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“Hi, Mrs. Carter. My name is Jane and I’ll be your nurse for today. If you’ll follow me, we’ll get you all set up. ” The nurse’s hair was meticulously pulled into a tight bun, not a hair out of place, and I found myself mesmerized by this fact. Jack was right. Pregnancy had made me weird.
“Please call me Cassie,” I said, waddling behind her tiny frame down the long white corridor.
She paused in front of a wooden door and waved an arm. “We’ll be in here. ”
“No one else is in here, right? She has her own room? I asked for a private room. ” Jack fired off the questions without taking a breath.
“Yes, Mr. Carter. She will have her own delivery and postnatal room per your request. ”
Jack walked into the room first and looked around, checking it carefully before heading back toward me.
“Sorry, he’s a little, um—” I paused, searching for the right word.
“Nervous?” She smiled. “Most of the first-time dads are,” she said, her voice gentle and comforting as she ushered us into the oversized hospital room.
Jack’s strong arm guided me forward once again. “It’s huge in here,” I said, glancing around at the spacious room. The hospital bed was small in size, but the rest of the room was elegantly decorated much like a hotel would be, with bedside tables and a desk.
A light green couch with a hideaway bed sat under the only window. An oversized brown leather chair sat in one corner of the room, and all I could think about was how cold it looked. I’d never been a big fan of leather. It always creaked and moaned whenever anyone first sat in it.
Across the room in the other corner rested the most comfortable-looking rocking chair I’d ever seen. It complemented the decor of the room with its neutral tones, entirely covered in thick cushioning. I wanted to sit in that.
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nbsp; “We need to get you changed and hooked up to the monitors,” Jane said as she pulled back the curtain suspended from the ceiling that surrounded the bed. “The bathroom’s right through that door behind you. Your gown is folded up on the counter. Remember, the opening goes in the back. ” Jane smiled and pointed to the doorway before walking toward one of the machines.
I entered my private bathroom and changed as quickly as I could. Folding up my pajamas, I brought them out and handed them to Jack. He tossed them onto the couch into a messy pile, and I rolled my eyes.
Men.
“Do you need help into the bed?” Jack offered and I waved him off, climbing into it on my own.
Once I was lying down, I noticed the walls were painted a seafoam green color and it soothed me to look at them. Above my head was a stuffed mock headboard nailed to the wall, flanked by art glass pendant lights on each side. For a hospital room, this was pretty nice.
“Okay,” Jane said efficiently. “I need to get the IV started first. ” She poked a large needle into my hand and I winced as soon as the fluids hit my bloodstream.
Looking up at her, I asked, “Is it normal for that to hurt?”
Jack tensed and looked hard at Jane, who said quickly, “Some patients report a burning sensation at first. But it should fade in no time. ”
I nodded with surprise. “You’re right. It’s already gone. ”
“Great. Now I need to wrap this band around your stomach. It’s a bit uncomfortable because it’s tight. It measures your baby’s heart rate so we can monitor it during labor, as well as your contractions’ length and strength. ”
“Okay. ” It pinched as she tightened it around the top of my belly.
“Is that all right?” she asked, cocking her head to one side.
“It’s fine. ”
“Good. See the monitor here?” She pointed at the green machine with several small LCD screens to my right. “You can see when your contractions hit right here. And your baby’s heart rate right here. ”
“Cool. ”
“Do you know what you’re having?” she asked, looking between Jack and me.
“We do. ” I smiled at her before turning my head toward Jack, my eyes beginning to tear up. I didn’t subscribe to the whole “we don’t want to know the gender of our baby” way of thinking. My mind was far too organized for that sort of nonsense and I needed to be prepared for this little person entering our lives. Especially with the chaos that was Jack’s baseball schedule, the idea of any more surprises did not sound appealing.
Jane continued to hook me up to various things, another monitor on my arm for my heart rate, as well as the prepping for an epidural if I wanted. Just a few days ago, I’d felt like a beached whale. Now I felt like a science experiment with wires coming out of me from all sides. I couldn’t even walk to the bathroom without having to wheel the IV support with me.
