midwife » michael gray. [completed]

CHAPTER FOUR.

→ CHAPTER FOUR; THE CLINIC.

Hannah yawned noisily as she looked out of the window, taking in the view of Small Heath from the flat that she was currently in. It was late at night; the outside world was silent and lit due to the street lights. Inside of the flat was dim and full of yells as the first-time mum to be on the bed struggled to deliver the baby that had been growing inside of her for nine months. Moisture was building up around her forehead and cheeks, her face had turned a dark crimson and her knuckles were white due to the harsh grip she had on the bed sheets.

"Mrs. Connor, I need you to push as hard as you can, okay? Take deep breathes and it'll all come to you." Hannah's voice was raised high, so Mrs. Connor could hear her voice over the screams that were coming out of her mouth, as she held the poor woman's legs up high with her feet pressed against Hannah's chest, giving her the perfect view of the baby's head that had been born only moments before. "Not long now, love. I think that with one big last push, this baby will be out in no time."

"I can't do it," she bellowed, as she gripped the bed sheets in her hands.

"Yeah, they all say that, but they manage to do it. Just push for me, Mr. Connor and this baby will be out, I promise you."

It was gone three in the morning and Hannah could feel her eyelids slowly dipping as she clung onto the skin of Mrs. Connor. The poor woman had been in labour for over ten hours and the experience was becoming tiring and challenging for all involved in the act. The poor father had entered the room multiple times, only to go rushing back out when he saw the scene in front of him. Tea cups were distributed across the room, damp towels and hot water were sat waiting for when the little one decided to stop being so persistent.

"Come on," Hannah whispered as she gave Mrs. Connor a easy smile. "One big push and all of this will be over and done with. Forget about the agony and focus on your baby that will be here very, very soon if you listen to me." Mrs. Connor nodded and with one brash scream and an enormous push, the sound of a child crying and screaming boomed throughout the small one-bedroom flat and both the mother and Hannah let out of a sigh of relief. "A daughter, you have a gorgeous daughter."

Hannah quickly cut the cord and covered the baby into a soft towel to keep the her warm.

"I'm going to call her Louise. My husband said that if the baby was a boy, he would decide the name and if she was a girl, I would decide. So, she's being called Louise."

Hannah chuckled before gently passing the baby over to Mrs. Connor before she passed out from fatigue. Taking a deep breath, Hannah sat back on the bed and watched at Mrs. Connor grinned down at her baby. Even though the job was demanding, the prize was always satisfying.

"Are you going to have kids, Nurse Anderson?" Mrs. Connor questioned, still looking down at her baby but occasionally looking at Hannah who was watching the pair with admiration. She had nothing but respect for the mothers who dealt with the pain so well, no matter how gruelling it was.

"I have nobody to have children with but maybe, in the future. Right now, I am focused on delivering the babies of Small Heath."

"Well, someone needs to. Seems like everyone round here is getting pregnant at the moment."

Hannah chuckled before pulling up the blanket covering Mrs. Connors bottom half. "Right, let's go and introduce Louise to her father and then we can get this afterbirth out."

+++

Esme and Michael stared at each other from across the room for a solid few minutes before Esme gave up with the staring match and made her way over to Michael. He moved around in his seat before looking at Esme with begging eyes. Michael knew that it was clinic day and Esme had momentarily mentioned going so she could talk to Hannah. After an hour of trying to figure out how he could go unnoticed, Michael came to the conclusion that he had no choice but to ask Esme if he could come along with her.