Chapter 10 #3
‘What do you need me to do?’ Annie was kneeling at Hope’s side now and somehow that instantly made it feel less scary, despite her sister’s confession that she’d never assisted in the delivery of a baby before. Just having her there helped.
‘We’re going to do something called the somersault manoeuvre.’ Hope looked at Annie, who shook her head, clearly having no idea what she was talking about.
‘When the baby’s shoulders look ready to be delivered, we’re going to push the head towards Freya’s thigh in the direction of the perineum.’
‘Okay.’ Annie looked doubtful.
‘The power of the contraction will then be concentrated on the baby’s bottom and keeping the head down near the perineum means the baby’s body will almost flip past its head and the cord will unloop itself.
’ Hope made it sound so easy, as if she did this sort of thing in deliveries she wasn’t prepared for all the time.
‘I’ll do whatever you need me to, just tell me.’
‘I’ve got another contraction coming and I really want to push!’ Freya grimaced again.
‘I know you do, but I promise that panting through it is the best way to go.’ Hope looked down.
‘Okay, I can see the shoulders emerging, I need you to gently push baby’s head towards Freya’s thigh, Annie.
’ Hope put her hand on Freya’s shoulder.
‘And you can push with the next contraction, but don’t try to force anything.
Just go with your natural urge. We’re nearly ready but slow and steady is still the best way. ’
‘Oh my God!’ Freya screamed the words, but she was harnessing the power of her pain too and the baby was clearly in a hurry, performing the somersault manoeuvre as if he was an old hand and freeing himself from the cord.
Hope caught him before he could hit the sand, as he gave the kind of lusty cry that was music to her ears.
‘Well done, Freya. You’ve got a beautiful little baby,’ she said, lifting the little boy up onto his mother’s chest, but not revealing the sex until Freya had a chance to see for herself.
‘It’s a boy.’ Freya was laughing and crying, stroking her baby’s little body.
‘I’ve got some clean towels if you need them?’ a disembodied voice called out and Annie leapt to her feet, returning with the towels and lying them over Freya and her baby.
‘Logan is going to be so happy, because I said we could stop if we had a boy, and I don’t think I could top a delivery on the beach, could I?’ Freya was laughing again now, and Hope squeezed her shoulder for a second time.
‘I don’t think you could. It’ll go down as my most memorable delivery too and I’ve done quite a few.’
‘Thank God you were here.’ Freya still looked as though she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. ‘Logan was so traumatised when we nearly lost Evie and he’s been terrified all through this pregnancy too, but now I can call him and let him know it’s all okay, because of you.’
‘It was a team effort, and you did by far the hardest part, but if hadn’t been for Annie finding the windbreak, you and the baby might have gone viral before you even had a chance to tell Logan.’ Hope raised her eyebrows and Freya laughed again.
‘Yes, I’m so lucky that both of you were here.’
‘I feel pretty lucky myself. That was amazing.’ Annie was beaming when Hope looked at her. ‘I didn’t expect obs and gynae to be my thing, but now I’m not so sure.’
‘I never get over how incredible women in labour are.’ Hope’s eyes filled with tears too, as she looked back at Freya again, finally allowing herself to enjoy the moment as Annie slipped an arm around her shoulders.
‘We’re going to need to deliver the placenta, but we’ll be going old school and letting it deliver naturally, seeing as we haven’t got any oxytocin.
So I reckon that means we’ve got time to call Logan, don’t you? ’
‘I think so.’ As Freya spoke, Bea suddenly appeared between the windbreaks.
‘Oh wow, the baby’s already here!’ Her face was wreathed in smiles as she took in the sight, before continuing with the message she’d come to deliver. ‘The ambulance is on the way, they said it should be less than twenty minutes and that was about ten minutes ago.’
‘Thanks Bea, you’ve been brilliant.’ Hope blew her sister a kiss and then turned back towards Freya again. ‘I think we’ve still got plenty of time to call Logan.’
‘We’d better had before someone really does put it online.’ Freya dropped a kiss on her baby’s head. ‘Imagine finding out that you’re a father from someone else and knowing loads of other people knew before you did. That would be awful.’
‘Mmmm.’ Hope murmured her agreement, but she caught Annie’s eye just as her sister raised her eyebrows.
She hadn’t had the chance to tell her why she could never truly get to know Joe Carter, but she needed to talk to her sisters about it before she went back to Port Agnes.
There was suddenly newfound doubt in her mind that she was doing the right thing by not telling Joe who she was, and she needed to get things straight in her head again before she returned to Cornwall.
Otherwise, there was a chance she might do something she came to regret.