My Other Half

She's Here

I turn around holding myself up on the seat and lift Audrey's dress. "I'm going to touch you, ok? Just try to relax as best you can" I tell her and she nods quickly. I feel blindly until I find it and I look up at Billie as my mouth falls open. I put two fingers in and I could barely feel anything so I begin to separate them and it just keeps going.

"Call the doctor, please" I tell Billie as I take off the glove and turn back around to drive. I see her frantically typing while holding Audrey's hand. "W-what's going on?" the actress asks as I begin to drive again, "I can't see so I'm not entirely sure but you're already dilating and very quickly so I'm going to try and go faster, ok?" I try to keep her calm but I am not calm at all.

It seems to me that she's almost ready but I'm not her doctor which is why I'm having Billie call. "Hello? Ok wait" she puts her on speaker and Audrey wails, "hi to you too, Audrey" the woman chuckles. "This isn't funny, Samantha! I feel like I'm dying" the actress cries, "alright just take some deep breaths and someone tell me what's going on" she says.

"Well... here, I think it's best you tell her" Billie says holding the phone to me and I take it keeping one hand on the wheel. I put the phone in the holder and toss mine to the side. "Hi..." the doctor prompts for my name, "Natalia" I state and she makes a sound of acknowledgment. "Alright, Natalia, tell me what's happening" she says and I begin to list off everything that's happened.

"She was complaining of Braxton-hicks but I felt her belly and they felt a bit too intense to me. We're in the car now on the way to the hospital but she said she thought the baby was coming. I felt her internal cervix and she's... well she's dilating that's for sure" I say, "I umm—I used two fingers and spread them to maybe... 8 cm but it felt like it was continuously expanding" I recall as quickly and calmly as possible.

"Ok good and how far are you?" I look at the street name and my eyes widen, "A solid 15 minutes at least—there's traffic" I answer and she hums as she thinks. "You seem to know a bit about this, am I right Natalia?" she asks and I nod but realize she can't see me, "yes I ummm I'm a cna" I tell her. "Wonderful! I'm going to need you to pull over" she says, "r-right now?" I ask and she affirms it so I pull to the nearest parking lot.

"Does your back seat collapse?" she asks, "yes ma'am" I say with my voice wobbling. "Ok, Billie I need you to recline the seat slowly so Audrey can lay back" "got it" the medium gets started on that while I sit there panicking. "W-why can't—I can hold it, I swear!" Audrey cries, "honey, you can't hold a baby when it's ready to come out. You'll be perfectly fine, I'm certain you're in good hands" Samantha said.

"Natalia?" I reply and she tells me to take her off speaker and step out the car. "Yes ma'am" I say once she done it, "I'm going to give you very specific instructions and I need you to follow along carefully. If you have any questions feel free to ask once I'm done, alright? It'll be quick" she says and I take a deep breath to calm myself.

"I'm sure you know she needs to be at 10cm before she's technically ready. Which means you'll need at least 2 fingers spread out to check, which you've already done. Now just for reference 10cm is only about 4 inches so if you could spread them before, she's almost ready. You'll need to check every so often to make sure she's not in extreme distress—more than is expected of course. You know her facial expressions in case she doesn't verbalize it, so keep that in mind" she instructs and I nod along.

"Any questions as of right now?" she checks, "no ma'am" I reply. "You're so sweet and calmer than most. Now just remember, keep a level head, you've got this! As long as you maintain your breathing, you'll be fine. If she sees you stressing she will too so just try to keep your demeanor in check" she warns and I make the mental note.

"Now get in there. You've got it and I'm right here if you need anything" she states. I enter the car, pushing the driver seat as far as it will go and squatting in front of her. "Am I on speaker now?" Samantha asks, "yes damn it" Audrey replies. "Check her cervix again" I do and tell her I think she's ready, "we're really doing this? Like this is really happening?" Audrey asks.