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“Yeah, you’re doing great, babe,” Steve said, picking up on Nate’s unspoken cue to reassure Kitty.
A contraction started again. Kitty pulled her legs back. She took a big breath of air and held it like Nate instructed and bore down. This time, Lauren could see the entire top of the baby’s head crown.
“You’re almost there,” Nate said. “Just a couple more pushes and the baby will be born.” He shrugged out of his navy blazer and instructed Lauren to place it over Kitty’s swollen abdomen, then he gently placed a gloved hand on the area beneath her vagina. “I’m going to support your perineum so that you don’t tear, all right?”
“Yes! Please don’t let me tear!” she said. It was May and although it had been balmy during the day, the night air was on the cool side, probably low sixties. Despite that, Kitty’s face was covered in a light sheen of perspiration. There were all sweating, Lauren thought, except Nate who looked cool as the proverbial cucumber. Lauren couldn’t help but be impressed by both his professionalism and his kindness.
On the next contraction, the baby’s head emerged. Lauren felt her mouth drop. Nate slipped a finger up around the baby’s neck as if checking for something, then nodded to himself. “Okay, the baby’s almost out. One more push and—”
“I’m pushing!” Kitty yelled, and in the next second the rest of the baby slipped out and into Nate’s hands, immediately letting out a large cry.
The entire group began shouting and clapping. In the far off distance the sound of an ambulance siren could be heard. Nate placed the baby on his jacket and quickly dried it off. “I’m going to slip the baby under your dress so that she can lie against you skin to skin,” Nate said to Kitty, “That way she’ll stay nice and warm.”
“She?” Kitty and Steve both said in a daze.
Nate smiled. “Congratulations. You have a daughter.”
Since the group was too large to all go into the hospital room at once, they had to take turns visiting the new Pappas family. Lauren and Nate, Steve insisted, were the first ones allowed in, given their “honorary” status, as Steve called it. Kitty sat up in the hospital bed, her hair neatly pulled back in a bun. Her face glowed with happiness. “I can’t believe I’m a mother now,” she said, looking down at her baby’s precious face. She still looked a little dazed. “And I certainly can’t believe I did this without my special pillow. Or an epidural. I don’t know how we can ever thank you,” she said to Nate.
Steve slapped Nate on the back for the umpteenth time. “Thanks, Doc. I owe you one. You want a new house? I’ll build you one for free.”
“Not necessary. I’m just glad I was there to help.”
“Help?” Kitty said. “I couldn’t have done it without you. Seriously, we owe you big time.”
Nate shoved his hands in his trouser pockets and smiled, but Lauren could tell he was embarrassed by all the attention. The rest of the group had done nothing but sing his praises in the waiting room.
“Thank God Doc Morrison has Nate to take over his practice,” she’d heard Shea say. After arriving at the hospital, Kitty’s OB-GYN, a middle aged woman named Dr. Becket, had examined her and proclaimed it a “fine delivery.” She’d shaken Nate’s hand and jokingly told him she had room in her practice for another doctor.
“What are you naming the baby?” Lauren asked the proud parents.
“Amanda, after my grandmother,” Kitty said.
“The middle name is still up in the air,” Steve said. “Personally, I’m rooting for Stephanie.” They all laughed. Lauren and Nate visited for a few more minutes, then a nurse came in to help Kitty get the baby latched on to breast feed.
“That’s our cue to leave,” Lauren said.
“Thanks again,” Steve said, “Oh, and sorry about the jacket.”
Nate’s jacket, which had been soaked in a combination of blood and amniotic fluid had been tossed in the trash upon arrival to the hospital. “I don’t think I can explain that to the dry cleaners,” he said. Lauren had agreed.
Nate got his car keys from Ed and they said their farewells to the rest of the group, some of whom insisted on staying until they could visit with Kitty and Steve and baby Amanda.
They walked out of the hospital and into the brisk night air. Nate opened the door for her and Lauren slipped into the front seat of his car. “What a night,” she said. It was nearly midnight and she’d been in four inch heels for almost six hours now. Nate had to be tired, too.
Nate started the car. “Tell me about it.”
Lauren watched him out of the corner of her eye as he drove. “That was… You were absolutely incredible.”
He shrugged, like it was no big deal. “Kitty did all the work.”
“Don’t be so modest. If you hadn’t been there, it would have been a total panic.”
“If I hadn’t been born, who would have been there to deliver Kitty’s baby?” he asked, miming the game they’d played the night they’d watched It’s a Wonderful Life.
“No one,” she said softly.
He shook his head. “Nah. Someone would have come up to the plate.”
