Chapter 55: Happy Happy Joy Joy
POV: Zac
Word Count: 3226
November 13, 2009
The Zoo had been a fun experience, I’d gone for the VIP package because it included a guided tour and a golf cart so she didn’t have to walk all day long, the zoo in Oklahoma City was much bigger than ours. She’d enjoyed it quite a bit but had complained most of the day about pain in her back and sides. The doctor had said everything was fine Wednesday, we had another appointment next Wednesday. I couldn’t believe we were so damn close, three weeks off. I’d slept pretty decently but she’d tossed and turned all night long, it was probably the different bed, she didn’t sleep well anywhere but at home.
She had a thousand pictures from the Zoo and I went ahead and downloaded them to the laptop and packed up while she actually slept some. She got up about 8:45 and after getting woken up she showered and got dressed. She wore her maternity pants and the orange shirt she’d worn for the baby shower. It fit better than anything else really.
“You feel okay?”
“Yeah, why?”
“You look really tired, maybe we should skip the gardens and head home.”
“I’m fine.”
We went ahead and checked out when we left, getting breakfast and she kept shifting, moving and generally she was uncomfortable. I questioned again before we headed there, but she was insistent we were doing the gardens. The entrance to the gardens was amazing, the whole place would be really. We started with the bathroom and then we went to the Thunder fountain, which was not running right now but it was a giant water feature for the gardens.
“I wish this worked, I’d probably run through or well, waddle through.”
“Be a little water duck?”
“Exactly. I feel hot but I know it’s not that warm out here.”
“No, it’s not.”
When she had a dozen pictures we went through the children’s garden, which was filled with fall and winter plants. She captures really good pictures of the storyteller’s chair sculpture. It looked like a bunch of branches that formed a chair, it was pretty cool. We then saw the friendship sculpture, two prairie dogs touching noses. We left the children’s area and did another potty break for her and then went to cross the pond, the view was amazing on both sides the crystal bridge to our right and the myriad of plants to the left.
“We got to go through there last.” She said.
“Deal…are you okay though?”
“Yeah, why?”
“You’re voice is a little strained.”
“Just some minor pain, but it keeps going away when I move around.”
We headed to the red gateway sculpture, it was maybe my favorite because it was kind of abstract in nature. The setting was quite pretty too.
“We need to come back in the spring, when the trees are all full of leaves.”
“I agree, little princess would love that.” She said.
“Princess? Really Gabs? We can’t give her an ego before she’s even born.”
“Sure we can.”
We crossed the football shaped lawn down the middle, pausing to get pictures of things around us. The area here was mostly for larger crowd, like they did the concerts in the park. So they had a pavilion area at the end with a massive structure. She got a dozen pictures here and then we took a break at the wave fountain. She was moving an awful lot, even though we’d been walking a lot.
“Are you sure you want to continue? We can cut through here and head out.”
“Yes, I’m sure I want too. I’ll be Mrs. Twitchy even if we were home. I have an 8 pound baby using me as her personal jungle gym.”
The doctor had placed her at just around eight pounds, give or take a pound. So, we sat here for another twenty minutes, admiring the waves of water. We then headed down into a sandy area, with a pergola. It kind of reminded me of a Japanese garden but without the carefully raked sands.
“This would be a good place for a wedding too, why didn’t we come south?”
“We did December, anything with garden in the name would be kind of pointless.”
“True. This would be a good spot though even for a late fall wedding, do they do them here?”
“I agree. Tranquil and calm and yes they do, but we just got married twice baby, let’s least wait a few years.”
“Fun sucker.”
I smiled and we explored the rest of this corner, which was mostly shrubbery, plants, and water features. We were headed toward the lake when she gripped the wall rather tight, looked like whatever happened had hurt.
“Gabriella?”
“I’m fine. That one was sharper than the others. But, nothing bad and probably a really bad Braxton one.”
“Probably, do you need to pause again?”
“Na, I will when we get to the waterside.”
We went by the bathroom before we headed down to the lake itself, she took extra precaution going down the steps and then crossing bridges, but took another fifty or so images of the little waterfall, next up was the goldfish sculpture, which she was not impressed with. But she sat down here for a little bit.
“This is nice, I’m glad…” She paused.
I waited but there was something odd going on, she was holding the right side.
“Glad…?”
“We came here, sorry just zoned out there.”
“Why don’t we head up there and go through the tunnel then grab lunch and head home.”
She nodded and again, we took time going up the steps. She caught the last sculpture, which was roots. It was quite interesting. We then went inside the glass bridge, which was stunning inside. It was cool and had a nice scent inside. We were walking across the top bridge when she stopped and got the railing, I heard the little hiss too.
I laid my hands carefully on her shoulders. “Baby?”
“Another sharp one, I think we need to go ahead and go. I may have just overdone with the Zoo and now today. The doctor did caution us to be careful.”
“Maybe.”
