Epilogue
Nellie
Tabitha, Charlotte, Gloria, and Laurel had planned a combined baby shower for Sage, Nix, me and Noah, and it was held at the resort a week into July. It had been a town-wide affair, with everyone showing up to support us all. Even some of the regular summer guests had made an appearance.
Somehow, Noah had even managed to get my parents out for the baby shower. I’d expected them to send us money; not show up a week in advance and declare that they’d be sticking around for a few weeks.
It had been awkward seeing them at first, after almost two years of not seeing them and barely hearing from them after I’d told them the news. I guess they’d needed some time to process the fact that I was having a baby.
Things between us were still awkward, to say the least, but they had remained in town.
My parents told me they wanted to meet their grandchild before they left.
They were staying in my apartment above Tabitha and Parker’s garage, waiting for the call that their grandchild had decided to make an appearance.
For all intents and purposes, I’d basically moved in with Noah. It made the most sense. He had the space, and he’d spent the last several months convincing me that he was all in. I believed him irrevocably, and despite my initial reservations: I’d fallen hard for him.
The pivotal point of no return for me had been when he’d decorated the baby’s room using the inspiration boards I’d made on Pinterest. He somehow managed to encompass all the vibes I’d had into a beautiful space, creating the most perfect nursery.
With that action, he made me feel like his cabin was our cabin: our home.
Things weren’t always copasetic and easy: sometimes, my pregnancy hormones and insecurities made me completely unreasonable, but Noah was able to weather those moments and remind me that I didn’t have to do everything alone. He knew exactly what to say and what to do to get me out of my head.
We were about as prepared as we could be, but when my water broke at four o’clock in the morning on the twenty-third of July, four days after my expected due date, I quickly realized that you could never be fully prepared.
I shook Noah awake, and he jumped out of bed and into action before his eyes were even fully open. My hospital bag and the baby’s duffle bag were already by the door, waiting for the baby to decide to make her appearance.
We’d spent months preparing for this, waiting for this very moment to happen. We took Lamaze class and toured the hospital in Springwood, but I felt all those months of preparation evaporate the second my water broke.
And I was more scared than I’d ever been in my entire life.
“I’m not ready!” I moaned through another contraction on the drive to Springwood.
“Sorry love, you’re going to have to be.” Noah grimaced. I knew he hated that I was in pain and that he couldn’t do anything to alleviate that pain. “Did you text Sage?”
“I did, but she hasn’t answered yet,” I said through clenched teeth. Sage had wanted to be there if possible, but her baby was being stubborn too, and had yet to make his appearance.
Everyone had bets on who would give birth first. They called it the Baby Lottery, and pretty much the entire town had placed bets. Frankly, I’d been far too pregnant to find it amusing, but whatever entertained the masses, I guess.
We made it to the hospital with no time to spare. By the time I was being wheeled into labour and delivery, I was already nine centimetres dilated.
“Past the point of getting an epidural, I’m afraid,” the delivery nurse apologized when another contraction nearly took me out.
Her name tag read Marcie and she was in her mid-to-late fifties.
She carried herself with an assured confidence that instantly put me at ease, despite her distressing news about the epidural.
They got us into a delivery room and the second nurse, Carla, helped me climb out of the wheelchair and into the bed.
Marcie checked my progress, then looked up and met my gaze with a resolute one of her own.
“The baby is crowning, it’s time to start pushing, Nellie,” she said.
“But, what about the doctor?” Noah asked, confusion and concern evident in his voice.
“The only obstetrician on the floor is in the middle of a caesarean,” she replied.
Noticing the panicked look on my face, she put her hand on my leg.
“I’ve delivered thousands of babies over my career; I assure you that you’re in good hands.
You’re progressing really quickly, but you’re also progressing well.
This will be an easy delivery, mark my words.
But you need to push through the next contraction, Nellie. This baby is ready to be born.”
Things were moving so fast I could barely grasp onto a single thought. The pain was intense, but my determination was strong enough to push through it.
Time seemed to warp; it felt like it was both hours and mere minutes of pushing. It felt like I was both in and out of my body. It was the strangest sensation. Noah was at my head, holding onto my hand and trying to help me push through each contraction.
Finally, after what seemed like a whole day and only a minute later simultaneously, I bared down and pushed hard, pushing the baby out. Marcie caught the baby and lifted her up, the umbilical cord still attached.
