Unsung Heroes

Beep… beep… beep… beep…
I watched the monitor next to the bed I was laying in as it beeped obnoxiously and loudly, and stroked my enlarged belly.
I’d gone into early labor in the apartment, and Ash had to rush to me the nearest hospital while contractions ripped through me.
Because I’d gone into early labor, the doctor wanted to try and stop the labor until the baby was further along, so I was on an IV drip with magnesium sulfate since everything else failed miserably.
We got to the hospital seven hours ago, and it was now well into the night. I was becoming more and more freaked out, so they also gave me something to keep me from having a panic attack. I had tried eating something earlier, but my stomach was in too many knots to do that.
The room they gave me had a couch and a private bathroom, and Ash had vlogged the very beginning of the labor in the car on the way to the hospital, and showed the room and me laying in the bed before explaining what was going on and happening, and now, Ash was fast asleep on the couch, his arms crossed and head lolled to the side, his legs crossed on the ground out in front of him.
The nurses all were encouraging me to sleep, but I was too wired to try. Plus, the magnesium sulfate they gave me made my heart pound like a jackhammer in my chest, and I was trying to not freak out… wasn’t really successful in that department.
Ash told me he’d sent a group text to all the guys in the band and to my friends, and according to him, they were all camped out in the waiting room, sitting around and waiting for me to not have the baby.
I could feel him under my skin, curled against me. Nowadays, when he moved, I could really watch him stretch and move under my skin. It was a little weird, kind of like Alien.
“Hey there, bud,” I said to him, running my fingers against my skin. “Mommy can’t wait to meet you, but Mommy doesn’t know if she’s ready just yet. She doesn’t think you are, either. So, if you can, for both our sakes, please try and wait at least a couple more weeks. Please?”
I hadn’t felt a contraction for a couple of hours, but it wasn’t long enough to determine that the labor had stopped. They wanted me to stay for at least the next day or so if it didn’t stop.
The door opened suddenly, and my doctor walked in, holding my charts. Ash was roused from his sleep enough to look at him when he came in.
“Well, good evening, Ms. Graham,” he said cheerfully – die old man – as he moved to stand next to me and read the monitors I was hooked up to. “Any more contractions since we last spoke?”
I shook my head. “No, not for the last couple of hours. If the labor can’t be stopped, will it be really detrimental for me to have my baby now?”
The doctor pursued his lips. “Well, you’re at 36 weeks. While that’s not ideal, it certainly wouldn’t be the worst thing if you have him now. We’ll monitor him for a couple of days just to make sure there aren’t any complications. At most, he may need help breathing, but other than that he would just be on the small side. But because we don’t want to risk him having underdeveloped lungs, we want him to stay in there for at least another week.”
I sighed in relief. “Well, that’s good to hear. If another contraction happens while I’m on magnesium sulfate, what will that mean?”
He sighed. “Well, it would mean that the magnesium sulfate didn’t work and would have to deliver. At which point we would wait until you’re fully dilated and take you to the delivery room.”
I felt myself tense a bit at the thought of having my son now, even if the risk there was fairly minimal.
“And me? Will I be okay?”
I could see Ash out of the corner of my eye get up and move to stand next to me. His warm and large hand rested on my shoulder and held it firmly.
“You’ll be fine. You have great pre-natal care for your son, and you’ve stuck to a good diet with reasonable exercise, and you are normally so athletic your muscles are firm and strong, and your hips and birth canal are wide enough for an easy birth. Don’t worry so much and try and relax and remain calm as much as you can. It’s too early to tell if you’ll really have the baby today or not.”
Relax? He wants me to relax? Now? Is he fucking serious? I am in a hospital trying to not have my baby too early and he wants me to relax? Yeah, sure you old man. You try not squeezing a basketball out your vagina and then we’ll talk.
“Thanks, doc, we’ll let you know if anything happens.” Ash intervened with a knowing look on his face indicating he saw I was about ready to blow my top on this guy for telling me to relax.
Nodding in acknowledgment, the doctor turned on his heel and left but not without announcing that another nurse would be by soon to see if I’d dilated any more.
“Ugh, Ash, whataya say we forget all this and go have a drink?” I grumbled. “I feel I could use one after all of this is over.”
He scoffed. “Yeah, sure, whatever you want babe.”
I threw my head back on the pillow. “Well, what would you have me do? I’m stuck here trying to somehow not be in labor so your son can live in my uterus for another week, and he had the audacity to tell me to relax and keep calm?! That guy needs a serious lesson in bedside manner.”
Ash handed me the cup with ice chips. “Baby, he is right. You need to just lay here and remain calm for the baby’s sake. If you freak out who knows what that’ll do. I know it sucks but look at it this way: you may become a mommy today!”
