Serendipity: A New Generation of Knights

Part 1: Ch. 17. La Vie en Rose

Autumn clutched her belly as Winter led her out to the car. Not only was her head pounding, but her Braxton-Hicks contractions were beginning to feel a little too regular. She tried to keep herself active during the day to keep the contractions at bay, but they persisted. She desperately wanted to keep her composure, drawing in full, deep breaths through the pain as her entire body pulsated. She didn't want to worry. She had done so well maintaining her cool and allowing things to go with the flow throughout her entire pregnancy, often finding other avenues to keep her mind and body busy rather than dwelling on anything stressful. She fully trusted the healthcare team she built for herself. Nothing could shake her.

Almost as soon as they arrived at the hospital, they were taken up to the maternity ward and settled into a room where Autumn was started on IV fluids and medication to bring down her rising blood pressure. A monitor was attached to her abdomen to measure any contraction activity so her care team could further evaluate what exactly was going on. All the while, Winter stayed right next to her, holding his wife's hand and keeping a stoic face despite his internal panic.

As soon as she relaxed into the hospital bed, her contractions subsided. Between the relief from the pain and the idea that she was in a place where she felt completely safe with her husband and her care team, the rising tension in her body waned. They kept the monitor on her for nearly half an hour, but for that entire period, her contractions were gone. Of course, Autumn felt so deflated. All evening she had been worried about these contractions feeling different and becoming more regular. And now as soon as she has a chance to show her doctor what was going on, they disappeared. She so desperately needed them to believe her. Tears began to fall from her eyes as the nurse came in to remove the monitor, but everything paused as she tensed up in anticipation of another contraction.

The entire room froze. No one moved as Autumn breathed through the pain, holding tightly to Winter's hand. As soon as it subsided, the nurse cheered. The event had recorded beautifully on the monitor, and the doctor was able to see that, yes, she was having contractions. But they were still false labor contractions. However, with the amount of activity coming from the baby and the breakthrough symptoms being unmanageable from home, the care team opted to admit them for further observation.

Throughout the night, Autumn did her best to rest as much as she was able. Her blood pressure was slightly more under control than it had been at home, but she could not get comfortable. It seemed like the only way she could comfortably be positioned was on her hands and knees, in a birthing position. Winter pressed his palm into her back and rubbed, encouraging her as much as he could. Through everything, Autumn remained calm, breathing through each contraction and uncomfortable stimulus.

The doctor and nurses continued to monitor her and the baby, watching the baby's heart rate closely. From what the doctor was seeing, any time the contraction monitor showed that Autumn was having a contraction, the fetal heart rate monitor was showing the baby's heart rate dropping. Baby's movements soon became more sparse, a stark contrast to the activity they had been seeing during the day and even over the last few weeks. Knowing this information, the care team decided that moving forward with an emergency C-section would be the best course of action to protect both Autumn and the baby.

The doctor returned to the room to inform them of this new information. She reiterated over and over that they made the right choice to come into the hospital when they did, because even waiting just a few more hours could have been a matter of life and death for mother and baby. After going through all of the ins and outs of the procedure, the doctor left the room to prepare for the operation. And for the first time in her pregnancy, Autumn began to panic.

"Winter, I can't do this," she panted through her sobs. "She's not ready. I'm not ready."

"My love," Winter assured her, squeezing her hands and leaning into her as the nurses pulled up the railing on her hospital bed. "I know you're scared. I am right here for you."

Autumn pulled Winter's hands into her face as her body heaved from her cries. Winter kissed her head, bidding her one last well wish.

"You can do this, my love."

Two nurses wheeled Autumn down the hall while another stayed with Winter to help him prepare to join her in surgery. Seeing his wife's face look so horrified, he felt bad, but for the first time in this pregnancy, he felt a sense of calm. He knew things would be okay. Something was telling him that everything was going to work out just fine for them, and he couldn't explain why.

When they were reunited in the operating room, Winter practically ran to Autumn's side, seeing her expression still just as panicked as when they parted ways just ten minutes prior.

Autumn tried desperately to take deep breaths, but there was so much happening so quickly that she felt like she couldn't get enough of a break to focus and calm herself down. Nurses and other staff swarmed around her, simply doing their jobs to prepare her for the operation, but it made everything so much worse. She felt her head pounding from the bright lights piercing her eyes. She felt Winter's hand on her chest. She felt someone between her legs cleaning her, putting a catheter in. She felt her abdomen being exposed and prepped. She felt her arms being strapped down on either side of her. She felt a flush of saline run though her IV into her veins. She felt the cool oxygen running through the cannula that had just been placed in her nostrils. She felt completely out of control.

"Mrs. Fortune-Knight?"

A voice came through the chaos. She turned toward the voice, her eyes wide with terror.

"Mrs. Autumn, relax for your baby," the voice, coming from the surgical tech standing by her head, spoke so softly in the chaos.

And as soon as she heard those words, her entire body relaxed.

The machines beeping wildly next to her quickly became softer and more steady.

And as she relaxed, she heard another, tinier voice speak to her.

"She's coming, mama. My baby sister is almost here."

Everything around her became clearer. She heard the quiet voices of all of the people in the room. She heard the soft beeping of the monitors keeping track of her and her baby's vitals. She heard Winter's soft voice next to her, updating her on everything as the operation began. She heard the small clangs of metal hitting metal as each instrument was used. She heard a cheer from the doctor.

"Here she is, mum and dad!"

She heard no cry.

Winter stepped back from Autumn's side, watching closely as two nurses moved with their baby from Autumn's body to a small table a few feet away.

"She's not crying, Winter," Autumn choked, the panic returning to her as her chest tightened. "Winter, why is she not crying?"

She heard an ear-piercing scream fill the room.

"There she is!" a nurse cheered, wiping the screaming newborn with a cloth before wrapping her up and walking over to placing her onto Autumn's chest.

"Oh my god, Winter, look at her hair!" Autumn wept as she looked over her daughter's face and features.

Rose Genevieve Fortune-Knight was born in the early morning on October 20th, 2027 at 2:28 A.M. Her hair was dark and curly, even when wet. Her eyes, though they were only open for a moment, were a piercing blue. She was the spitting image of her papa in her features, but her expressions were all her mama's.

"Hello, my beautiful Rose," Winter cooed, leaning into his wife and his daughter. Tears fell from his eyes as he kissed Autumn's head and then Rose's, her own cries ceasing at the touch of her papa's kiss. "I love you both so much."

Autumn ignored everything else that was going on around her. Her baby was here, and all was well.

"She's perfect."