Chapter 20
CHAPTER
TWENTY
Bryce paced the length of the small hospital room, his cowboy boots making soft scuffing sounds against the linoleum floor. Codi lay in the bed, her face serene despite the steadily increasing contractions. The waning afternoon light filtered through the blinds, casting stripes across her face.
They’d been here forever.
His stomach ached and growled all at the same time, and he just wanted this baby to be born.
Bryce had been in this situation before, but this birth was nothing like the one he’d experienced when OJ had come into this world.
Codi groaned, and Bryce spun back to her.
“Okay?” he asked, using that word for probably the hundredth time that day.
They’d had to check in at six o’clock that morning, when Codi had been put on a Pitocin drip.
She had dilated pretty steadily and then stalled, and Bryce felt like they might be in the hospital until Thanksgiving.
“I’m okay,” she said, forcing a smile to her face. “Come lay with me. Your pacing is making me nervous.”
He couldn’t fit in the bed with her, so he took the chair beside her bed and took her hand in both of his.
“I’m just….” He swallowed hard. “Lord, please bless this baby to come fast.” He closed his eyes and tilted his head back, as if petitioning heaven.
“Codi’s real tired, and everyone’s been waiting for him for so long.
Keep them safe, but could we speed this up a little bit? ”
“I’ll say amen to that,” Codi said.
Bryce opened his eyes and found her smiling at him.
That gesture fell away quickly as pain whipped across her face.
A contraction gripped her, and her hand tightened against his.
Bryce’s eyes flew to the monitor as the lines peaked.
He’d learned about all these machines in the birthing classes they’d attended, but seeing them in action was different, more real.
He’d been in such a haze when OJ was born, and every moment of this baby’s birth felt amplified in both color and sound.
A nurse entered the room, checked Codi’s chart, and then her vitals. “Let’s see how you’re doing.” She checked Codi’s progress and said, “Oh yes, you’re ready for the epidural.”
“Am I?” Codi asked, her voice filled with such hope.
“I’ll call the anesthesiologist right now,” she said. “You’re up to a six, and that means you’ve progressed quite nicely in the last hour. We’ll want to get the epidural now, or we might miss our window.”
“I don’t want to miss the window,” Codi said.
Bryce didn’t want that either, and the nurse nodded as she moved over to the phone on the wall and picked it up.
He quickly texted his father, who’d been out in the waiting room for a couple of hours now.
Bryce had tried to tell his parents not to come until he texted that the baby was here, but they were simply too excited.
He had his daddy, Otis, Georgia, and Abby in a group text, and he quickly messaged, They’re giving her the epidural. She’s dilated to a six.
Oh, that’s great movement, Abby said almost instantly. Georgia and Otis just got here with an early dinner.
I hope that baby comes soon, Georgia said.
Tears pressed into Bryce’s eyes at the kindness of his aunt. Otis and Georgia had adopted OJ all those years ago, and he knew his other biological son would be out in the waiting room waiting to meet this baby too.
“Can Abby come in?” Codi asked. “Just for a minute.”
Bryce looked at her, finding a hint of panic there. “Of course she can, baby. I’ll text her right now.” He stood and pressed a kiss to his wife’s forehead, and then texted as he walked out of the room. Abby, Codi wants you to come back. I’m coming to let you in.
He wasn’t sure he dared go all the way into the waiting room, and he slowed as he passed the nurse’s station. The double-wide doors just ahead required a code to enter or someone to come out and get a person, and he looked down at his phone as Abby said, Of course, I’m right by the doors.
Relief flooded Bryce, because Abby got it. He continued the last few steps and pushed the door open. Her eyes flew to his. “Is she okay?” she asked.
“I just think she’s really nervous,” Bryce said.
Codi’s mother had died several years ago, and yes, Codi had confessed to Bryce that she wished her mother could be there, that she had someone she could talk to and ask questions of.
Abby had been that person for her, and she brushed past him with kindness and determined in one expression. “Room four-seventeen, yes?”
“Yes,” Bryce said, taking a moment to drink in the people in the waiting room.
It seemed like half the town had arrived, but really it was just his family—Otis, Georgia, and OJ—and they’d brought along Anaya as well.
Harry and Belle had claimed a corner, along with Kassie, Reggie, Joey, and Adam.
Of the other uncles, only Uncle Mav had arrived, and he’d brought along Lars and no one else.
He nodded to his father and then ducked back inside, his own nerves stampeding through him.