Before I could retort, there was a knock on the door, and a smiling nurse came in, and walked right over to the sink to wash her hands.
“How are we feeling, Miss?” she asked in a gentle voice.
“Honestly, I think I’m just feeling all of the effects of the magnesium sulfate right now, and it’s making it hard to relax.”
She smiled sympathetically as she snapped on gloves and came to the end of the bed and spread and propped my legs.
“I know, honey, but we’re doing all we can to ensure the safety of you and the baby. When I check your dilation, I want it to be smaller than it was the last time it was checked, or about the same. If it’s bigger, it means the magnesium sulfate isn’t working and we may have to deliver.”
With that, her prodding fingers were inside my vagina, and I had to grit my teeth and she reached further into me to feel my cervix.
“Well, the good news is it hasn’t shrunk but hasn’t grown, either. It’s still roughly five centimeters. I will be back to check again in about two hours just to see how things go unless something happens beforehand.”
She explained all of this as she retreated from me and lowered and covered my legs before removing her gloves and tossing them into the trash.
“I know it’s hard, but try and get some sleep. If you need anything, just press the call button.” And with that, she was gone.
Rubbing my temple, I tried to get comfortable when there was another knock on the door. When it opened, Angel’s head appeared in the doorway before she moved into the room, Maya behind her.
“Hey,” she whispered. “How are you doing?”
I rolled my eyes, growing tired of being asked the same thing over and over again.
“Oh, we’re fine,” Ash said brightly, sitting on the edge of the bed, stopping me before I could retort – that seemed to be his new hobby of the day – and holding out the cup of ice chips to me.
“We just wanted to let you know that Maya and I are going to work until something major happens, so keep us posted if you guys have the baby or not. “
I smiled weakly. “Yeah, sure. I’ll send you a text when I’m either in the car going home or in the stirrups with a baby coming out of me.”
Chuckling low, Ash rubbed my shoulders. “She’s just bored and irritated ladies, don’t mind her.”
Smiling through my teeth, I reached up to grab Ash’s hand from my shoulder and squeezed his palm until he gasped and tried to yank his hand out of mine.
“Yeah, I’m just bored and irritated.” I reiterated. “Not at all trying to not have a baby right now.”
They laughed as they left the room, and Ash groaned and sat next to me, putting an arm around my shoulders.
“Indy, I know you hate this, believe me, I want this to be over and done with, whether or not that means you have the baby or not, so we can get the hell out of here.”
I brushed his arm off. “That’s easier for you to say, you aren’t gonna have to or not have to shove a baby out your vagina!” I reached for the glass of water on the table, having to hunch over my belly in order to grab it.
As I reached down, a sudden pain ripped through me and I cried out involuntarily.
“Oh no… Ashley… I think I’m having another contraction!” I clutched at my belly and cried out as my muscles tightened and spasmed tightly. Screwing my eyes shut, I grasped around blindly in the air until Ash’s hand made contact with mine, and I gripped it so tightly I heard him hiss in pain, but he was wise in not making a remark.
“Hon’, I’m getting the nurse here.”
I couldn’t answer and could only writhe as the contraction continued to pulse through me before finally settling into the bed as it ebbed away.
“Yes?”
The nurse stood in the door, a tall, broad-shouldered man with a shaved head.
“The magnesium sulfate didn’t work, she just had another contraction,” Ash said urgently. I felt his large, warm palm wipe my sweaty brow and move my bangs to the side, out of my eyes.
“Well, looks like your little boy is more interested in meeting his parents than staying in mommy. Don’t worry, I’ll get the doctor to come in and determine when we can give you the epidural, then get you to the delivery room.”
He checked my charts and my dilation, then wrote something down and left with a gentle smile on his face.
“Oh God,” I moaned, pressing my hand into my eyes. “Ash, I don’t think I’m ready for this.”
“What?”
Moving my hand I saw him sitting on the edge of the bed, facing me. “What are you talking about?”
“This hurts bad enough already, and I’m exhausted Ash! What if I’m too tired to deliver and then they have to do some emergency procedure? What if it turns out he is too early and he has to be in an incubator indefinitely? What if something goes wrong and he or I or both of us dies?”
As I worked myself further and further into a panic, Ash suddenly grasped the sides of my face and kissed me hard. When he pulled away, I was too stunned to react.
“Indigo, stop doing that to yourself.” He ordered quietly. “Working yourself up doesn’t help you, and it certainly won’t help our son. He needs you to be brave and ready to help him out, because he can’t do it alone. Nothing is going to happen to either of you. I’m gonna be there the whole time. I swear I won’t let you out of my sight and in the end, when he’s here, it’ll be all worth it.”
As cheesy as his speech was, it was exactly what I needed to hear. I felt tears well up in my eyes and I pressed my forehead to his.
“What have you done to me, Ashley Purdy?” I said in a watery voice. “I’ve gone all soft since I met you.”
He chuckled. “Don’t worry, you can kick my ass once all of this is over.”


