Becoming a Mother

Angel had just dropped off her papers for maternity leave, at school. She wasn't very big for a nine-month pregnancy. Most people couldn't tell just by looking at her, although, everyone in town knew. Alana and her mother had told everyone they knew.

Nancy was out running errands and Lawrence was at work, so instead of going home, Angel decided to stop and grab something to eat. She went to a local restaurant called Mack's Soul Food. They were known for having good home cooked meals. She ordered shrimp stew, macaroni and cheese, and potato salad. As she sat in a booth waiting for the waiter to bring out her food, she began to feel a small pain in the back of her head. It became a distant memory once her food was placed on the table. She began digging in, but the enjoyment of the food didn't last. Her stomach began doing flips. She ran to the bathroom. All her breakfast, as well as the three bites she had just taken, of her lunch, came up. She was surprised this was happening. She hadn't had morning sickness since her first trimester came to an end. When the flow of vomit came to an end, she got up from the cold bathroom floor. She went to the sink, and rinsed out her mouth. Even though she had just saw what her food looked like in reverse, she was still crazy hungry. At this point, nothing would keep her from eating. She took a few deep breaths and returned to her table to finish her meal.

Walking home, she began to feel the pain in her head again, and the baby felt as if it was balling itself up in the upper most part of her stomach. She began feeling weak. She made it to the gates of Wilson Manor. She entered it without so much as a sideways glance at the street directly across from it. The street that she never walked on, with the house that she didn't want to see. She walked into the apartment, and went straight to her room to lie down.

Nancy got home late that evening. She went to the mailbox and pulled out mostly sale papers, and very little envelopes. She began walking towards her apartment while she skimmed through the mail. Another letter from Khiry had come for Angel. Nancy took a deep breath as she contemplated on whether she should hand it over to Angel. A decision she had to make every time one of his letters showed up. The first few months, when she got letters, she cried for hours. Then after a while, she would just push it to the side unopened and refused to acknowledge them, like she did the house he lived in, and anything that reminded her of him. Now, in the last days of her pregnancy, her reactions were unpredictable. Her emotions had been everywhere from crying over the last piece chicken, to getting boiling mad at a commercial that played too often.

Nancy walked into the apartment. She let out another deep breath, as she made the final decision to give Angel the letter. She braced herself for the hormonal reactions she expected from Angel after receiving the letter. Opening the door to Angel's room, she lets out a sigh of relief. Angel was sound asleep. Nancy slipped in quietly, not wanting to wake her, and placed the letter down on the night stand. Then slipped back out.

Later that evening, Angel woke up and went into the dining area, where her foster parents were just sitting down to eat. The pain in her head still hadn't gone away.

Nancy looked up at Angel, from the dinner table. "Would you like something to eat?" she asked.

"No, I'm not really feeling well," Angel replied.

Jumping out of her chair, Nancy asked, "Is it the baby? Are you in labor?"

"No," Angel replied. "I just have this horrible headache that I can shake."

"Well, you have been sleeping all day," Lawrence said.

"I had the headache before I went to sleep. I thought the nap would help, but it didn't."

Nancy looked closely at Angel's eyes, "Your eyes are pretty red."

"That's because she just woke up," said Lawrence.

"Maybe we should take her to a hospital," said Nancy.

"For a headache?" asked Lawrence.

"It could be something serious causing this," said Nancy.

Lawrence thought for a moment. Of course, he didn't know anything about being pregnant, but from what he observed from Angel, it seemed to cause all kinds of weird quirks in the body.

"Okay," he finally agreed. "Let's go."

They got into the car and drove to the Lafayette Medical Center. A nurse checked her in and, because Angel was so for a long in her pregnancy, brought her straight to the labor and delivery floor. Neither Angel, nor her foster parents knew what to expect at this point. After all, this was a new experience for all of them.

The nurse set Angel up in a room where she hooked monitors to her swollen belly. The nurse then, stood there for a moment, reading the squiggly lines on the screen.

"Are you feeling any pain in your stomach, sweetie?" she asked.

"No ma'am," Angel responded.

"Should she?" Nancy asked.

"Well, she is contracting," said the nurse.

"I am?" Angel asked surprised.

