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The door opened and Jed strode in, his eyes immediately on Carol. ‘How are you doing?’
‘I’m not.’ Carol shook her head. ‘I can’t do it.’ Tears started to pour down her cheeks and Jed frowned and sat next to her, taking her hand in his.
‘What do you mean, you can’t do it? You nearly have done it, Carol. You’ve done brilliantly.’ He turned to Brooke. ‘Give me an update.’
She filled him in and he nodded quickly and turned back to Carol, his handsome face calm and reassuring. ‘You’re doing well, Carol. All we need to do now is help the baby down the last little bit.’
‘Will it hurt him?’ Carol wiped away the tears but still more fell and Brooke handed her a wad of tissues. ‘I don’t want to hurt him.’
Jed scanned the trace that Brooke handed him. ‘The baby is getting tired now, Carol. We do need to deliver him. What I plan to do is use what we call the ventouse. It just means that next time you push I can help you by pulling the baby very gently. It won’t hurt him and I promise I’ll be very, very gentle.’
‘What does Brooke think?’ Carol looked trustingly at Brooke, who swallowed.
‘I think you’ve been marvellous,’ she said huskily. ‘And this is going to be one lucky baby to have such a caring mum. But what he needs most of all
right now is to be born, so why don’t you let Mr Matthews help you?’
Carol nodded. ‘OK, then. I trust you both. Will it hurt?’
Jed rolled up his sleeves and started to scrub while Brooke pressed the buzzer and got everything ready.
‘Well, you’ve had no pain relief at all, so I’ll use some local anaesthetic. I can’t promise that it won’t hurt at all but I’ll be as gentle as I possibly can be.’
Quickly he and Brooke got everything ready and in an amazingly short time Jed had managed to attach the cup to the head and was waiting for the next contraction.
‘OK, big push for me now, Carol,’ Jed said calmly, turning up the suction and pulling gently with the contraction. ‘Good girl, that’s brilliant.’
Carol flopped with tiredness between contractions and Brooke gave her some ice to suck.
‘Nearly there, Carol.’ She gave the woman a smile. ‘Any minute now you’re going to meet him—or her…’
‘It’s a him,’ Carol murmured, her eyes drifting shut. ‘I just know it’s a him. Oh, here we go again…’
She screwed up her face and Brooke watched while Jed used the suction, carefully guarding the perineum as the baby’s head was born.
‘Well done.’ He carefully removed the cap and grinned at Carol. ‘The head’s delivered. One more contraction and we should be there.’
Brooke crossed her fingers as she stood ready to give an injection of Syntometrine, a drug which helped the uterus contract after delivery. Please, let there be no complications. Please…
There weren’t, and the baby slithered out into Jed’s hands. He immediately handed the squalling infant to his sobbing mother.
‘Oh, Bill. Bill.’ Carol couldn’t stop crying and Brooke had to stop herself joining in. She couldn’t look at Jed, who was now clamping the cord and delivering the placenta.
Sita popped her head round the door and grinned delightedly. ‘No one needs me, then?’
Jed shook his head. ‘Everything’s just fine. She’s our star mum.’
Carol reached out a hand to Brooke. ‘I can’t thank you enough. You were so brilliant. Isn’t she the best, Mr Matthews?’
‘Definitely.’ Jed gave a crooked smile and ripped off his gloves. ‘She definitely is the best. Congratulations, Carol.’
And with that he turned on his heel and left the room, the door swinging shut behind him.
By the time Brooke had collected Toby and driven to the cottage, she was exhausted. Fortunately Toby was also tired after his exciting night with his friend and seemed sleepy in the car. Until he realised that they weren’t going back to Jed’s.
‘Why aren’t we going there?’
Brooke gritted her teeth. ‘Because this is our home, darling.’
