Chapter 30 #3
“Talk to me when you see the presentation,” Flynn said.
Ford pushed through the door. The twin mother was shaking with fever and contractions. Marino held an oxygen mask near her face while Davis supported her shoulders.
“She’s crowning,” Marino said.
Ford stepped forward. “Let me see.”
He checked quickly and looked toward the phone. “Flynn, I see a head.”
“Good,” Flynn said. “First twin is head down?”
“Yes.”
“Good, we deliver normally.”
Eira cautioned, “Ford, keep her breathing and your own breathing steady.”
The woman grabbed Ford’s wrist. “I can’t do this.”
“Yes, you can,” Ford said calmly. “You’re already doing it.”
Another contraction hit.
“Push,” Ford, Marino, Davis and Rourke called out in unison.
She screamed and bore down. The baby’s head appeared.
Ford guided carefully. “Slow… slow…” The shoulders slipped free. A tiny body followed into his hands.
The room held its breath. Then the infant gave a weak cry. It was so small.
Marino let out a breath. “One down.”
Ford didn’t look away. “Second twin.”
The mother gasped, “I can’t.”
Eira’s voice came through the phone again, “Yes, you can.”
When Ford checked the presentation, his stomach tightened. “Flynn.”
“What do you see?”
“Second baby is transverse.”
There was a pause. “Alright, Cox,” Flynn said calmly, “you’re about to do a breech extraction.”
“Okay.”
Flynn continued, “First, you need to locate the baby’s feet. You don’t have time for fent.”
“Okay.” Ford slid one hand carefully inside the birth canal while keeping the other steady on the mother’s abdomen. “Going in.”
The woman gasped weakly.
“I’m sorry,” Ford told her. “I know this hurts.”
Eira encouraged her, “You’re doing great. Just breathe.”
Ford felt something small brush his fingers. “I’ve got a leg.”
“Good,” Flynn said. “Bring one foot down gently.”
Ford guided the tiny foot toward the opening. “Got it.”
“Now find the other.”
Ford moved his hand again. “There.” He pulled carefully. The small legs appeared.
Marino leaned closer. “I see them.”
Flynn’s voice stayed steady. “Slow traction. Let the hips deliver.”
Ford pulled gently as the next contraction hit. The baby slid farther down.
“Hips are out,” Ford said.
“Good,” Flynn replied. “Now support the body.”
Ford lifted the tiny form carefully. The infant hung limp in his hands.
“Bring the arms down if they’re trapped,” Flynn continued.
Ford rotated the baby slightly. “One arm.” Then the other. “Both free.”
“Now the head,” Flynn said.
Ford felt resistance. “The head’s still inside.”
“Alright,” Flynn said, “support the baby on your forearm like before.”
Ford shifted position.
“Two fingers under the jaw to keep the airway open.”
Ford adjusted carefully.
“Now apply gentle pressure to the back of the head.”
Another contraction rippled through the mother.
“Now,” Flynn said.
Ford guided the head downward. At first, nothing happened. Then the head slipped free, and the tiny baby slid into his hands. For a terrifying second, the room was silent, but with drying and blow-by oxygen, the infant let out a weak cry.
Marino laughed softly in relief. “Twin number two.”
Ford exhaled slowly.
From the tray, the phone crackled again, and Flynn’s voice came through, “How do they look?”
Ford held the second twin carefully in both hands. The baby felt impossibly small. Far smaller than the first infant. For a moment, he just stared.
The tiny chest moved in shallow breaths, and the weak cry sounded almost fragile against the roar of the storm outside. Aurelia wrapped the infant quickly in a clean receiving blanket and began rubbing the baby’s back.
Ford looked down again at the newborn. “They’re tiny.”
There was no panic in Flynn’s voice when he replied, “They’re thirty-one weeks, Cox. They’re supposed to be tiny.”
Eira asked, “Are they breathing?”
Ford watched Aurelia stimulate the second twin gently. “Yes.”
A faint cry came from the baby again.
“Both are breathing.”
Marino leaned closer, studying the two small bodies with translucent skin covered in white goop. “God… they’re tiny.”
Ford nodded slightly. “These little girls are fighters. The apples don’t fall far from the tree.”
Speaking of the tree… Across the room, the exhausted mother tried to lift her head. “My babies…?”
Aurelia stepped closer so she could see them. “You’ve got two beautiful baby girls.”
Tears slid down her temples. “Are they okay?”
“They’re early,” Ford told her honestly. “But they’re breathing.”
Aurelia looked up from the twins. “We need warmth.”
Marino immediately grabbed more blankets from the supply stack.
Flynn spoke again through the phone, “Dry them. Keep them warm. Skin contact if you can.”
Ford looked down at the three newborns now in the room. The large boy from the C-section and the two tiny premature twins. “Get them to the nursery where it’s cleaner. Give Mom more acetaminophen and an electrolyte drink. Run five hundred ccs wide open then KVO.”
Eira was still on the line. “You just did something incredible, Ford.”
“With your help,” Ford said.
He could imagine the smile on her face as she said, “We make an amazing team.”