded Angelique’s stomach from my view. I stayed posted up by her head with her limp hand in mine. I couldn’t see what Dr. Rosent was doing, but she seemed to be concentrating very hard. I did however see the razor sharp tools the assistant was handing her. She looked like she was frosting a cake as she moved her arms back and forth over Angelique’s stomach. My curiosity got the best of me and I decided to look behind the blue cloth divider. What I saw was indescribable. Angelique’s legs were cocked open and Dr. Rosent was slicing her lower abdomen open like a piece of lunch meat! The shiny thin knife cut through Angelique’s pretty brown skin effortlessly releasing a dark red flood of blood.

  Suddenly my knees felt weak. I started to get hot all over my body. Despite my technical difficulties I couldn’t take my eyes off the gruesome scene. I could literally see inside Angelique’s stomach! I felt a warm fuzzy feeling wrap around my head. My body teetered a little to the left before I regained my balance.

  “Sir are you ok? Do you feel faint?” A nurse looked up at me.

  I cleared my throat, “I…I…I’m good.”

  “Are you sure?” She asked again.

  “Yeah, yeah. I’m fine.” I spoke through the mask.

  I stared intensely as Dr. Rosent shoved her latex covered hands inside Angelique’s lower abdomen like she was stuffing a turkey!

  My mouth was dry.

  My skin was hot.

  Did somebody turn the heat up in this muthafucka?

  The bright room became dim and my vision was blurry. The last thing I remember was the feeling you get when you fall backwards…and then the room went pitch black!

  “Oh shit, he fainted! Sean, I need you over here!”

  New Addition

  I went to the other side of the room to get my digital camera out of the duffle bag. I wanted to get a shot of Angelique holding our brand new baby girl. Angelique was now fully awake, thou she was still weak, you couldn’t tell that from her powerful smile.

  “Move the blanket from her face a little.” I zoomed the lens in closer.

  Angelique looked up with pride in her eyes and smiled even wider as I snapped the picture.

  “You wanna hold her babe?” She looked up at me.

  This was the moment I’d been waiting for, the moment I held my child in my arms for the very first time.

  “Yeah, let me hold her.” I put the camera on the bed.

  Angelique was still too weak to hand her to me so I had to lift her tiny body off her chest and bring her close to mine.

  “She’s so light. I feel like I’m holding a loaf of bread.” I replied.

  “Yeah, she’s only six pounds eight ounces.”

  Angelique relaxed her head on the pillow.

  I held this new life in my arms and slowly walked around the room in a circle. I moved slow and easy, the last thing I wanted to do was drop her. I scanned her entire little body from head to toe. She had smooth jet black hair, tan skin, a cute little nose, and although she wouldn’t open her eyes, I could tell they were almond shaped like her mothers. I couldn’t get over how small her hands were as I stroked them with my thumb.

  “Don’t you worry ‘bout a thing lil mama… daddy’s here.” I whispered to her.

  Angelique over heard me, “Yeah, too bad daddy wasn’t there to see you born. I can’t believe you fainted.” She chuckled a little.

  “Babe, that shit was crazy! I aint never seen nothin’ like that before. That shit jus’ caught me off guard.” I tried to explain my mishap.

  Angelique lowered her voice. “You mean to tell me you couldn’t handle a little blood after all the dudes you done shot, killed and beat up?”

  I laughed. “I swear that shit was different in there babe. I saw parts of you I don’t ever wanna see again.”

  “Truthfully, I’m kinda glad I didn’t have to do all that pushin’and sweatin’. I heard that labor shit can be rough.”

  A
ngelique rolled her head around on the pillow.

  “Well even though you were knocked out, you still did good babe. Speakin’ of knocked out, why in the hell were you fightin’ in the bathroom at the mall?”

  Angelique rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. She adjusted her bed to lay flat.

  “Dallas is a disrespectful, sneaky, childish, weak ass bitch. I had to give her the business. I can’t let that slide. What was I supposed to do Tyce?”

  “Look. I’m not gonna lecture you or chew you out, I understand why you went at her, I jus’ wish you wish you woulda told me what was up.”

  Angelique pointed at me waving her finger back and forth.

  “If I woulda did that you would have stopped me.”

  “Damn right I would’a stopped you.”

  “That’s exactly why I didn’t tell you.”

  I continued to hold the baby as I sat on the end of the bed.

  “I know one thing you need to tell me?”

  “What’s that babe?”

  “You need to tell me what you wanna name this little princess.”