Forever Yours: Mini Sequel

Rianne

Ryan

Maureen groaned again and I ran my fingers down the length of her arm. Her hand gripped my other hand tightly, her face white and streaked with sweat.

"You're doing great, sweetheart, it's almost over," I repeated my hollow promise for what felt like the millionth time. It's what they told me to say when she freaked out. It didn't seem to be helping though.

She gripped my hand, squeezing her eyes shut as big, fat, heart-wrenching tears slipped out from between her lashes. My vision blurred as my own tears filled my eyes; I wished I could do something to make this easier for her.

"Breathe in," the midwife reminded Maureen in her unbelievably calm voice from the other side of the bed. Maureen sucked in a breath and then held it. "No, no, let it out, your body needs more oxygen... good, this contraction is almost over, three... two... one- there you go. You did it."

Maureen's fingers in my hand immediately relaxed and she fell back against the pillows, gasping for air. I sank down beside her in relief and cradled her hand between mine.

"Are you okay?" 

She didn't look at me but nodded feebly. 

 "She's doing wonderfully," the midwife said, her voice all mellow and soft. I looked over my shoulder at Gladys, wondering if maybe that was meant as a joke. The woman was older- sixty maybe- and had been with us since the beginning of Maureen's pregnancy. I liked her and all, and sometimes it was good that she was such a calm person- but wonderfully? 

 "This is normal?" The words burst out of my mouth before I could stop myself.

 "The first time is always the hardest." Gladys reminded me.

I looked back at Maureen. Her eyes were closed and her head back. She looked exhausted. I took the cold rag from the bowl on the bedside table and dabbed at her forehead. It was all I could do.

Too soon, Maureen's body stiffened. It had been several hours of this and I had yet to get used to it. I'd sat through a few of the birthing videos Gladys told us to watch with Maureen, and while everyone spoke of how amazing the mom did and how well the laboring was going, all I could see were the white, frozen expressions the husbands wore and their sick, pasty smiles as the doctors and midwives assured them that the birth was going according to plan and that their wives were doing great.

Gladys had termed Maureen's pregnancy low-risk and though we'd had a few scares and false alarms, things went pretty much without a hitch. Today, so far, had also been going according to plan – at least that's what Gladys kept assuring me of – but now I wished I'd watched a few more of those videos to better prepare myself for all this. I also wished it were that morning again when Maureen suddenly sat up in bed and said she thought her water had broken... maybe then I could have holed myself away for an hour or two, to mentally prepare for this. Instead, when there were no contractions, we'd fallen back asleep... it wasn't until nine or so that Maureen shook me awake and told me she was definitely in labor and we should get to the birthing center.

It was four o' clock now. Our families were camping out in the waiting room and Maureen had been at this for seven hours. She was now, according to Gladys, in transition – the hardest part of labor.

Maureen screamed and my stomach rolled. We'd decided months ago that she would do a natural birth at the birthing center with only a midwife in attendance. It'd sounded great at the time... and admittedly, the place was nice, Gladys knew what she was doing, and there was no stress or panic in the air, like there might've been in a hospital... but that didn't mean this wasn't the craziest thing I'd ever witnessed  – much less been a part of.