*2 hours later*


I found myself being wheeled off towards the delivery room, the epidural pumping through my veins off a drip pulled alongside the gurney. I was gripping the sides of the blankets, and was propped up enough to not be suffocated under the weight of my belly.
Ash was walking alongside me, wearing light blue scrubs over his clothes and had removed his rings. They let him mostly push me, they were basically just guiding and keeping me from veering into a wall and pulling along my IV drip.
I was growing more and more nervous as I stared at the ceiling, watching the incandescent lights pass by before we turned and went through two double doors, under more lights.
“Don’t you worry, Indigo,” the doctor said, coming around to be in my view. “You’re in good hands. Just to be safe, we have an incubator on standby and specialists in premature infants here to help just in case something happens. It’s mostly a formality since we believe he’ll be just fine.”
I heard the sound of water running as hands were washed, and the sound of latex gloves snapping onto skin. I shook harder and harder with every new sound.
“Miss, can you feel this?” Startled, I looked down to a short, female nurse to had her hand on my foot.
“No, am I supposed to?”
I saw the face mask she wore move indicating she was smiling under it. “No, honey, we want you to feel as little as possible. Tell us when the next contraction is and when the urge to push starts to happen, okay?”
With that, the blanket was moved away entirely, and the gown I wore was pushed up past my bellybutton, turning me into the vagina show. My legs were gently spread and propped by the nurse who then lay a cloth over my legs.
“We will have to move this once it starts officially, and your fiancé and a nurse will help you prop up your legs to push.”
Suddenly the next contraction hit me, but it was almost overwhelmed with the urge to push, and I shouted out in surprise.
“It’s starting.”
“Okay, Ash, I want you to wrap your arm under her knee and bring it up and away from her face.”
The cloth was gone, and my vagina was exposed to the doctor kneeling between my legs when the nurse and Ash moved to prop my legs up.
“Indigo, when the next contraction comes, I want you to bring your chin to your chest and push for ten seconds. And don’t forget your breathing.”
I went to nod, but then the next contraction/urge combo came, and I let instinct take over and I grit my teeth and bared down, bringing my chin to my chest and I pushed.
“Good job Indy, keep pushing,” Ash said encouragingly.
“One… two… three… four…” The nurse holding my other leg was saying. I could hear the talking of the other people in the room and the beeping of the heart monitors for me and my baby.
“… nine… ten!” With that, I relaxed, gasping.
“Indy, you need to remember to breathe. It won’t do for you to get dizzy or faint on us if you forget to breathe.”
I felt my anxiety start at the thought.
“Hey, don’t tell her that! She has anxiety and I had to talk her down from several panic attacks already. I don’t know about you, but I really don’t wanna watch her have another while her ankles are behind her ears. Just tell her she’s doing a good job and to push!” Ash defended me angrily.
“Alright, alright. Indy, when the next one comes, we’re gonna do the same thing again, and remember to breathe.”
When the next one came, I cried out but pushed as hard as I could and breathed harshly through my mouth.
“Good, keep pushing!”
I don’t know how long it happened after, but it felt like hours as more contractions came before anything else happened.
“You’re doing amazing, Indy. We can see his head, and he’s got tons of dark hair.”
I smiled slightly in relief in knowing that at least what I was going was actually making something happen. I was worried that I’d been pushing as much as I have been and nothing has been happening.
“Dad, do you wanna see?” The doctor offered with a smile.
I saw Ash’s face pale, and I slipped my hand under his to hold my legs.
“Ash, if you want any more kids in the future, you’ll go down there and watch your kid come out of me.” I groaned out.
Ash’s eyes flickered toward me, and I saw his Adam’s apple bob as he stood up and moved around my leg and the equipment to stare between my legs. His jaw dropped too fast for him to cover it up with his hand.
