Chapter 32
CHAPTER
THIRTY-TWO
Bryce Young stood in a delivery room for the third time in his life. This was the first time he’d been there in the middle of the day, though, instead of the middle of the night.
“One more big push, Momma,” the doctor said, and Bryce shifted so he could stand closer to Codi, pressing into her upper back and hopefully giving her the strength she needed to deliver their son.
She pushed through another contraction, and still their baby’s cries didn’t fill the air.
She slumped back against the bed, and Bryce rubbed her shoulder.
She pulled away from him and gave him a dirty look.
“Sorry,” he said, and she panted as her expression normalized.
“No, I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m just so tired, and I don’t want to be touched right now.”
Bryce had no idea what she had to go through to carry a baby for nine months, and then have every doctor and nurse poke, and prod, and roll her at their will. If she didn’t want him to touch her, he wouldn’t.
He glanced down to the end of the bed, and since he stood, he could see over the drape they’d put across Codi’s knees.
He caught a perplexed look on the doctor’s face, and that didn’t help anything inside him settle.
The machines Codi was hooked to started to beep again, and the doctor said, “Okay, this time, Codi,” but his voice wasn’t nearly as bright as before.
“Lord,” Bryce said right out loud. “We need this baby to come right now. What’s stopping him?”
Codi pushed again, her voice grinding through her throat so violently that Bryce thought she might hurt herself.
“All right,” the doctor said. “All right, Codi. That’s good.”
Still, Codi pushed, and then in one sudden moment she fell back against the bed.
“This isn’t working,” the doctor said. “I’m afraid we’re going to need to do a C-section.”
Bryce’s heart pounded harder than it had already been, and he looked to his wife to judge her reaction. Everything exploded inside him when he saw her lying there, unmoving, eyes closed.
“She passed out,” he called, and two nurses rushed up toward Codi. They started fussing with her tubes and checking her, and Bryce had never known fear this strong.
“Put her on oxygen,” the doctor said. “Get her in the OR. We’ve got to get this baby out.”
Bryce stepped back, or he would have been pushed out of the way.
A nurse looped an oxygen mask over Codi’s mouth and nose, and a second one lowered her bed in one swift motion.
Before he knew it, two more nurses had arrived to push the machines Codi was attached to.
They all left the room, and Bryce launched himself after them.
“Can I come in?” he asked.
“Yes,” one of the nurses said over her shoulder. “Jeri will get you prepped.”
Another nurse appeared out of nowhere, and she said, “You’ve got to come with me, and I’ll take you in when you’re robed up and ready.”
“I’m not going to miss it, am I?” Bryce couldn’t stand the sight of that bed being wheeled away from him, then around a corner, and finally out of sight. He felt like someone had ripped his heart out and taken it with them.
“Mister Young,” she said, and Bryce blinked back to the woman in front of him. “You’re not going to miss it. Come with me.”
He went with her, because he didn’t see another choice. She helped him put on gloves, a gown, and a mask, and then she led him down some back hallways and into an OR where Codi had already been set up. She was still on oxygen and still unconscious.
“Is she okay?” He ran his hand across her forehead, and she felt warm to the touch. He moved his fingers through her snowy white hair, his love for her only growing as he gazed at her.
“Her vitals are strong,” a nurse said.
“All right, we’re going to do the incision,” Dr. Latham said, but Bryce didn’t want to see it.
He gazed at Codi instead. “They’re going to get the baby out, baby. I know what you want to name him, so it’s okay if you take a nap, but I’m totally sneaking your last name in there as his middle name.”
He smiled because he and Codi had talked about using Hudson as a middle name for months now.
She still wasn’t sure about it, but Bryce had never felt anything more strongly.
“Samuel is going to be a perfect name to go with Matthew,” he said.
“And we can call him Sam or Sammy, just like we say Matt or Matty.”
He grinned, because he loved that he and Codi were on the same page with the more traditional names for their children.
“He’ll be here before you know it, and then all of his cousins will come.
” He probably should have left that last part out, but Bryce was grasping at anything to say, so she’d know what was happening.
The doctor issued commands, and Bryce said, “It sounds like he’s almost here. You just hang on for a little bit longer, okay?”
Codi started to move, her eyelashes fluttering and a moan coming out of her mouth. “She’s waking up,” he called to the room, hoping there was someone to monitor her.
