185 - Delivery

185 - Delivery
Nine months creating life, three days to get them out of your body, eighteen months waiting for them to say their first words and take their first steps and then twenty years telling them to shut up and sit down. – Momma Becks

Although the Covid restrictions had been lessened, only Denver was allowed in the delivery room with Priscilla. He video called the other two every thirty minutes until she started to push. The plan was that at that time, they would remain on the call so that they could all be there with her. After a few hours of contractions without much dilation, she paged the nurse to let them know something felt odd.

“Can you define odd?” the middle-aged nurse asked with a smirk behind the clear plastic face shield that indicated she knew what her patient was talking about.

“It’s just this odd feeling like I need to shi- poop right now.”

The woman nodded and watched the monitor that was attached to the strap around Priscilla’s belly. With the epidural in place, she was not feeling a lot, the monitors were giving more information than the patient could provide. The lines on the monitor spiked up and she looked back at the woman in the bed.

“Is it more intense right now?”

“Yes.”

“All right,” she smiled as she grabbed some gloves. “Let’s see if your cervix has caught up with your contractions.” Moving to the end of the bed as she pulled on the blue gloves, she asked,

“I’m sure you remember the position to assume?”

“Why do you all think,” Priscilla asked as she wiggled her way into the position that the nurse wanted her in, her breathing became ragged with the pressure being placed on her diaphragm in the awkward position, “that this is easy to do?”

The woman laughed as she helped Priscilla to tuck her feet up by her butt, “I have three of my own. I know exactly how difficult that position is.”

Priscilla winced as the nurse examined her. Denver moved over and took her hand in his as he placed a kiss on her temple through the face mask he had to wear. The nurse smiled at them as she stood up and peeled off the gloves.

“Here’s the good news,” she told the parents-to-be, “we’re going to be having a baby pretty soon.”

“Thank God,” Priscilla muttered.

“What’s the bad news?” Denver asked.

“Picked up on that, did you?” the nurse chuckled. “We’ve got to call Dr. Blake and wait for Blake to get here. And that position is going to be more comfortable than the next ones that you’re going to be in.”

“As long as this baby gets out of me, I don’t care what position you put me in.”

“Keep that in mind,” the nurse warned as she helped Priscilla move back into a more comfortable position. “Let me go call Dr. Blake and then we will get you all set up to get that sweet baby out. Do you know what you’re having?”

“I feel like it’s a girl, but she’s been quite contrary and won’t let us know.”

“Moms usually know. I’ll be right back.”

Denver waited until the bed had been converted and Dr. Blake was in the room to call Geo and Porthos. He placed his phone in the ring light and positioned it so that their partners could see Priscilla and she could see them. Before sitting on the stool at the end of the bed, Dr. Blake leaned into the view of the camera.

“Hey, guys!” she said and the two men in Molly’s office greet her with nervous smiles. “Are the three of you ready to become daddies?”

They all answer in the affirmative and Dr. Blake looks at her patient, “I don’t have to ask you. I know that you’re ready.”

“So, very fucking ready.”

Laughing at her patient, Dr. Blake sits down between Priscilla’s legs. With the three men encouraging their woman, Dr. Blake walked her through the delivery process. It took nearly thirty minutes of pushing before the first tears began to fall.

“I promise,” she told her patient, “You’re doing great. This is the worst part of it all.”

“Don’t listen to her,” the nurse from earlier smiled. “The next eighteen years are going to be worse than these few hours.”

“Well, I don’t know about that,” Dr. Blake admitted. “My oldest is only three.”

“I got twenty years on you,” the nurse admitted. “Trust me, I have seen why some animals eat their young. I can also tell you why it was always teenage girls that were sacrificed to the angry dragons.”

This time, as Priscilla laid back after the contraction, she gave a small laugh. “I’m the oldest. I concur with your conclusions.”

“Yeah? How many siblings?”

Denver and Dr. Blake both chuckled as Priscilla pushed again.

“Keep going! Come on, a little longer!” Dr. Blake encouraged. “That’s it! Push, push, push! Yes! Okay, relax. Take a breather, the head is out.”

Priscilla’s three men praised her strength and courage. Denver kissed her temple again. From the phone, Geo demanded that the other man give her a kiss from them also.

“How many littles does your dad have now?” Dr. Blake asked as the nurse handed her scissors for an episiotomy.

“I have sixteen sisters and three brothers,” Priscilla said as Denver wiped her forehead with a soft rag in his free hand.

“Well… wow…” the nurse shook her head as she moved automatically through her motions of assisting the doctor to deliver the baby. “Please tell me that they are not from the same mom?”

“No,” Denver laughed. “Six? Seven? Becks, Jess, Tammy, Alicia, Yvonne, Michaela, Case and Noel. Eight, all together. Right, Porthos?”

Priscilla pushed again, groaning as Dr. Blake encouraged her to keep going. As soon as she said that mom could relax, Priscilla fell back against her pillow that Denver quickly adjusted for her. More tears slid down her cheeks.

“I can’t…”

“You’re doing great, Doll,” Denver assured her.

There was a lot of activity between Priscilla’s legs that they were not paying attention to.

“Baby girl,” Porthos said from the phone, “you are so strong and beautiful.”

“You can do this, Angel,” Geo added.

The nurse moved to the side of the bed and adjusted the birthing gown that Evie’s mom had made for Priscilla.

“You did great,” Dr. Blake said as she stood up and placed the baby on Priscilla’s chest, “mom.”

An exhausted sob escaped her as she wrapped her free arm around the baby. Pulling down his mask and then hers, Denver leaned down and kissed his wife. On her chest, the newborn squirmed as she whimpered, sounding almost like a puppy.

Denver’s large hand gently caressed the tight black curls on the light caramel colored skin. He leaned down and kissed his daughter’s head. Looking at the phone, he saw Geo hugging Porthos as he reached out and touched the screen on their end. The baby squirmed and let out a loud wail.

“Porthos,” Denver said hoarsely, “you gave us our first daughter.”

“She’s beautiful,” he whispered, “just like her mommy.”