12. Nova
Nova
The pain was blinding and all around me was nothing but agony.
It had gone from discomfort at first to white hot, mind numbing, teeth grinding pain.
It felt like the baby was trying to reposition my spine as he turned and kicked himself into a better position for his birth.
I really wished he would find it already and chill out because his mother was barely holding on right now.
I had that all too familiar feeling of constipation like I had to shit but couldn’t.
That was the sign that I was getting closer to delivering at least that was the same as when I had Timberly.
What I don’t remember is this much pain when Timberly was born.
I was sitting on my birthing ball with her and DJ, holding my hands on either side of me as I tried to be stoic and mask my pain.
But it was getting harder to do each passing moment.
I had taken a small amount of IV pain meds, and they helped but I worried about the effect on the baby.
Natural birth was not for me. I commended the women that could do it, but I wasn’t one of them.
I needed to either get an epidural or for someone to knock me out so I could wake up after the baby was here.
Although I loved that the kids were here helping me, I still longed for Crew.
I needed his big hands and soft words to soothe some of my pain.
A strong contraction ripped through me so hard that it made me change my mind completely.
All I wanted to do right now was to punch Crew in the face for doing this to me.
“Ohhhh.” I tried to breathe.
“You have to breathe mommy. Auntie Tyra said so.” Cooed Timberly sweetly, rubbing her hand over my back.
“I know, baby.” I told her, trying to do as she said.
“DJ rub her back too. We have to keep her and the baby comfy until my daddy gets here.”
“Ok,” he said to her. “I got you auntie.” He said, kneading his tiny knuckles into my back.
“Thank you, babies. DJ, can you get me some water please?”
He stopped his mini massage, dropping my hand before running over to the mini fridge for water.
I took a big gulp of the water DJ handed me before handing it back and going back to balancing.
Tyra was sitting across from us next to the monitors keeping a close eye on me and the baby's vitals. My blood pressure had risen a little, but Tyra and I thought that was from the pain, not anything dangerous. Tyra kept a detailed record in my chart for Dr. Gibson to review whenever she arrived. I hoped it would be soon. I knew Tyra was watching the clock just like I was and it hadn’t gone unnoticed that the two-hour timeline had come and gone twenty minutes ago.
“Do you think we should call and check on them?” I asked, talking about both Crew and Pops.
“I think we would know if something was wrong. The men have direct links to Crew in case of emergency and so do we. Let’s give it a little more time.” Tyra said.
She was right I was being paranoid. All I needed was something to keep my mind off of things. “Tyra entertain me.” I said with a pout.
“Entertain you. Who do I look like Dave Chapelle? I am not here for your entertainment ma’am.
Plus, you know that the only special talent I have is break dancing, and I refuse to do that in front of these two,” she said pointing at the kids.
“They would have me on TikTok faster than I could throw one of them.”
She was right but I was pregnant and in pain, so I deserved to have my demand met. “Please Tyra. They promise not to record you. Right kids?” I said eyeing Timberly and DJ.
“We promise.” They both said in a way that really sounded like a lie.
“Ok, but if I end up on the internet, I’m breaking up with you and getting custody of my nephew.” She huffed getting up from her chair.
“Sure, sure.” I giggled.
I walked to the middle of the room, tapping on her phone before Micheal Jackson’s Thriller came through the speakers.
As soon as the beat dropped, she started doing her best impression of a 80’s break dancer.
The shit was hilarious. I almost peed my pants as she popped and locked and spun around on the floor.
The kids were too busy laughing out loud with me to even think about recording Tyra’s silly ass as she danced.
It wasn’t until she stopped dead in her tracks as she noticed someone standing in the doorway recording her.
“Dotson, what the hell man.” She yelled, getting up from the floor.
“Sorry I couldn’t resist,” he said. “Who knew that you had a career as a dancer if you hadn’t become a nurse.”
“Go to hell.” she grumbled, dusting herself off. “What do you want anyway?”
“Yeah, the scout at the entrance to the mountain road said he saw a convoy of SUVs coming up the main road. No positive ID on who they are yet. We also have a sighting of Mr. Sanderson and his team on the utility road. The unknown party will make it to the gate before Mr. Sanderson’s team. ” He relayed.
“Thank you, Dotson. Can you take the kids upstairs for a while please.” She asked.
“Sure. Come on kids. I’ll send you the video.” He laughed as he walked them out of the room.
“Asshole.” Tyra mumbled.
“Who do you think is at the front gate?” I wondered.
“It can’t be Pops. These men and his train together they would be able to tell if it was them. I don’t know. Maybe it’s someone Crew called in to help.”
“If that was the case, why is Crew coming up the mountain pass?”
“Right.” She said, as she pulled up the camera feed on the monitor.
“Ummm.” I groaned.
“Come on, let's get you back in the bed. Maybe a position change will help.” She said, helping me from the ball.
My mind was all over the place once again. Crew was close yet so far away. Merely down the mountain, yet he wasn’t here with me. My baby was about to be delivered in the middle of a war. The next contraction pulled a scream out of me from deep down in my soul.
“Either you need to do better at those breathing exercises you learned, or you need to let me give you something else for the pain to take the edge off. You don't have to suffer like this. I know you’re strong, but you don’t have to prove it by riding this pain out.
Crew will be here soon, and you can bask in all his love.
Because if there is anything I know about your husband, it’s that he would crawl through hell over broken glass to get to you. ”
“Okaaay.” I said with tears in my eyes.
“Good, because I was about to give it anyway. You not about to be stressing my nephew out.”
“Thank you, with your unprofessional ass.” I said, relaxing into the feeling of the medicine hitting my blood stream, allowing me to relax and take a breath without intense pain.
“You relax and I’m going upstairs to check in with the patrols on duty. They should be able to tell me who the other team coming up the mountain is. I’ll be right back, read a book, try and take a nap or something.” She said.
No sooner than the sound of her footsteps quieted down the hall, they came barreling back towards the suite.
“It’s him.” She shouted.
“Who him?” I asked.
“Edmond Valdez.” She said, “He is at the front gate, and he brought a fucking army with him.”
“What are we gonna do?” I asked.
“The same thing we been doing. Crew is on the way. Valdez can’t get in. We are fine. This is what those men are paid for if we need to worry they’ll tell us.” She said, not so confidently.
“What about the kids?”
“They are fine. Dotson and Burke are on high alert, and both of the kids are packing in case of emergency.”
What more could happen today? No, I wasn’t gonna ask that because, what is that saying?
Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.
That is what today was starting to feel like, a cosmic joke.
Tyra sat back down beside the bed and held my hand as I read a book on my kindle.
I had gotten four chapters in before a text came across my phone.
“Who is it?” I asked.
Tyra picked it up and read the message then sighed.
“What?”
“They’re bringing Janelle to the suite. She’s been hurt; the medic will keep her stabilized until Dr. Gibson gets here.” She said.
“What do you mean, hurt? Did he say what happened?” I asked.
“No. All he said was not to worry and he would be inside soon. So that’s what we do. We stay calm and pray. Crew is back and he will handle it.”
And she was right. I couldn’t do anything else but to stay calm and wait.