We're a Wonderful Wife Ch. 10

Karole walked past the window and some movement outside caught her eye. Stepping up to the window she saw it was snowing, not that vicious, angry snow like she saw in North and South Dakota, but that nice fluffy snow she saw in Minnesota. She stepped out onto her porch and looked over at Don and Lanh's house and saw that their Christmas lights were on and suddenly Krissy got lonely. Karole put her hand on her tummy and said, "Ok lil' girl. Just this one time, ah don't want you gettin' spoilt."

A few minutes later Don opened the door and there was Karole looking sheepish and holding a bag of frozen broccoli. "Ah need help translatin' a card Krissy got."

"Come on in beautiful, Lanh is in the kitchen waiting for you." Don waved in the direction of the kitchen then headed out to the patio where the turkey for tomorrow's dinner was in the smoker. Karole stepped into their kitchen and found Lanh chopping vegetables for tomorrow's dinner, her phone was propped up against a can of pears.

"She's here," said Lanh without turning around. "Did you bring your nighty?"

"Yes," said Karole with a guilty grin.

"Damn girl, your estimate was only ten minutes off," said the smiling voice of Kim-ly from Lanh's phone.

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Three days into the new year Lanh convinced Don to go to the sleep clinic to see Dr. Adrianna "Andi" Roberts because he was having problems sleeping. He would wake up gasping and sit up gulping for air, then quite often he would fall asleep sitting up, other times he would start snoring horribly. According to Don, Andi is the smallest doctor in the world, she's the same size as Lanh, which is probably why they enjoy each other's company. As they sat in Andi's office a pair of tiny identical twin girls would peek at them through the door of the adjoining office.

Dr. Roberts determined that he had sleep apnea and reluctantly Don got fitted for a mask and CPAP. He reluctantly hooked up the machine and tried on the mask that night. "I hate this," frowned Don as he lay back and tried to get comfortable.

"Try it, if it doesn't work, we'll send it back," said Lanh as she kissed his forehead then went back to the magazine article she was reading. When she finished the paragraph that she was reading she put her magazine down and looked over at her husband, and he was completely asleep.

Don sat in his favorite chair with a small blond girl in his lap, he was reading her the story that Arlo loves, The Caterpillar's Christmas. He was expecting Lanh to come home at any moment, in fact she was late. Just as the little girl came to the part where she was to read her words "Wiggle wiggle wiggle" his phone rang. Don was going to let the phone ring because as an educator he realized that very little in life is more important than reading to a small child. This is where they learn how to learn, so each moment with a book must be treasured.

However, the ring-tone shrieking from his phone was different, instead of a bright, cheery holiday ringtone that he normally uses, this one sounded harsh, crucial, something that cannot be ignored. He picked up the phone and it was Mai, Lanh's mother on the other end of the call. She was speaking quickly; her voice was drenched in horror. She was speaking so fast that he couldn't understand what she was saying, but he did pick out that she was saying that Lanh was gone? It didn't make sense. Lanh was dead? That wasn't possible!

Then a woman appeared standing next to him telling him that Lanh really was gone but it was ok, she was there for him. "No, I have to go to Lanh!" he shouted but the little girl on his lap was now an anchor, he couldn't move, he fought to get her off of him, but she got heavier. When he finally did get free, the little girl grabbed onto his wrist and wouldn't let go, she was crying "Daddy don't leave me!"

"You can't go, but I'm here for you," the woman said, and she wrapped her arms around him further preventing him from getting to Lanh. He looked desperately for an exit, and he saw them, Lanh's Angels, two nearly identical apparitions watching his struggle and grinning.

With a gasp Don kicked off the covers and sprang from bed. He had forgotten about the hose that connected his nose to a CPAP machine and he pulled the CPAP off the headboard. "Damn it Andi!" He growled as he fumbled for the off button before the machine woke up Lanh. He sat on the edge of his bed and slid to the floor, shaking and sweating. The images of the dream faded but the terror remained, and he fought his way to his feet and in the dim light of the bedroom he saw Lanh laying peacefully on her side of the bed. He got back in bed and snuggled close, happy to be near her and terrified of losing her.

