Maxerica

The First Mistake

"Are you two ready?" the doctor asks.
"We are," I answer.
Maxon brings the kids in to give me hugs before we start the induction.
"You're going to have the baby mom?" Ahren asks with an excited look on his face.
I smile at him. "Yes I am honey."
"Yay! The baby's ok though right?"
"The baby's going to be fine sweetie."
"Isn't it early though?"
"It is. But it's better if it's born early."
"Are all baby's like that?"
"Not all."
"So this baby is special?"
"Yes sweetheart."
This brings a big smile to his face and confirms to me that I'm making the right decision.

Once I got my hugs from the kids, the doctor broke my water. They got me hooked up to every monitor and machine necessary to track myself and the baby. The next step was for them to get an IV in me with Pitocin.
That's where we made a mistake.
After only a few minutes I immediately get hard, fast contractions unlike any other I've ever dealt with.
After giving birth to three children, I can usually keep the screams in and breath through the contractions fairly well.
Not this time.
With every hard hit comes an agonizing scream.
My body's already getting very hot and sweaty and the pain is unbearable.
I can hardly even focus enough to look at Maxon, but when I do he's looking at me with a horrified face.
A nurse gets my attention, trying to help me calm down and take deep breaths.
I try but just end up whining half way through them.
Maxon holds my hand and I squeeze as hard as I can with every contraction. From what I can tell, he doesn't mind.
After the first hour, I start to feel exhausted.
The nurses put some fans on me in hopes of cooling me down.
The doctor goes over to Maxon and tries to talk to him quietly, but I overhear.
"If things do go wrong, who do you want us to prioritize?" the doctor asks with dread in his voice.
"Is something going wrong?"Maxon begins to panic.
"Not as of yet. We just want to be prepared."
"Well," he hesitates. "....save the baby."
"Are you positive?"
"Yes. It's what she'd want."
I look at him and squeeze his hand.
He looks at me and smiles a bit.
He talks to me quietly through the next hour.
The pain continues to be overbearing.
I begin to believe I'm actually going to die.
"Maxon," I manage to get out.
"Yes my dear?"
"I love you."
"I love you too America. Hang in there."
I start to get tunnel vision.
"America?"
That's the last I hear before everything goes black.