Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 105398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 527(@200wpm)___ 422(@250wpm)___ 351(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 527(@200wpm)___ 422(@250wpm)___ 351(@300wpm)
The store itself was even worse than I thought. It looked like a baby factory puked up its contents and then arranged them in order. Bottles, beds, torturing devices disguised as breast pumps, and clothes were scattered everywhere. There was even a second floor of more crap that I’m sure a baby would never use. We spent an hour on the bottom level of the store. In that, time a bitch of a storm rolled in and shook the building with the intensity of its thunder. Blaine also used the john no less than four times.
They decided that it was time to tackle the second floor, so we took our cart full of baby crap and made our way onto the elevator. The doors closed with a whoosh. The lights flickered once, and I had a horrifying thought that we shouldn’t have taken the elevator when the lights went out completely and we were stranded in between the floors. Cursing silently, I made my way towards the numbers panel when the emergency lights came on. I pressed the big red emergency button, and a disembodied voice said that they were aware of the problem, and would get us out as soon as possible.
I hung my head and groaned. “Well doesn’t that just fucking figure?”
“Blaine?” Ember said shrilly.
Whirling around I took in the figure of Blaine, hunched down over her big stomach. She was panting slightly, and as white as a sheet.
Years’ worth of medical training kicked in and I went to Blaine’s stooped figure. My boots slipped slightly in a puddle on the floor and I knew without asking what it was. Blaine’s water broke. In a stranded fucking elevator. With the fucking lights out. Panic came over me, but I shoved it down where it belonged. Panic had no place here right now. Just because I’ve never dealt with anything of this caliber before, didn’t mean I couldn’t handle it now. Blaine probably wouldn’t even be in danger of having her baby before the lights were fixed anyway; first babies always took hours and hours to deliver. We were good.
Boy was I wrong.
Ω
Ah hour and a half later.
“Goddamn you, Elliott. You are never getting near my lady lumps again. No more hiding the salami. You had better cherish this one baby, because never will you get another one. I really want to chop your dick off right now for doing this to me! Why’d you have to go and see your mother anyway, you should be here with me. How could you do this to me?” Blaine was wailing to Elliott who was on speakerphone. He was also outside the elevator with medical crews standing by.
A tractor-trailer hydroplaned and took out a whole city block of power poles before it came to a stop. The Swepco crews were working frantically to get the power back on, but it wasn’t going to be fast enough. Ember had Blaine’s head in her lap, wiping sweat off her forehead with one of the baby washcloths from the buggy. I was in prime view of the newest Master barreling its way into the world.
I’d taken my paramedic classes, and finished my degree. Only once have I seen a baby born, because in the ten years that I have been a medic, never once was one born on the front lines of Afghanistan where I was stationed. The only birth I’d seen was on the video they’d shown in class on the week we covered birthing. My knowledge was true though, and my instincts took over. The baby’s head was now crowning.
Looking into her pain-filled eyes, I asked, “Okay Blaine, this is how it’s going to go. When I tell you to, I want you to grab your legs and push with all you have. When I tell you to stop, you stop. Understand?”
She nodded, and I glanced at Ember pleading with my eyes to give me strength. She must have known I was scared, because she nodded and reassured me with a smile.
Going back to the task at hand, I directed Blaine to push on her next contraction. Twenty minutes of pushing later, baby boy Masters was born kicking and screaming.
“It’s a boy!” I exclaimed loudly so Blaine, and Elliott could hear on his end of the line.
A loud whoop sounded from the doors behind me, and followed closely by the loud whoop over the phone line.
While I was working, the doors were finally able to be propped open a mere four inches. A metal pipe was wedged into the space to hold the doors open. Elliott stuck his arm inside and slapped me on the back, giving me a thankful squeeze. I could hear Sam and Max clearly now giving orders to the fire fighters who were on scene.
A medical kit was squeezed through the opening in the door, and dropped to the floor at our feet. Ember set Blaine’s head down gently and reached for the kit.
“I need the nose bulb, two clamps, and the scissors.” I said to her.
Blaine was smiling sleepily at the baby I’d placed on her chest. Reaching over Ember’s head, I grabbed the baby blanket they’d picked out only hours before, and ripped the tags off, tossing them down beside me.
Unfolding it, I covered the baby. Ember handed me the bulb, and I sucked the baby’s nose and mouth out quickly. Once done, I went to clamping the cord, and then cutting it. I started an IV and hung the bag off the cart’s handle.
The placenta was delivered a short time later, and I tossed it unceremoniously into the corner away from us. We were a fucking mess of blood and other things I didn’t care to think about, let alone identify. I was just about to reach for the towels Elliott was handing me from above when I noticed blood starting to pour from Blaine.
“Take the baby, and place him to Blaine’s breast. Get him to feed. She’s hemorrhaging.” I said to Ember.
Blaine was quickly losing consciousness though. She put up no fight when Ember took the baby from her. Ember got the baby started feeding while I started massaging Blaine’s uterus. Blood was still pouring out of her at an alarming rate.