We made our way back to the car and still got some lunch, I found a sit down place so we could sit down and relax. That seemed to help her relax and perhaps she was right, we had done a lot of walking yesterday and then today, so maybe that was the issue. We got a quick lunch because dinner reservations were at seven, we didn’t want to be stuffed for that still. By three we were on the road.
We had agreed to exchange gifts at dinner, so we didn’t bring them with us. We should have plenty of time to get home, change and relax and head to dinner on time. The first part of the drive was doing pretty good, Gabby was trying to nap some. Traffic was spotty, some areas were a bit more congested but others were smooth. We were past Wellston and about an hour from home.
“Um…Zac?”
“Yes?”
“We can’t stop can we? Is there anywhere to stop?”
“Yeah, we’re approach exit 166. It’s about an hour to home from there.”
“Please stop.”
“Are you okay?”
“I’m having bad cramps and pains I can’t get it to stop, I’m hoping a potty break and walking around will help.”
I pulled off the expressway at the EZ Go. We both went inside, potty break and I got some water for us both. She seemed to be taking forever though. She finally came out of the bathroom and we got back on the road about 4:30. But, it didn’t seem like that break did anything. We were approaching Bristow and she hadn’t stop moving around.
“Do you need to stop? Last chance before we get home.”
“No.”
Her voice sounded different, strained and I glanced over. “Gabriella?”
“I’m..Okay.”
“Are you sure? You don’t sound like you are.”
“It’s..just..my side is hurting.”
“Badly?”
“I think I want to get home.”
I picked up some speed but a few miles past Bristow and we hit stand-still traffic. No one was moving.
“Damnit, there’s probably a wreck ahead. Shouldn’t take too long, they’re quick here.”
It was five now, it felt like it was taking forever to get back home. We should have been there by now. I did move a few feet! We’d been sitting here about fifteen minutes when she grabbed my arm, I nearly screamed myself because fuck it hurt. It was so tight on my lower arms that I definitely felt it!
“Ouch, what are you trying to do?”
I turned to her and she other hand had the door handle and I could tell something was very wrong.
“Gabby?”
“I don’t think they are braxton’s Zac…”
“Why do you say that? He told you they could be bad.”
She eased her grip some after a few minutes. “Yes, but he said they go away. They’re not going away.”
“It’s just a few.”
She glanced at me. “They’ve been pretty steady since about 3:30. They were thirty minutes apart and now there like…20.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“No...”
“Why not get out and walk, maybe it’s the sitting.”
“I’m not getting run over!”
“We’re not moving.”
I was on the lane close to the shoulder too, so she got out and walked right beside the car. I stepped back two cars to a semi truck and the driver was nice enough to roll his window down.
“Excuse me Sir, do you have any idea what happened ahead of us?”
“There was a major wreck, like ten cars were involved. I’m not hearing about any fatalities but they have both sides closed down temporarily. Is your wife okay?”
“Yeah, she’s having some Braxton hicks contractions that are pretty bad.”
He nodded. “We shouldn’t be much longer. If there is no fatality they’ll clear things quickly.”
I returned to the car and got in, she was already sitting.
“The driver said it was a wreck, shouldn’t be much longer.”
5:30 meant another pain that was bad and that kind of worried me. Fifteen minutes? That can’t be good.
“Can you not go pull rank and get us through?!”
“Baby, I can’t do that. I don’t even know how far up the wreck is.”
“Call 911!”
“Baby, they can’t do anything.”
I got her to recline the seat but I was so glad when we did start moving, she seemed to be fine but 5:45 and then six. They were getting stronger and not better. I finally did call 911, told them where I was and what was going on. But, they had cars parked on the side of the road they couldn’t get us through the wreck. He was able to tell me it wouldn’t be much longer.
“Gabby?”
“If they’re not getting me the fuck off this road then I don’t give a shit.”
Fuck, they were getting even closer together and at this point she wasn’t really caring about anything. At 6:10 when that next one came, ten fucking minutes apart, I called them back. There was enough room on the outside of the cars for me to get around, so an officer came back and had me follow him. It took us another fifteen minutes to get around the four miles of standstill traffic and he then gave us an escort because ten minutes wasn’t much time between them and there was another thirty minutes to St. Francis south. I called the hospital on the way, let them know we were coming.
Gabby was somewhere between very quiet and screaming, which was not helping my nerves! I was trying to keep her calmed down and not wreck myself. I parked in the emergency lot and the officer helped me, we arrived at seven and they were still ten minutes apart. The doctor’s were super quick getting her from the emergency room entrance up to labor and delivery. They had her changed and hooked up to a monitor in 30 minutes flat. I guess calling ahead was a good thing.
“When did they start?” She asked.
“About three, she’s been complaining about back and side pain since yesterday, but they always eased off. We went to the Zoo yesterday and did a lot of walking.”
She looked uncomfortable as the lady checked. “You’re at almost nine now, you didn’t notice the mucus plug or your water breaking?”