"Yes, ma'am," said the nurse.

The nurse then took a blood pressure cuff and wrapped it around Angel's arm. As she turned the machine on and the cuff began squeezing the life out of her, Dr. Roberts walked in.

"Hello Angel," he greeted her. "What brings you in?"

"I have a horrible headache," Angel said.

As she removes the cuff from Angel's arms, the nurse says, "Doctor, her blood pressure is through the roof, and she's contracting."

"I think your uterus may be dehydrated," says the doctor. "We're going to do an ultra sound just to be sure, and if it is we're going to have to induce your labor."

"It's kind of soon for that, isn't it?" asked Lawrence. "Won't that hurt the baby?"

"Well, she's pretty far along. The only thing we should worry about is the baby's lungs," says the doctor. "The ultra sound will give us a better idea of what to expect. If the baby's lungs aren't fully developed, we'll pump her up with steroids and hope for the best."

"I don't know if I'm comfortable with that," said Nancy.

"Don't worry, Mrs. Jones, if the steroids don't help we have one of the best NICU's in town." Dr. Roberts assures her. "We will do everything possible to make sure the baby is healthy."

"But, what if the steroids hurt the baby instead of helping?" Nancy asked, worried.

Dr. Roberts looked at Nancy and took a deep breath. "Ma'am, if we don't do this we can lose them both"

Nancy agreed to allow Angel's labor to be induced.

The sonogram confirmed that she was in fact out of fluids, but the baby's lungs were healthy and strong enough to sustain itself, without the steroids.

Shortly after the sonogram, several people entered the room. They put and I.V. in Angel's wrist and began inserting the epidural needle into her back. The medication seemed to take forever to kick in, and the labor pains felt as if it was trying to smother her. The nurse was trying to make small talk, as she checked Angel's vital signs.

"Do you know what you're having?" the nurse asked.

"No," Angel answered, as she took a deep breath.

"Have you picked out any names?" the nurse asked.

"I thought Minnie would be cute for a girl," said Nancy.

"That's a stupid name," Angel snapped.

"That's not nice, Angel," Lawrence said firmly.

"She's going to be a bit irritable," the nurse explained to them. "Just try to keep her calm."

"I'm sorry," Angel apologized.

"It's okay, sweetie," said Nancy as she pats the top of Angel's head.

"It hurts so bad," Angel cried.

"How long before the pain meds kick in?" asked Nancy.

"Just give it some time," the nurse said. "Angel, you've got to relax and let the medicine do its job.

Angel took slow, deep, breaths, as the pain began to subside.

“Uh oh, here comes another one,” Lawrence announced.

“That’s not going to help me relax,” Angel said, letting out a scream. Lawrence watched as the pain hit Angel like a bolt of lightning.

“I’m just trying to help you brace yourself,” said Lawrence.

Lying back on her bed, breathing hard, and sweating from the pain, Angel looked at Nancy and said, “Mom, get him out of here.

“Lawrence, why don’t you go downstairs and get something to eat,” Nancy suggested.

“I was just trying to help,” he said as he headed for the door.

“I know you were. I’ll call you if anything changes,” said Nancy.

“Like her mood?” Lawrence mumbles, as he leaves the room.

The nurse tried once again to distract Angel from her labor. “Do you have any boy names picked out.

“No. Any suggestions?” Angel asked, speaking each word between heavy breaths and deep swallows.

“How about naming him after his father?” said the nurse.

Nancy’s eyes widened as she quickly shook her head and mouth the word NO! The nurse picked up, from the expression on Nancy’s face, that this was a touchy subject. She immediately made another suggestion.

“How about naming him, Jedidiah?” said the nurse.

Angel’s deep breathing came to a sudden stop. She looked at the nurse, who was standing there smiling.

She then turned to her mother and said, “Her too. She’s got to go. Get her out of here.”

Nancy walked up to the nurse. “Thank you, ma’am. We really appreciate you trying to help, but we need some alone time,” she said, as she escorted the nurse out of the room.

“Thank you,” Angel said as her mother shut the door.

“No problem,” said Nancy. “Even I wanted to shoot her for that name.”

