The moment she saw Waylynn, Liberty started crying. Waylynn rushed to Liberty side and took her hand.
“I…I was worried you wouldn’t make it!” Liberty said as she cried.
“Oh my sweet girl, it’s okay! We’re here.”
I walked to the other side and looked at everything hooked up to Liberty.
“It monitors my contractions…which are getting pretty intense.”
“Have you taken anything for the pain?” I asked.
“I wanted to wait for you to see if it was okay.”
Waylynn and I looked at each other in horror.
“Liberty! This is your delivery. You do what you need to do to make it as easy as you can.”
Relief washed over her face. “Okay, ’cause I could really use an epidural.”
The nurse chuckled. “I’ll let the doctor know you’re asking for one.”
“Do you need anything?” I asked.
She shook her head. “No, thank you. Wanda and Mick left to go get lunch. I’m so blessed to have them in my life.”
“They are pretty amazing,” I added.
After a few minutes, the doctor we’d met last week walked into the room.
“Wonderful! Everyone’s here. Let’s take a look and see how you’re progressing, and if we can call the anesthesiologist for that epidural.”
“Should I step outside?” I asked.
The doctor glanced to Liberty. “Only if Liberty wants you to. You can’t see anything if you stand where you are.
“It’s totally fine,” she said.
After examining Liberty, the doctor stood. “You’re about six centimeters dilated so I see no need to hold off on getting you that epidural.”
Both Liberty and Waylynn sighed. Once the epidural took affect, Liberty dozed.
“How long until she is ready to push?” I asked Waylynn.
“I talked to Paxton about it. She said with Gage she was stuck at five centimeters for a few hours with no forward progress, but once things got moving, they got moving fast.”
I swallowed hard. My nerves were on edge. If that had been Waylynn lying there, I’d have gone out of my mind with worry. “I’m glad she is resting. Maybe we should head down and grab a bite to eat while she’s sleeping.”
Waylynn agreed. After meeting up with her parents and Wanda and Mick in the waiting room, we headed down to the cafeteria. We grabbed some sandwiches and coffee, then headed back to the waiting room. The nurse walked up with a huge smile on her face.
“We’re ready to push.”
Waylynn jumped up. “What? Already?”
She motioned for us to follow her back to Liberty’s room. Waylynn spun around and looked at her parents. “This is it. Oh my God! Can you call everyone?”
Melanie stood. “Of course, darling. Now, go! Give Liberty a kiss for me.”
I took Waylynn’s hand, and we walked quickly back to Liberty’s delivery room.
When I opened the door, the doctor was examining her so I looked away and headed to the side of the bed.
“We are at ten centimeters, people, and this little one is ready to make an appearance.”
“She was feeling sick, so I let her smell some peppermint oil,” Darcy, the doula Waylynn had hired, said.
“Are you feeling better, sweetie?” Waylynn asked as she pushed Liberty’s hair away from her eyes.
She nodded. Darcy had been amazing during this whole process. Before we’d gotten there, she’d massaged Liberty through the contractions.
“This is it? Are y’all ready?” Liberty asked, her eyes filled with something I wasn’t sure how to read. My biggest fear was that she was going to back out and Waylynn’s heart would be broken all over again.
“The question is, are you ready?” Waylynn asked her as she took her hand.
Liberty’s gaze bounced back and forth between me and Waylynn. “I’m ready, and as much as I love the baby, I know I’m doing the right thing. I want y’all to be her parents. I know you can give her the life I’m not able to right now.”
Relief swept over me as Waylynn leaned forward and kissed Liberty on the forehead.
“Alright, let’s get this show on the road, shall we?”
After Darcy explained how to hold Liberty’s legs, the doctor went over what to expect. I would be cutting the umbilical cord. Liberty declined to hold the baby first, feeling it was important for Waylynn to be the first to hold the baby, skin to skin, so they had an immediate bond. I couldn’t imagine what that must have felt like for Liberty to do that. Waylynn started to argue, but Liberty insisted it be done that way, and Waylynn quickly backed down.
Then it happened. The baby’s head appeared, and I nearly broke down in tears. Waylynn coached Liberty through the pushes as the doctor and I stared at the little bit of dark hair that appeared.
“Oh. My. God,” I whispered. One of the nurses walked up to me.
“Mr. Turner, are you feeling okay?”
I pointed in the mirror. “That’s…that’s a head. That’s a head right there!”
She chuckled. “That’s your baby’s head, yes.”