Life Cycles (COMPLETED)

Chapter 32

Joe's POV
I look around the large hospital room anxiously, waiting for my wife to wake up and speak to me. I couldn't believe what happened earlier. Marie had been sitting on the floor with her, while Katherine was on the exercise ball. Then she just collapsed, but was still breathing.

I was so nervous. Was she okay? Would the baby be okay?
The thoughts hurried through my mind like a train speeding across the tracks.

A couple of minutes later, Marie returned. She looked flustered and bothered, taking a seat next to me.
"You alright?" She asks me, smiling as best she could.
"I'm okay, just nervous, you?" I ask back, looking at Katherine.
"Nervous." We both nod, and the doctor comes into the room.
I stand up and walk over to Katherine's bed.

I held her hand, which was still warm, and gently pressed a kiss to it.
"How will she be?" I quietly ask doctor Aaliyah, who is putting a blood pressure machine on Katherine's left arm.
"She should be okay. The good news is, your baby is okay. Healthy, and not damaged." She smiles, taking notes about Katherine's blood pressure.

"Normal." She murmurs, writing on a clipboard. She hangs the clipboard on the end of the bed, then leaves the room.

Eventually, I hear some humming coming from the bed. I look up from my thumbs to see Katherine opening her eyes.

"Hey baby. How you feeling?" I ask her, walking over to her.
"I- I'm good, but what happened, where am I?" She looks around, frowning.
"You're in the hospital. You collapsed." I explain to her.
"Why?"
"You couldn't take the labour pains. You fell off the exercise ball when you had an intense contraction."
"Oh. I- is- is the baby okay?" She nervously asks us, and I simply nod, smiling.
She smiles back and then lays her head back down on the pillow.

I see her tense up, another contraction must be coming.
However the doctor returns, smiling when she sees Katherine is awake.
"Hello mrs sugg! How are you feeling?" She asks, removing the clipboard from the foot of the bed.
"I'm feeling okay I guess. I'm still having really bad contractions." She bites her lip, grasping my hand still.

"Well, we will dose you up on pain meds, so they won't be as intense, if you like?" Dr Aaliyah suggests.
"Yes please."

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Finally, Katherine was fully dilated and things were beginning to move faster.
She was rolled down to the delivery room, where we would soon meet our little son.

"Okay, on the count of three I'm going to need to you hold your breath and push for me, Katherine! One... two... three!" The doctor yells, and Katherine does as she's told, releasing her breath after a count of ten.
Then she repeats it again, and is told that the shoulders are out.

"Baby you're doing it! Keep going!" I encourage her, tears rolling down my cheeks.

"Push Katherine! Push as hard as you can!" The Doctor yells.

"Oh my god!" Katherine shouts, as she releases all her breath, crying as soon as she does.

"Your baby boy is here you guys! Congratulations!" Doctor Kylie exclaims, suctioning the baby's nose ears and mouth.

"Baby you did it. I am so proud of you, you know that? We're parents! We have our baby now!" I say, kissing her cheek as we both cry tears of happiness.
"I can't believe I just did that."

She was handed out baby, all wrapped up in a blue blanket with a little blue hat on.

"Hey baby boy, it's so nice to meet you." She says, kissing his little nose. I study his face, taking it all in. That's my son. We made him. He's our child. I am a father.