He approached the room and paused outside it.
He loved his wife with everything inside him, and he knew she loved him.
He also knew a woman needed her mother, and that Codi sometimes confided things in Abby that only another woman would understand.
Something told him to hold back and wait, so he did.
A couple of minutes later, the door opened, and it seemed like the entire hospital staff streamed out.
“What’s going on?” he asked, his pulse suddenly like a ping-pong ball ricocheting through his veins.
“Epidural is done,” the nurse chirped. “She’s doing great. You don’t have to wait out here.”
“Yeah, I know,” Bryce said. He waited until the last medical professional had cleared the area, and then he stepped inside.
“You got the epidural so fast,” he said as he smiled at Codi.
“I think he wanted to get it done before he went home for the day.” Codi smiled too, and she definitely seemed much more relaxed. “It feels great.”
Abby smoothed her hair back and held out a cup. “Have some more ice,” she said. “You’re going to progress really fast now, I just know it.”
He looked between them, not quite sure what to ask. The monitors wailed again, signaling another contraction. Codi groaned, but she didn’t cry out.
“Does it hurt?” he asked, because he’d been expecting it not to hurt.
“It’s just a lot of pressure,” she said, exhaling in a burst.
“I’m going to go back out,” Abby said. “Okay? You’ll be all right, Codi. You know what you’re doing.” Codi looked to her and nodded a couple of short, terse times.
“Thank you, Abby.”
“Trust yourself,” she said as she lovingly pushed Codi’s hair off her face. She smiled at Bryce and then left the hospital room.
He knew that had probably taken every ounce of her willpower, but both he and Codi had told everyone in the family that they wanted to be the only ones in the room when the baby was born.
Another contraction came, and it startled Bryce because it had been so close to the other one. Two more nurses entered the room, and when one checked Codi, she said, “Oh, you’re at a nine now. I’m so glad we ordered that epidural when we did. Let’s call your doctor.”
Codi nodded again, and then she locked eyes with Bryce. “We’re going to have a baby,” she said, and her voice had almost turned into that of a cartoon character.
He moved to her side and stroked her hair back. “Yes, and it’s going to be amazing.”
Only a few minutes later, two more contractions had come and gone, and the room filled with people, warmers, blankets, and equipment. Finally, their doctor walked in, and Bryce didn’t feel like the floor was going to vanish beneath his feet anymore.
“Let’s see what we got,” Dr. Azera said. She checked Codi quickly. “Oh, you’re ready. This baby is ready.” She smiled encouragingly. “We’re going to watch this monitor, and when it starts to tick up, we’re going to push.”
“I feel like I’m going to pass out,” Codi said.
“Your vitals are fine, honey,” a nurse said. “Pulse is strong, oxygen is good.”
“You’ve got this,” Bryce said. “One hundred percent, baby.”
The beeping grew closer together, and Dr. Azera said, “All right, Codi, now’s your time to shine.
” She gripped the railings on the side of the bed and pushed.
Bryce stood there helplessly, wondering how on earth women did this.
He marveled at his wife’s strength and capability, and several minutes later, after one more final push, the room filled with the strong cry of his son.
“It’s a boy,” Dr. Azera yelled, and a nurse whisked away the infant. Tears streamed down Bryce’s face, and he squeezed Codi’s hand and said, “I’m gonna go with him.”
She lay back in the bed panting, and she nodded. He went over to where the nurses were cleaning the baby, noting how upset he was that he’d had to leave the warm embrace of Codi’s womb.
“Do you have a name for him, Mister Young?” one of the nurses asked.
He couldn’t look away from the perfectly pink skin and the shock of light, wispy hair. “Matthew,” he said. His tiny hands had all ten fingers and his crumpled feet all ten toes. “Matthew Tex Young.”
The nurse handled this tiny infant who had just been ripped away from his mother like a football, drying him and wrapping him quickly, and then she turned to him and plunked the baby in Bryce’s arms. “There you go, Daddy. Go show your wife.”
Matthew quieted, turning into Bryce’s chest. He couldn’t take his eyes off the infant, but they drifted closed as he leaned down and pressed his lips to his son’s forehead.
“Bryce,” Codi said, and he turned, squared his shoulders, and walked over to her.
“Look how perfect he is,” he said, carefully passing the baby to Codi.
“He’s one hundred percent perfect.” She gazed at Matthew with pure love in her eyes. “How big was he?” Codi asked, and Bryce realized that he’d fallen down on the only job she’d given him.