Chapter 3 #2
All-consuming pain and the need to push overwhelmed Laura. The next thirty minutes were a blur of pain and pressure and tears.
Owen wiped away her tears and whispered sweet words of love and encouragement while holding her up from behind as she pushed.
“I can’t,” she said, gasping after a particularly strong contraction. “I can’t do it.”
“Yes, you can.” Owen used a cool cloth that Victoria gave him to wipe the sweat from her forehead. “You’ve got this. You’re the strongest person I’ve ever met. There’s nothing you can’t do.”
Mallory appeared at the doorway. “I heard you were shorthanded today and might need some help.”
Victoria looked to Laura, who nodded, relieved to see her cousin and to have another medical professional to help.
“Come in,” Vic said. “Happy to have you.”
Mallory washed her hands and donned gloves before she came over to the bed. She placed her hand on Laura’s shoulder. “How’re you doing?”
“Hurts.”
“No epidural?” Mallory asked Victoria.
“It was too late by the time she got here. She was ready to deliver.” Victoria eyed the monitor. “Here we go, Laura.”
The pain and pressure overwhelmed her once again, dragging her under to a place of intense concentration.
Behind her, Owen provided unwavering support, holding her up when she lacked the energy to do it herself.
He talked her through it, telling her how much he loved her, how he couldn’t wait to meet their babies, how proud he was of her, how strong she was.
She focused on his voice and pushed as hard as she could until she finally found some relief.
“It’s a girl!” Victoria said, holding up the baby so her parents could see her.
“Oh my God,” Owen said. “We have a daughter!”
“Is she okay?” Laura asked.
“She’s beautiful,” Mallory said.
“Ten fingers and ten toes,” David added as he took the baby to be evaluated.
“Why is she so quiet?” Laura asked, her heart racing with fear and anxiety as another contraction started, reminding her she was only half done. “David! What’s wrong with her?”
His silence was almost as loud as the baby’s until a loud cry from the newborn echoed through the room.
“That’s what we wanted to hear,” David said.
Laura could hear the relief in his voice.
Owen hugged her a little tighter and kissed her neck.
She could feel the dampness of tears on his face.
“Here we go again, Laura,” Victoria said in an endlessly upbeat tone of voice.
The contractions were harder, sharper, more painful the second time around. They were also coming closer together, giving her little time to rest in between.
“Almost there, sweetheart,” Owen said. “You’ve got this.” He wiped her face with another cool cloth that Mallory handed him.
“You’re doing great, Laura,” Mallory said.
“One more big push,” Victoria said.
Laura began to cry. She was so tired and in so much pain that she couldn’t focus on anything else. “I can’t.”
“Yes, you can,” Owen said. “We’ll do it together.” He gathered her into his arms and held her up as she screamed her way through another mighty push that finally yielded relief from the relentless pressure.
“You have a baby boy!” Victoria announced as the baby let out a lusty wail.
Laura sagged into Owen’s embrace.
“You did it,” he said wiping her tears and then his own.
“We did it.”
His smile lit up his entire face. “One of each!”
“I’m so glad we waited to find out what we were having.”
“Me, too.”
David brought their baby girl to them, wrapped in a receiving blanket. She looked up at them with an expression that seemed both wise and stunned.
“Oh my God,” Owen whispered. “Look at her.”
Laura’s heart melted at the reverence she heard in his voice.
“Hi, baby girl,” she said, nearly blinded by tears that just kept coming.
Unlike the tears from earlier, though, these were tears of joy.
The babies were here, they were safe, and they hadn’t had to leave their beloved island to have them.
“Are we set on Joanna Sarah for her?” Owen asked.
They’d agreed to name a daughter, if they had one, after her late mother, JoAnn, and his mother, Sarah.
“I think she looks like a Joanna Sarah, don’t you?”
“Absolutely. We’ll call her Jo and Joey.”
“I like that.”
David handed their son to Owen.
“Oh damn, look at you.” Owen used his free hand to rub his chest. “Is it normal to feel like you’re having a heart attack after your wife gives birth?”
“That’s just your heart expanding to make room for two more people to love,” Mallory said.
“I love that,” Laura said, smiling at her cousin.
“What’s his name going to be?” Mallory asked. “I can’t stand the suspense.”
Laura and Owen exchanged glances, and then he spoke for both of them. “We wanted them to have the same first initial so his name is Jonathan Russell. His middle name is for my grandfather.”
“Jo and Jon,” Mallory said. “I love it.”
Victoria, who’d stepped out for a minute, returned with Laura’s dad, Frank, her brother, Shane, and her aunt Linda.
“That was quick!” Linda said when she saw the babies.
Frank came over to get a closer look at his new grandchildren, who were sleeping in their parents’ arms.
“Meet Joanna Sarah and Jonathan Russell Lawry,” Laura said.
“Oh wow,” Frank said on a long exhale. “One of each. How perfect. And named for your mother.” His voice thickened with emotion. “I love that, Princess. She’d be so honored.”
Laura squeezed his hand. “I hope so.
“Katie will be so bummed she missed this,” Shane said of his fiancée, who was also Owen’s sister. “What a day to have professional training on the mainland.”
“Take some pictures for her,” Owen said.
After they posed for photos, Laura said, “You know what the best part of this day is?”
“I bet I know,” Owen said.
“I bet you don’t. It’s that I’ll never, ever, ever have to be pregnant again.”
“But how will I recognize you, my love?” Owen asked. “You’ve been pregnant the whole time I’ve known you.”
“Very funny. Wait till you find out what I really look like. You might not want me anymore.”
Leaning in close to her, he gazed into her eyes as he kissed her. “Not a chance of that.”