Page 23 of Heartbeat Harmony (Hearts in Hawthorne #2)

Autumn grinned impishly. “Maybe I’ll let you. This weekend. For now, we both need to go home and get a good night’s sleep. Triple H opens at seven tomorrow morning, and I have a feeling we both want to be here when it does.”

“Let me take you to your car.” He smiled wolfishly. “And maybe steal a goodnight kiss.”

She laughed. “You can try.”

They went out a staff door and headed toward the employee parking lot, which was located next to the side of the building where the ER stood.

As they reached her car, she saw headlights.

A car came barreling up to ER, where only a dim light glowed since it was yet to be open.

A man jumped out and ran up to the doors, knocking on the glass and shouting.

“Anyone in there? Please? Help! My wife is having a baby.”

Without hesitation, Autumn and Eli broke out in a run, heading toward the car. By the time they reached it, the frantic man was returning and saw them.

“Can you help? Are you a doctor?’

“Doctor and nurse,” Eli replied crisply. “Let’s talk to your wife.” He opened the passenger door, but it was empty.

Autumn heard a groan from the rear of the car and said, “Open the back of your SUV. What’s your name?”

“Mike. Mike Anderson. My wife’s Leah.”

He hurried to the back and lifted the gate. She saw Leah Anderson lying on her side, moaning softly.

“I’ll grab a gurney,” Eli said, racing away.

“Hi, Leah. I’m Autumn. I’m a nurse at Triple H. Dr. Carson just went to get something to roll you inside. Can you tell me when you’re due?”

“Not for another two weeks,” the woman gasped, her face flushed. “Yesterday, I had those Braxton-Hicks contractions. Mike drove me to Gainesville, where my OB is. She said it was false contractions. That I would know the real ones when they came.”

Leah panted as Eli returned with the gurney and instructed Mike to help him in lifting his wife onto it. Leah groaned as they transferred her.

Taking her hand, Autumn walked beside the gurney as the two men pushed it inside the ER.

“Have you had any children before, Leah?”

“No. This is our first.” The last word came out garbled because Leah let out a shriek.

“Do you know how far apart your contractions are?” Autumn asked, glancing at her watch.

“No.”

Mike raked his hands through his hair, looking helpless as Eli turned on lights. “The last time she yelled like that was just as we drove up to the ER.”

“That’s helpful, Mike,” Autumn said soothingly. Glancing to Eli and back to Leah, she said, “We’re going to take you upstairs to our labor and delivery rooms. Wash up quickly and check you out.”

They began rolling the gurney, and Autumn realized Mike wasn’t following. She glanced back. “Come on!” she urged. “Leah needs you now. You’re a team, just as Dr. Carson and I are a team. It’s going to take the four of us to get this baby out. We need to support one another.”

Mike hurried and caught up to them just as the elevator arrived. As they rode up to the third floor, Autumn rolled up her sleeves, noticing Eli did the same. They took the mother-to-be into one of the labor rooms.

“Stay with Leah,” Eli instructed. “We’ve got to wash carefully and get the instruments we’ll need. Take her hand. Don’t let go. Encourage her, Mike.”

Leah began moaning again, and Autumn saw she had a death grip on her husband’s hand.

Quickly, she and Eli threw on hospital gowns and washed their hands thoroughly before slipping on gloves.

“When’s the last time you delivered a baby?” she asked.

“The day before I moved to Hawthorne. I had a lady come into my ER dilated to a nine. There was no time to get her anywhere. How about you?”

“I’ve worked the OB floor many times,” she assured him. “We’ve got this.”

They returned to the couple. Autumn helped Mike into a hospital gown while Eli examined Leah.

He looked to Autumn. “As close to a ten as I’ll ever see.” He glanced back to Leah. “It’s time to push.”

“Don’t I get something to help with this pain?” she asked, crying out as another contraction seized her.

“It’s too late for that, Leah,” Autumn said calmly. “But we’re all here. Dr. Carson and I have delivered countless babies. And Mike will be holding your hand, cheering you on.”

“If I don’t pass out,” he said, his voice weak.

“Don’t go fainting on me, Michael Anderson,” warned Leah. “I’ve done the heavy lifting all these months, and I’ll keep doing it until our little boy is out. But I need you here with me.”