A man wearing blue scrubs came over, and he said, “Codi, you’re fine. You’re in the hospital. Just stay right here, okay? We almost have the baby out.” He put one hand on Codi’s shoulder and didn’t look away from her.
Codi’s eyes opened, and they locked on to Bryce’s, filled with fear.
“It’s okay,” Bryce said quickly. “It’s okay, they’re doing a C-section, and they’re getting him out. He’s being born right now. Just stay still.” He did put one hand on her shoulder, only because the nurse who’d come over already pressed on her other shoulder.
She seemed like she might try to get up, and Bryce said, “Don’t get up, baby. They’ve got you hooked up to all kinds of stuff, and—” He cut off with the wail of his son as it filled the room.
“He’s out,” the doctor said triumphantly. “It is a boy.”
Three nurses whisked the boy away as he continued to cry. “Bryce,” Codi said, his name muffled through the oxygen mask.
He looked down at his lovely wife. “You’re okay,” he said. “They had to do a C-section, because he wasn’t coming, and you couldn’t push anymore.”
A tear trickled out of her right eye, and he gently wiped it away. “It’s okay. You’re going to be okay.”
The doctor finished up with her only a few minutes later, and she started to shiver.
“It’s just a little bit of shock,” the nurse said, and he laid a heated, weighted blanket over Codi’s chest and arms. “We’re going to monitor you right here for another hour before we move you to a room.
” He looked over to Bryce. “You’re welcome to stay or go with your baby. ”
Bryce was totally torn. “Can I come back here if I go with him?”
“Go with him,” Codi said, and her eyes drifted closed. Her voice was barely loud enough to meet his ears, but Bryce knew when his wife wanted something.
“You can come back anytime,” the nurse said.
Bryce bent over and kissed Codi’s forehead. “I’m going to go with him,” he said. “And we’ll both be back before you know it.”
Hours later, Codi beamed down at baby Samuel.
“Oh, that’s a good boy,” she cooed at him as he’d finally latched on and was eating.
“Yes, you just needed extra time to practice, didn’t you?
” She stroked his feathery blonde hair back off his forehead and shifted the blanket up slightly.
Bryce smiled at her and reached over and took her hand in his.
“How are you feeling?” he asked. “They said you could have more meds with dinner, and dinner is only fifteen minutes out.”
Codi nodded. “I’m going to need the meds, Bryce,” she said. “It hurts.” Her epidural had worn off now, and she had an eight-inch incision across her midsection. They’d cut through her muscle and skin and into her uterus, and Bryce could only imagine the pain.
“I’ll go check on dinner,” he said.
Codi nodded, and Bryce was just glad that Sam had finally started to eat, because Codi wanted to breastfeed and Bryce wanted her to have whatever she wanted. He’d just opened the door and started to step outside when he realized someone already stood there.
“Oh.” He grunted and fell back, because he didn’t need to ram into Harry, who carried his baby in his arms.
“Hey, hey,” Harry said softly. “How is she?”
Bryce cast a look over his shoulder, noting that Codi had leaned her head back and closed her eyes again. He quickly moved out into the hall and pulled the door closed.
“She’s okay.”
“I can’t believe she had to have a C-section,” Belle said from right at Harry’s shoulder.
“It’s just going to be a longer recovery,” Bryce said. “And that’s going to drive her nuts, but she did great, and both she and the baby are doing fine.”
Harry watched him with eyes that saw too much, and Bryce decided he didn’t need to hide from him. “I need to call my daddy and see if he can keep Matthew for a little bit longer, because she won’t be out of the hospital tomorrow.”
“When will they release her?” Harry asked.
“It’s three days for a C-section,” Bryce said. “They want to make sure that the incision is healing up right before they let her go. She’s on a round of antibiotics, and honestly, the nurse said she’ll be really tired for a little bit, because of the passing out and the meds and…yeah.”
Harry put one arm around Bryce and drew him into a tight hug, his six-week-old between them. Belle slipped Lyric away, and still Bryce held onto Harry.
“She’s going to be okay,” he said, but his own voice broke on the last word.
“Yeah, she just needs a lot of rest and sleep,” Harry said. “And she’ll be able to do both, because she has about fifty thousand people who would love to come help her and that baby.”
Bryce smiled and pulled away. “One hundred percent,” he said.
“Do you think we can go in and see her?”
“We’ll only stay for a few minutes,” Belle said. “We saw them delivering dinner down the hall, and we’ll leave as soon as she gets hers.”