At First Sight - Nicholas Sparks [103]
“I know,” she said, singing out the word again. “I can’t believe you did that.”
“I wanted to look good for the pictures.”
“I’m going to tell all my friends.”
“Just show them the pictures.”
“No, I mean about you taking your own sweet time while I was writhing in agony.”
“You were on the phone with Doris. You weren’t writhing.”
“I was writhing on the inside,” she said. “I’m just tough and don’t show it.”
“And beautiful, don’t forget.”
“Yeah, that too. You’re a lucky man.”
“Yes, I am,” he said, reaching for her hand. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” she said.
It was time.
The nurses went into a flurry of preparations in the delivery room. The doctor eventually appeared and, like the nurses, checked Lexie’s cervix again. Then, leaning forward on his stool, he explained what was going to happen. How he would ask her to push once the contraction started, how it might take two or three pushes to get the baby out. That in between she should conserve her strength. Lexie and Jeremy hung on his every word.
“Now, there’s still the issue of the amniotic band,” he said. “The heartbeat has been good and steady, so I’m not expecting anything unusual in the birth. I don’t think it’s attached to the cord, and the baby doesn’t seem to be in any distress. There is a chance, however, that it could still entwine the cord at the last minute, but by then there’s nothing we can do except get the baby out as fast as we can, and I’m prepared for that. We’ll have a pediatrician in the room, and she’ll examine the baby, checking for amniotic band syndrome, but again, I think we got lucky.”
Lexie and Jeremy nodded, looking nervous.
“You’re going to do fine,” he said. “Just do what I tell you, and in a few minutes you’ll be parents, okay?”
Lexie drew a long breath. “Okay,” she said, reaching for Jeremy’s hand.
“Where do I go?” Jeremy said.
“Right where you are is fine.”
As the doctor finished up with everything he needed to do, another nurse entered the room, along with the pediatrician, who introduced herself as Dr. Ryan. A sterilized tray of surgical tools was rolled toward the bed and uncovered. The doctor seemed completely at ease; Dr. Ryan chatted easily with the nurse.
When the next contraction started, the doctor told Lexie to grab her legs and push. Lexie grimaced with the effort, and the doctor checked the baby’s heartbeat once more. Lexie strained, squeezing Jeremy’s hand as hard as she could.
“Okay, good,” he said, moving into a better position. He got comfortable on the rolling stool. “Now relax for a minute. Catch your breath and we’ll try this again. Push a little harder if you can.”
She nodded. Jeremy wondered whether it was possible to push harder, but Lexie seemed fine with it and began to push again.
The doctor was focused. “Good, good,” he said. “Keep going.”
Lexie kept pushing; Jeremy ignored the pain in his hand. The contraction ended.
“Relax again. You’re doing fine,” he assured her.
Lexie caught her breath as Jeremy wiped the perspiration from her brow. When the next contraction came, she went through the process once more. Her eyes were squeezed shut, her teeth clenched, her face flushed with effort. The nurses stood at the ready. Jeremy was still holding her hand, amazed at how fast things seemed to be moving now.
“Good, good,” the doctor said. “Just one more big push and we’re there . . .”
After that, everything went foggy, and he couldn’t explain how it happened. Later, he would realize that he could remember only bits and pieces, and he sometimes felt guilty about that. His last clear memory of Lexie was one of her pulling up her legs as the next contraction started. Her face was shiny with perspiration, and she was breathing hard as the doctor told her to push one last time with everything she had. He thought he saw her smile.
And then? He wasn’t sure, for his gaze was drawn toward Lexie’s legs, toward the quick and fluid movements of the physician. Though he considered himself knowledgeable and worldly, it suddenly struck him that this was the first—and possibly only—time that he would witness