Chapter 22 Wet again
It wasn’t yet spring, but the sun was out and after wearing thick clothing and coats all winter, this was enough heat for New Yorkers to trade in their coats for light sweaters and expose their bare legs. Leah decided to take advantage of the day and her free time since she still hadn’t found a job, so she grabbed a book and took the subway uptown to Central Park. She’d take a nice walk and find a nice spot under the sun to read until it became cold. She snapped a picture of herself for her GirlMeetsGoy Instagram page and started working on a post and how she felt when her fiancé ate a prosciutto-wrapped asparagus at a tasting.
I’m coming to see you , an incoming text from Shira appeared on her phone.
Is that advisable now? Aren’t you about to give birth? Leah responded, even though she would be happy to have some company.
I’m not a prisoner. And besides, I need to come to the city at least one more time before I become one. Mom is making me crazy.
Leah chuckled and agreed to meet her sister at Grand Central. With her book in her purse, Leah headed uptown and waited for Shira. Then the girls walked to the park in their light sweaters. Shira quickly shed her sweater, which she tied around her waist over her belly.
“I’m always hot,” she commented. “I could literally jump into a pool right now.”
“Should we just find a place to sit?” Leah offered once they were in the park, but Shira shook her head saying it was good for her to walk. Soon she’d need to start shedding all the baby weight she put on if she wanted to fit into a maid-of-honor dress. Shira’s face was red even though they were walking at a snail’s pace.
“I promise I’m thinking about your bachelorette party,” Shira said between deep breaths. “We’ll do something Labor Day weekend, so it’s before your wedding, but also I’ll be five months after giving birth so Mom can babysit for a weekend. I’m thinking Vegas!”
“Gabe is going to Vegas for his,” Leah responded.
“Really? How funny! Maybe we should go on the same weekend!” Shira said. “I should talk to his best man.” Just as Shira finished talking, she bent over and scrunched her eyes closed.
“Are you OK?” Leah asked, putting her hand on her sister’s shoulder just as water rushed from between Shira’s legs all over all four of their shoes. “Oh my God, you’re having your baby!” Leah tried not to think about the fact that this was the third time water fell on her when discussing wedding plans, because this was about Shira, and Leah couldn’t make Shira’s water breaking about Leah’s wedding. But there she was, wet again.
“Can you walk?” Leah asked. It was a dumb question maybe, but they were in the middle of the park, meaning there were no cabs to hail or any other way to get to a street that could take them to a hospital.
Shira looked up at Leah and nodded. She was still leaning over and clenching her stomach, but Leah wrapped Shira’s arm around her shoulder and helped her limp toward Fifth Avenue. What a sight they must have been, but it was New York, where people were used to the unusual and nobody stared, batted an eye, or even offered to help.
Once they reached Fifth Avenue, Leah hailed a cab. “Where to?” the driver asked and Leah looked at Shira.
“I was supposed to give birth near home,” she said. “I don’t know the hospitals here!” She sounded panicked and the cab driver turned around.
“My wife gave birth at NYU,” he said. “It was a good experience. I’ll take you there.” Leah was grateful that someone else took charge and so she held her sister in the backseat while the cab crawled through traffic downtown.
“Should I call Mom?” Leah asked. “Anyone else?”
“Just Mom!” Shira shouted.
“What about the dad?” Leah asked. Shira hadn’t talked about him much. Leah wasn’t even sure if the poor guy knew he had a baby on the way. “Should I call him?”
“This is seriously not the time for that!” Shira shouted. “I think I am getting contractions. Oh my God, I am going to give birth in a cab!”
“You are not going to give birth in my cab!” the driver ordered. “Your first?”
Shira nodded as the cab driver looked at them in the rearview mirror. “First births always take a long time. It’s a lie what you see in the movies. It’s not, ‘Oh my water broke! Now the baby is coming!’ Nope, it’s more like ‘Oh my water broke! Now rush to the hospital so you can wait there for at least a day while your contractions intensify.”
“Are you like, a doula?” Shira asked.
