“Your Highness, Your Highness." He nods to each of us.
"Dr. Patell, how lovely to see you." I say, holding my hand out, feeling very much like the regal young woman for a change of pace. Apparently, In Labour Princess Tessa is actually quite calm and fabulous. Who would’ve thought?
"I'm afraid Dr. Dropp isn't going to be able to make it on account of the roads."
"Oh. I'm sure it's fine, we can just send the police for her," Arthur says, then quickly follows that up with, "not that you wouldn't do a fantastic job, I'm sure."
The chief of police, who drove with us, shakes his head. "We’re not going to be able to do that right now, Your Highness. We have to get the rest of the squad cars back to their positions at the various roadblocks. But if someone gets me her address, we may be able to pick her up within the next few hours.”
"It's fine, really," I say, smiling serenely at the police chief, then at Dr. Patell. "We’re in good hands as it is.”
Arthur takes a breath, and I know he's about to protest, so I squeeze his hand and shake my head a little bit. "It's fine, darling."
Dr. Patell smiles at Arthur. "Don't worry, I've been brushing up on my hand-eye coordination, and I’m not drunk."
“Brilliant. Let’s get on with it, shall we?” Arthur says, his face turning a little red.
***
WELL, IT'S BEEN SIXhours since I had my first contraction, and I have to say, serene, calm In Early Labour Tessa has now been replaced by Extremely Grumpy, Don't Fucking Talk to Me, This Hurts Like a Mother Fucker Tessa. The crappy part is Dr. Patell just checked, and I'm only 5 cm dilated. He's left to go have a nap, leaving instructions with the nurse to wake him should things progress quickly. Although it doesn't sound like that’s likely, because the last thing he said before he walked out was, “See you in a few hours."
At least the nurse who’s been assigned to me is both kind and competent. Her name is Nancy, and she’s kind and yet has a take-charge aura that I find quite comforting. She’ll get us through this.
I am sweaty, tired, and way too hot, even though I'm only wearing this stupid hospital gown. I've already taken four showers, and we've tried everything from me sitting on the exercise ball to Arthur rubbing my back during contractions to that ridiculous breathing to visualizing my happy place, which to be quite honest, is anywhere but here—a rather vague and ineffective happy place, to be honest.
Two hours later, Dr. Patell returns, looking still exhausted, but now his hair is sticking out in the back, proof that he just napped. "How are we doing?"
"Weare getting a little sick of this labour business, actually,” I say haughtily.
“Ah, I see.” Dr. Patell nods.
I take a deep breath and try to return to Serene Princess Tessa. “I’m wondering if you've seenThe Crown?"
"Nobody does the twilight sleep anymore. It was outlawed over forty years ago all over Europe."
He gestures for me to lay down on the bed for another check. Once I’m settled on it, I stare up at the ceiling, convincing my knees to fall apart from each other. After a few moments, they do what they're told and I wait, expecting to hear that it's almost time, but instead Dr. Patell says, "That's not what I was hoping for."
"What does that mean?" Arthur asks, making a move from where he stands at my side toward the end of the bed, then quickly changing his mind and backing away from the business end of his pregnant wife.
“You’re still at 5 cm. I think we should hook up the monitors to see how everybody's doing inside here." Rolling his stool away, he stands and takes off the plastic gloves, then tosses them in the bin.
Nurse Nancy nods and opens the cupboard, then pulls out a cart of electronic equipment. Arthur helps me sit up so she can wrap two straps over my belly. Once the machines are turned on, it takes another few minutes for her to find the heart rates of each of the babies. Dr. Patell hooks up an oxygen monitor to my finger and a band around my arm.
Then we wait.
Another contraction comes on, and the beeping sound gets louder and more insistent.
"Why is it beeping like that?" Arthur asks.
"Sometimes, when things aren't progressing and the contractions are getting closer together and more intense, it's possible for the babies to experience a little distress."
"Are they?" I ask, propping myself up on my elbows, as if that's going to help anything at all.
"It looks like that wasn't too fun for Baby A."
"What does that mean?" Arthur says.
"It means we watch closely. For now, they’re fine. You see, the baby's blood pressure went back to normal now that the contraction has stopped. No need to worry though because if it continues to go up like that, we’re all set to go in right away."
