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“No. This position is actually the most comfortable right now. I didn’t think my back would hurt so much.”
I crossed the lobby to her and placed my hand against her lower back. She arched into my touch.
“That feels so good. Your hand feels so nice and warm.”
I began rubbing my hand back and forth across her lower back, anything to ease her pain.
After a few minutes, her grip seemed to ease on the couch, and she lifted her head.
“I think I can sit down now.”
I helped her stand on both feet until she could turn and lower back to the couch.
“Do you want your legs up?” I asked.
“That might be good,” she said.
I got her settled and as comfortable as she could be before I returned to the front desk and began my search for her doctor’s phone number. There were so many sticky notes scattered around.
“Why isn’t everything written on the same note?” I asked.
“That would require organization that I seem to be lacking at the moment,” Lydia said. “Look at the giant desk calendar. I may have written in Dr. Rose’s phone number there.”
I scanned the dates of the calendar to see if she had noted any appointments. I saw Dr Rose’s name written in, but no phone number. I noticed some scratch marks along the edge. It looked like a phone number. I called out the numbers to Lydia.
“Does that sound like Dr. Rose’s number?” I asked.
“Yes, that’s it.”
I immediately dialed. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said as the call went to voicemail.
I left a message and the inn’s callback number. Not satisfied, I immediately dialed the number again.
This time, it was answered.
“This is Dr. Rose. Can I help you?”
“I have Lydia Walsh here. She is in labor,” I said.
“Are you certain?” The doctor seemed very calm. “Is she having contractions?”
“She’s definitely having contractions, and she seems to be in a lot of pain.”
“How far apart are the contractions? Have you timed them?” she asked.
“They seem constant.” I put my hand over the mouthpiece. “Lydia, she wants to know how far apart your contractions are.”
“They seem to be coming in clusters,” Lydia said. “One on top of the other, and then I get a break for maybe ten or fifteen minutes before they’re doing it again.”
I repeated the information to the doctor.
“Have you contacted the birthing center?” was her next question.
“I have. They said that nobody is there because of the storm and Christmas,” I grumbled.
“Oh, you’re having a storm?” Dr. Rose asked.
“Aren’t you in town?”