3
"You need to slow your breathing down before you pass out. Breathe for me in and out. Watch me," Lyric said taking a deep breath in pausing for a few seconds then letting it out.
"Come on Journi you have to calm down for your baby. This only further puts your child in danger," she said instantly snapping me out of the blind crying spell I was in. Closing my eyes, I mimicked Lyric's instructions taking a deep breath in, holding it for five seconds and letting it out.
"That's it give me five more of those," Lyric said.
By the time I had gotten to my fourth deep breath in, there was a knock on the door, before it opened and Nurse Rodgers walked back in.
Behind her was a different male nurse who came in pushing a machine.
He set the machine up before grabbing a pair of gloves and putting them on.
"Hi my name is Jason, and I'm here to take some blood from you so we can make sure everything is ok," he said with a huge smile on his face.
"Ok but can I get some medicine for the pain? Or just knock me out, you have my permission to just hit me upside my head," I said.
"Nobody is hitting you anywhere, did you forget we had to beg daddy not to raise hell? Not to mention Khi would have a fit," Lyric said with a smirk.
"Fuck both of them! I need drugs or to be put to sleep or something," I yelled looking up at Jason who gave me an uncomfortable laugh.
"We will give you something for the pain a little later. We can't do that right now. Not until we check your vitals and do blood work," Nurse Rodgers said as I stuck my arm out so that Jason could do his job.
The quicker he took my blood, the quicker I could get some drugs.
After Jason located my veins on the first try and took blood, he hooked an IV up to my arm and left.
Nurse Rodgers then grabbed some gloves and put a blood pressure wrap on my arm as well as a pulse oximeter on my finger.
"Your blood pressure is a little high but that's to be expected given the current circumstances. However, your blood oxygen levels are good. Now, let's get these monitors on you,
" Nurse Rodgers said reaching out and grabbing the blankets spreading them over my lower half before pulling my gown up enough to strap two bands around my stomach.
"Ok will you be able to see if my baby ok?" I asked.
"Yes and no. I will check your cervix in a minute to see how far you're dilated. But for now I'm attaching a Fetal Doppler to monitor your baby's heart rate. And, a Tocodynamometer that monitors your contractions," Nurse Rodgers said as she finished hooking everything up.
"Ok I have a doctor already," I said to her before looking up at Lyric.
"Did you call Dr. Patel?" I asked her.
"Girl how when I been with you the whole time," Lyric said.
Before I could reply to her, the room suddenly filled with the fast sound of my baby's heartbeat.
Whoosh…whoosh…whoosh…whoosh…
Fresh tears rolled down my face as I instantly forgot about the pain wrecking my insides to pieces.
"My baby…" I whispered.
"Your baby's heart rate sounds good," Nurse Rodgers said, adjusting the monitor until the sound became even louder.
"Ok now I need to check your cervix so we know exactly how dilated you are. You could be in for a long night, or be more than ready to push," Nurse Rodgers said snapping her gloves off and reaching for a fresh pair.
"I don't care what you have to do, just get in there and get to pulling," I said trying to breathe through the contraction that had hit me again.
Nurse Rodgers simply laughed and said,
"I can spot a first timer easily and I'll say this as words of advice and encouragement. No matter the amount of kids you have, it never gets easier. But it's always worth it in the end once you hear those joyous cries. Now, let's see what we're working with,
" she said before sitting in a chair as Lyric helped me get into position.
"You might feel a little discomfort but just relax for me," Nurse Rodgers said as Lyric wiped my forehead again. I laid my head back on the pillow and focused on breathing and calming down as the nurse started her exam. The more I felt my body relaxing the weaker I begin to feel.
"What the-," Nurse Rodgers said as she raised the blanket up a bit more. I tried to lift my head to see what was going on, but it felt like my head suddenly weighed a ton!
"What is it?" Lyric asked as machines started going off.
"Her cervix is closed and she's hemorrhaging," the nurse said before looking up at the machines.
"Shit her blood pressure is dropping, she's crashing!" Lyric yelled out.
Nurse Rodgers pressed a button near her and said, "We have a code purple! I need an L&D to room 214 stat!"
"W-w," I said struggling to get my words out because my tongue felt like it was stuck to the roof of my mouth.
I felt the room temperature drop as a doctor and more nurses ran into the room.
The last thing I saw was an oxygen mask being placed over my face before I closed my eyes and everything faded to black.