AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Shoulders are next,” Dad says with a grunt. “Smooth sailing after that.”
Raegan sobs and then sucks in a deep breath before pushing hard. There’s a bit of commotion and then Dad is cursing. Panic swells up inside me.
“W-What?” I demand, unable to keep calm for Raegan’s sake.
Dad glances over his shoulder at Mom. “Umbilical cord. It’s around the baby’s neck.”
Raegan starts to cry. “I’m so tired, Daddy. I can’t do it anymore. Can I go to sleep?”
“No,” Mom barks out, rushing over to her other side. “No sleeping. Focus and push the baby out.”
Raegan shakes her head in defiance, but Mom won’t have any of it.
“Raegan,” Mom hisses. “You push out this baby or you’ll die. Understand me? We’ll have to cut him out of you and you won’t survive it. I can’t lose you.”
Horrible memories of Stacey’s baby enter my mind. They’d had to cut into her and Michael accidentally killed it. I can’t do this. I can’t watch my sister and our baby die.
Raegan screams and then bears down with energy reserves somewhere inside of her.
“Shoulders are out,” Dad bellows. “Ryder, get your knife.”
I choke on my terror, scrambling away from my sister to see what they’re about to do. Or stop them if necessary. By the time I reach where they’re at, I see the baby sliding out, the cord wrapped tightly around its neck. Ryder grunts, sawing through the umbilical cord while Dad pulls the slippery baby the rest of the way out.
“He’s not breathing, Dad,” Ryder cries out, quickly unraveling the cord. “Fuck!”
Mom hands Ryder the aspirator and he sucks the baby’s nose and mouth like she taught us.
“Still not breathing!”
I don’t have time to marvel over the fact our baby is indeed a boy because I’m snapping into action. Scooping up my son, I bring him over to the rug and lay him down.
Thirty compressions with my two fingers. An inch and a half deep. At a rate of one hundred to one hundred twenty seconds a minute. Just like I learned in the baby books I obsessively consumed.
I tilt his tiny head back to open his airway and then cover his mouth and nose with my own mouth to give him two breaths, each one going for about a second. Then I watch for a rise and fall.
Nothing.
Fuck.
I repeat my actions, ignoring all the sounds around me. It’s just me and my son. Focusing, I make sure I have a good seal before I blow air after the compressions. This time, I see it.
A rise. A fall. Another rise.
And then I hear the most beautiful thing.
A mewl. Then a soft cry. And then a scream.
Mom drops beside me with a blanket. I lift him up and then lay him back down on it. She swaddles him up before handing him to me. Pulling him to my chest, I kiss his dark, fuzzy head and then I carry him over to Raegan.
“He’s alive?” she croaks out. “Tell me he’s okay.”
“He’s breathing,” I assure her, grinning. “He’s fucking perfect, Rae.”
She starts to cry as I hand him to her. Her eyes are wide and filled with awe as she studies the little guy in her arms. Now that he can breathe, he doesn’t stop hollering. I love it. He can scream forever and I won’t care as long as he’s healthy.
Mom steps over to help, shooing Ryder to go to Raegan’s other side. My brother’s grin is wide as he looks at the baby.
“Did you guys ever decide on a name?” Mom asks in a teasing voice.