“I’m a father of six,” he responded. “So I guess, yes, I am sort of like a doula. But no certification. I am only legally authorized to be your cab driver. Take short breaths, sometimes it helps to hum when you breathe out, that’s what my wife did. You two are partners?”
“Sisters,” Leah responded. “The dad is someone in California.”
“Why are you telling him that? It doesn’t matter!” Shira shouted.
“Rub your sister’s lower back when she is in pain,” the cab driver said, motioning with his hands how to do it. Shira moaned and Leah tried to rub her back until Shira let out a sigh.
“That did help,” Shira said. “You seriously are my doula. But I think you are wrong about this birth taking a day, I’m literally going to pop open now.”
The driver chuckled and then stopped the car in front of the hospital. “You’ll see,” he said. “The pain hasn’t started yet. Good luck!”
Leah paid the fare and the girls found a directory. Leah led her sister to the maternity department. “My sister is about to give birth!” she frantically told the nurse who smiled politely and moved at a snail’s pace to grab a clipboard.
“Have you been monitored here during your pregnancy?” the nurse asked.
Shira shook her head. “Seriously! I feel like I am about to give birth! Can we answer questions later?”
The nurse smiled politely, not understanding the urgency that the girls were feeling. But she put the clipboard under her arm and led them to a bed where she attached two probes to Shira’s stomach and took her blood pressure. “A doctor will be in shortly,” she said.
Meanwhile, Leah called their mom who promised to get on the next train to Manhattan. “I told Shira she should stay close to home!” Savannah said as though an “I told you so” comment was helpful.
Sometime over the last hour, Gabe texted her asking how her relaxing day in the park was. She responded that Shira came to visit and now they were at the hospital and Shira was about to give birth.
Shira squirmed and moaned while Leah tried to rub Shira’s back the way the cab driver taught her, but her rubbing didn’t seem to do much as Shira’s pain intensified. Soon a doctor came in with the same lack of urgency as the nurse.
“When can I push?” Shira shouted while the doctor checked between her legs.
“You’re only 1.5 centimeters dilated,” the doctor said. “You’re doing great, but you have a while to go.” The doctor left and Leah clapped her hands between a contraction.
“1.5 centimeters!” Leah said with excitement. “That sounds promising!”
Shira rolled her eyes. “It needs to be ten for the baby to come! That stupid cab driver was right! We should have brought him in to be my doula, I swear.”
Leah didn’t know much about birth. “Why don’t I get you some snacks?” she offered and to her surprise, Shira agreed.
“My last chance to eat before I need to start dieting,” she joked between two contractions.
“Don’t give birth while I’m out!” she said. She squeezed Shira’s hand and then went out to find a vending machine or coffee shop.
She was zigzagging through the halls texting with Gabe who asked how he could help, if Shira wanted him to come or if they wanted him to bring them anything. Leah asked if he could bring some extra clothes for both her and Shira and thanked him for being so thoughtful. She was still looking at her phone when she heard someone call her name. When she looked up, there was Asher.
“What are you doing here?” Asher asked her. They stood in front of each other, both with open arms that didn’t know what they were supposed to do. Should they hug? Keep their distance? Guard themselves? Their arms just stayed awkwardly by their respective bodies.
“Shira,” Leah said. “She’s having her baby.”
“I didn’t even know she was pregnant,” Asher responded. “Or back in New York.”
“It’s a long story,” Leah said and they both gave a nervous chuckle. “Do you know where I can get some food?”
Asher pointed her further down the hall. “I just got some croissants over there, but they didn’t have much left,” he said. “By the way, I saw your new Instagram.”
Leah felt her heart sink and her cheeks catch fire. For some reason, having Asher know about her upcoming wedding embarrassed her. He must think of her as such a traitor.
Leah was about to ask him what he was doing there, but then her phone rang and it was Gabe so she waved goodbye to her ex-boyfriend and explained to her fiancé exactly what types of clothes and socks he should bring for her and Shira.
By the time she had gotten to Shira’s room with a few cookies and croissants, Shira was sleeping fitfully and she had forgotten all about running into Asher.