“Yes, sir. She does seem to find her way around, I’ve noticed,” John praises. Reagan scoffs at them both.
“And so in two weeks, John and Reagan will take horses and go to the city to see if there is anything left there that we can make use of. And there may be other things by then that we might need.”
“What things do you mean, Grandpa?” Hannie asks politely.
“Sue? Are you ready now?” Grandpa asks thoughtfully, looking directly at her.
“I think I’m past ready, Grandpa,” Sue tries unsuccessfully at a joke. Her breathing has become tight as another contraction hits.
“What’s going on?” Hannie asks.
“Well, Hannah, I think you are about to have another niece or nephew real soon,” Grandpa tells her and everyone else at the table. Reagan jumps to her feet.
“Sue, why didn’t you tell me? How far apart are your contractions? Did your water break? Are you doing your breathing?” Reagan interrogates like it’s a personal affront against her that nobody informed her first.
“Really? Why didn’t she tell you? Why
would
she is more like it? You are a like a dictator doctor,” John counters smoothly. Sue is starting to like him even more. He and Kelly laugh heartily which only makes Reagan angry enough to actually punch John solidly in the shoulder before coming around to help Sue from the room. Derek is left standing at the table looking like he’s completely lost. The last thing she sees before leaving is Grandpa speaking reassuringly to her loving husband and putting a hand on his shoulder.
Once Reagan has her in Hannah’s room, which has become the makeshift family hospital room- the poor girl- Sue uses the restroom and her water breaks. It’s more like a slow, never ending trickle, but it’s her water breaking nonetheless. When she reemerges from the powder room, Reagan is standing there with two bath towels and a hospital gown that Grandpa has apparently brought home from his practice before abandoning it. For the sake of the family and any and all future medical needs, Grandpa thoroughly cleaned out his practice, bringing almost everything to the farm and to the shed out back. There are boxes upon boxes of medicines, hypodermics, bandaging, sterilizers and about a million things that Sue didn’t even know what they were. However, there will be no hospital staff here, and unfortunately, no hospital administered epidural with this baby.
“Grandpa said to help you get a shower and sanitize up so there’s less risk of any infection,” her sister explains.
“Oh, all right. I guess that’s a good idea, right? I’ve had...well...” Sue tries to explain but is too embarrassed.
“What, Sue? Don’t be shy now, pretend I’m your OB doc and just here to help you, ok?” Reagan says softly, an unusual tone for her. Man, she would’ve been a good doctor if everything hadn’t fallen apart.
“Ugh, this sucks. I’ve had diarrhea all day, ok? There, ya’
happy now?” Sue complains.
“Oh, well that’s no big deal. It’s actually quite normal. Some women vomit, some have diarrhea. It’s all normal. It’s just your body’s way of preparing itself. That’s why we’re gonna get you a shower, silly. You’ll feel better and the hot water might make your back feel better, too, ok?” Reagan says reassuringly. She’s as professional as the OB doctor Sue had been seeing in the city.
“Ooooh,” Sue moans as a contraction hits harder this time. Her back is killing her. The baby must be pinching a nerve. And strangely enough, Sue is comforted by Reagan’s tone, her words, her doctor-like candor as she allows her to help her back to the bathroom.
With her shower complete, thanks to Reagan and her hair braided, thanks to Hannah, Sue lies in Hannie’s bed and tries to relax and rest. Only it doesn’t last for long before the next contraction hits.
“Are you scared, Sue?” Hannah asks nervously from her perch on the side of the bed as she holds Sue’s hand. She’s afraid she’ll hurt Hannah’s bony hand.
“No... well, a little I suppose. It feels a lot different this time. There’s no hospital, no drugs. It’s just a tad scarier,” she explains after the contraction subsides. She doesn’t want to worry Hannah.
“It’ll be ok, Sue. Grandpa and I aren’t gonna let anything happen to you or this baby,” Reagan explains as she gently takes Sue’s pulse. Reagan is unusually subdued and calm, just like Grandpa. It’s still hard not to see her as her younger sister hanging from a tree limb upside down with bare, dirty feet. Especially as Reagan’s putting a stethoscope against her chest.
