Butterflies in Honey (Growing Pains #3)(125)

Krista loved nurses. When people were at their worst, they always seemed at their best. Krista was careful not to let her eyes get misty. Sean would flip if he saw her crying.

Time grinded on. Apparently the medicine man was in a C-section delivery and couldn’t come help until he was done. While he was away, the beast of pain was raging against the bonds of numbness. Numbness was slowly losing. It was only a matter of time.

The nurse came to check on Krista a few more times with updates about her tambourine man, the only one who could make the onslaught of pain go away, and with each time she entered, Krista was in worse and worse shape. Sean went from sidekick to star of the show as she needed more and more encouragement to stay calm.

Relax. Moan it out. Here we go. Moan it out. You’re doing great. Almost there now. Almost. Good work, Krista. I love you. You are doing so well.

When Sean called all the girls to come back to the hospital, Krista was at nine centimeters and completely without the help of the epidural. Bitch of it was, she still had all the tubing and crap in her back. She still had to stay still, stay on her side, but she got no benefits from it. Someone upstairs was laughing their ass off at that one!

Krista was laying against the bed banisters, clutching the metal bars with all her strength, moaning like a banshee with tears in her eyes, when Kate and Jasmine walked in. The pain was unimaginable. Krista didn’t realize anything could hurt so much. Her brain registered it as suffering. Torture, maybe. That much pain should only signify eminent death.

Krista could see the panic in Sean’s eyes as he struggled for calm. He wasn’t taking this much better than she was. He didn’t realize he would have to see her like this and he’d only felt that helpless one other time in his life. It didn’t help the situation. It was hard to see someone you loved in intense pain. And Krista was suffering. She was not trying to hide it. She wanted any kind of drug offered. She’d never smoked weed in her life, but if someone offered, she definitely would have thought about it!

Another contraction ripped through her body. A dull, bone crunching pain, consuming her lower half. The class she took wasn’t the Lamaze of her parents’ generation, but a new way of coping. You breathed, then moaned. It was a guttural, deep howl that came from the center of your being. You were supposed to put all your misery and feeling into that primal groan. It was the sound you made when you ate bad fish and your stomach was half an hour away from purging. It was the sound you made sitting on the toilet waiting to die, or just too drunk to function. It was the international sound of misery.

“What the hell happened?” Kate said as the contraction subsided.

They were coming about every minute and a half now. It was getting close.

Krista just wanted it to be over.

“Drugs wore off,” she panted.

“We are going to get through this Krista,” Sean said with more determination than he felt. “We took a class for this. You can do it. Can I get you anything?”

“Pain meds.”

The nurse bustled in and shooed Kate and Jasmine to the side. Marcus and Ben sauntered in after, followed by Cassie. Ben took one look at Krista and stopped, his eyes round like orbs.

“What happened?” Ben breathed.

“Krista, you look…are you okay?” Marcus asked, all traces of relaxation or humor completely absent.

“Having a baby.”

“It looks like it hurts,” Cassie whined. She realized she was next in line for the torture chamber.

Another contraction.

Pain blotted out Krista’s awareness. Sean was in her face again, hand on her cheek, voice soothing as he went through the breathing and moaning she was supposed to be doing. She followed him, in too much pain to be embarrassed, eyes locked on his. Her moan infused the thousand dull knives stabbing her lower back and abdomen.

When it was over, the nurse checked her—which meant sticking her fingers into a private place—and said they would start to get ready.

Krista had been worried about the boys seeing her hoo-haw. That was before. Now, as little people dressed like clowns banged on her abdomen with mallets, Krista didn’t care if she was butt-ass naked, legs spread wide, and one of the boys had a camera. She just wanted the show to end. She didn’t care about the details.

Or the strange thoughts bordering on hallucinations…

“Who would you like to witness the birth?” The nurse asked in a no-nonsense voice. She was ready to kick some people out.

“Ben’s freaking out—not him,” Krista said weakly with closed eyes.

When Krista opened her eyes Ben was still staring at her in horror. Marcus was trying to drag him out of the room.

“Is she okay?” Ben asked in a small voice. “Is something going wrong?”

“No, dear.” The nurse started to help Marcus usher him out. “She’s about to have a baby. Everything is looking good.”

Ben was shaking his head as he was moved backward. “Check her again. Something is wrong. That can’t be normal.”

“Man, I’m glad I got the g*y card. No kids for me unless they are born in a test tube!” Marcus said as the door was closed.

The next three hours saw Krista with one leg on Sean, one on Kate, the nurse giving pushing instructions, and Jasmine and Cassie either holding her head or standing by. Another nurse came and went to help or give a pep talk on how well she was doing. Pushing made the pain less, so she did so with all her might. Everything she had went into it.