Epilogue
T his is the worst possible time to be having a baby.
It’s the first week of December, and the whole city of Seattle is coated in a sheet of ice. No one can get anywhere. Our baby isn’t due for a couple of weeks, but of course, this is the time he decides to show his face.
It turns out I was right about the gender of our baby. We’re having a boy, and while I can’t wait to meet him, I would’ve preferred for him to come on a day when the roads weren’t slick like glass.
I can’t get comfortable, despite the sweatpants and sweatshirt I’m wearing. I’ve been doing laps around this house for hours, and I’ve probably worn a path in the floor by now.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to call an ambulance?” Justin asks, looking concerned. He’s been up with me since very early this morning when my labor started. While all I’ve managed to do is laps around the house, he’s taken a shower, gotten dressed, and packed our things for the hospital. “They have the means to get here and get you to the hospital even though we can’t.”
Luckily, the father of this baby is an ob-gyn who now practices on his own along with Dr. Tarlton and his team. So if there’s anyone who’s capable of delivering this baby at home, if it comes to that, it’s him.
I shake my head. “It’s too soon. You said it yourself.” Justin examined me earlier and said I’m only two centimeters dilated, so I still have a ways to go.
“Yeah, but we can get you to the hospital, so if you want pain meds, there will still be time to administer those. If you wait too long, you’ll be too late for an epidural.”
I walk into the baby’s nursery and look out the window which gives me a clear view of the street. There’s not a soul in sight, and no cars on the road either. That’s because most of the cars that were parked on the street already slid down it because we’re on a hill. We got to watch it this morning. One car started sliding down and bumped into others parked on the street, and it started a chain reaction. Thank goodness Justin’s home has a driveway, so our cars weren’t part of that mess.
Justin and I have been living together since the beginning of November. He would’ve had me move in sooner, but he wanted to wait until he finished remodeling his house. He and his friends remodeled the kitchen first, then the living room, but the nursery we finished together. We painted it a light gray to keep in line with the rest of the house, and the décor and furnishings are in neutral tones. We got most of the baby essentials from a baby shower, but the real showstopper of the nursery, the thing that catches my eye every time I come in here, is the painting on the wall. I finally took those painting classes my parents gifted me last year for Christmas. I got to spend five hours with Marlene Pickett, my favorite local painter. With her guidance, I created a lovely landscape painting of Puget Sound with the Olympic Mountains in the background. I’m so pleased with how it turned out, and it was another thing I got to cross off my list of things to do before the baby arrives.
Another contraction comes, feeling like the worst menstrual cramp I’ve ever had, and I grip onto the baby’s crib for support. I breathe through the pain, trying to remember all of the things Justin has been telling me to do, and relax once it’s all over.
“Okay. I’m ready. You can call the ambulance now,” I say. If the contractions are this intense now, I can’t imagine what the pain will be like once it’s time for me to push. There’s no way I’m going through that without some pain meds.
Justin immediately dials 911 and gets in touch with someone. While he’s on the phone, I resume pacing, only this time, limiting myself to the nursery so I can eavesdrop on his call. It’s difficult for me to hear though, and I can’t make out what they’re saying.
“Did they give you an estimate of how long they think it’ll be?” I ask once he hangs up.
“No, they just said they would be here when they could. They’re dealing with a lot of emergency calls today, and as you would expect, response times have increased because of the roads.”
“What if they don’t make it in time?” I screech. “I don’t think I can have this baby naturally.”
“Relax, honey. It doesn’t do you or the baby any good to stress out. You have a very experienced coach by your side. I’ll guide you through it if it comes to that.” Justin pushes the hair away from my face and lifts my chin so our eyes meet. “You can do this. I know you can.” He brushes his lips against mine.
“Don’t try to butter me up. You did this to me,” I say, pointing to my bulging belly.
He knows I’m not being serious and smiles against my lips. “You definitely had a hand in it too.” He takes my hand and leads me into the living room where he turns on the TV. “Let’s watch something to take your mind off things.”
As I look around, the transformation this place has gone through is amazing. I remember the first time I was here in this house, the kitchen seemed closed off and dated. The tile countertops are gone, replaced with granite, and the backsplash is a tasteful, white subway tile. Justin and his friends opened up the living room and the kitchen and made it more of an open-concept floor plan, just like he wanted.
Justin sits down on the couch and pats the cushion next to him. “Have a seat. I’ll massage your back for you.”
I shake my head. “I can’t sit down right now. I’m too nervous and uncomfortable.” I walk away from him and resume my pacing through the house until a blaring siren interrupts me. “Do you hear that? Is that for me?”
We both rush over to the nursery window and look out. An ambulance with tire chains is parked right in the middle of the street and two paramedics gingerly get out of the vehicle, hanging onto the vehicle doors as they slip and slide around. They give up trying to walk and get down on their hands and knees.
“Oh, my God, they’re crawling! Justin, they’re crawling across the street. How the hell are they going to get me out to the ambulance if they can’t even walk themselves?”
“Maybe you’re safer delivering the baby here,” he says.
“It’s too late now. Do we have everything we need for the hospital?”
“It’s all by the front door.”
The paramedics open up the back of the ambulance and bring out a stretcher, which makes it easier for them to walk since they have something to hang on to. I don’t like the look of this at all, but I have no other choice. So when they come to the door and ask me to get on the stretcher, I willingly go, hoping the whole time that I’m not going to go sliding down the street on this thing.
