style="font-size:15px;"> ‘You’re not going anywhere,’ Tayla hissed, but this time Georgia didn’t hear.
Please, God, she prayed silently, don’t let anyone notice the tiny rivulets of fluid in her wake. She could feel the eyes of the congregation on her back.
Suddenly the trickle became a gush and her baby kicked and squirmed in an agitated dance that evicted any thought of who was watching and sent prickles of unease down Georgia’s spine.
This didn’t feel right and her baby’s panic was communicated to Georgia even though she had never experienced labour before. At work she’d seen labour go wrong and she tried not to allow those memories to intrude.
She remembered the words of her Calmbirth midwife—listen to your body. Listen to your instincts. Her belly heaved as her baby twisted again. Her instinct said she needed to go to the hospital and her baby demanded speed.
She lifted her eyes in panic. She needed help, and suddenly help was there. The steady gaze of Max grounded her panic with calmness and a strong, reassuring hand on her shoulder.
She swallowed the lump of fear in her throat. The last time she’d seen him he’d been at the altar with Tayla. She darted a look to the front of the church and her cousin glared with real menace towards both of them.
‘Your waters have broken?’
She nodded, still stunned that Max had left his bride. Georgia didn’t have the mental space to go there. Tayla would have to get used to being married to a doctor, but not yet—at least not until after the wedding.
‘You’ve been having contractions.’ His voice was gentle and she looked back at him because it was better than looking at the gaping assembly.
Her baby twisted and turned like a fish on a hook and she cupped her stomach and grabbed his hand as the next contraction squeezed.
‘Hard and fast. Something’s wrong.’ It was difficult to get the words out through the pain. ‘Something else came out with the water. I’m thinking cord prolapse.’
Cord prolapse was one of the true obstetric emergencies and they both knew it.
If a baby hadn’t ‘dropped’ or engaged its head in the pelvis, a loop of cord could fall between the baby’s head and the bottom of the uterus when the waters broke. With four weeks to go in Georgia’s pregnancy her baby hadn’t dropped yet so it was dreadfully possible.
Any contractions she had after that could force the hard head of the baby onto the presenting cord and cut off the flow of oxygen from mother to baby. With no oxygen her baby would die.
If that was the case they needed to try to keep Georgia’s baby’s head from coming down onto the umbilical cord. Minutes counted.
‘I’m scared, Max.’ She’d never met this man in her life and suddenly it felt OK to call him Max.
His eyes softened and he nodded once. ‘I know. We need to get you to the hospital ASAP.’
He flipped open his phone and spoke briefly into it. ‘Let’s get you outside to the car. An ambulance can meet us on the road if we don’t beat them there.’
He scooped her up in his arms and she cringed. ‘Your beautiful suit.’
‘It’s only a suit.’ He grinned down at her and incredibly his eyes were golden and caring and she suddenly felt her baby had a chance, even though the odds were stacked against them.
Another contraction coiled viciously through her and she moaned. This was terrifying.
Max carried her swiftly to his black limousine. White ribbons fluttered on the long bonnet and the JUST MARRIED placard sat proudly on the boot.
Georgia shifted in his arms as she twisted her neck to see. ‘Not this car, Max. The seats.’
‘To hell with the seats. At least we have room and the windows are tinted.’
Max’s chauffeur’s usually impassive expression faltered as Max deposited the wrong woman in the wedding car.
‘Newcastle Hospital ASAP. I’ll pay the speeding fines,’ Max said over his shoulder as he climbed in after her. He pulled shut the door before he sat opposite Georgia and shrugged out of his jacket.
The car accelerated away from the kerb and Georgia fell back in a heap. Max leaned across from the facing seat to help her balance.
‘Can you check and tell me if you can feel the umbilical cord?’ He smiled sympathetically at her and suddenly it was OK. They were a team working together to help save a baby—her baby.
With difficulty she knelt on the soft leather seat, closed her eyes mortified as a rivulet of pink fluid disappeared down the back of the seat, and hitched up the wet satin creation designed by a leading Sydney fashion house.
That morning, when she’d struggled with clipping her thigh-high stockings to the garter belt, she’d thought it a shame no one would see the pretty lace of the belt. What a joke. Once she got to the hospital, everyone would be looking at her.
As she slipped her hand down into her panties she knew what she would find—she could feel it beating like her own heartbeat except slower. Sure enough, a loop of umbilical cord fell into her hand.
Before she could confirm her finding to Max, the next contraction was on top of her and with this pain the urge to push was overpowering. It couldn’t happen this quick! They were supposed to stop the labour until they could get her to operating theatre and do a Caesarean section to save her baby.
‘Ma-ax,’ she wailed and she grabbed his hand, put her chin on her chest and pushed, unable to stop herself.
Still calm, his voice was kind. ‘There’s no time for modesty. You know that, don’t you, Georgia? Let me see.’
Max’s face was composed but in that moment she saw the stressed beat of the vein in his temple and she knew he doubted her baby’s chances despite his calm voice.
The look of surprise on his face made a tiny shaft of hope slice through the pain to imprint on Georgia’s thoughts.
‘First baby?’ His eyes met hers in question.
‘Absolutely. Probably last,’ she gasped.
He smiled at that and sat back. ‘Well, your baby is ready to come and is almost here. Let nature finish the job, Georgia.’
That was all she needed to find the rest of her strength and with the next pain fast on the heels of the last she concentrated from deep within herself and willed her baby to fly out into the world before the lack of oxygen from the compression of the cord could take away her life.
When she opened her eyes Max was unwinding the cord from around the baby’s neck and lifting her towards Georgia, and incredibly a miniature angry red face screwed up to emit a bellow that almost lifted the roof off the car.
Max laughed and she blinked and looked again at this tiny roaring child of immense determination and began to shake in shock.
‘My God.’ Max wiped his eyes on his upper arm and
