Amanda and Jeff Ch. 18

Yvette answered, "She still hasn't dilated enough; she's close though; she hasn't broken her water yet. The doctor figures another half an hour or so."

A nurse came into the room. "We're going to be moving Amanda to a birthing room soon. Whoever is coming in with her needs to suit up."

Jeff looked up at Vince and Yvette.

Amanda said, "Jeff, suit up. Don't you want to see your baby be born?"

Jeff looked at Yvette. Yvette still hadn't got Amanda off of this artificial reality she was on. Yvette shrugged her shoulders.

The nurse pressed, looking right at Jeff. "No time to be a coward; your wife wants you with her." She presented Jeff with a set of hospital scrubs. "Hurry up now; we don't have all day."

Jeff stripped to his underwear and put on the scrubs. He was in a state of shock. This wasn't his baby.

He folded his clothes and placed them on a chair.

An orderly came in to help the nurse roll Amanda into the birthing room.

The nurse was making small talk as she organized the room.

"You both must be excited, your first child." She said.

"To be honest, the paternity of this child isn't too clear," Jeff said.

"Jeff, stop it. You know it's your child." Amanda said.

Jeff didn't know what drug she was on, but he wanted some. How could he get through this?

The nurse looked Jeff right in the eye and said, "Whatever, but please don't upset the mother to be."

Jeff shut up and just listened to the nurse and Amanda chatter.

The nurse told Jeff that he would have to put on gloves when things started happening. The nurse said that Jeff would be cutting the cord. Jeff was going to have an anxiety attack. He wanted to scream. He wanted to drag Vince in here and deal with his mess.

A doctor came in and introduced himself. The nurse whispered something to him. The doctor examined Amanda's pelvic area. He announced that he would break Amanda's water and start things off as she had dilated significantly. He asked Jeff to come out to the hallway with him.

Jeff and the doctor exited the room. Out of earshot from Amanda, the doctor said, "What makes you think this child isn't yours?"

"My wife and I worked in the porn industry. We took a sabbatical to start a family. My wife continued to sleep around during that sabbatical without the use of protection. Before the sabbatical, I was criminally drugged and chemically castrated. My wife is under the delusion that the child is ours. A couple is waiting in the other room; the man may be the father, he's black. But when this child comes out, it may have a little bit more melanin than Amanda or I could have provided. I'm sure you've noticed her tattoos."

The doctor looked at Jeff and said. "That's quite a story, I'm sorry. My first concerns are the health and well-being of Amanda and this baby. She chose for you to come in; I'm going to ask you to remain in the room with her and don't do anything to upset her. If what you say is true, she'll be traumatized when her delusion is destroyed. What a mess. Are you getting divorced?"

Jeff said," I'm trying to get the discussion rolling, but she's living in denial."

"Ok, so let's go back in there and get this over; please don't make the delivery any more dramatic than it has to be or that it already is." The doctor said.

The doctor re-entered the room, with Jeff behind him. The doctor put on a face shield and adjusted his headlamp. He washed his hands and double gloved. The nurse assisted Jeff with his gloves. Another nurse came in and provided oxygen to Amanda through an air mask.

The doctor sat down on a chair that gave him a front-row seat to Amanda's pelvis.

"Amanda, you're doing a good job. You're already dilated enough. I won't have to do an episiotomy as your vagina seems to be stretched enough."

Jeff thought, "Yeah, no shit. It's like the Grand Canyon."

The doctor continued, "I'm going to lance the sac now; it should speed things up."

The doctor lanced the sac and was presented by a splash of amniotic fluid."

The nurse coached Amanda through her breathing and pushing.

Amanda was working hard. Jeff felt as if he was in a dream, a nightmare.

The baby's head was out of the vagina, and the doctor was holding the infant as he emerged. The baby was dark and had a thin head of black hair. The doctor placed the baby on a tray and tied the umbilical cord in two places. He passed a pair of scissors to Jeff and gestured for Jeff to cut the cord. Jeff gave the scissors back to the doctor.

"I'm sorry, I can't. This isn't my child." Jeff said almost in a whisper.

The doctor took the scissors and cut the cord. He put the child at Amanda's breast. Amanda was crying from the emotions of delivering her baby; she saw the skin tone of the baby. Even in her exhausted, drugged state, she knew that her hope and belief that somehow the baby was Jeff's was over.

"Congratulations, you have a beautiful son," Jeff said as he turned to walk out of the delivery room.

Jeff walked down to the room where he had left his clothes. Yvette and Vince were waiting. The pair looked at him expectedly. Jeff started to strip out of the scrubs and dress in his street clothes.

Jeff looked up and said, "Mother and child are doing fine. Congratulations, you have a beautiful son." Jeff reached out and actually shook Vince's hand. Yvette stepped over to him and hugged Jeff.

"I'm sorry things didn't quite work out too well for you. Thank you for being there with Amanda; you've done more than you had to. I hope we're not going to be strangers now." She said.

Vince said with a cracking voice. "At the beginning, I thought you were a poor excuse of a man, but I've learned that you're much greater a man than I could ever hope to be. I'm not going to even ask for your forgiveness, but I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for everything I did to you, to Amanda. Thank you for reacting the way you did. Is there anything I can do to try to make it up to you?"

Jeff said. "Be a good dad, a good husband to Yvette, and be supportive of Amanda."

Yvette asked, "So, what now? What are you going to do now?"

"I'm going to walk out of here. I'm going back to my camp and reflect for a while. I have no plans. But you two should go see your new baby." Jeff said.