Page 79 of The Do-Over
“What about Rob?”
“Rob’s a field surgeon, not an ob-gyn.” She turned to the men. “Come on. Into the closet.”
They lifted Steph out of the chair by her elbows and shuffled her toward the closet. Once inside, Thea pulled down a couple of coats and laid them on the floor, and the men eased Steph down on top of them.
“Okay,” Thea said, kneeling before her friend. “Someone call nine-one-one.”
“I’ve got it.” Bradley pulled his phone out of his pocket and stepped out of the closet.
Steph let out a groan. “If these are contractions, they’re coming really fast, Thea…”
“Yeah.” Thea was worried about it. “I’m going to check your progress, okay?”
“Do you know what you’re doing?”
Not remotely. But she was the only one present with medical experience that she could actually remember. “It’ll be fine,” she said, kneeling between Steph’s legs. “We can handle this until the paramedics arrive.
But a quick examination told her she might be wrong about that.
The baby was already pretty far down the birth canal. But the position was wrong. “I think it’s breech,” she murmured, mostly to herself. She didn’t want to alarm Steph.
But Steph had heard her. “Is my baby going to be okay?”
“I—” Words failed Thea for a moment. She wanted to say yes, of course, everything will be fine. But she’d never delivered a baby before, and she was hopelessly out of her depth.
And then Rob was beside her.
“Go support her head and shoulders, Thea,” he said quietly. “Do you know how to coach her breathing?”
“I can do that.”
“Okay. Good.” He turned his attention to Steph as Thea took her position. “It’s time for you to push, Steph, okay?”
“Already?” Steph was gasping. “This is happening so fast…”
“I know. But your baby’s in a tough position, and it’s coming fast.”
“Is my baby okay?”
“You’re both going to be fine,” Rob said, and there was a wondering tone in his voice as he added, “I’ve done this before.”
Steph nodded, reassured, but Thea looked up at Rob.
His attention was on what he was doing. But it couldn’t be more obvious that he had remembered something vital.
“Okay, Steph,” Rob said. “Push now.”
Steph cried out, her eyes squeezing shut.
And then another cry split the air.
“It’s a girl,” Rob said quietly, holding the baby up for Steph to see.
Steph reached for her. Rob handed her over and sat back, finally making eye contact with Thea.
She saw the difference in the way he looked at her.
He remembers.