“I didn’t the plug, no. And my water broke?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I called everyone but for some odd reason, no one answered. I just figured they’d have time, I mean everything I read said hours. The doctor came in at 7:50 to check her for himself and she looked mildly uncomfortable but his next word were it was time to push. Wait….what? Did he say push?! In an ideal situation, Abby or Sierra would be here to get the pictures she wanted. But, neither had answered so I handed my phone to the available nurse and asked her to just record everything. I had cleaned it out this morning also, so I had a lot of space. I really didn’t have time to get anything else to use.
I expected longer but our daughter made her grand entrance at 8:06 pm and the doctor laid her onto Gabby’s chest immediately afterwards. A nurse suctioned her mouth and nose quickly and after about three minutes or so the doctor had me cut the cord.
Our daughter was perfect. She had dark hair that had some length to it, brown eyes, all ten toes and all ten fingers. She was definitely a she. The doctor’s left her laying there for about ten minutes before they moved her, Gabby pointed and I followed them but she started screaming the moment they moved her. I got really good pictures but kept glancing at Gabby. Apparently the doctors were checking her. I noticed the needle and thread in the doctor’s hand.
“Is she okay?”
“Yes, Sir. I actually thought she split, but I think I’m wrong.”
I finally leaned over, got her hand which she grasped a hold of immediately. “Baby girl it’s okay. We’re still here.”
The nurse blinked as the more I talked the quieter she got, I guess she really was use to my voice. Once the nurse was happy with her assessment she picked her up and handed her to me, wrapped loosely in a blanket. Honestly, I heard my phone ring but the little girl in my arms was way more important.
“We will bathe her after she eats, we’d also like some more skin to skin contact.”
I got to hold her for another ten minutes before she seemed to get fussy, my guess was she was hungry. Some nurse got a pink pacifier to give her but Gabby nearly screamed at her. I handed her down to Gabby and she had no problem latching on. Once she was latched well and seemed to be feeding well, Gabby looked up.
“You’re mother called you four times. I love everyone but please I don’t want them all here right now.”
“You won’t be allowed visitors for another hour, not until we’re sure you and baby are fine. We also need to clean and get you settled in here. Until then, no one will be allowed back but him.” The nurse said.
I nodded, figuring that was the deal. They had just got our bands and had them put on.
“That’s fine I can have someone go get our bags and hers.”
I sat down on the bed and called my Mom back. She answered on the second ring.
“I seen where you called, I didn’t expect we’d hear from either of you today.”
“You’re granddaughter is here, she’ll be ready to meet you both in an hour.”
“Wow, what are you talking about Zac?”
“She started having labor pains on the way home, we got caught in a wreck. I called you and a moment later the doctor said it was time. She’s here and perfect. They’re going to get her and Gabby settled and then we can have visitors. We haven’t called anyone else yet and Gabby requested not everyone at once.”
“Completely understandable. We’ll get ready and come up, call us when things have settled.”
“Ok.”
Mom was the only person who called back and since I had told the number one priority for me, I called Shawn next. He answered on the first ring.
“Everything okay? Didn’t expect to hear from you today.”
“We didn’t expect to be calling, um..you’re niece is here.”
“Gabby had her already? I thought she was due in December.”
“She was due in December but Gabby went into labor and by the time we got here, it was…fast. We can’t have visitors just yet but if you are coming up and you don’t mind, can you please go by our house and get our bags and hers?”
“Where are they?”
“I packed them and sat them in the nursery, they should all be in the baby bed.”
“I’ll be there tonight, I’ll find her.”
“408. We’re not moving.”
“Okay.”
I hung-up and then called Taylor and Isaac, but neither answered so I left messages for them to call me as soon as they got the message.
“Do you want me to call Abby and Sierra?”
She nodded, I was shocked she really heard me. She was watching her eat, she was either very good or was more holding that anything.
I called Abby first, but got voicemail and told her to call me but Sierra answered and she was surprised I was calling but demanded a picture. She did talk to Gabby but ultimately chose to come up tomorrow, and Gabby had me send her a picture. I left messages for Julian, Andrew, Jack, and my cousins as well. When she was done nursing Gabby let them take her to be better cleaned, she’d laid against her for a good thirty minutes. Because Gabby had no IV they allowed her to shower briefly while they changed the bed sheets and got things set up for her. I stood by the bed with our little girl, got pictures as they used warm cloths to clean her well. Then they put this generic white shirt on her and a clean diaper. They turned the heat lamps on because her temperature was just a little cool for them. I got several really close up pictures and sent them to Sierra.
They got Gabby settled and I questioned her need for three thick blankets.
“It’s pretty common Mr. Hanson. She’s just had a huge shift in hormones, so shakes are normal. She’ll be fine. She will need to nurse again soon though.”
It wasn’t long before she was trying to eat her hand so they handed her back to Gabby. I sat down beside her.
“How do you feel?” I asked.
“I really cannot answer that it’s some crazy mixture of relief, worry, elation..I just..”
She had her hand and I wiped away a few tears, kissed Gabby when I got her to look at me. I laid my arms around them both and tightened a bit.
“Welcome to the world Marisol Skye.”
Oklahoma City Zoo (They were here before.)