Page 26 of Dreaming of His Omega
The baby had no intention of waiting for both daddies to be there for his birth. Whether I liked it or not, the contractions kept coming and I kept dilating. The epidural was in, I had some ice chips, and Dr. Evans returned, this time for the delivery.
“Good! Relax,” he said as I finished pushing.
I sagged back with a sigh. Pushing was hard work. I wished I had Traviel’s hand to hold instead of a nurse’s.
“Let’s take a look… hmm.” A frown creased Dr. Evans’ face.
“What's wrong?” I asked.
“Nothing'swrong,” he said slowly, “but it feels like baby is trying to come out brow first.”
I didn't like the way he was frowning. “What do you mean brow first?” I echoed. I remembered the term from the birthing classes, but for the life of me I couldn't remember what it meant. “That's bad, right?” I said nervously.
“It’s not… ideal,” Dr. Evans said. “I want you to push on your side for a little bit. Okay? We're going to get ready to roll.”
“Okay.” My heart felt like it was pounding, although the beeping in the background sounded fairly steady. “What is brow first?” I asked again.
Dr. Evans sat back, contemplating me. “Brow first,” he said, pulling off a glove, “is whenthispart of the baby's head is coming out first.” He reached up and brushed a hand across his forehead. “We wantthispart-” He patted the back of his head. “-to be first.”
“What happens if it is the brow?” I asked?
“For a first-time birth,” he said slowly, “it can push baby's head back too far and cause significant bruising around the forehead. And in some cases…” he trailed off and I suddenly remembered it from birthing class.
“Oh, my gods, the baby will break his neck!” I cried.
“We're not going to let that happen,” Dr. Evans said firmly. “Don't worry, Elarian. You just relax. We're going to take you through your next contraction. And we're going to see whether or not baby repositions himself.”
“Okay.”NowI could hear my heart rate on the monitor speeding up a little bit. It seemed like forever before the next contraction came, although it was probably less than a minute.
“Alright, start pushing,” Dr. Evans said, taking up his position again and putting his glove back on.
I pushed again through the contraction and waited with bated breath for what Dr. Evans had to say next.
“No,” he said. “No. This is no good.”
“What do you mean no good?” I asked in panic.
He stood and starting pulling off his gloves. “We're going to have to prep him for a c-section,” he announced to the nurses.
“A c-section?” I gasped in horror. I clamped my hands over my stomach. “Is the baby going to be okay?”
“He'll be fine,” Dr. Evans said. “This is what we're going to consider an urgent c-section, not an emergency one. But I'd like to get you prepped and ready now. Okay?”
“Okay.” I wasn't even sure if I said it out loud. I could feel my eyes filling with tears. This wasn't the way it was supposed to go at all. Not like this. And not alone.
People were bustling all around me, hooking up other things and talking in rapid hushed voices.
“Hey there,” said a gentle voice. “I'm your anesthesiologist.” I turned to see a man tinkering with the little box that held my epidural. “We're going to increase this drip so you're going to be completely numb. In just a couple of minutes you’re not going to feel a thing. Got it?”
“Okay.” It seemed to be all I could say.
He fiddled with the box a little bit and started talking about other things, like being cold and warm air and nauseated and medicine. Everything flew over my head, I couldn't concentrate on his words. The flurry of attention around me was too distracting. But his words were too distracting. I couldn't even tell what anyone else was doing. My head was just spinning. I wanted Traviel. I wanted my baby to be okay. And I didn't want surgery. A c-section sounded terrifying.
I swallowed hard and started nodding automatically along with what anyone said to me. I knew it was all out of my hands now anyway. I didn't really have to pay attention. And then one voice, one achingly devastatingly familiar voice, cut through the chaos.
“What's going on? What's happening?”
“Traviel!” I cried.