Derek has come to sit on her other side. He has changed into clean clothing and has also washed up. His short hair is damp. He is her rock, her one constant in this manic, disorderly life. Since his recovery and return from the wilds of their once beloved country, he is so attentive, appreciative of his time with her and the kids. It is probably because of his return from the grave and also seeing the deterioration of their great nation. He doesn’t speak of what he saw out there, but, of course, he never did before, either. She doesn’t know if it’s to shield her from the horrors of what he’s seen or if it’s to protect himself from having to relive it. But she is thankful to have him back and so are the children.
Another painful contraction hits her, and she grits her teeth hard.
“Don’t do that, honey. Just breathe. Sue, open your eyes and look at me. That’s it, just breathe with me. I’m here, ok?” he says firmly, gently. He takes a cold washcloth from Reagan and at her instruction swipes it over Sue’s brow which is sweating. It feels like it’s about a hundred and three degrees in Hannah’s bedroom.
“Everyone doing ok in here?” Grandpa asks cheerfully as he comes into the room. If he’s being so peppy for her, it’s working. She smiles at him.
“We’re doing fine, Grandpa. Her bp’s normal, heartbeat at 140- to be expected...” Reagan expounds.
Sue tunes them out, though. When they do their doctor talk nobody knows what they’re talking about anyways. All she knows is that her lower back is hurting like someone took a sledgehammer to it, and the pressure won’t let up at all in her groin now. She rolls her head and stares into the eyes of her beloved. Derek leans in and kisses her on the mouth. He’s never been one to be conservative with his affection. He didn’t care if there was one other person around or if they were in a crowded restaurant. If Derek wanted to kiss or hug her, he just did it and it is something she is especially fond of about him.
“Kelly?” Grandpa calls over his shoulder. In a flash, he’s in the doorway. What the heck? She doesn’t want the whole extended family in here with her. “Can you take Hannah and start getting the things on this list? Some of them will be in the shed and some Maryanne will show you where to find. Reagan and Derek will stay with me, but everyone else needs to be kept out at all times. Susan needs to concentrate. Maryanne will need help with the children, and the evening chores will need to be covered by everyone else tonight.”
“Yes, sir. That’s no problem. John and I will take care of everything, sir. As a matter of fact, he’s already with the kids starting out at the barn. Don’t worry about anything, we’ve got it covered,” Kelly replies.
He tentatively comes to stand beside Hannah, but he looks like he’d rather be any other place in the world right now. He won’t make any eye contact whatsoever with Sue as if he’s afraid there are newly sprouted Medusa snakes on her head. Hannie leans in to kiss Sue’s forehead and bids her farewells to everyone. When Kelly enters the room, it suddenly feels too crowded. Of course most rooms he enters feel crowded. He literally takes up mass space. But he’s so good with Hannah, so tender, as if he’s afraid of breaking her. He puts his hand at her elbow and escorts her from the room. And Hannie, being so trusting, too trusting of people in general, has taken so quickly to being around Kelly. If she could only see him, she might not feel so carefree.
Kelly is a strikingly, blindingly beautiful, rustic specimen of a man. His beard covers most of his face, but the strong jaw and high cheekbones can’t be concealed completely. His dark, wavy, salt and peppered hair only works to his favor, giving him an older, distinguished flair. But he is a goliath of a man. His biceps are bigger than Sue’s head. His thigh muscles seem as big as her stomach, which is no small feat in its current state. If he had been an ancient Greek, he would’ve been modeled in clay and women for generations would’ve worshiped him. He is that good looking. But he is completely and utterly oblivious to it which only made him more darn charming. And his adaptation into their family lent him a brotherly quality. Even Reagan isn’t horrible to him most of the time.
When the room is cleared of everyone, Grandpa checks her cervix to ascertain how far along she has come. It’s not in the least embarrassing. At this point, she’d let a passerby on the road deliver this baby as long as it means he is getting out her body. Her cohabitation with the little guy is getting old. She misses wearing normal clothing, walking without waddling, fitting through tight spaces, bending to tie shoes without being a contortionist and lately just breathing without feeling the pressure of her burgeoning stomach.
“You’re at about a seven, Sue. So this could go quick from here or slow down. I think we should get you up and let you walk if you feel up to it. Derek can walk you up and down the hall right outside the door here and when you feel contractions, just stop and rest through them. What we don’t want is for this to slow down or stop all together. I don’t have Pitocin. We have to keep this moving along naturally. Do you feel up to it?” Grandpa asks of her, and she gives a firm nod.
