Complete Chaos

036

The young woman wanted to cry and scream. Julia was so close in pulling her hair from her frustration. She knew labor and delivery was going to be painful, but she didn't know it could take so long until she was allowed to push.

By the end of the night, Julia was only 8 centimeters dilated. She took some quick short naps during the night, but she moved around when the pain progressed.

Her contractions were three to five minutes apart. Her body was telling her to push, but she wasn't fully dilated, and the nurse for the night had left, leaving Steve and Julia alone.

Steve couldn't sleep either, and it wasn't only because he slept on a small sofa, his feet hanging out of it, but every sound Julia made of discomfort woke him up.

He was worried something bad happened to Julia or maybe he had missed the birth of his child.

He tried to be there for her and help her in everything he could.

He sang again, but she told him to shut up; he wasn't hurt by it. They walked around for a few minutes until Julia got dizzy and decided to go back to bed. He massaged her lower back for a few minutes, but nothing seemed to work.

July 7th rolled around, and Julia was 9 centimeters.

Everything happened so quickly after that the nurse told her she should get ready to push in two hours, but only thirty minutes passed, and Julia was 10 centimeters dilated with a need to push.

Her body was getting ready. The head of the baby was in the right position. 

Nurses moved quickly in and out of the room.

Steve looked around him in panic; he was still half asleep. He rushed to Julia's side as it was getting closer to meet his little baby.

On the outside, Steve looked relaxed, but on the inside, he was panicking, but he wanted to remain calm for Julia.

Julia lay on the bed with her hospital gown covering the top part of her body. If it weren't for the fact that she was in pain and terrified of what was ahead, she would have felt self-conscious about having so many eyes on her exposed body.

"Julia, when you feel the next contraction, push," the doctor instructed her.

She nodded hesitantly. Julia glanced at Steve, feeling scared he extended his hand for her to hold on to. She took his hand gratefully to have him by her side.

They were going to meet their baby soon.

She tucked her chin to her chest and pushed, holding her breath. She exhaled out of her mouth, letting out a frustrated sigh.

Julia felt an increased pressure near her lower back and pushed again, squishing Steve's hand. He didn't complain when he felt the circulation leaving his hand.

"I can't do it," Julia cried, shaking her head. "You have to push again, Julia," the doctor said.

She was exhausted, her head was killing her, and she felt like throwing up. Her energy was running out.

With his other hand Steve pushed her light brown hair out of her sweaty forehead. "Julia, you can do it. Soon we will have our baby in our arms. You are the strongest person I know. You can do it. I know you can," Steve said gently, encouraging her.

Julia wanted to move positions. She wanted to try something else that could help her better while pushing. With one hand, she held her thigh and pulled her leg back when she felt another contraction. Steve helped her by doing the same to her other leg.

"That's good, Julia. Keep pushing; I see the head of the baby."

A nurse stood close to the doctor with a blanket in her hands.

It was happening, she only needed to push one or two more times, and she was going to see her baby, which was good because Julia felt as if she couldn't breathe; her face looked pale, and the room was beginning to spin.

She pushed again, letting out a cry; she wanted to rest once this was over.

With the last push Julia felt like a big weight was lifted off her shoulders, and her heart could beat normally. Her body was finally her own again.

The nurse wrapped the baby with the blanket, roughly cleaning the blood from the baby's skin and mucus from the nose and mouth.

The room was loud, filled with voices of the nurses talking to each other. The doctor was still near her, pulling Julia's placenta out of her, but the only thing she could focus on was the loud cry of the baby.

It was a sound that brought relief into her body. She scanned the room to look for her baby to see which nurse was carrying her baby.

"It's a girl!" A new nurse said, lifting her crying daughter for Steve and Julia to see. She was the mother of a little girl.

She couldn't believe that after 38 weeks, her daughter was here. Julia cried for what she was unsure of. Maybe it was from her sore body, her tired mind, the beautiful tiny child she gave birth to or that she felt as if she was taking her last breath.