“Hey!” Chrissie opened her arms to Veronica, flowers in one hand and another around Veronica’s shoulders.
“Hi!” Veronica said, rather relieved. “Oh, the flowers are beautiful.” She said.
“Mary called. She said you were here. My god. I can’t believe Lydia was all alone when you got here.” Chrissie said, beginning to weep.
“Chrissie please. It’s been a long day for her. She had problems toward the end of the delivery. Don’t make this any harder than it’s already been for her.” Veronica begged her, feeling very tired herself. Chrissie looked to the floor.
“I’m sorry. It’s just that it’s nearly 7:30. I’m quite tired and I need to relieve Mary. She’s been with the boys since this morning.” Veronica confessed hugging Chrissie. She sighed and shook her head. “Listen to me. If you’re gonna’ stay here you can’t let your emotions get in the way. She has a lot of stable people around her and you must hold it together, Chrissie. I mean it.” Chrissie shook her head.
“I will. I promise. In fact, I will wait here to be with them until the end of the evening. I won’t go up there right now or anything.What happened in that delivery room?” she inquired.
“At the end of her labor, the baby was born and Lydia passed out. It was brief and the nurse brought her back. But when she came to, she was confused and in a lot of pain. She had the baby an epidural.” Veronica stated. Chrissie gasped.
“I was even too scared to do that!” she said covering her mouth. Veronica nodded.
“She kept moaning when the nurse continued pressing onto her stomach. I think the pain medicine they gave her in the IV drip made her sick. Because she went into labor early, the placenta didn’t detach the way it should. She bled a lot and so much happened at once. Lydia was a little dauncey, confused and disoriented after the combination of meds they gave her. She had to be shot with general anesthesia and the doctor had to…” Veronica stopped and swallowed. “…the doctor had to pull the placenta out of her. She wouldn’t pass it. I know she is going to be in a hell of a lot of pain when she wakes up.” Veronica explained.
“Oh my god! Where is she?” Chrissie asked, genuinely concerned.
“She’s resting peacefully in her room. The baby was taken to NICU and put in an incubator to monitor the breathing.” Veronica snickered. “Oh, she was a trip when came to. She started slurring to the nurse what parts of her son to cut and which parts not to cut.” She smiled.
“Oh my god! Veronica! It’s a boy!?” Chrissie squeaked. She was so excited.
“That’s just it….it’s not. It’s a girl.” It’s hard telling if she were tearing up from all her emotional ups and downs, her exhaustion or everything. “It’s a beautiful…beautiful little girl. She barely weighs four pounds. She’s nineteen inches long.” Veronica swallowed hard and closed her eyes. “I got to hold her…I held before anyone else. I watched her cry. I cut her cord. I watched as the doctor took prints of her teeny little feet, cleaned her up and whisked her away to the incubator.” Veronica paused and placed her hand over her forehead and laughed. “Oh god, and all this happened while Lydia was just slurring away incoherently. I’ve learned more about Roger than I ever needed to know.”
Chrissie laughed. “Aww, that’s so beautiful…oh god not the part about Roger.” Chrissie paused and looked around. “What did you learn about Roger?” she asked softly.
