Rushing into the emergency room, I watch helpless, as they remove her clothes and the OB walks in. “Looks like your water broke,” she says after checking her cervix.
“Oh no. Is the baby…” Zoya begins to ask her. I walk over after having changed and kiss her head.
“I am sure the baby is going to be fine, Pixie. Right doc?” I look at her, my eyes begging her to please agree with me.
“Well, let’s see if we can push. The heart rate is dropping, and I would rather not waste time cutting you open, Zoya. Let’s try to get your baby out.” Looking down at my terrified wife, I mentally vow to not show her how scared I am as well.
“Alright baby. Let’s do this. Let’s get our baby here.” I say leaning down and kissing her.
“Ok Danhy. I’m ready.” She wipes her eyes and braces herself. I give a silent moment of prayer to my mother that she save my baby on the day we said goodbye to her.
“Oh my gosh. Danhy! Look at how beautiful she is.” My wife says to me between breaths. She pushed for thirty minutes, barely stopping to breathe and now, in my arms, is our baby girl.
“Yes. She is so beautiful.” I say staring at her. “What should we name her?” We thought we had more time to pick names.
“Enid,” my wife says, not hesitating. I look at her, my mouth open and my eyes welling up.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes! Enid Zatara Jorgensen. After your mom and mine.” She says opening her arms to hold her. I place the baby in her arms.
“Thank you, Pixie. My mother would have been so happy.”
“Mr. and Mrs. Jorgensen. My name is Nurse Lori. I am the NICU nurse assigned to your baby. I have to place her in the incubator and take her upstairs. You should be able to come and see her in an hour. Do you have any questions?” She asks as she places the baby inside and puts her special anklet on her.
“Yes. How long will she have to be here?” Zoya asks, her mommy instincts kicking in already.
“All depends on how quickly she gains weight and catches on to drinking out of a bottle. The doctor will be able to answer more questions.” She walks out, rolling the bed in front of her. Once they are out of eyesight, I sit next to my wife. Looking at her, so exhausted and beautiful, I can’t help but feel joy, even on this day of gray.
Epilogue
Zoya
Ten Years Later
“Enid Zatara, get your butt in gear! The Christmas pageant starts in twenty minutes. We can’t be late again this year,” I shout up the stairs at my precocious nine-year-old daughter. Thank God, everything in this town is literally only five minutes from anywhere.
“I am coming, mama,” she shouts back in already too sassy for my tastes voice.
“What’s taking so long?” I ask. “Do you need help?”
“NO! I do not need any help. My hair was not doing what I wanted it to do,” she says forlornly as she stomps down the stairs.
“Aww, babe. What did you want it to do?” I ask.
“I wanted it to be curly, like Migan’s.” Poor girl. Her hair is straight as hell.
“Is there a specific reason you wanted it to be so different?”
“Robby Brooks,” she whispers. Sounds about right. I look at my watch and determine I have just enough time to do something elaborate with it.
“I figured. Let me try something,” I say turning her away from me. I gather up her hair and work a little of what I like to call Mom Magic. When I am finished, it’s up in a wild updo. “Hold on, I think it needs a little something to make it pop,” I say heading over to the Christmas tree where I pull a few strands of tinsel off and tuck it into her hair. In the mirror by the door, she gushes.
“Mama, it’s perfect. How did you do it?”
“Magic. Let’s go, your daddy and brothers are in the car,” I say ushering her out the door. Danhy, my rock, has the car warmed up with Dashell and Alexi already buckled in. Dashell is seven and Alexi is five. I found out I was pregnant again this morning, but I haven’t had a moment alone with Danhy yet.
After Enid died, I wasn’t myself. Even after the baby was born, I was lost for a little while. Talking to Bill again helped, but in the end, I had to pull myself up by the bootstraps and move on. Just as I was starting to feel better, Thor passed away barely six months after Enid. I am honestly surprised that he lasted that long. He was miserable and we watched him fade away just like Enid. It was hard on everyone, but Danhy was devastated. He was really close with his dad too. The whole family is close as can be and somehow over the last ten years we’ve gotten closer. I think between my in-laws and nieces and nephews we have around fifty kids now and it seems like everyday someone else says that they are pregnant. Our weekly family dinner is done outside now with about FIFTEEN picnic tables, at least in the summer. In winter, we pick a house and park our asses wherever we can. I think Enid would be proud of the traditions we’ve kept going and the new ones we’ve started.