My Person

Ch 23

*I decided to break it up so there will probably be two more chapters to this story.*

Miranda and Ben sat at the kitchen table waiting to meet with the midwife and doula that they were able to find. They formed a company and worked as partners and were one of the few black midwife and doulas in Seattle. Miranda was nervous because she never thought she would ever choose this route but she didn't feel comfortable being in the hospital. The door bell rang bringing her out of her thoughts and Ben jumped up to answer the door. Once he answered the door two women stood there smiling.

"Good morning you two the owners of Precious Moments?" Ben asked.

"Yes we are,  my name is Janessa and this is Toni."

Ben walked the two ladies into the kitchen where Miranda was and she stood up to greet them.    "Hello I'm Dr. Miranda Bailey," Miranda said cheerful but nervous.

"Nice to meet you Dr. Bailey. Im Janessa and this is Toni," Janessa said as the ladies shook hands.

"Well Janessa introduced us so I will tell you beautiful people our roles and how we will be assisting you," Toni said.

Ben sat back down beside Miranda and rubbed her back as they gave their attention to the dark skinned woman with beautiful locs.

"Janessa is a certified midwife and I know you're doctors so you more than likely know what a midwife is but I will still explain. She will basically be there to provide the medical care you need as you give birth and after. I will help to provide any emotional, and physical support you may need during and after giving birth. So we can talk about what it is that you feel you need during and what you may need after even up to coming to cook, clean and look after the baby if you need that," Toni explained.

"Ummm my parents are probably going to come into town but after they leave that will be a blessing," Miranda said.

"Since you want to have an at home birth do you want it to be a water birth or do you want to labor on your bed?" Janessa asked.

"Umm not even sure yet because this was kind of a last minute decision," Miranda said as she looked back and forth between her husband and the two ladies.

The four continued to talk and discuss a birth plan then Janessa went into their bathroom and got into the big tub to show Miranda positions she could be in if she wanted to be in water. Then she bought in a yoga ball and showed Miranda positions on that as well. Janessa used the portable ultrasound machine to check the baby and as Miranda had been told been a week ago she had moved into position to give birth.

"Alright so since your baby girl is in position she can officially come any day now but you are still in your 8 month so hopefully she holds out," Janessa said.

The next few weeks Miranda spent most of her time nesting by making sure the house was clean and constantly reorganizing the baby's room. It was so bad that Miranda even had Tuck nesting along with her. Ben came home from work and stood in the doorway of the nursery chuckling to himself as he watched his wife and son talking and while she folded clothes and he put them in the dresser or hung them in the closet.

"Miranda do you really have our son in here help you nest," Ben said smiling.

"Hey Dad, I don't mind help mom so it's okay," Tuck said nicely.

"Yeah, and this is our bonding time which I never got to do a lot of because I was always working and then you know what happened and I was too busy trying to heal. Now I've had all this time and it has been great being able to be with my big baby before my little baby comes. So you stop trying to stop us," Miranda said as she did a shooing motion with her hands.

"Okaayyy but you're going to be wanting me close later tonight—

"Never mind you can stay," Miranda said quickly and Tuck shook and his head and made a disgusted face.

Later that night after Ben and Miranda made love, Miranda was laying in Ben's arms when she felt a sharp pain shoot through her vagina and lower back. She grabbed onto the arm that Ben had wrapped around her and squeezed hard.

Ben woke up feeling Miranda squeezing his arm, "you okay Miranda?" Ben asked.
Miranda couldn't speak because the pain was so encompassing. When the pain subsided Miranda blew out a breath and groaned.

"Ummmm I think I just had a contraction, Janessa said a few weeks ago that it would be any day. I'm 37 weeks so she could be coming now," Miranda said still trying to recover from the pain.

"Do you think we should call them or wait until we're sure you're contracting? I could check you to see how dilated you are," Ben suggested.

"Yeah let's wait to make sure it's not just Braxton-Hicks and yes to checking me," Miranda said turning on her back.

Ben got up, washed his hands and grabbed some gloves. Ben got back on the bed and eased his hand in to check Miranda's cervix.

"Guess this is the perks of us both being doctors Miranda said trying to steady her breathing.

"Baby I think your almost 2 cm dilated," Ben said pulling off his glove.

"Wow, OH WOW," Miranda yelled as another contraction hit.

"That's was like ten minutes apart from the first one so we still have some time to set things up," Ben said.

"I know but it's four in the morning, I hate the idea of calling Janessa and Toni this earlier," Miranda said through her contraction.

"We can just call to let them know, it doesn't mean they have to come this early," Ben said reassuring her.

"Okay," Miranda said sucking in air trying to deal with the pain.

"Miranda remember to breathe, don't hold your breath baby," Ben said getting back on the bed. 

Ben got behind Miranda, reached for his phone and called Janessa as he massaged Miranda's lower back.

Janessa answered the phone and Ben told her that Miranda was about 2 cm dilated and her contractions were ten minutes apart. She told him that she and Toni would be there at 7am or sooner if Miranda got to 5 cm before 7am.