“It’s early,” I said. I was only thirty-seven weeks along. Would they be small? Too small? Was something wrong?
“Not that early.” Maggie reached over and rubbed my shoulder. “They’ll be fine. Babies have a way of coming in their own time, dear.”
I nodded, tears lining my eyes. “My mom isn’t here. Or Anna.” I felt like a small child then, just wanting her mother, but I didn’t want to go through this alone.
“You got me and the big kid up there.” She motioned to Seth. “And I delivered my eldest in my living room, so you’re in good hands.”
We all laughed, and then I felt my first contraction.
“Oh!” I hissed.
Seth’s knuckles whitened as he gripped the steering wheel.
“Let’s lean you back and make you a bit more comfortable.” Maggie’s voice was calm, but there was a slight edge to it. She pulled the lever to lean my chair back, and then she got behind me and put her hands under my shoulders to massage my lower back.
“Oh, that feels good,” I told her, trying not to freak out. Should we pull over and call 911? No, that would take forever. How far from town were we? I hadn’t been paying attention.
“See, an old lady can still be useful.”
“Should I call the hospital and tell them we are coming?” Seth sounded half a second away from a panic attack.
“If it makes you feel better, dear,” Maggie answered, and I smiled at that answer.
He picked up his cell phone, and after a few seconds, someone answered and he told them the situation. They said they would call my doctor and be ready for us at the hospital.
Another contraction hit, and Maggie looked at the clock on the dashboard.
“How far apart are they?” I asked her. I knew she was trying to see if I was going to have these twins in the car, and I was praying to God that wasn’t the case.
“You’re gonna be fine, dear,” was all she said.
I’d been having pain all day, but I’d thought they were Braxton Hicks because they weren’t that bad. Then the hip pain had been with me for weeks, so I’d thought that wasn’t anything new, either. Had I been in labor all day?
Seth glanced at his mother, and she just nodded once, so he increased his speed a few more miles per hour.
“Want me to sing you a song, dear?” Maggie said as I moaned with the next contraction.
“Please, no,” Seth said. “I love you, but your voice will traumatize those babies.”
I laughed, but it hurt, so I stopped.
“You sing, then. Take her mind off of this,” she told Seth.
He got off the highway and turned right. “Uhh, I can’t think. What should I sing?”
A huge cramp hit my abdomen, worse than ever before, and I reached out and grasped his biceps. “Anything!” I shouted.
“Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer. Had a very shiny nose?—”
“Anything but that,” I amended, moaning and breathing like Maggie had taught me.
He opened his mouth then and began to sing the Lord’s prayer in the most beautiful, resonant timbre. I’d forgotten how lovely his voice was since hearing it at Christmas. A peace came over me with each word he sang, and I knew I was in God’s hands and nothing bad was going to happen to these babies.
We made it to the hospital, and the staff was outside waiting for me with a wheelchair and my doctor.
When Seth popped out, he opened the door for me, and the nurse helped me into the wheelchair.
“You the dad?” she asked Seth, and it was like he’d been struck by lightning. His face went slack.
