The Girl He Marked by Laila Callaway novel Chapter 4

Orelia's POV.

'Is it just me, or did everyone decide to have a baby today'

I let out a light laugh at Carol's comment.

'It does seem like it,' I reply to her.

'God here comes another one,' she mutters. 'I'll get it.'

I finish my cup of coffee, rinse out the mug and leave it on the side. I squirt some antiseptic on my hands and rub it in.

I pick up the chart for Mrs. Navis and walk along to her room.

One hour later, she is well on her way to active labor, and I swap over with another midwife.

I'm only a couple of hours into this shift, but Mrs. Navis is assigned a different midwife to me, the other one has been with her throughout her pregnancy.

I got back to the main reception, ready to be reassigned to an expectant mother or person.

'Oh, good, you're here,' one of the nurses greets me as I approach. 'We've just had a woman brought in from the supermarket. She collapsed in the aisle and her waters broke. She's quite upset but, from what I can tell, Dad is on the way.'

'Okay, I'm on it.'

I make my way to the room she is assigned. I knock on the door and poke my head around. One of the nurses is already checking her vitals beside the bed.

'Hi, Letitia,' I greet her after checking her name on the chart. 'How are we doing'

Her face is pink and streaked with tears. She's panting in small, shallow breaths and holding her stomach protectively. I start putting the monitor on her abdomen.

'Okay,' she gasps between tears. 'Just in a lot of pain.'

'Well, we can help you with that, honey,' I tell her.

I time her contractions and check how much her cervix is dilated. She's at 7cm and is in active labor. I get her gas and air. She breathes deeply through the mask, inhaling the gas.

'Letitia,' I call her name to get her attention.

She pulls back the mask and forces a smile. 'Lettie, please.'

'Lettie,' I correct myself. 'Do you have a birthing partner Anyone I should call'

'Xavier is on his way,' she replies and winces when a contraction comes.

'Okay, no problem.'

I go and check on a couple of other rooms and return a half—hour later. Lettie is now nine centimeters dilated. Her contractions are 2 minutes apart and lasting about forty—five seconds.

I stay with her for the next half hour, waiting for her to get to 10cm. We keep her walking around and she goes to the toilet twice. When she's ready, we get her back onto the bed. The second midwife and the doctor arrives.

'Okay, Lettie, you're at 10 centimeters now,' the doctor urges her. 'When the next contraction comes, I need you to give me your first push, okay'

She bites her bottom lip and nods. She reaches out for me, and I offer her my hand. She squeezes it tightly and I squeeze it back.

'You've got this,' I tell her quietly. 'Each contraction takes you closer to meeting your baby.'

Tears are streaming down Lettie's face, but she manages to give me a weak smile. The contraction comes and she cries out, pushing as hard as she can.

When it's over, she falls back against the bed, breathing heavily.

'Where is he' She cries. 'Where is Xavier'

'He'll be here soon,' I try to reassure. 'Don't worry. He's coming.'

The baby's head is crowning. The midwife and I monitor both baby and Mum whilst the doctor focuses on delivering.

All of a sudden, the door bursts open. One of the midwives pops her head into the room.

'Dad's here!' She claims excitedly and then disappears.

A few seconds later, a man stumbles in. A man so handsome that I almost drop my clipboard. His eyes land on Lettie and he rushes to her side.

'I'm so sorry, there was so much traffic! Did I miss it'