And then–a head!
“I can see the baby!” Dr. Horák crowed, wiping his bald head. “Push! Push harder!”
Alexei was slick with sweat, his voice sounding strangled with emotion.
“You’ve got this!”
Jessabella bore down, closing her eyes, her blonde curls sticking to her face with sweat.
But the head didn’t pop out this time.
“She must push harder!” Dr. Horák ordered.
“I can’t! That’s as hard as I can push,” Jessabella whimpered, leaning her head back against the bed and I brushed the slick curls out of her face and adjusted her ponytail with a trembling hand.
“Maybe switch positions. Can you get onto your hands and knees?”
“Hurry,” Dr. Horák ordered, and we all helped Jessabella flip over.
“I can’t.”
“Yes, you can, sweetheart. You can do this. A big push. Let’s go, baby girl.”
Her nails dug into the wet pillow and she pushed again, and this time, I saw even more of the baby’s head pressing out.
“Almost there! So close!”
“You got this!” Alexei’s voice came numbly through my haze.
Curly blonde hair. Oh my god.
Our baby. Our baby. Our baby.
“She’s looking so beautiful,” I cried, and I wasn’t even sure how I knew for certain she was a girl, but I absolutely did.
Jessabella bore down again, stretching her thighs as wide as they could go, and then the baby’s whole head was out and the doctor reached up to gently turn her shoulders and our baby came out in a gush of liquid.
“She’s perfect!” Dr. Horák said, and I felt tears begin to fall down my cheeks as he raised our daughter high, the umbilical cord pulsing with life-giving blood.
“Who wants to cut the cord?” he asked, and I looked over at Alexei, tears of relief and joy pouring down our cheeks.
“Both of us,” we said together, and, our hands carefully gripping the scissors, we snipped the cord that brought our daughter into the world.
The nurse was wrapping her up in a soft yellow blanket, when suddenly the doctor shouted in surprise.
“There’s another baby in here! Push, Jessabella!”
What the hell?
I turned to see another head, this one full of dark curls, emerging from the birth canal.
Jessabella screamed with exertion, tipping her hips up as the doctor rushed to guide the twin’s shoulders out.
“You’ve got this!” I encouraged. “Take a breath and push!”
One hand gripping Alexei and one hand gripping me, she gave a low, powerful groan and then our second baby came out in another rush of liquid, his face scrunched up to the light.
“Just the placenta left,” the nurse advised as Jessabella flopped down on her back.
