Part 7: First Breath
“Push, Audrey! One more long, steady push!” the resident ordered, his voice cutting cleanly through the ringing in Audrey’s ears.
Audrey gripped Marcus’s hand so hard she felt the bones in his fingers shift. Every muscle in her body strained against the white-hot agony of transition. She closed her eyes, heard her own voice shouting a raw, primal cry of exhaustion and defiance, and pushed with every ounce of strength she had left in her soul.
The room seemed to tilt on its axis.
Then, cutting sharply through the steady hum of the heart monitors, came a high, clear, furious sound—the unmistakable, beautiful wail of a newborn infant taking her first breath of air.
“You’ve got a healthy baby girl,” the resident announced, lifting the squalling, writhing infant up into the bright overhead light and wrapping her instantly in a warm, sterile blue blanket. “Cervix is clear, vitals are stable. Congratulations, Mrs. Mercer.”
Brooke Ellis let out a loud, emotional sob of relief, wiping her eyes with a paper towel. Marcus exhaled a breath he seemed to have been holding for ten minutes, slumping back against the wall with a watery grin spreading across his face.
Even Caleb smiled, a small, tentative curve of the lips that chased away the dark shadows lingering in his eyes.
The resident handed the bundled infant down to Audrey’s chest.
Audrey looked down at the tiny, wrinkled red face, the shock of dark hair, and the small fists waving blindly in the air. A thick wave of profound, overwhelming relief washed over her, washing away the terror of the past hour, the trauma of her past mistakes, and the heavy ghosts of county courtrooms.
“Hi,” Audrey whispered, her voice cracking as tears spilled freely down her cheeks. She pressed her lips against the baby’s soft forehead. “Hi, sweetheart. You’re safe. We’re both safe.”
Ten minutes later, the heavy double doors at the end of the west corridor burst open with a crash of metal.
Ben Mercer came sprinting down the hallway, breathless, his hair disheveled, his heavy leather jacket half-zipped, clutching a travel bag in his fist like a weapon. He had caught the earliest possible flight from Pittsburgh, rented a car at the airport, and driven ninety miles an hour through the pouring rain to reach St. Vincent Medical Center.
“Audrey!” Ben shouted, skidding to a halt outside Room 114.
May you like
He saw his wife lying propped up in the hospital bed, pale and exhausted, holding a tiny bundle wrapped in blue hospital flannel. Standing beside her were Marcus, Caleb, and a very bewildered team of nurses.
Ben dropped his travel bag onto the linoleum with a heavy thud, rushed to the side of the bed, and dropped to his knees, burying his face gently in the curve of Audrey’s neck.
