| |
Pitt
“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my fucking god,” Pitt groaned as he rocked back and forth in my arms. “How much longer is this going to take?”
“Until she decides to make her entrance, baby.”
“It’s been twelve hours already,” he groaned.
Pitt’s labor had been anything but easy. His water broke as he finished cleaning the windows; he’d become a clean-a-holic in the last few weeks. Mama said he was nesting and that it was completely normal. The contractions had started not long after that. At first, the contractions weren’t too bad; they were not that close together, and the pain was manageable. But now we were heading into the thirteenth hour, and Pitt was exhausted and in pain. The contractions seemed to be coming one on top of the other.
I felt helpless. I wanted to be able to take away the pain from my mate, but there wasn’t anything I could do. He had to ride it through.
Pitt let out another groan, and his arms tightened around my neck. We’d started off lying in bed, but then Dr. Rankin had suggested that we stand and walk as it sometimes helped the baby come faster.
“I don’t know how much longer I can do this, Obsidian,” Pitt groaned.
When I looked down at him, he had tears in his eyes. He’d been so brave. Pitt had decided from the moment we found out he was pregnant that he didn’t want pain relief and wanted very little medical assistance. He was happy to have Juniper in the hospital but wanted it to go naturally. I guess he wasn’t planning on it taking so long.
“That’s okay, baby. If you want to get some medication, then do that. There is nothing wrong with that,” I said with encouragement.
Pitt nodded his head but groaned as another contraction took over. Once he’d moved through the contraction, I slowly walked him over to the bed and pressed the button on the buzzer.
A nurse came into the room with a smile. “How’s it going?” she asked.
“He isn’t coping very well with the pain right now; I was just hoping to see if we can do a check on him and see whether we could get some pain meds,” I said, just as Pitt let out another groan.
“Of course. Pitt, do you want to remain to stand, or would you be more comfortable sitting on a bed?”
Pitt shook his head. “No. I’ll stand. I feel like the baby's head is right there; if I sit, I will squish her.”
The nurse chuckled as she put some gloves on. “The feeling of her head down low could be a good sign; it might mean that she is ready to start coming out. I’m just going to have a little look.” The nurse walked behind Pitt and knelt down. “Oh shit.”
“Oh, shit, what?” I said with fear.
“It’s alright, the baby is just having a little trouble coming out because she was in a double sac,” the nurse said with concern. “Pitt, don’t push for me for a minute; I need to try and break the waters.”
Tears fell from Pitt’s eyes. My heart was racing as I wondered if we’d missed something. I looked behind Pitt but couldn’t see anything.
“Obsidian, I’ll get you to press that buzzer three long times, please,” the nurse instructed.
I did as she said and watched in horror as soon doctors and nurses seemed to come from everywhere, wheeling in all equipment and talking over each other. I didn’t know what was going on and the fear I felt was overwhelming.
“Pitt?” I asked. My mate’s eyes were closed tight, and a steady stream trekked down over his cheeks. “It’s going to be alright, Pitt.”
Pitt shook his head, and I could see his whole-body trembling under the weight of his anxiety.
“Please do something,” I said, looking between the nurses and doctors.
Dr. Rankin smiled tenderly at me. “It’s going to be alright. The baby seems fine; she is encased in a second amniotic sac so we will have to break the waters. But Pitt, I need you to do your best to climb onto the bed on your knees for me.”
Pitt nodded his head, and as he held my arm, I helped him to climb onto the bed. I was finally able to see Pitt’s birth canal. Our daughter looked like she was trapped inside a plastic bag. Her face was smooshed and not entirely out of Pitt. My heart was ricocheting against my chest. How could this happen? How didn’t we notice? Pitt hadn’t mentioned anything about needing to push. I was so confused and the more I looked at my daughter the more concern I felt. This wasn’t normal. There was something very wrong.
“Pitt, I want you to bear down with the next contraction,” Dr. Rankin instructed. “I want some shifter blood bags on hand.”
Nurses were running in and out of the room; some were carrying blankets, bags of blood, and instruments. Pitt made an animalistic cry as he pushed, and I watched our baby fall into the nurse's arms.