We make it to the hospital in one piece and I request an epidural immediately. Everyone at the hospital already knows Justin, so it’s nice that he can pull a few strings to get me treated as soon as possible. And once the epidural kicks in, I’m finally able to relax.
We take this time to call our parents, and my mother is so upset that she’s not able to get to the hospital. With this being her first grandchild, I know she really wanted to be here, and would probably have been in the room with us during the delivery if she could. But she and my dad can’t make it, and neither can Justin’s parents. And Fern is a no-show too, but she’s all the way in Texas, so I didn’t expect her to be here. She and Brett finally used their Christmas gift from last year, and they’re visiting Julie and Dustin in Texas. Before she left, Fern told me that she and Brett are going to get married while they’re there. She wanted Julie to be there for her when she marries Brett, and it looks like she’ll get her wish.
Hours go by. All of a sudden my labor changes.
“What’s wrong?” Justin asks, sensing the change in my demeanor.
“I think it’s time.”
“I’ll go get the doctor,” he says, then steps outside the room.
Since we’re dealing with a historic ice storm, I get stuck with whoever is at the hospital since there’s no way Dr. Andrus can make it here. It may not be the perfect birth plan I was envisioning, but as long as the baby comes out the right way and is healthy, that’s all I care about.
When the doctor comes in, she introduces herself. While she’s no Dr. Andrus, she seems nice enough. She checks my cervix, then smiles at me. “Are you ready to see your baby today?”
“I’m ready,” I say, breathing through a contraction.
“On my cue, you’re going to push, okay?”
I nod, and when she says to push, I push. We go through this routine for an hour until I hear a loud thud.
“What was that?” I ask, looking around. I’ve been so focused on my pushing, it feels like this is the first time I’m seeing this hospital room. There’s the doctor and a nurse, but Justin’s face is absent from the lineup.
“Don’t worry about that. Dad had a little bit of a stumble. You just keep pushing,” the doctor says.
I sit up and look around. “What do you mean? What happened to him? Is he okay?”
“He’s fine. He passed out, but the nurse is with him now. Sometimes this happens, and everything will be all right.”
The doctor is doing her best to make me feel at ease, but my mind is still worried about Justin. Then I see his face pop up, and the nurse helps him to his feet.
“I’m sorry,” Justin says, holding his head. “I haven’t eaten much today, and I guess it caught up with me.”
The nurse takes him over to the couch where he lies down and props his feet up. He’s given some cookies, a soda, and an ice pack for his head.
“You can do it, honey,” he says, sounding half asleep. “Keep pushing.”
“Focus on me, okay?” the doctor says, pulling my attention back to her. “Let’s push.”
Another half hour and one final push, and our baby is finally delivered. Sharp, shrill cries fill the air, but it’s the sweetest sound I’ve ever heard. Tears fall from my eyes, and Justin, who is now back at my side, dabs them from my cheeks.
“You did it,” he says, looking proud of me.
“And you passed out,” I say with a grin.
“What’s his name?” the doctor asks.
“Hudson James Alder,” I say. We chose Hudson because we liked it, but we settled on James for his middle name to honor Justin’s late father whose first name was James.
Our bundle of joy is placed in my arms, and Hudson looks up at me with such an inquisitive expression on his face. It’s too soon to tell which one of us he looks like, but I’d say he looks precious and perfect.
Later that night, after the doctor and nurse have left the room, and after we’ve done all the necessary phone calls and video chats, it’s finally just the three of us. It’s quiet in here, and Hudson is sleeping in my arms.
“He’s perfect, isn’t he?” I ask Justin. Ever since Hudson was born, I haven’t been able to take my eyes off of him. I can’t believe we created something so amazing and beautiful. My drunken one-night stand might not have been the finest hour of my life, but I would do it again in a heartbeat since it led me to Justin, and ultimately to this precious being.
Justin gets up off the couch and comes over to the hospital bed. “I didn’t think it was possible to love something more than I love you. I’m sorry, baby, but Hudson has stolen my heart.”
I smile because I feel the same way. “It’s okay. He’s stolen mine too.”
“I’m hoping that he hasn’t completely stolen you away from me because there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you.” Justin drops down to one knee beside my hospital bed.
“Oh, my God. Are you all right? Did you pass out again?”
“I’m fine,” he says with a smile. He takes my hand in his. “Dahlia, even though we’re forever connected with this gorgeous baby of ours and I wouldn’t have it any other way, there is something that would make things more complete for me. I’d love to be able to call you my wife. Will you marry me?”
My vision goes hazy with the tears that are welling up, and once they fall down my cheeks, I don’t bother wiping them away. “Are you trying to make this the best day ever for me?”
“What do you mean?”
“Having a baby and getting proposed to all on the same day? That’s gotta be one for the record books, right?”
“So your answer is…”
“Yes! Of course I’ll marry you.”
He leans down and presses a kiss to my lips, doing his best not to bump a slumbering Hudson in the process. “I’m sorry I didn’t bring an engagement ring with me. I wasn’t sure about sizing with the swelling and all, and I didn’t want to risk losing it.”
“It’s okay. You can dazzle me with one later when we get home,” I say, enjoying the sound of the word. Home. It has a new meaning now with the addition of our little one. “It just hit me.”
“What did?”
“Do you know what this means?”
Justin shakes his head. “No, what are you talking about?”
“Assuming I take your last name, which I want to, my first name is a flower and my last name will be a tree.”
“Mr. and Mrs. Alder,” he says with a chuckle. “I guess we’re meant to be together.”