‘Tell her to breathe! What the actual!’ Nina heard Nancy say.
Nina couldn’t bring herself to speak. She just continued to stare at the knot in the floor and attempted to remain calm and focused.
Nancy got up close to her face. ‘They’re on their way and someone here is on the phone with me. You’re doing great, just focus on your breathing. Help is on the way.’
Nina felt herself drift away again. Despite Nancy’s reassurance, she knew the baby wasn’t hanging around. She was going to have a baby at the top of a lighthouse.**** my life.
In a moment of clarity before the next contraction, she felt the urge to howl with laughter. It wasn’t funny at all which made her laugh more. It didn’t last long as the next contraction began to build. There was no doubt that they were getting stronger and closer together. Nina closed her eyes as she was engulfed by thick, intense pain much, much worse than she’d ever imagined it was going to be. She clutched Nancy's hand tightly, her other hand pushing into the skirting board underneath the window as the pain arced up to a peak and stayed there.
‘Okay, Neens. I’m on the phone here. That's it, nice and slow, breathe in... and out. You're not alone, I’m right here. Right here with you. Breathe.’
Nina wanted to punch Nancy every time she said “breathe” but she didn’t have the energy to say anything. She heard a strange wailing. She realised it was coming from her. She heard Nancy shouting into her phone again. ‘Less than one minute apart. Where the hell are you? Way less! Like thirty seconds or something! Twenty!’
Nina panted. ‘I can feel her coming out.’
Nancy swore. ‘Okay. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.’
Nina held her head up as the contraction eased off. She heard Nancy speaking on the phone again. ‘Someone needs to get here fast. Where are they? Breathe, Neens, just breathe. Can you tellme where they are? Hurry up! You’re incredibly strong, Nina. Just a little longer, they’ll be here soon. Breathe.’
Nina, overwhelmed by pain and effort, barely registered the words. She looked at Nancy’s face and could see the panic in her eyes. ‘I’m okay.’
‘Try to breathe through it. I'm here with you.’
Nina swore in her head. Breathing wasn’t going to help her. She could feel her body doing its own thing. She felt as if she was bearing down, beyond the point of no return. Her body instinctively began to push, and the overwhelming urge took over. Her breath was coming in short, rapid bursts. She tried to remember something,anythingfrom the classes. ‘I can’t stop it!’
‘Neens, if this baby is coming now, we're doing this here. I’m with you. Where’s the ambulance? What? Where the bloody hell are they?’
As the contraction hit, Nina bore down, her scream reverberating sound around the lighthouse. After that, time seemed to blur as Nina pushed and waded through a gulf of pain and contractions.
She heard Nancy again. ‘Help! Yes, I can see the baby! What the heck am I supposed to do?’
When Nina came back to the room, there was a lot more movement and a different voice in her ear. She could see a woman in a bottle green shirt with an emblem on the pocket. ‘Nina, okay, your baby is crowning. Nice and calm. Here we go. You need to listen to me, Nina.’
Nina heard herself say not very nice words. They may have ended with the word “off”.
‘Nina, we can see the head. Nina, nice and calm now. One more big push. Nearly there. Doing so well.’
Nina pushed with all her might, and suddenly, a baby’s cry pierced the air. She collapsed back and tears streamed down her face. In a daze, she registered other people in the room as a green shirt handed her baby to her. ‘Congratulations.’
Nina felt as if she was in a dream. In the most beautiful dream of her life, she was sitting on the floor of a lighthouse, looking up at a moon hanging in an inky black sky and then down at her new baby girl. The dream was the best dream ever. No other dream would ever match it.
She shook her head at the reality of what had happened and what was going on around her. It had all occurred so quickly. She was bewildered as paramedics bustled around taking care of everything. Nancy crouched down on the floor beside her and the paramedic in the green shirt reassured her in a calm, steady voice. ‘Okay, Nina, you’re still going to contract because you’re going to deliver the placenta.’
Nina nodded in a daze. ‘Wait, wait, what, wait, what do you want me to do? How do I do that? No more pain, surely?’
‘I don’t want you to do anything. It will deliver by itself. You’re doing well.’
Nina put her hand on her forehead. ‘Okay.’
Nancy held Nina’s hand. ‘Congratulations. Well, you certainly surprised everybody there, didn’t you?’
Nina didn’t know whether she was coming or going. Tears streamed down her cheeks. The moon, a jumble of faces, and her swaddled beautiful baby girl swirled around in front of her eyes. She was delirious with happiness.
‘Bit quick for a number one,’ the paramedic said with a smile.
Nancy laughed. ‘How quick will the next one be?’
Nina shook her head. ‘I don’t think there’llbea next one.’ She turned to Nancy. ‘You were amazing. Thank you.’