It had been over an hour since Angel had Lawrence kicked out of the room, so he decided to peek in to see if everything was alright. He slowly opened the door and stuck his head in. Angel was asleep and Nancy was sitting in a chair beside the bed, watching television.

“I see the medicine finally kicked in,” he whispered, as he entered the room.

“Yeah, but she was still irritable. I wanted to choke her,” said Nancy.

“At least she’s getting some rest now,” said Lawrence.

“I had them sedate her,” Nancy said.

Laughing, Lawrence asked, “Was it that bad?”

“You have no idea.”

“What about everything else?”

“The doctor says her blood pressure is down, and that she probably won’t be ready to deliver for another few hours.”

“With all the pain she was in, you would think that baby would be here by now.”

“The doctor says induced labor pains are a lot worse than normal labor pains.”

“Are you ready to be a Grandma?”

Nancy rolled her eyes. “Ugh, Grandma. I’m too young to be a grandmother.”

“Imagine how Crystal will feel. She’s much younger than you.” Lawrence looked at Angel sleeping peacefully. “Did she respond to any of Khiry’s letters?”

“Not to my knowledge.” Nancy takes a deep breath. “I thought about just calling them up and telling them myself.”

“What stopped you?” asked Lawrence.

“I’ve concluded that she’s better off without him. I don’t ever want to see her go through that kind of heartache again.”

“I don’t think she’ll let this happen again. This entire situation had to have scarred her for life.”

“What if he comes back into her life?”

“There’s nothing we can do about that. This is his kid, too. Our biggest problem would be if she wants to go back into his life. We can’t let her walk into that mayhem again.”

“I agree. We have to protect her.”

The two of them then turned and watched their daughter sleep.

By 9:30 that night, Angel was ten centimeters dilated and was ready to deliver. Doctor Roberts came into the delivery room, put on his rubber gloves, and placed himself in position between Angel’s legs.

With Nancy holding up her right leg and the nurse holding her left, Angel pushed with all her strength. Lawrence stood over Nancy’s shoulder hoping to catch the first glimpse of the baby, but the more Angel pushed, the further Lawrence backed away from the scene. He felt a bit out of place. He was the only many in the room, other than Doctor Roberts, who didn’t seem to do much. He took a good look at the doctor, who had completely turned his head away from Angel and was watching television. The nurse was the one running the show.

Lawrence was getting restless. Although it had only been 45 minutes it had seemed like hour to him. Despite his mind telling him not to, he decided to peek over the doctor’s shoulders, just to see what was taking so long. All he saw was lots of blood on the sheets and what appeared to be a blob attacking his daughter. He quickly turned his head. Feeling light headed, he backed up to a chair in the corner, sat down and covered his eyes, trying to think of anything to get that horrific image of child birth out of his head. Suddenly he heard cries. He looked up with excitement.

“It’s a boy,” said Dr. Roberts. “Grandma, would you like to cut the umbilical cord?”

“Yes,” Nancy answered.

After the cord was cut the nurse took the baby for a quick examination. She wrapped him in a blue blanket and placed him in Angel’s arms.

“Is the gross part over?” Lawrence asked, as he slowly creeped out of his corner.

“Yes, it’s over,” said Nancy. “Come and meet your grandson.”

Lawrence walked over and stood next to his wife. Angel admired her new baby boy and smiled.

“Wow, I can’t wait for your daddy to meet you,” she said.

Lawrence and Nancy glanced at each other.

“I thought you were mad at him, and never wanted to see him again,” said Nancy.

“How can I stay mad at him?” asked Angel. “He did exactly what he said he would do.”

“What’s that?” asked Lawrence.

“He left me with the greatest memory of him, and I’m going to share this with him as soon as I can.”

Lawrence and Nancy glanced at each other again. They knew this was going to be harder than they thought.

Lawrence suddenly noticed the nurse was pushing down on Angel’s stomach and the doctor was still down there doing something between Angel’s legs. He then saw the doctor pull a bloody glob out of Angel. His eyes widened.

“Oh my God, what is that?” he asked disgusted.

“It’s the after birth,” said Nancy.

But before she finished her sentence Lawrence was gone. He ran to the bathroom, throwing up.