could feel Tara’s eyes on him and he looked at her.
‘Maeve is low risk, Rayne,’ Tara said. ‘It’s her first baby. She’s here on the day before the baby is due. Her waters haven’t broken. She has no infections. Her blood pressure is normal. She’s only been in labour for two hours at the most.’ A sympathetic look. ‘Why are you worried?’
‘It’s my first baby too?’
‘Sure. I get that.’
He didn’t think she did. ‘I’m a paediatrician. They only called me for the babies that might need help and I’ve seen a lot of very sick babies. I guess my idea of normal birth is a bit skewed.’ Or more than a bit, and in any case he’d only found out about this baby today.
‘I get that too. But Maeve’s baby will be fine.’
He wanted to believe that. ‘What if it isn’t?’
‘Then we will manage. It’s what we do.’ She glanced around the homey birthing room for inspiration, or at least something that would reassure him. ‘Why don’t you check the equipment? And the resuscitation trolley? All the drugs on the trolley? Check the suckers and oxygen.’
He couldn’t help his horror showing in his face. ‘You haven’t checked those?’
She actually laughed. ‘Yes, Dr Walters, I have checked those. But I’m trying to distract you!’
‘Oh.’ Now he felt dumb. ‘Sorry.’ He put his finger under the collar of his T-shirt because suddenly it felt tight.
Tara’s voice was gentle. ‘Maybe doing those things would be helpful if Angus called you in an emergency in the next few weeks.’
He sighed. Get a grip. Thank goodness Tara did have a sense of humour. ‘Sorry. It’s just been pretty sudden. I’m not normally such a panic merchant.’
She looked at him. ‘I have no doubt that’s true. I think you’ve done exceptionally well, considering the scenario you’ve fallen into. But here’s the thing.’ Her voice dropped and her face was kind but serious and she glanced at the closed bathroom door. He started to wonder if Maeve and Tara had cooked up this pep talk for him between them.
He guessed he’d never know.
‘I need you to be calm. I need you to be Maeve’s rock. You don’t need to say much—just be here. Agree with her. She really wanted you to be here. And hold her hand when she wants you to. Rub her back when she wants you to. Okay?’
He took a big calming breath. ‘Okay.’
‘No more panic vibes, please. And in the meantime you can familiarise yourself with the equipment only if you need distraction.’
Okay. He got that. The bathroom door opened and Maeve came out. He sat quietly in the corner of the room while Tara felt Maeve’s abdomen, discussed the lie of the baby, which was apparently pointing in exactly the direction and attitude they wanted, and listened to his baby’s heartbeat.
Geez. That was his baby’s heartbeat. Cloppety, cloppety, clop. It was fast. He knew foetal hearts were fast. But was that too fast?
Calm. He needed to be calm. Dissociate. That was the answer. Pretend it wasn’t his baby. Okay. He felt calmer. In fact, he felt in total control. It was cool. Normal heart rate.
‘Rayne?’
‘Yes, Maeve.’
‘Can you hear our baby’s heartbeat?’
‘Yes, I can. It seems very fast!’
Tara looked at him with eyebrows raised.
He racked his brains. ‘Baby must be as excited as we are.’
Maeve laughed. ‘That is so cute.’
Cute. Geez. He stood up. Might go check the equipment.
The next hour was traumatic.
Then Maeve decided to get out of the bath and the hour after that was even worse.
But baby was fine. Heart rate perfect, with no slowing after contractions. Rayne’s heart rate slowed after the contractions because during the contraction it doubled. And not just because he was rubbing Maeve’s back non-stop.
Between contractions Maeve was calm. Rational. Gathering her strength for the next wave. During contractions it was hell.
Noisy. Intense. Painful when she had his hand in hers and dug her nails in.
Tara was the rock. Quiet. Steady. Unflappable. Like the calm in the storm. He’d look across at her when a contraction was at its height and she would be smiling. Gentle and calm. This was Maeve’s profession as well. How did these women do this day in, day out?
‘I am so going to be at your birth, Tara,’ Maeve ground out as the contraction finally eased.
‘Good. We’ll swap places.’
Rayne shook his head. How could they carry on a normal conversation when two minutes ago she was ready to rip all their heads off?
And then it was time to push. Eleven forty-five p.m. He looked at Maeve. It had been incredibly hard work. Perspiration beaded her brow, and he leant across and wiped it.
‘Hey, Rayne,’ she said softly. ‘You okay?’
How could she possibly care about him when she was going through hell? ‘As long as you’re okay, I’m okay.’
‘I’m fine.’
He smiled. ‘I’m fine too.’
She smiled back wearily. ‘Home straight now.’
There had been a bit of a lull in the contractions after a series of torrid strong ones. ‘So why has it stopped?’
‘Nature’s way of giving us a break before the last stretch.’ Then her face changed. ‘Oh.’
The next twenty minutes would be forever etched in his mind. Angus was outside the door in case he was needed. He’d checked, but they didn’t see him. Simon had arrived as well but was waiting to be invited in afterwards. He’d bet there was some pacing happening out there. As much as he was suffering in here, it would have been a hundred times worse imagining outside the door. Especially with the Maeve soundtrack they had playing.
With each pushing contraction a little more of the baby shifted down. The excitement was building and Maeve was much more focused now she could use the contractions to make things happen. If there was one thing his Maeve could do, it was make things happen.
Maeve was impatient. No surprise there. She moved position several times, kneeling, leaning on a ball, leaning on Rayne. Even sitting on the toilet, but that stressed him out until Tara smiled and put a towel over the toilet seat so he could stop envisaging his baby falling into the toilet bowl. But eventually they were standing beside the bed, and he could actually see the hair on his baby’s head.
‘You’re doing well,’
