Carlisle's Diary

Sava

Dear Diary:                                                    October 10, 2014          

            We have a new bundle of joy in this supernatural family of ours. A few days ago, Leah gave birth to a little boy. Sue was present as were Keith, Bella, and I as I was to deliver the ball of sunshine. Leah had asked Bella to be present as well since the two have grown as close as two sisters. Sue was holding one of her daughter's hands while Keith clutched the other. Bella acted as both nurse and coach. Rogue was on standby outside the delivery room in the house. Everyone else was close by just holding their breaths, literally. Very soon there would be a wail and some other funny noises we haven't heard since Nessie was born.

            It all happened Wednesday night. Leah and Keith were settled in for the night in their own home with Leah trying to get some sleep when she realized her location had turned into a water bed. It took her a few minutes to realize her water had broken. Keith quickly flew her to the main house, hollering all the way. You'd think we were being attacked again or something. But nothing will turn a normally composed immortal into a mess then his wife in labor, Edward remembered wryly. And it was true, Keith—who was normally very put together—was disheveled with his shirt buttoned up the wrong way and also slightly inside out. At least his pants were on the right way.

            I hid a smile as he reminded me of a lot of expectant dad's that made their way into the Hanover ER many a night. I've seen some really funny things. No matter what happens, men are almost never prepared for THAT moment when it's time. And Keith was certainly no exception. He paced muttering to himself until Rogue planted herself in his path and in no uncertain words, told him to chill. I meanwhile, was examining Leah who had her mom and Bella by her side. She was only dilated a few centimeters so no one knew how long the whole labor process would take. We did know that the baby was actually overdo by a few days, normal size, and facing head down so a C-Section unless things got out of hand would not be needed.

            At first the contractions weren't that bad and Leah was able to talk normally with her husband who looked worse than she did, she even laughed at him a few times. Sue was rubbing her back and shoulders and helped her walk around a bit while Bella told her funny stories about after Nessie was born to keep her mind off of the ever increasing contractions. Finally, it got to the point where each contraction would cause Leah to scream in agony, it took about 5 hours to get there. I had an epidural ready to help her with the pain but it wasn't time for that yet.

            Each time Leah screamed, Keith got paler until we were worried he may pass out before his son was born.  Alexander and Edward took him outside for a walk to get some fresh air. It was midmorning by then and I was ready for a third examination. Looking at how far she'd come since the start, I told Leah that in another hour she could start pushing. She looked at me like she was ready to eat me alive and I didn't blame her. I'd been the attending physician at many a birth and to this day have no idea how women did it. Especially human women; they were so much more fragile than us immortals and yet they pushed out these not so little humans over and over again; sometimes in multiples. Even as a vampire, I knew that men would have heart attacks from just the pain alone. So I had a very serious appreciation for all women everywhere.

            Finally it was time to push and I inserted the epidural into Leah's spine for which I got a grateful thank you that sounded like a mix between a burp and a groan. Keith had more or less revived by then though was still looking a little green around the gills. He was however, going to be by his wife's side no matter what. Even if that meant he would be on the floor holding her hand. Leah started pushing; Bella and Sue started coaching her through breathing exercises.