Perfect Love

Chapter 10 {Finale}

"I made you a cake for your birthday," Karina said shyly as she pulled it out of the refrigerator.

"You didn't have to do that," Bon-Hwa replied dryly.

"I know, but I wanted to," Karina replied. "You've been really good to me through all of the pregnancy stuff, and I just wanted to do something to thank you for that."

"Oh," was his non-committal remark.

Karina placed a single candle on the cake and lit it. As she stepped away from the cake, Bon-Hwa noticed that she grimaced slightly. He closed his eyes and made his wish and blew out the candle. As he opened his eyes, he noticed that Karina was now hunched over with her hand on her back.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Um, I'm not sure. I feel something tugging in my back, like pulling on my tailbone" she replied. "I think it's just my tailbone acting up like ---," she stopped talking as a stream of liquid began to run down her leg, forming a pool at her feet. Bon-Hwa stood immediately and ran for a towel.

"They said to bring you in right away if your water broke," he said as he wrapped the towel around her waist. Karina looked terrified, her eyes wide with fear. She knew this day was coming, but now that it had arrived, she suddenly didn't feel up to the task. Unfortunately, there was no escaping it.

With Bon-Hwa's help, she hobbled to the car, and he helped her down gently into the passenger's seat. He positioned the towel around her as best he could to avoid making a worse mess than they had to.

When they arrived at the hospital, Bon-Hwa ran inside first to get a wheelchair. He wheeled her into the hospital and had her doctor paged. As they waited for the doctor to come, Bon-Hwa got impatient.

"Her water broke already," he said to a passing nurse who merely stared at him impassively and said, "Congratulations." When another nurse passed, he grabbed her arm. "Miss, my wife is in a lot of pain. We need to get her in a delivery room ASAP!" he demanded.

"Sir, unhand me," the nurse groused. "Women have babies every day in this hospital. Just calm down. Your wife will be attended to when her doctor arrives."

Finally, Dr. Oh arrived on the scene. By this time, Karina was vocalizing her pain very loudly.

"So, today's the big day, Karina," Dr. Oh said good-naturedly, but Karina couldn't even acknowledge his words as she was bent over in the wheelchair, her cries reaching a fever pitch.

She grabbed hold of Bon-Hwa's shirt and twisted it in her hand. "I want drugs!" she wailed. "I can't do this! I need drugs!"

"I know," Bon-Hwa tried to calm her. "I'll make sure they know that when they get you settled."

In a few minutes, they got Karina onto a short table with stirrups. She continued to wail in pain. The nurse placed electrodes on her belly and hooked her up to the baby monitor. She looked puzzled and slipped the ear pieces of her stethoscope into her ears. She moved the cold stethoscope around Karina's belly, stopping in several different places. The look of concern on her face was unmistakable.

"Nurse," Bon-Hwa said loudly, snapping her out of her mental fog. "What's going on? When can Karina get the epidural?"

"Um, that's not going to happen. Your wife has to get this baby out now. We don't have time to do an epidural," she told him. His eyes widened. Things were not going as expected.

"Why are you acting weird? What's going on?" he demanded.

The nurse hit the red button on the wall. "I was unable to find the fetal heartbeat," she admitted quietly.

"What do you mean you were unable to ---? What does that mean?" he asked frantically. Meanwhile, Karina was in too much pain to process much of their conversation. She was just trying to get through one breath at a time.

Dr. Oh, who had gone off to see other patients, finally arrived in Karina's room. "Why did you set off the alarm?" he asked testily as he flipped up Karina's paper sheet, exposing her to Bon-Hwa and all the nurses. Bon-Hwa looked away to give her some privacy. The nurse leaned over Dr. Oh and whispered something in his ear.

"Okay, Karina, with your next contraction, I'm going to need you to push as hard as you can, like you're taking a poop, okay?" Dr. Oh instructed.

Bon-Hwa moved to stand behind her head as he reached his arms around her and took both of her hands in his. "We're going to do it like in Lamaze class," he said. "We're going to breathe in and let it out in little pants, okay?" he reminded her. "You just tell me when the contraction comes, okay?" When she didn't respond, he said, "Karina? Karina? I need you to stay with me now. We're going to do our breathing and push, okay?"

"Who's 'we'?" she cried testily. "It's all me!" Her legs began to shake violently.

"Okay, she's transitioning," Dr. Oh called out.

"Transitioning into what?" Bon-Hwa asked.

"She's in transition. It's the part right before the baby comes out. Her legs are shaking. Women often feel like they can't go on when they reach this stage. She needs your encouragement," Dr. Oh explained.

As if on cue, Karina cried out, "I can't do it! I just can't! I can't do this. I don't have the strength."

"Karina? Karina, look at me, baby," he said calmly. When their eyes had locked, he said, "We're doing this on three, okay? One --- two --- THREE," he said loudly. Karina pushed down with all her might as she squeezed Bon-Hwa's hands. She stopped to take another breath.

"You're doing fine, Karina. Give me another big push," Dr. Oh directed. Bon-Hwa watched as the doctor deftly unwrapped the cord from around the baby's neck. He could see the baby's face. Baby looked just like Karina.

"We've got the head out," the doctor informed her. "We just need one more big push to get the bottom out."

Karina pushed again hard. "Baby's head came out fine, but the bottom is a little stuck. Baby must have a Kim Kardashian booty," joked Dr. Oh, who found that his attempt at humor did not go over well.

"Read the room," Bon-Hwa said in a steely voice. "We're all scared to death. All we are focused on is getting this baby out."

"Of course," Dr. Oh said, duly chastened. "Okay, one more big push."

"That's what you said the last time," Karina wailed.

"I mean it this time. One more push," Dr. Oh encouraged. Karina bore down hard until the slippery mass slid into the doctor's hands. Dr. Oh wrapped the baby in a towel and rubbed at her briskly.

"Why isn't she crying?" Karina asked in a panic. Just then, the baby let out a loud cry. Karina and Bon-Hwa breathed a sigh of relief.

"You two have a beautiful baby girl," the nurse announced.

"We do!" Bon-Hwa confirmed in breathless wonder as he stood over her while the nurse washed the baby. "Karina, she looks just like you," he gushed.

"Dad, do you want to hold her?" the nurse asked.

"Yes, yes, of course," he said, but then looked at Karina. "If it's okay with you," he added. Karina nodded and smiled.

"Will you take us back?" she asked. "Do you still want us?"

"I never stopped," Bon-Hwa replied, amid the confused looks of Dr. Oh and the nurse. "You two have always been mine," he assured her as he bent down to show her the baby girl. Bon-Hwa placed a kiss on each of their foreheads, sealing the pact he had made to cover them from now until forever.