Page 16 of Burning for Him

“The mother-to-be will do most of the work.” He pulled some supplies from the bag, including a white package labeled "OB-KIT" on the front. Hopefully, it had everything they would need. “Ready?”

“You and she are doing the hard part. I should be asking you that.”

“Ready as I’ll ever be. Let’s do this.”

They moved toward the bed, Doug at the foot and Jenn beside the woman, taking her hand. Doug set the OB kit on the mattress, grabbed the corner of the blanket, and then paused. “Again, your Spanish is more advanced than mine. I need you to translate as best you can.”

“Okay.”

“Ask what her name is and tell her I’m going to take a look and see if the baby is crowning.”

Jenn squeezed the woman’s hand. “¿Cómo te llamas?”

“M-Maria.”

She glanced at the woman’s husband as he sat by her head, on the opposite side of the bed from Jenn, holding Maria’s hand and stroking her damp forehead and hair. Jenn repeated her question to him.

“Diego.”

“Hola. Mi nombre es Jenn y este es Doug. Vamos a ayudarte, ¿vale?”

Panting, the woman glanced at Doug before her gaze returned to Jenn.“Si.”

She explained to Maria what Doug was going to do, keeping her words simple because she couldn’t think of a word that meant crowning in Spanish. Maria nodded and then yelled in pain as another contraction took hold. Doug lifted the blanket, peered between the woman’s legs, and cursed. “Shit. We’re doing this right now. The baby’s coming.”

Doug grabbed a disposable blanket from the kit and spread it out, tucking it as best he could under Maria’s buttocks. There was no time to do anything else. “Tell her to push.”

“Um...uh…” Fuck, what was the word for push? Jenn struggled for a moment before it popped into her head. “Empujar! Empujar.”

Maria bore down and shrieked, her body trembling.

“That’s good,” Doug said. “Bueno. Otra vez. Empujar.”

The woman pushed again at his order, screaming as she did so. The pain and fear in her eyes increased tenfold, and she squeezed Jenn’s hand so tightly that Jenn thought she would break some bones, but she held on, encouraging Maria. If something good could come out of this disaster, with all the death and destruction, nothing would be better than the birth of a healthy child.

It took a few more contractions before Doug yelled, “That’s it! That’s it!” He grinned, and Jenn peered down to see the wet, slippery infant in his hands. “It’s a girl!”

As he turned the baby onto her side, an exhausted Maria collapsed on the bed, completely spent and relieved. Doug used his gloved fingers to clean the remnants of the amniotic sac from the baby’s tiny mouth, and suddenly, she took a deep breath and wailed. Her face was red and scrunched up as she announced her arrival into the world for everyone to hear. It was the most beautiful sound Jenn had ever heard.

“Jenn, hand me that blue suction bulb. I also need the clamps and scissors for the umbilical cord. There should be a blanket to wipe her down with and another to wrap her in.”

She removed the sterile packaging from the blue bulb and handed it to him, then dug through the contents of the rest of the kit to find the other items. After he suctioned the remaining amniotic fluid from the baby’s mouth, he laid her between Maria’s spread knees. He then took the clamps from Jenn and applied them to two points on the umbilical cord, closer to the baby’s abdomen. Using the sterile scissors, he cut the cord, making sure the clamps held and that neither end leaked anyblood. A white sheet was used to clean the baby as best as possible.

As Jenn held the swaddling blanket, Doug picked the newborn up and placed her in Jenn’s outstretched hands. Other than her nieces and nephews, she’d never seen such a beautiful baby before. Her heart ached at the thought of the little one growing up in an impoverished area, but a single glance at her parents made it clear that she would be loved. She already was.

Would Jenn look like that after giving birth one day? Like she’d been blessed with the most heavenly creature on Earth?

Her gaze shifted to Doug, whose eyes were locked on the baby, as if he still couldn’t believe he’d played a part in bringing a tiny miracle into the world amid all the chaos. What Jenn wouldn’t give to have him look at their child like that someday.

With her eyes welling up with emotion, unfulfilled dreams, and desperate wishes, she swaddled the infant in the blanket before placing her into her mother’s arms. Maria and Diego stared at their child in awe, tears of happiness flowing down their cheeks.

Doug stood and gestured for Jenn to follow him as he moved over to the table again. They took off their gloves and washed their hands while giving the new family a private moment.

Because the hut was not that big, Jenn heard when Maria gave the baby her name, and she choked up a bit.

“I didn’t catch what she said,” Doug murmured in a low voice.

“They named her Esperanza.” She swiped at the tears that threatened to leak onto her face. She didn’t know how there were any left after the past hour. “It means hope.”

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