Our Time Will Come - An After Story

36

Hardin

"I have to push" Tessa yelps and I swallow the frog in my throat. My blood is now running cold and my whole body seems to have frozen. How I haven't crashed the car yet.. I don't know. I've said the words 'holy shit' approximately seven hundred times in the last minute.

"No. No, no you don't!" I cry in disbelief. "Hardin I do! I can feel a head! The babies are coming" she says before letting out an almighty screech. "Push it back in!!" I'm talking complete shit but my rationality disappeared out of the window a long time ago. "Push it back in? Are you for real?" She howls, before grabbing ahold of my arm so hard that I'm pretty sure my circulation is cut off. "Ouch ouch ouch" I say aloud. This shit sounds like something out of a sitcom.

I frantically call the hospital, notifying them that we'll be arriving at the entrance any minute now and my wife is about to give birth to twins, in fact one of the babies will probably be here by the time we arrive. Although I fucking hope not. They assure me that there will be a team at the ready to help us when we get there.

"Hardin I'm pushing!" Tess shrieks, following her instinct. She clutches onto the grab handle and holds her breath as she gives an almighty push. She repeats this as we pull up to the entrance of the hospital. I've never been so relieved when I spot a team of.. professionals, I guess, who are waiting for us over by the doors. It looks like they have an incubator at the ready, which makes it ten times more real that one of these babies is going to be born in the damn car. I sprint out of the car and scream at the top of my lungs for them to hurry over here and help.

With that, they spot us and hurry over to our Range Rover. "She's only thirty two weeks, the babies are early" I panic. I promised Tessa that everything was going to be okay but I'm not so sure that it is. I barge my way through to be by her side, giving her my hand and words of encouragement, until one of the paramedics plead with me to stand back. I oblige and all I hear is an almighty wail, followed by the most magical sound I've ever heard. My heart is pumped with relief, hearing the first cry of one of two of my beautiful twins. "Oh my god, it's out of me babe" Tessa eventually shrieks, not yet knowing whether it's Our baby girl or boy.

"It's a boy!" the doctor, who's name I obviously didn't get chance to catch, announces while placing the baby onto Tessa's chest. She begins to sob with relief and takes a moment to catch her breath, before taking a glance at our beautiful boy. "Welcome to the world baby Miller " Tessa beams down at our precious bundle, placing a kiss on his head. "He's so tiny" she begins to sob. He is, but he's crying and he's healthy, he's going to be okay, I know it.

I still haven't found my voice and I dwell in shock as I watch the doctor cut the umbilical cord. He tells us that there is no time for messing around and they need to get Tessa inside the hospital now. If our girl isn't born soon, theres a chance she could be in serious distress. I anxiously tug at my hair and begin to pace, as I watch one of the paramedics wrap our gorgeous boy in a white, knitted shawl and place him into the incubator. This is way too much for my tiny brain to process.

We quickly give the doctor our names and details and he explains that Miller will need to be taken straight to the NICU, he's talking, but I can't really grasp what he is saying. It feels like my soul has left my body. "When a baby is born prematurely, time is often of the essence, and the team need to focus on making them stable as quickly as possible" he explains to my wife, she begins to sob and he attempts to console her, though it doesn't appear to be working. "Mrs Scott, try to focus on the fact that your baby needs this care, and that your time will come to see him. As soon as your baby is stable, someone will come and update you" he reassures her, but I can tell she's taking none of the information In.

"Hardin, go with him, he'll be all alone and scared" Tessa pleads with me, breaking me out of my trance as she is transferred onto a stretcher. I want to go with my boy so I know that everything's going to be okay but I can't leave Tessa in this way. I've witnessed the birth of my little boy and I'm not missing the birth of our princess. Plus, I'm paralysed with the fear of something going wrong and I need to be with her.

"Baby, I promise you that once Baby girl is born, I'll go straight there and I won't leave his side. But you need me right now and I'm coming with you" I tell her. I try to catch up with the paramedics as they hurry Tessa inside. "Please, look after him" I beg the two young gentlemen who take a different corridor, with our boy.

We are rushed to a delivery room and Tessa is instantly transferred onto a bed and hooked up to all kinds of monitors. Hell, I don't know the names of them but they measure the babies heart rate and shit. I stand by her side, she's squeezing my hand and I'm pretty sure it might fall off any second.

The atmosphere seems to have calmed, knowing that we are now inside a hospital where if anything goes wrong, we are in the right place. The nurses congratulate Tessa and nickname her 'superwoman' for having soon to be two babies, with no pain relief. In my eyes, Superwoman doesn't even come close to her. It's not often that Hardin Scott is speechless, but I genuinely have no words to express how proud I am of her right now. That, and the fact that I'm still in complete shock mode.

In a bid to lighten the mood, though it doesn't seem possible, I crack a dad joke. "Hey babe, I was wondering. Maybe we should change Millers name to Carson, seeing as he popped right out in the car... and he's our son" I tease. I literally couldn't hate myself more if I tried for that, but It's like music to my ears when Tessa releases the sweetest giggle. "You're so corny" she says through gritted teeth, as she endures yet another contraction. Maybe I should save my wise cracks for later.

I'm removing the stray hairs from Tessa's face, when the doctor from before enters. I grow more and more frustrated as I watch the twerp dawdle, taking forever and a day to put on a pair of damn gloves whilst my wife is in agony. I try my best to comfort her, as she huffs and puffs like crazy through her intense pain.

"Hardin, I think I need to push" there is panic in her voice as she digs her fingernails into my hand. The slow ass doctor overhears and hurries over to see for himself. "You need to push alright, the babies crowning!" he reveals in a smart ass tone. "Fuck!" is all I can say, for I feel like I might vomit any second now. He instructs Tessa to push with the next contraction and she obliges, letting out an almighty wail. "You can do it baby!" I encourage her as she squeezes the fuck out of my hand.

"Mr Scott, you have to see this. Come see your baby being born!" The doc waves me over to where he is standing and I am hesitant, but I oblige. "Holy shit- that's - thats" and thump! I'm on the ground.

The bright lights of the room blind my eyes as I come around from my pathetic episode, seconds later. I hear a piercing cry and hurry to my feet to realise that it's coming from our precious baby girl, who has been welcomed into the world. "Really Hardin, fainting?" Tessa rolls her eyes as I rush to her bed side. Our tiny baby girl is resting on her chest and she's completely and utterly breathtaking. "You did it...you did it" I place a kiss into my beautiful wife's hair as a single tear rolls down my cheek. "She's amazing, just like her mummy and her brother!" I add.

We are given less than thirty seconds with Saffron, before the nurses retrieve her from Tessa's chest. "Three pounds two ounces" I hear one of them yell, as the other jots it onto some paperwork. Holy - our babies really are tiny. The nurses are frantic to get her clean and straight to the NICU. Time really must be of the essence. "Please, make sure that she's with her brother. They need to be together" my poor wife cries and I try to hold it together, but fail miserably.

I console Tessa as she sobs into my chest. "Seeing them being wheeled away is more painful than any of what I just went through" she mutters. I know how desperate she is to hold and care for our little ones, because I feel the exact same way. "I know baby" I run my hands through her hair in an attempt to comfort her. "They're going to be okay sweetie, they're just a little early. That's all" I assure her and I pray that I'm right, as I take a deep breath.