Happily Ever After?? (Third in the Through The Dark And Free series)

Chapter 35

Harry watched as the room filled with a couple of nurses along with Julie's doctor.  They had brought in a pediatric doctor and a couple of nurses from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit as well because Grace would be a little bit early, so they wanted to be prepared as soon as she was born.  It was a whole lot of chaos.  Amanda stayed in the room at Julie's request but Niall went to the waiting room.  Marcus and Jaime knew the baby was coming, but Julie had asked they didn't come to the hospital until after the baby was born and things were settled.  Harry could only imagine what all of this chaos was doing to her right now.  He stood to her side and held her hand.  "Focus on me, baby.  Or Amanda.  Don't worry about anything else.  They have it under control."  He motioned towards the doctors and nurses.  He was nervous, but his main priority was keeping Julie calm and when he had a focus he could control his nerves.

"Harry's right.  We are here for you.  You've prepared for this for months, and I know you.  You're always more than prepared.  I've said that about you for years."  Amanda tried to take Julie's other hand, but Julie pulled it away from her before pulling the other from Harry.

"I know.  Just, don't touch me right now.  I just, can't deal with it."  Julie put her hands on the bed rails they had put up on each side of her.  She didn't know why, but the last thing she wanted was anyone touching her.  The past couple of minutes the pressure and the pain had gotten worse.  She was so uncomfortable, and right now she wanted to just get this over with.

"Ok.  Ok, I'm sorry."  Harry looked over at Amanda and took a deep breath.  The doctors set up at the end of the bed and started talking to Julie and setting her feet in the stirrups.  He knew she just told him not to touch her, but he moved some hair from her forehead.  "Here we go, baby, it's time to meet Grace."

"Harry, just, please."  Julie slapped at his hand a little irritated.  "Stop fussing and touching.  Just back off."

"Sorry."  Harry mumbled before resting his hands on a lower part of the guard rail.  He looked over as Amanda gave him a reassuring look.  He knew he couldn't take anything Julie said to heart.  He had no idea how any of this felt.  His part in this was easy.  The night they created Grace was nothing but pleasurable for him.  And he didn't have to deal with any of the hard stuff.  He wanted to comfort her, but if she didn't want it, then she didn't.

Julie closed her eyes with her head on the pillow.  They told her it was about time to push and the next time a strong contraction came, she was to push hard.  Because she had an epidural, they would help tell her when by watching the machines.  She felt miserable.  Everyone kept telling her it would all be worth it, but right now, she wasn't in the mood to think about it that way.  She tried to breathe through it as they said, but like hell it helped that much.  When the doctor told her to push, she did as instructed and beared down and pushed.  It was hard and painstaking and extremely frustrating.  They counted her down and then had her relax until the next contraction.  There wasn't a lot of down time.  It was push, relax, push, relax and repeat.

Harry grabbed a cool washcloth and wiped Julie's forehead.  She had been pushing for about 30 minutes, and she was exhausted.  She didn't slap his hand this time. She just looked at him defeated.  "You can do this.  Don't give up.  You're doing great."  When she weakly shook her head, he nodded his.  "Yes, you are."  He looked at the doctor when she told Julie she had to push again, but Julie didn't even move.  When the doctor said only a few more pushes should do it, his heart started beating really hard.  "Come on, beautiful, you heard her.  A couple more and you can meet your little girl."

Harry put out his hand and smiled when she took it.  He helped pull her forward when it was time to push and supported her back.  She barely had time to relax before the doctor encouraged her to push again.  "Come on, baby.  Breathe.  You can do this."  Two more times.  She pushed two more times, and he heard the doctor tell her great job and to relax for a moment.  He looked down to see his daughter's head in the doctor's hands.  He watched them seem to settle it in a proper position and told Julie to push one more time.  He felt her squeeze his hand and push and his eyes were glued to the doctor's hands.  That one last push delivered the rest of the baby.  His baby.  His daughter.  Grace.