Delivery

Screams echoed. The voice sounded familiar. Mason thought maybe it was her own voice screaming. Yes. The relief was palpable for a moment as the contraction eased a bit. Then it hit hard again. "Almost ready to push," the soft voice of her doula said. She'd been in labor for 20 hours. She was starting to fall asleep betwen the contractions, or at least to think she was asleep. Little hallucinations kept happening. Nick squeezed her hand gently. She heard Constance's voice from the hallway. Everything was a blur. The obstetrician came back and told her that it would probably be soon that she could push, the baby's head was very close. She heard the words through a haze. Another contraction, another scream. The screams felt good, they made the pain seem further away.

"Now push," the doula said softly, a timeless time later. Nick's hand in hers was damp with sweat, probably hers. She was sweating more than she had in her entire life it felt like. Someone wiped her forehead with a soft cloth, her eyes were closed, she didn't know who did it. She thanked them in her head, unable to speak the words. As the next contraction hit instead of screaming she grunted as she pushed. Over and over. And then she felt something tear, the pain was so intense that everything went black. She wasn't sure how long later it was that she felt something brush her hair back and she opened her eyes to see Nicholas cradling the newborn. Nick and the doula brought the baby to her and set it on her chest, the doula helping her get her nipple into its tiny mouth. Mason closed her eyes again and let the world close down to the tiny warmth of the baby on her chest, and stroked its soft head with the peach fuzz of hair.

The doula went home. She was exhausted. The obstetrician was done and went off on his rounds. The pediatrician came and examined the newborn Lucille Marie Black, and pronounced her healthy. Nicholas and Constance stayed. For a short time, after she knew for certain that Mason and the baby would be all right, Constance wandered around the hospital… she hoped no one actually realized why. But after a while she returned and rejoined Nick in Mason’s room, watching her sleep. Constance lay with her head on Nick's lap and fell asleep too, and he stroked her hair, watching his new baby and her mother also sleeping. Everyone slept but Nick. There was no way he could sleep now. He was watching out for everyone. Anything could happen, they were all far too vulnerable here at the hospital. But Mason could not go home for at least six more hours. So he watched, all too aware of the little he could do if something did happen.

Nothing happened. The baby cried, after a while, and then quieted as she sleepily resumed suckling at Mason's breast. The nurses came by and Nick asked if he could take Mason home yet. No two days in the hospital for her. She needed to be home. He needed them all to be home, where they had a decent security system in place. The nurse told him that normally they did not release newborns until 48 hours after the birth. But if the parents insisted, she said, they could go home now. She gave him a ten page pamphlet of warning signs that would require a return to the hospital. Constance woke up, and they got Mason's things together as a nurse put Mason in a wheelchair to be taken to the car. Mason signed release forms for herself and the baby and they were gone.