The Best of Us (Sullivan's Crossing #4)(58)

“Pressure is elevated. One-thirty over ninety,” Eleanor said. Then Eleanor and Leigh each pulled on one pant leg and the jeans slid off.

“What is going on here?” Sierra demanded. “I have a backache!”

“You are in labor, I swear,” Leigh said, smiling. “In fact, I’ve only run across this twice before. In the ER both times. Raise your knees for me, please.”

The second she lifted her knees, she felt the warm gush of fluid escape and flow onto the floor. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry!” she said.

“Towels,” Leigh said calmly, and Eleanor threw a couple on the floor at Leigh’s feet. “You couldn’t have stopped that if you tried,” she told Sierra. “I’m going to check you for dilation, Sierra.”

“The doctor said I’m a little dilated,” she reported just as Leigh slid a gloved hand into her birth canal.

She withdrew the hand pretty quickly. “And now you’re a lot dilated. I’m afraid we’re having a baby, sweetheart. I’m sorry the facilities aren’t the most comfortable for that. You’re fully dilated and it’s too late to go anywhere, even in the ambulance.”

Connie stepped into the room. “What’s happening?” he asked.

“Baby’s happening,” Leigh said. “We have one bed. It’s not a hospital bed but it’s more comfortable than this. Your wife is past walking, Connie...”

“I’ve got this,” he said, lifting her up, bare bottom hanging out. “Show the way.”

Leigh noticed that Connie gently laid her on the bed. It was just a single bed, something they used for patients who had to lie down for a while because they were weak or faint or waiting for pickup after a procedure and it was softer and safer than an exam table.

Connie was instantly on his knees beside Sierra’s head. And now that the baby was moving down very quickly for a first baby, his wife was crying out. Connie was coaching her on breathing.

“Eleanor, tell Gretchen we’re going to want an ambulance with a baby transport.”

“Oh God, she’s coming!” Sierra cried, then she was lifted up by her urge to push.

“Go ahead,” Leigh said. “Bear down. Let’s see what we’ve got.” Then, “Okay, stop and pant. Ahh...nice. Can we get towels and blankets and an emergency setup for a delivery! Chop chop! Take a breath, Sierra. Deep, calming breath.”

“God,” Sierra said. “First I had no idea I was pregnant. Then I had no idea I was in labor. I have to stop doing this!”

Leigh laughed softly. “You’re just doing it the old-fashioned way.”

Sierra started to cry.

“Pain, baby?” Connie asked.

“I’ve been in pain all night! And I was so looking forward to that epidural!”

“I have a feeling this isn’t going to last much longer,” Leigh said. “You ready to push again? Connie, can you give her a little help? Lift her so she can bear down. Sierra, grab your thighs.”

Sierra growled, a loud animallike sound. Then she collapsed back on the bed. She had five more of those hearty and noisy pushes before the head was out.

“Almost done,” Leigh said.

Gretchen stuck her head in. “We have an ambulance, stretcher and baby transport.”

“Tell them we’re not quite ready and to stand by.”

Just a few minutes later, Sierra was holding her baby girl. The baby had been dried off, cleaned and wrapped in a couple of receiving blankets. Connie was kissing Sierra’s head, then the baby’s head, then Sierra’s again. Eleanor was murmuring, humming and talking softly as she cleaned up as best she could. A pair of scrub pants were found for Sierra and her jeans were put in a bag while Connie took charge of her purse.

“Hold her close to warm her up,” Leigh said. “Wow, what a great job you did!”

“What a great job you did,” Sierra said.

“I haven’t done that since my rotation in OB in med school. The beauty of working in a big ER, you can almost always find an OB when you need one. You better be camping on the hospital steps for the next one!”

“Next one?” Connie and Sierra said in unison. “We weren’t planning this one!”

But as Leigh recalled, Sierra and Connie had so much going on in their lives, trying to foster Sam and finalize his adoption, nearly losing him to his maternal grandmother in the process, that Sierra had been a little sloppy about taking her birth control pills.

Leigh’s life had also been very hectic while she lived and worked in Chicago so she had opted for a birth control implant. You don’t have to think about it! You don’t have to remember it every day, don’t have to apply it or insert it or... She thought about that for a moment. When did she get that implant? A couple of years ago? She should think about replacing it, but when did she get it? It was effective for up to four years. It was easy to forget about it, especially when you weren’t putting it to the test.

Then she remembered exactly when she got it. Helen had just returned from her Mediterranean cruise. A couple of years ago...

She called Sierra’s OB, who was a woman Leigh knew and liked and had planned to get in touch with one of these days for her own annual exam. “Dr. Carlson, your patient, Sierra Boyle, decided to deliver in my clinic. Mother and baby seem to be in excellent health. Any instructions before the ambulance loads them up and brings them your way?”