“Come cut the cord, Daddy.” Carla passed him the scissors. Noah cut the cord with steady hands, and Marcie put the baby on my chest. She was still covered in blood and goo, but I didn’t care. Carla wiped some of it off while I held her, crying.
I fell in love again for the second time when the nurse put the baby on my chest and I saw her big blue eyes, so much like Noah’s.
“Congratulations, she’s gorgeous!” Carla said, beaming. “You did a great job, Mama.”
I was shaking so much, from the adrenaline and the pain that Noah wrapped his arms around me to stabilize me and help me hold our baby.
“She looks like you,” he said, the awe and wonder in his voice apparent.
“She has your eyes,” I murmured, my words coming out uneven.
Marcia administered some morphine to help with the pain, and another drug to help me calm down.
“Do you know what you’re going to call her?” Marcie asked.
“Her name is Nova Grace Wood,” I said, still unable to lift my gaze from the perfect little baby in my arms.
“That’s really pretty,” Marcie complimented. I didn’t even have the energy to thank her, I smiled and nodded.
We’d chosen the name Nova because it meant “new star”, and it was associated with new beginnings, hope, and optimism.
We named her Grace after Noah’s grandmother, and I’d wanted her to carry her father’s last name because he and his family had given me the very thing I’d longed for my whole life: a sense of belonging.
“So sorry for missing the big show,” the attending obstetrician said when he came into our room sometime later. “It’s been an incredibly busy morning. We’ve had six labouring mothers come in, and your baby makes for the fifth birth today.”
“That’s a lot of babies,” Noah said. He was holding Nova now; my arms had started trembling so much that I’d been unable to continue supporting her weight. The pain meds were finally kicking in though, and I was feeling pretty good, though exhausted.
“We call them the Halloween batch.” Carla giggled as the obstetrician checked me out. “There’s usually a huge wave of them around this time: nine months after the Witches’ Ball in Hartwood Creek. I noticed on your chart that you guys are from there. Did you happen to attend?”
Noah and I exchanged a look.
“Er, yes,” he answered sheepishly.
“Knew it! That makes three so far in the past twenty-four hours!” Carla exclaimed.
The obstetrician finished checking me over and gave me a clean bill of health. “Of course, we’ll want you to stay for twenty-four hours, so we can make sure you and baby are healthy before we discharge you.”
“Okay,” I nodded, too exhausted to argue. The obstetrician went on his merry way, and the nurses went with him, leaving Noah and me alone with our beautiful baby girl.
Noah
I’d always thought that Nellie was strong and brave but seeing her give birth to our beautiful daughter solidified that. She was the strongest, bravest woman in existence. She had delivered without an epidural, without hesitating, even when I baulked at the absence of an obstetrician.
She bore through the pain and the uncertainty and brought our beautiful Nova Grace into the world, and despite the pain she was in, her tears were of happiness and utter reverence.
A few hours later, Nellie was finally sleeping, and I was holding Nova in my arms and gazing down at her in wonder, at her tiny nose and lips and her little hand wrapped tight around my pinky finger.
A gentle knocking at the door alerted me to the arrival of company. I looked up, surprised to see Nix in the doorway with his own little bundle of blue blankets.
“Congratulations, man!” I said, smiling as I stood up and made my way over to him.
“Thanks, and congratulations to you guys, too!” Nix spoke quietly, to not wake up Nellie. “Sage begged me to pop over and check on Nellie. We’re actually a few doors down, but Sage had a c-section, so she can’t walk yet.”
“Oh man! You guys must have been the c-section the nurses told us about. When was he born?”
“Around five o’clock this morning,” Nix replied, grinning down at his son. “Introducing Reed Davis Hutchinson.”
“This is Nova Grace Wood,” I said, and we peered down at the little ones in our arms. “She was born about a half hour after Reed.”
“That’s crazy!” Nix chuckled lowly, but the sound of us talking woke up Nellie.
“Noah? Oh! Hi Nix.” she tried to sit up more in bed, but then winced from the pain. “Oh my gosh! He’s here!?” she added, catching sight of the bundle in Nix’s arms.
“Hey, Nell. Sage is recovering from a c-section so she’s not up and moving yet. She wanted us to pop over and see how you were doing.”