Reagan isn’t a gynecological specialist, but Grandpa had been called to quite a few home births over the years and many times when the parents just simply couldn’t get to the hospital in time. Reagan has been studying everything she can get her hands on in Grandpa’s medical journals and her own med school books on obstetrics for the last three weeks. This would be the equivalent of most people studying for two years. You’d never know she was only twenty-two. It was almost weird sometimes. But Sue had grown up with and had gotten used to her brainy, bizarre behavior over the years. She had always been way ahead of other kids in school, and once when she was very young their mother had had Reagan tested and was told that she was “off the charts.” At the time, Sue hadn’t understood what it meant. But over time it became quite clear. And when they’d sat Reagan down and told her, she’d simply shrugged and told them that they just needed a bigger chart. When most girls were discovering themselves and their own femininity, Reagan was hanging with Grandpa at his practice in town studying weird diseases, disorders, pathologies, micro-germs and just about anything else that was disgusting to most tween girls.
For two hours Sue walks the halls of the farmhouse until she’s sure she’s leaving a wear mark in the carpeting. Some of the contractions build and crest in painful spasms and some are just mild. She doesn’t know if this is a bad sign of the labor slowing down, but it sure doesn’t feel like it to her.
Reagan checks her again around midnight and declares that she’s finally at a full ten centimeters and ready to start pushing. And push she does. There would’ve been no way to not push at this point. This baby is ready to meet the world and isn’t about to be held back.
Grandpa and Reagan have both changed into doctor scrubs and have disinfected their hands in the kitchen where Grandpa sterilized his equipment in boiling water. She’s learned from Reagan that John, Kelly, Hannah and Grams are all assembled in the kitchen playing cards using Hannah’s braille marked cards to pass the time and alleviate some of their nervous energy. Hannie’s quite the cheat. Sue wishes she could warn the unsuspecting guys. She’ll have to remember to tell them some other time because she’s about to bring this baby into the world.
At around one-thirty a.m. Isaac Herbert Harrison is born and weighs in at seven pounds two ounces, a good, healthy weight for coming a bit early, Grandpa declares. Reagan wipes Isaac, suctions his mouth, makes him scream at her. This kid’s a fighter already to take on his Auntie Reagan. Derek cuts the cord with Grandpa’s help, and they place her baby in her arms. Sue can’t help the tears that stream endlessly down her cheeks. He’s the most perfect, beautiful baby boy she’s ever seen- with the exception of Justin, of course.
Her body is spent, covered in sweat, her arms and legs weak. The hair on her forehead is matted there either from her own body sweat or the rag that Derek kept placing on it, or both. Her baby’s hair is also matted to his round, red head. His dark hair is plastered down with fluids she doesn’t want to ponder. He lifts his chubby fist and punches awkwardly into the air and brings it back down to his mouth. His eyes are trying to adjust to the bright light he’s just been brought into.
“Reagan, take the baby to your grandmother and help her get him cleaned up. We’re not done here, Sue. Honey, this isn’t gonna be pleasant. I’m not going to lie to you. You are going to have to pass the afterbirth with this next contraction because it’s not out yet, ok, baby?” her grandfather instructs them all firmly. His last endearment toward her tells Sue this is not going to be easy at all. He squeezes her knee, and it gives her the strength she needs. And her Derek is there to support her in any way he can manage, which he’s done perfectly so far. Reagan has taken Isaac swaddled in a small towel from the room.
Grandfather wasn’t lying; this is just as bad as the birth. She screeches like a crazy woman and bears down as hard as she can. Grandpa encourages her with strong words and massages her stomach firmly to help the contractions along, he says. And twenty minutes later when it’s over, Sue literally collapses back against the pillows and is assaulted by waves of terrible, cold shivers. She’s freezing all of a sudden, and Grandpa tells her that it is because she’s passed the placenta. It’s normal; that’s good. Grandpa orders Derek to cover her with the blankets that are in in the bathroom. When he lays them across her chest, she feels the heat permeating out of them. Grandpa must have had them on a heater or something. Wise old owl.
Sue doesn’t even care that she is still spread eagle, exposed to the world. Derek slides the blankets carefully onto her legs so as not to be in Grandpa’s way. Her eyelids are so heavy it’s like someone has hooked weights onto them. Her body is spent, her mind unfocused and fuzzy. She’s vaguely aware that Grandpa is doing things down there, but she doesn’t care. She kisses Derek’s sweet lips one last time before sliding into exhausted oblivion.