“Alright, let's get him onto his back,” Dr. Rankin said. Nurses quickly helped Pitt onto his back, and I watched in horror as a large gush of blood poured from my mate. His face paled, and his eyes rolled. In the background I heard our daughter cry out and looked over to see the nurse cutting away the bag she’d been born in. But my mate was unconscious and there was blood pouring from him so much it was running off the bed and onto the floor.
“Pitt,” I screamed.
“Obsidian, you need to come out for a moment. We are going to do everything we can to make him better,” a nurse said to me.
“No,” I screamed. “I’m not leaving my mate.”
“Obsidian, you will leave now,” Dr. Rankin growled, letting his alpha ripple enough that I had no choice but obey.
I walked out of the room with tears streaming down my cheeks and panic in my chest so tight that I thought I would suffocate.
“Sid,” Bacchus called as he came running down the hallway, followed by my brothers. They pulled me into their arms and held me as I sobbed. I didn’t know how they knew, but it didn’t matter. All that mattered was my mate might be dying and I couldn’t do anything to prevent it.
We were left in the waiting area for what felt like hours. Mama and Papa had joined us along with Pitt’s family. We all wore the same look on our faces. Fear, worry, and grief. None of us knew anything. No one told us anything. And when someone asked, they were told they were working on Juniper and Pitt.
Finally, Dr. Rankin entered the waiting room, and I stood. He smiled and reached out a hand to clasp my arm.
“Is this all of Pitt’s family, too?” he asked.
I looked at the faces that showed the same worry as mine did and nodded my head.
“Alright. Pitt is currently stable. However, we had to do surgery to remove his birth sac. It is very rare, but I’ve seen a few omegas; when they get pregnant, the baby, which is normally encased in an amniotic sac, will be held in a second sac. However, like in this case with Pitt, it isn’t picked up in the ultrasound. It looks just like a thicker amniotic sac which is quite normal. Also, because Pitt’s waters had broken it was assumed that meant there had been only one sac. In cases like this it’s that outer sac that breaks and there is only a small amount of amniotic fluid that is released, and the baby will sometimes be born in the second sac. The skin of the second sac is harder and very similar to a finger nail that has been soaked for a long time in water. Unfortunately, that also means that it tears the placenta from the wall of the birth sac and therefore, the omega hemorrhages. This is what happened to Pitt. However, thankfully he was here in the hospital, and we were able to give him blood and remove the birth sac before he bled out.”
Dr. Rankin’s words were going into my head, but all I could think was that Pitt was stable. My mate was still alive.
“Juniper?” I asked.
“Is quite healthy. Thankfully we were able to get to her in time, and she was born very healthy at just a little over six pounds.”
I breathed out a sigh of relief. “Can I see her?”
“Of course, I’ll have one of the nurses bring her out to you so that you can all see her. As for Pitt, he is going to be very sore and tired until he can shift. But other than that, he will make a full recovery. However, I’m afraid that he won’t be able to have any more children.”
“I understand,” I said. Although it was a blow, in the long run, it didn’t matter. As long as my daughter and mate were alive and healthy, that was all I cared about.
A few minutes after Dr. Rankin left, a nurse wheeled a bassinet into the waiting area with a smile, and I got my first look at my daughter. She was beautiful. She had dark hair the same as me, with the same brown eyes as Pitt. She was the perfect combination. Juniper was passed around and kissed and cuddled by everyone before I took her back and walked with her into the room where Pitt was recovering.
Juniper let out a little squeal as if she knew Pitt was her Papa the minute, I laid her on his chest. Pitt’s eyes slowly opened, and he looked up at me.
“Hey baby, Juniper is on your chest,” I said.
Pitt looked down at our daughter with so much love on his face; I knew she would be the most spoiled and cared for little girl that could ever exist. I couldn’t wait to get her face tattooed on the centre of my chest. I’d always kept that spot blank for the hopes that one day I would have a child to add there.
“I’m so lucky,” Pitt whispered as he kissed the top of Juniper’s head.
“Me too, baby, me too.”
The end.