Her voice turned muffled and then disappeared, but Anna thought she heard a groan.
‘It’s okay, Nia. What’s happening? Is it the baby?’
Anna felt cold, suddenly. She pulled the duvet over her knees. She was sitting up and she knew Edward was looking at her, waiting to hear what it was. She did a quick calculation. Nia was seven months pregnant. Aidan wasaway with work.
‘It’s coming,’ Nia said. ‘The baby’s coming, and it’s too early and Aidan isn’t here. Will you come with me, Anna?’
‘Of course. I’ll come and get you. I’ll be there in five minutes.’
She was already up and out of bed.
‘The baby?’ Edward asked when she ended the call.
‘Yes.’
‘It will be okay,’ he said.
‘It might not. It’s too early.’ Anna pulled jeans out of a drawer, rummaged around for a top. ‘I can’t think straight. What do I need to take?’
Edward shook his head. ‘It all feels so long ago. She’ll have everything she needs. Just take some money for food and parking.’
‘Will you and the boys be all right? Will you get Sam to school? Make sure Thomas gets up in time?’
‘Yes, don’t worry about us. Go.’ He stood and kissed her on the forehead. ‘And give Nia my love. It will be okay, Anna. I know it.’
Nothing much had changed in the years since Anna had given birth. She didn’t know what she’d expected. On the drive to the hospital, Nia had been almost silent. She’d said she was just concentrating on getting through the contractions, but Anna could feel the fear coming off her in waves. They’d got lucky, Nia and Aidan, conceiving within the space of a couple of months, and Nia had said all along that she didn’t trust it. That she was waiting for something to go wrong. But the twelve-week scan had gone without a hitch, and then the twenty-week one, and it had seemed like they were out of the woods. And now this.
When they’d arrived at the maternity unit of the same hospital where Anna had had her boys, a friendly midwife had bustled them in and examined Nia in a side room and found her to be in active labour. Since then, it had been quite relaxed,with Nia puffing away on the gas and air and handling the contractions much better than Anna remembered handling them herself. In between, she was classic Nia, telling stories and asking for snacks. They’d been assigned a room and a midwife called Eleanor who’d mostly left them to their own devices.
‘How are you doing?’ Eleanor asked, putting her head around the door.
Nia smiled a little weakly. ‘I’m okay, thanks. Anna’s looking after me.’
‘Any word on your partner’s arrival?’
‘He’s on his way. He should be here in a couple of hours. He won’t miss it, will he?’
‘I shouldn’t think so.’
‘Look…’ Nia said, and Anna could tell from the tone of her voice that she was about to say something she found difficult. ‘I know I’m really old to be a first-time mum, and the baby is coming too early, and I don’t know whether people are saying everything will be okay because they don’t want to tell me the truth, or…’
Eleanor came to the side of the bed and put a hand on Nia’s shoulder. ‘I’ve delivered a lot of babies, Nia. We never know for sure how it’s going to go, what’s going to happen, that everyone is going to be all right. We just do our best. And that’s what we’re going to do with you. There’s a cot ready in special care, and the best obstetrician in this hospital is on duty, and I’m here. That’s the best we can do.’
Anna was so grateful for Eleanor. She tried to remember the midwives who had helped her through her labours, but she couldn’t. It was so long ago. All she could remember was that it was the worst pain she’d ever known. Eleanor had a calming presence, and Anna wondered whether it was that that had ledher to this job, or whether the years in the job had taught her to be calm.
‘Okay,’ Nia said.
And then another contraction came, and Anna stepped forward to take Nia’s hand, and she felt utterly helpless as her friend writhed and moaned her way through it.
‘Tell me about your births,’ Nia said when it was over.
‘Didn’t I tell you at the time?’ Anna asked.
‘No, don’t you remember? I said I’d once googled the word episiotomy and the images had made my eyes water and I would thank you not to fill me in any further on the whole process.’
Anna laughed. ‘Oh yes, I remember now.’
‘What do you have?’ Eleanor asked. ‘How many?’
