21. Micaiah
SEPTEMBER – ONE MONTH LATER
“We’re in this life together and nothing will ever separate us, Beanie. You feel me? Touch my heart. That shit beats for you and you alone, baby.” –Heart of Stone, MJ Stone
I watched as the female EMT worker pressed a padded tongue blade between Myraj’s teeth and suctioned her mouth. She and the male EMT worked quickly and efficiently and talked quietly amongst themselves.
“What’s that?” I asked when they administered medicine via an IV into her arm.
“This is magnesium sulfate. It will stop the seizures. We will give her hydralazine to rapidly lower her blood pressure in a few minutes. Her blood pressure is heading into a hypertensive emergency level,” the female EMT worker who introduced herself as Essence, explained.
“Come on, let’s flip her on the count of three,” the male EMT worker, who was introduced as Christian, instructed.
I watched as they flipped her on her left side to protect her airway and prevent aspiration just before they gave her oxygen.
“Is she going to be okay?” I demanded, rushing behind the EMT workers.
“We’re doing everything that we can, Mr. Livingstone,” Christian stated.
“What about my baby? How is she doing?”
“Let us work on her, and we’ll be able to tell you more soon,” Essence replied.
“Sir, you’re not going to be able to get in the ambulance with her,” Christian commented.
“You got me fucked up if you think I’m leaving her side!
” Anger and fear warred within me over Myraj’s condition.
She hadn’t been feeling well for a couple of days, and she had complained about having a headache since last night.
Through the night, I noticed her feet and hands swelling, but she said she thought it was because she had been outside a little longer than usual.
She had insisted on spending an hour outside yesterday, and I had foolishly allowed her to.
When she woke up this morning complaining of her blurred vision, I immediately dialed her doctor and then called 911.
“Chris, let him ride,” Essence stated, resting her hand on his arm.
Christian’s jaw clenched. “You can ride, man, but please, don’t get in the way of us doing our jobs.”
“I won’t. Just make sure—make sure she’s good,” I pleaded through a clogged throat as Mai came up to me with Malachi in her arms.
“He wanted to say goodbye to you,” she stated.
When she initially passed out, Malachi had been in the room.
I had held him close to me while calling for Mai, and I kissed him repeatedly, assuring him that Myraj would be okay, when I wasn’t even sure of it.
I told him that she was so tired that she had fallen asleep.
Luckily, she had been in bed when she passed out, and the seizures hadn’t started until long after he left the room.
Mai had come in and quickly taken him away and calmed him down. I hadn’t left Myraj’s side since she passed out, and this was my first time seeing my little guy again. I knew that he was in good hands with Mai.
I took him from her arms and hugged him tight. “I love you, li’l man. I’m going to the hospital to make sure that Myraj gets the rest she needs, make sure her and the baby are healthy, and then we’ll be coming home to you soon, okay?”
“Okay, Daddy.”
I kissed him again and squeezed him tightly to me. “God, I love you so much,” I muttered through clenched teeth.
My chest squeezed tight with love for my little guy. I didn’t think I had the capacity to love anyone the way that I loved him, but now I had another little one on the way. I prayed that she and Myraj made it. I would be ruined if anything happened to either of them.
“Micaiah, I can drive your car to the hospital and follow the ambulance. I’ll have my boyfriend meet me there and bring me back to my car,” Mai suggested.
“Thanks, Mai.”
“Daddy, is Myraj gonna sleep for a long time?” Malachi asked with large, frightened eyes.
I kissed his forehead and held him close to me. “No, li’l man, not much longer. They’re gonna make sure that she and your sister are okay. You’re gonna ride with Mai, okay?”
“Mkay.”
I kissed him again before I handed him off to Mai.
“He’ll be fine. Don’t worry about him; just take care of those two,” Mai instructed.
I bobbed my head and hopped in the ambulance. I couldn’t take my gaze off Myraj. She was unconscious and looked so lifeless except for whenever the seizures gripped her. I was terrified. I just wished that I had taken her to the hospital when she first complained about the headaches.
They administered the hydralazine no sooner than we took off in the ambulance and immediately began monitoring my daughter’s heart rate as well as Myraj’s.
I called her mother as soon as I could and told her what I knew before requesting that she meet us at the hospital.
When I finished that call, I prayed the entire ride to the hospital, asking God to spare Myraj’s life and our daughter’s life.
We hadn’t even settled on a name for her yet.
I couldn’t bear the thought of losing either of them.
No sooner than we arrived at the hospital than a whole team of neurologists, respiratory specialists, obstetricians, and nurses surrounded her and rushed into a room.
“Mr. Livingstone, you cannot come in here. We were told that you rode in the ambulance on the way over, but there will be no negotiations about this,” the brunette nurse with kind blue eyes explained.
“She’s scared. I know she is. If she can just feel my presence—”
“I understand your concern and that you’re afraid as well.
This is a very scary time for everyone involved.