“Okay,” Mike said, taking his wife’s hand. “As long as I can stand up here and not down there.” He looked at them. “I get queasy at the sight of blood.”

Autumn told Leah how to push when the next contraction hit. As a team, they all praised Leah each time she bore down, her teeth gritted, pushing with all her might.

“The baby’s crowning,” Eli said. “You’re doing a terrific job, Leah. Keep pushing when I tell you to.”

“I’m getting tired.”

“Only one or two more should do it,” Autumn assured her, glancing to Mike, frowning at him.

He leaned down and kissed his wife’s forehead. “You’re doing amazing, honey. Scott is ready to meet you and me. Keep it up.”

Her husband’s encouragement seemed to give Leah new life, and her next push allowed the baby’s head to come out, along with his shoulders. A final push, and little Scott Anderson had arrived in the world.

Glancing at the clock on the wall, Autumn said, “Time of birth is nine-thirty.” She scooped up the newborn in a blanket she had collected. “I’ll be back.”

Moving across the room, she quickly assessed the infant’s overall condition using the Apgar scoring method, which was done one minute after birth and again after five minutes.

Between those exams, Autumn cleaned up Scott, who was fussing a bit by now.

Premature and C-section babies often had a lower score, and Scott was a couple of weeks early.

Autumn quickly ran through the points of the scale, first checking for activity and muscle tone, where the baby’s movement was active, earning him two points.

His heart rate was slightly under one hundred beats per minute, scoring a one.

When she suctioned his nose, looking for a response to stimulation, he began to cry, earning another two points.

His color was mostly pink, though a few fingers were still blue.

That meant one point. The final category was his respiration.

Scott’s was strong, and he received two points.

Swaddling him in a new blanket, she brought the baby to his parents, telling Eli, “Apgar was a six and then an eight.”

He nodded. “Good for a baby who decided to make an early appearance. Afterbirth is handled.”

She handed Scott to his mother. “You two bond for a bit. I’m going to see that a room is ready for you, and then we’re going to clean you up, Leah.”

Autumn didn’t think either Leah or Mike heard her. They were too busy falling in love with their newborn.

After seeing that mother and baby would have all they needed, she rolled Leah and the baby to a room in the L&D area and saw that Leah was cleaned up. Eli had said no stitches would be necessary.

“We can put Scott in his cradle for now,” she told the new mother.

“You’re not leaving, are you?” Leah asked, suddenly in a panic.

“No. I’ll be here with you all night. In about an hour, we’ll let Scott try to nurse from you. I’ll walk you through that.”

“We’ve been to newborn classes,” Leah told Autumn. “I listened carefully, but it’s as if I can’t remember anything right now.”

She laughed. “It’s called mom brain. Pretty much all you know right now is that you love this little guy fiercely. And Mike, too.”

“You’re right. I feel like a mama bear,” Leah said sleepily.

“You take a nap, Mom. You’ll have your work cut out for you soon enough.”

Leah was already asleep.

She and Eli met with Mike, telling him everything had gone well and explaining that Leah would be in the hospital the next two days. They would meet with staff who would walk them through nursing, bathing, and swaddling, among other things.

“Can I see them?” he asked.

“Leah’s sleeping now,” Autumn cautioned. “Let her get some rest. But you can be in the room. Hold Scott if you want to.”

“Oh, I want to,” Mike said, a big grin on his face. “I was scared to become a father, but one look at my kid, and it was instant, pure love.”

They got Mike settled with Scott, and Autumn told Eli to go home.

“I’d rather stay with you,” he said.

“You’ve got a big day tomorrow. And the big Hogan Health guy is here.”

“I’ve pulled all-nighters before.”

Eli wound up staying. He was there by Autumn’s side while she instructed the Andersons about how to care for their baby. He cheered Leah on as she learned how to nurse her child.

When six o’clock arrived and the day shift started arriving, they were discovered. Eli explained how the Andersons had come to the hospital needing a place to birth their baby.

“Scott Malcolm Anderson is our first official patient,” Eli proclaimed. “We need to let corporate know. Maybe send out some kind of news release for the birth.”

“You might want to go home and change clothes,” she told Eli. “I’m going to do the same.”

“I could use a shower to perk me up.” He leaned in. “And maybe some more kisses tonight after work.”

“I’ll take that under consideration, Dr. Carson,” Autumn said, smiling the entire way to her car.