Page 20 of Twisted Devotion
Focus, Stevie, fuck.
The back of the bed is completely up so she can lean on it, just like she was on the stretcher, just more comfortable. “Beth, with your next contraction, we’re going to push a little—not too hard, I don’t want you to tear.”
With a shaky voice, Beth says, “My wife is on her way up here, she’s parking the car…”
“We can?—”
I don’t have to finish my sentence, because a tall woman comes running through the door. “Fuck I didn’t miss it, did I?!”
“Nope, you’re just in time!” Then I ask the question I always ask the partners. “Do you want to catch your baby? Well, if it’s okay with Beth, of course.”
Beth is still in the lull between contractions, and she smiles at her partner. “Please catch the baby.”
Her eyes light up from the go-ahead. “Hell yes! I didn’t even know that was allowed.”
Audrey heads over to get gloves and a gown to protect the partner’s clothes. “It’s always an option if the partner is up for it.”
Once she’s gowned and gloved, Audrey places the monitor around Beth’s belly and easily finds the heartbeat, strong and steady.
CHAPTER
FIFTEEN
AUDREY
She was meant to do this.
Stevie is one of the best midwives I’ve seen practice, and she’s only been here less than a month. Her bedside manner, the way she commands the room, and how calm and collected she is under pressure is beyond amazing to witness.
Being proud of her is an understatement.
She’s amazing.
Stevie stands at the foot of the bed with Beth’s partner, and asks, “Beth, I have the mineral oil we talked about in the last prenatal appointment. Do you want me to massage a little onto your perineum?”
“Please…” I grab the mineral oil from the bedside cabinet, open it, and pour some onto her gloves. I don’t know why more providers don’t use it; unless there are allergies, it should be standard.
“Bear down if you need to, don’t fight what your body naturally wants to do.”
I adjust the band on her belly to keep the baby’s heart rate on the monitor. It’s usually a lot harder to get a reading whenthey’re this far along into labor and the baby is sitting so low in the pelvis, but this one is doing amazing.
The deep guttural groans Beth is making are signs that the next contraction is building, and we’ll probably have a baby here in no time.
Stevie hears the same signs and starts to instruct, “Push, two, three, four.” I watch as she talks Beth through the pushing, probably out of habit, because this is Beth’s second birth; she knows what’s going on. But in that same breath, Stevie’s soothing voice helps everyone in the room know what’s happening.
Beth takes a deep inhale and bears down one more time. She roars as the “ring of fire” sensation is surely hitting her, but it’s quickly followed by a sigh of relief as the baby is born. It’s the best part of an unmedicated birth, if you ask me. We’re met with cries from the baby almost immediately, which is actually my favorite part of any delivery, because it means we have a breathing baby.
“Flip over to your butt, Beth, so you can deliver the placenta.”
Her partner places the baby on her chest once she lays back and I step beside her to rub the baby’s back to stimulate breathing. Stevie places the placenta in the metal bowl between Beth’s legs to look at after she’s assessed for tears and how bleeding is looking like.
And when Beth’s partner announces, “It’s a girl!” I can feel the emotion filling my eyes at witnessing their joy.
After getting Beth transferred to the mother-baby unit, I checked on my other two patients. Stevie ran out of the room after the birth, and now that I have a second, I need to go checkon her. She hasn’t rushed off like that from any other birth, but this was also the first birth that I was the nurse for her. The last thing I want is for her to be embarrassed or think there’s some kind of weird dynamic because she’s Daniella’s friend.
The midwives usually do seventy-two-hour shifts, so I’m sure she’s in an on-call room trying to get some rest. Conveniently, the rooms are between mother-baby and labor and delivery. I walk right in without knocking, trying to be quiet in case anyone else happens to be in here or to avoid waking Stevie if she’s sleeping.
The bedside lamp is on, illuminating the back of a naked, tattoo-covered body standing in front of the bed at the back of the room.