That’s not unusual, but I assure you that we have this under control.
We’re professionals, and we operate best when we can focus on the patient and no other factors. Is that understood?” the nurse asked.
“Yeah, yeah, I get it. Just make sure that you understand if something happens to my woman or my baby, y’all might as well say your goodbyes to your family members.”
“Mr. Livingstone, my name is Nurse Trina. I will be out here checking on you as often as possible and giving updates. Please remain calm so that you don’t get put out of here, and the doctors, nurses, and specialists can focus on your wife and daughter.
I need you to remain calm, pray if you have faith, and let us do our jobs. ”
“A’ight, then get busy doing that shit!” I demanded angrily. I knew it wasn’t her fault or theirs, but I was losing it. She walked away from me, and I stayed outside of the room and looked into the room through partially opened curtains over the window.
I knew that I was being irrational, but I didn’t know what else to do.
It felt like Malachi’s birth all over again—something going wrong, worrying, praying, and not sure what my little guy’s future would shape up to be, if he survived at all.
We had all been worried about Malachi being born addicted to drugs and alcohol.
Now my baby girl was going through a different predicament, but no less stressful.
In this scenario, I felt completely hopeless.
It occurred to me that she referred to Myraj as my wife.
I felt like a veil was lifted and God had opened my eyes to the possibilities and the truth.
I didn’t just care about Myraj; I loved that woman with all my heart.
I had gotten it wrong three times before, and Arabella was wrong; three strikes didn’t mean I was out.
My best was waiting for me. When we got on the other side of this, I was making that woman my wife.
“Where is she?” Mr. Nicholson’s voice boomed throughout the space.
I spun around to see Mr. and Mrs. Nicholson rushing up to me with Myraj’s brothers, DJ and Blake, right behind them.
“Right here in this room.” I pointed.
“What are the doctors saying?” her mother asked.
“They haven’t said anything yet. They kicked me out of the room. They stopped the seizures, and they are working to get her blood pressure down,” I explained.
“What about the baby?” Blake asked.
“I don’t know anything.” My jaws clenched, and Mr. Nicholson gripped my shoulder.
“Be strong, son. They’re going to pull through this. My daughter is a fighter,” he stated.
I looked up and saw my entire family rushing toward us.
“Micaiah, we came as soon as we heard. How’s she doing, Son?” my dad asked.
“I don’t know right now. They’re working on her, Dad, but—I don’t know. How did y’all know?”
“Mai called us. Is Myraj responsive, Micky?” my mother asked.
“She wasn’t when I saw her last. She passed out, and she hasn’t been awake since then. I don’t know what this means, if there will be any long-term effects or what. She’s been having back-to-back seizures, and they only got them under control when we arrived here.”
I felt like I was about to break down now that I was surrounded by my family. My oldest sister sensed this because she knew me well.
“We need to pray,” Dawn declared, pulling me close to her.
“Yes, we do,” Mama agreed.
They formed a circle around me: Mr. and Mrs. Nicholson, DJ, Blake, Mama, Daddy, Dawn, Brooke, Joshua, Noah, and Tamar. They held hands and Dawn led us in prayer, while I tried to find my strength and recover my faith because that shit was rocky as hell at the moment.
“What happened, Micky?” Tamar asked.
We all sat down in the chairs, and I positioned myself where I still had an excellent view of what was occurring in the room.
“Around dinnertime, she mentioned she had a headache and wanted to get some rest. We didn’t think anything about it, but when I checked on her in the middle of the night, I noticed that her arms and legs were swollen.
When she woke up this morning talking about her vision being blurred, I immediately called her doctor who told us to dial nine-one-one and get to the hospital quickly. ”
We all talked for a while, and Nurse Trina stepped out twice to give updates. It wasn’t until a half hour after her last update that two doctors stepped out. I recognized Dr. Rose, but the man introduced himself as Dr. Warner. He was the pediatric specialist.
“Micaiah, she is no longer seizing, and her vitals are stable. With those factors in place, we are going to deliver the baby via C-section. I know that isn’t what Myraj wanted, but this is the only way to resolve the eclampsia and protect both mommy and baby, okay?” Dr. Rose asked.
“She’s only seven and a half months pregnant. Will our baby survive?” I asked.
“She will be premature, but she will get the best quality care to ensure her growth and that she will thrive,” Dr. Warner answered.
“Yeah. Whatever needs to happen to make sure that they both survive, I’m behind one hundred percent.” I looked to her parents, and they nodded their agreement.
“Okay, as long as you behave and are here to offer her comfort and support, you can sit beside her while we deliver your little girl. Come on, follow us,” Dr. Rose invited.
I looked around at my family and Myraj’s, and they all blew kisses, folded their hands in prayer, or bobbed their head in some form of support.
My faith had been weak, but thanks to the prayers of our families and their support, I felt that everything would be fine.
I could see the light, and I knew our HEA was on the way.