Unexpected (A Chris Hemsworth Fanfiction)

Chapter 30: The Big Reveal

Twenty-four hours after coming to the hospital...

After seven pm, my labor stalled for five hours. Dr. Hemingway decided to wait and see if it would naturally start back up again rather than going in for a C-section. At first, it was simply a waiting game because labor stalling could be just my body slowing down to give myself time to rest or it could be disastrous. Dr. Heminway came to this conclusion as per some new research of not hastily running to the operating room, my birth plan, and most importantly, the baby's and my vitals.

Since I was so exhausted, my body finally gave out to the fatigue plaguing each of my muscles. I didn't expect without any pain killers sleep would be possible. It wasn't entirely restful given that I was in a hospital bed and tethered to IV fluids and monitors. I accepted this over no sleep at all. However, it wasn't too late. The slumber was broken by a prolonged beeping sound. As the hospital was noisy and rife with those types of mechanical and electronic sounds, I almost ignored it. Once it registered that the noise was coming from my left, I asked frantically, "What's going on?"

"Just sit tight, Erin," one nurse replied. There were three in the room with us and were gearing up like the military, working at their respective posts to continue running a smooth exercise. "We're paging Dr. Hemingway."

I began to notice on the monitor that the heartbeat was rapid and declining, illustrated by falling with the peaks and valleys changing length. I felt like I was going to puke once again, but this time from anxiety. Despite the lingering exhaustion and fear, I resisted the urge to panic. In fact, I tried disassociating by closing my eyes and doing a visualization exercise. I brought myself back to our initial appointments where the sound of the heartbeat prompted a Pavlovian response of joyful tears. I recollected Dr. Heminway describing that bum-bum as beautiful and normal. It was like that then, so I had to believe it would be possible again.

When Dr. Hemingway arrived, she immediately diagnosed the situation: the baby managed to wrap the cord around their neck. She managed to unwrap it manually, however since my labor had stalled and a brief emergency took place, it was now clear that complications could follow. As the baby was no longer in imminent danger, she provided two options: one, the quickest thing to do would be to whisk me away for a C-section, and two, see if my body would naturally respond to some chemical assistance. Part of me wished to have the birth I always imagined. Then again, the experience was not at all what I imagined. If I had some control, I wanted to avoid getting a C-section, but I would not place my desires above necessity. Dr. Hemingway suggested that we see if Option Two would allow for natural birth to take place quickly in an hour, and if not, then we opt for surgery. She said that normally her immediate instinct would be to go into theater, but her gut was insistent we continued with an alternative. Since I agreed with her judgment, a nurse gave me an injection of Pitocin. Just as we hoped, I began to dilate to ten centimeters within the hour and contractions grew closer together again.

"You're ready to push, Erin," the nurses told me.

Before I had my baby on the day that this story began with, I was nervous. All soon to be mothers are. However, before the birth, there wasn't even a shred of nerves or that much anger. Yes, I had been yelling curses at Chris for over twelve hours at home and twenty-four hours in the hospital, but now all that was left was fear. I just followed the nurses' instructions and breathed. I gripped onto Chris and tried not to scream. I epically failed and I almost broke his arm. I thrust myself backward, tears and bucket loads of sweat dripped down my neck.

I panted heavily. I announced, "I can't do this! I can't!"

Chris blotted my head with a soothing cool rag to help my temperature lower and he said, "Come on, Erin! Just catch your breath."