Chapter
46
“Josh!” I screamed. “I think this is it!”
Josh was by my side in a
flash, his blue eyes wide. “Really?” he
asked.
“Yes,” I said, clenching my
teeth. “God, it hurts so bad! Where’s Dr. Linden?!”
Leighanne had gone back with
Brian, but Heidi was still there. “Josh,
I’ll stay with her while you go find her,” she offered.
“Okay,” he said. “I’ll be right back, honey.” He raced out into the hall to look for my
doctor.
“You okay, Julie?” Heidi
asked, her eyes widening as she saw how much pain the contractions were giving
me.
“I’ll be fine,” I managed to
say. “It’ll be over soon.”
Josh returned only minutes
later, Dr. Linden on his heels.
“I think it’s time, Dr.
Linden,” I said. “The contractions are
coming not even a minute apart.”
She nodded. “I think so,” she said. “We’ve got to get you to the delivery room.”
She stepped out into the hall,
and moments later, returned with a gurney and a small team of nurses. “We need to transfer you onto this gurney,”
she said. They all surrounded my bed and
carefully hoisted me onto the gurney.
“Keep breathing, honey,” Josh
instructed, holding my hand as they wheeled me down the hall. “Remember, short, shallow breaths.”
I nodded and did as I was
told, gripping tightly to his hand the entire time.
“Julie, I’ll be in the waiting
room,” I heard Heidi say. I glanced up
from the gurney to see her wave me goodbye and then head down the hall to a
waiting room.
Finally, we made it to the
delivery room. “Don’t push yet, Julie,”
Dr. Linden warned, as she pulled on a sterile gown and gloves.
I nodded, trying not to cry
out in pain.
“Okay, I need you to bend your
knees and spread your legs apart,” Dr. Linden said. I did as I was told. “Okay, the baby’s definitely on it’s way. Are you ready?”
“As I’ll ever be,” I
gasped.
“Okay then. On the count of three, I want you to push,”
Dr. Linden instructed calmly. “1… 2… 3!”
I took a deep breath, squeezed
Josh’s hand, and pushed, squeezing my eyes tight as I did so.
“Keep pushing, Julie, you’re
almost there!” Dr. Linden cried. “One
more big one should do it.”
I let out a gasp of pain and
exertion and pushed one last time.
“It’s out!” Dr. Linden
cried. “Congratulations, Julie, you have
a baby girl!”
I cried out in relief and joy
and collapsed down onto the pillow behind my head, exhausted. But suddenly, I lifted my head again in
alarm. “Wait, why isn’t she crying?” I
asked. “She’s alive, isn’t she?!”
“Don’t worry, Julie,” Dr.
Linden said, from across the room.
“She’s alive. But being this
premature, her lungs aren’t formed all the way.
She’s having trouble breathing, but that’s normal. We need to get her down to NeoICU right now
and get her on a ventilator to help her breathe.”
I nodded, blinking back
tears. “Okay,” I said. I had known that this is what would probably
happen, but that didn’t prepare me for it.
“At least she’s alive, honey,”
Josh pointed out. “It could be worse.”
Dr. Linden came over to
me. “One of the nurses took your
daughter,” she said. “We’ll get her
hooked up to some machines that will hopefully help her breathe and function
until she can do it normally on her own.
I can’t promise you that she’ll survive, but this is the best we can do
for her now.”
I nodded. “Thank you,” I said, grateful for all she had
done and was going to do to keep my infant daughter alive.
“You’re welcome,” she
said. “I’ll try my very best to keep her
alive. You have my word.”
“Thanks,” we both said again.
“I’ll have the rest of the
nurses take you back to your room now, and then you can have some time
alone. I’ll see you later, Julie,” she
said.
“Okay. Bye,” I said. Then the nurses wheeled me back to my old
room.
***
Heidi caught up with Josh, as
he followed along behind me on the way back to my room.
“Well?” she asked hopefully.
Josh grinned. “I’m a Daddy,” he said proudly.
Heidi grinned back. “Oh, that’s great!” she said, hugging
him. “Girl or boy?”
“Girl,” he replied.
“Aw. Do you have a name yet?” she asked.
“Nope, not yet. We’re heading back to Julie’s room, and I
guess we’ll decide then,” he said.
“Oh okay. Do you want me to go find the others and tell
them the news?” she asked.
“Sure, Heidi, that’d be
great,” Josh said gratefully.
“Okay. I’ll see you later then. Tell Julie congrats for me.”
“I will,” Josh said. “See ya.”
He watched her hurry down the hall and then went back to my room.
***
I was just getting settled
back in bed when Josh came in. The
nurses left, giving us some time alone.
“Heidi says congratulations,”
Josh said, leaning down to hug me.
“I’m so glad it’s over,” I
said. “But now comes the hard part.”
“We just have to keep
praying,” Josh said.
“I know,” I said.
“So, what are we going to name
her?” Josh asked, changing the subject.
“I don’t know,” I said. “What’s your favorite girl name?”
“I think the name Hallie is
cute,” Josh said.
“Hallie? Hallie Benton. That is cute,” I replied. “What do you think?”
“I think it’s a good name, if
that’s what you want too,” he said.
“I like it,” I said. “What about a middle name?”
“Um…” Josh trailed off,
thinking.
I racked my brain, trying to
think of a good middle name. And then,
suddenly, the obvious choice came to me.
“What about Samantha?” I asked quietly.
Josh nodded. “That’s perfect,” he said, offering me a
rather sad smile. “Hallie Samantha
Benton. Named in honor of Sammy.”
I nodded. “She better get well soon so we can tell her
we named our baby after her,” I said.
“Yeah,” Josh agreed, smiling.
I smiled back, saying another
silent prayer, begging God to help both Sammy and my Hallie pull through.
***
Nick’s head shot up as he
heard a knock on Sammy’s door. “Come
in,” he called curiously.
The door opened slowly, and in
came Heidi.
“Hey, Heidi,” Nick said
softly, managing a smile.
“Hi, Nick,” Heidi said,
smiling sadly back at him. Her gaze
drifted to Sammy, lying motionless in the hospital bed. She hadn’t seen Sammy yet, and wasn’t
prepared for what she saw. She had to
tear her gaze away from her friend and focus on Nick to tell him what she had
come for. “I just wanted to let you know
that Julie just had her baby.”
“She did?” Nick asked,
breaking into another smile, this one genuine.
“That’s great! Is everything okay
with it?”
“I don’t know,” Heidi
said. “I just saw Josh real quick in the
hall, and he didn’t tell me anything except for that it’s a girl.”
“A girl,” Nick echoed. “That’s cool.
You think Julie would mind if I went down to see her?”
“No, I’m sure she’d be glad to
see you. She’s been really worried about
Sammy, and you and Megan too,” Heidi said, offering Megan a smile. Megan managed one back.
“Well then, I think I should
go down and visit with her,” Nick said.
“Megan, do you want to stay here, in case your mom wakes up?”
Megan shrugged, then
nodded. “Yeah, I’ll stay,” she said.
“Okay,” Nick said. “I’ll be back up here soon, okay?”
“Okay,” Megan replied.
“Come on, Nick, I’ll show you
where her room is,” Heidi offered.
“Okay. See you later, Megan,” Nick said, and
followed Heidi out of the room.
***