“Oh God, babe… how the hell are you doing that? He’s got so much hair we’re gonna have to buy some of that newborn shampoo.” He grinned, but then quickly moved around to grab my leg as another contraction exploded inside me, and I cried out as I started to push again.
It continued to be that way for hours. I’d push, they told me repeatedly to push and that I was doing a good job as my son’s head popped out and we were ensured that his cord never wrapped around his neck.
“Indy, wanna feel his head?”
I froze at the question, and let go of Ash’s hand to reached around my belly. The doctor guided my hand to a small, wet, warm, and hair mound. My baby’s head. He had so much hair. I felt tears well up in my eyes in feeling him come out.
“Honey, the next ones are gonna be the hardest because now you have to pass his shoulders. You can do it, but it’s the hardest part.”
I nodded in understanding as someone cleaned my hand so I could regrip Ash’s hand. The free hand the nurse had was recording everything on Ash’s video camera.
The next contraction came, and as I started to push, a sharp pain hit me and I yelped.
“Honey, you’re doing fine, but you tore a little. I have to make an incision to it stays clean so we can sew it up after this is done. It’s perfectly normal so don’t think about it.”
I started to shake again but Ash turned me toward him and forced me to meet his gaze. “Indy, you’re fine! You’re doing so well, you have to keep pushing! You’re almost there, baby, only a few more pushes and then he’s here!”
Nodding, I forced myself to not focus and start pushing again. I cried out as the first shoulder past, followed closely by the second.
“Ashley, come watch your son be born!”
This time, Ash didn’t hesitate as I grasped my own leg and he rushed around to watch him come out.
“I see his torso, Indy! His arms are free! Oh my god, Indy, he’s here!”
I fell in total exhaustion against the bed, letting go of my leg to rest against the railing.
Suddenly, the gurgling, high-pitched wail of a newborn filled the air, and I became deaf to all other sounds. Forcing myself to crane my head up, I watched the doctor place a fluid-covered lump on my stomach on his stomach as his airways were cleared. He nestled against me as he wailed.
Ash had come back up to my side and we watched in awe as my son was covered in a towel.
I wasn’t aware, but tears were running down my face. Ash and the nurses were all cooing and welcoming him into the world.
I saw the doctor hand Ash a pair of scissors while the cord was clamped. Once the thick, rubbery cord was severed, he was pulled further up my chest to my face. Bringing a shaky hand up to rest on his back, I felt the gentle pressure of my vagina being cleaned and I saw a needle and thread brought to stitch up where I tore.
“Hello, my beautiful baby,” I saw in a faint voice. I was so parched. “You just couldn’t wait to come out of me, could you?”
He just cried, his eyes screwed shut and his face swollen and red.
“Alright, handsome, let’s get you measured and cleaned up so you and mommy can relax properly.”
A nurse gently picked him up off me and Ash followed her to where they were measuring, weighing, and cleaning him up.
“Indy, we need to deliver the afterbirth, now.” The doctor said gently. “This isn’t as difficult, but it will require some gently pushing.”
He pushed down on my belly to massage where my uterus was to detach the afterbirth. I whined but pushed to the best of my ability. I cringed as I felt something heavy and slimy slip out.
“Well done. You’re gonna be sore for a while, but it’s all over. You’re stitched up, and we’ll get some antibiotics in you to prevent infection.”
I could barely focus on his words when the sound of my son was still so loud and crystal clear. He was quieting down, but still crying.
“Okay, as we can hear, his lungs are fully developed, and we were worried over nothing. It looks like this little boy is a fighter.”
While the nurse spoke, my legs were still spread, but lowered and the blanket was thrown back over them. The nurse was carrying a squirming, blue bundle in her arms, and I reached for my baby and she placed him in my arms.
His eyes were glistening in the medicine they’d wiped over them, and he was snuffling and waving his arms around.
“Hello, my precious angel,” I whispered. “You’re absolutely perfect.”

Notes

He's here!

Luckily i was able to upload in a more reasonable amount of time!

Don't forget to rate, comment, and subscribe!

BlackIris