Different Circles

“Okay,” Laura said nervously.

Jake watched the now-familiar line that marked the contractions. When it reached the top and leveled out, Niven told Laura to start pushing. Danielle, who was standing just behind the doctor, encouraged as well.

Laura grunted and groaned and her face turned red, but otherwise nothing happened. The contraction eased off and she was told to relax.

“That’s the cycle,” Niven told her. “Push on the peaks and then relax between. That’s how we get babies out of there.”

Twenty minutes went by, with the contractions now lasting for ninety to a hundred seconds apiece with about two minutes between them. Laura pushed with each one. She began to get sweaty and more uncomfortable. Jake and Celia had trouble keeping their grips on her knees to hold them into position. It was at this point that Jake, looking between her legs, got his first glimpse of his daughter. Laura’s vagina was now widely open and there was a reddish fuzz showing from between the lips.

“Is that Cadence’s hair?” he asked.

“Yep,” Niven confirmed. “She’s almost out now.”

“You can see her hair?” Laura asked, panting, but excited.

“We can!” Celia said, just as excited. “It’s red, Teach! The same color as yours!”

“Oh my God!” Laura cried.

“I guess that puts the rumor about Bigg G being the daddy to rest,” Jake observed with a smile.

Niven, Lisa, and Danielle all looked alarmed for a moment until they saw Jake, Celia, and even Laura laughing companionably. And then another contraction started.

“Oh shit,” Laura said. “Here comes another one!”

“That’s right,” Niven said, now using her fingers to widen Laura’s vaginal lips even further. “Push, Laura.”

“Uhhhhhggg!” Laura cried.

“You’re doing good, Laura,” Danielle encouraged. “Push your baby out! Push your baby out!”

She tried to push her baby out, but Cadence was a little reluctant to poke her head out into the world. The top of her head would emerge about half an inch or so with each push, but then suck right back inside once the contraction and associated pushing came to an end. Niven kept trying to spread the vaginal opening out to make it just a little bigger, but after six or seven tries, she finally shook her head.

“I’m sorry, Laura,” she said. “I’m going to have to perform an episiotomy here. That’s a little cut I’ll make on the vaginal opening to make it just a bit bigger.”

Cut her vaginal opening? Jake thought, the thought more than a little disturbing. Make it bigger?? I don’t want it to be bigger! “Is that really necessary, doc?” he asked.

“I’m afraid that if I don’t do it, she’ll tear,” Niven said. “If I make the cut, I can control exactly where it is. If I let nature make the cut, it could be anywhere and of any size. It could even damage a nerve and hamper future sexual sensations to some degree.”

“Oh, hell no!” Laura barked. “Make the cut!”

She made the cut, using a pair of sterile scissors to open a neat line about half an inch long at the seven o’clock position of Laura’s now quite circular hoo-hoo. A little blood gushed out to join the rest of the oozing liquids on the pad. The procedure was effective. On the next contraction, when Laura pushed with everything she had, Cadence’s head slipped neatly out of the opening and into the air. She was face-down, her head liberally covered with that copper-colored fuzz, her skin bluish white. To Jake, the head looked enormous emerging from between his wife’s legs, so big it seemed impossible that it had come out of that tiny little hole.

“All right,” Niven said, picking up a bulb syringe and suctioning out Cadence’s nose and then her mouth. “The hard part is done. Look down between your legs, Laura and see your baby’s head.”

Laura, drenched in sweat, her face contorted in pain, craned her neck forward and got her first glimpse of what she was bringing forth into the world. He grimace turned immediately to a big smile. “Oh my God!” she cried. “There she is!”

“There she is at last,” Celia said. She had tears running down her face as she gazed upon the miracle of life.

“Okay,” Niven said, “the next one is starting. One more good push oughtta do it, Laura. When I say go, give me one more!”

“Okay,” Laura said, leaning back and bracing herself.

“Now!” Niven commanded. “Push her the rest of the way out.”

She gave a push and an entire baby came slipping and slurping out of her body with a gush of juices and blood. The white umbilical cord trailed back into Laura’s vagina. Niven caught the baby neatly and then used one hand to grasp the baby’s ankles. She lifted up, putting the baby in a head down position. She then used the syringe to suction more secretions out of the nostrils and the mouth. After two or three such suctions, the baby took in a small gasping breath—the first of hopefully a billion or so. She hitched a few times and then issued out a soft, raspy cry. This was followed quickly by another, stronger cry.