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Not long after returning to work from her Christmas vacation Karole started showing signs of labor. She was at work and had just finished up with a patient when she felt weird cramps, she touched her belly and realized that her muscles were all tensed up. "Look at this!" she said to her supervisor, and she poked her stomach, her stomach was rock hard.

"You better get yourself over to the hospital and get yourself checked out," her supervisor warned.

"Ah got sumpin more important to do!" she said and pulled out her cell phone. She hit her top number on speeddial and when Lanh picked up she squealed, "Ah'm havin' my first contraction!"

"When?" gasped Lanh.

"Right now!" gasped Karole

"Got it, very first contraction on Thursday the fifteenth at one forty-five," said Lanh as she marked down the note for the baby book. "Are you meeting the 411?"

"This didn't last a minute, but ah'll keep track!" grinned Karole. This was getting exciting for her. The 411 rule is how expectant mothers determine when to head to the hospital. Contractions 4 minutes apart each contraction lasting 1 minute, when it's been happening for 1 hour that means it's time to head to the hospital.

Occasionally through the weekend the muscles in her belly would tighten up, and muscles deeper within, muscles she didn't know she had were flexing. She looked in the mirror and it looked like Krissy was trying to kick her way out, protrusions from baby limbs pressing from within were causing interesting bumps on her tummy. Timing her contractions and concentrating on relaxing Karole realized that she hit 411, contractions 4 minutes apart, each one lasting minute and this had been going on for an hour, it was time to go to the hospital. Lanh pulled up to Karole's house and she and Don hopped out of the car. Karole suddenly looked shy. When she got in the front seat of Lanh's SUV she leaned over and whispered, "Why is Don here?"

"He needs practice," said Lanh wondering why Karole got so shy all of a sudden, "he's Kim-ly's coach."

"Ok," but Karole sounded worried.

Shortly before they got to the hospital, Karole's contractions stopped. "Aww Krissy!" she cried, "Yer drivin' yer mama crazy!"

"It's ok," said the obstetrics nurse. "Let's take a look and see what she's doing in there." Karole lay back on the examination table and slipped her shirt up exposing her belly as the nurse brought the ultrasound emitter close. She squirted some jell on Karole's belly and pressed the emitter to her stomach and began to search around. "Here, take a look at this," said the nurse smiling. She turned the screen so Karole could see it. "See? She's dropped even further, she's getting ready to join us."

"If she drops even further she'll be in my lap," said Karole as she looked at the fuzzy images of her daughter.

The next week she had two more false alarms, contractions met the 411 rule and they dashed to the hospital only to have the contractions disappear and she was sent home and told to come back when it happened again.

On January twenty second, Don had just finished shoveling two inches of snow from Karole's sidewalk and had scattered salt on the sidewalk. He was panting heavily when he finished the job, it seemed like the simplest of tasks were starting to run him out of breath. He's seeing Dr. Andi, she's a pulmonologist but she... Don had turned around to see Karole coming out of the house in her oversized parka, one hand was on her tummy the other hand clutching her "Go Bag," and she was breathing heavily too, but her breathing came out, "Heee Heee hoo hoo," over and over. "It's time," she said without looking up, she was taking tiny careful steps.

"Oh shit," thought Don. "Stay right there!" he called. He dashed up to the porch and helped her down the steps one by one. "You stay here, I'll go get my car."

"Ain't no time for that, my water broke... Heee Heee hoo hoo." She handed him her key fob and with tiny, careful steps Don led her to her pickup truck and he placed a small step stool by the passenger door to help her into the truck. The temperature was about ten degrees which made Don feel like he was home, but it didn't impress Karole, her breath came out in white puffs that hung in the air and obscured her vision.

As she got settled in the passenger seat she turned to Don and asked him the last words he ever wanted to hear, "Are you driving?" He knew he was, but just saying the words made it all that more terrible. He nodded, too shook to invent some false bravado. He was fine driving a vehicle he was used to, his old truck at the farm, the old beater he has here to go to appointments when Lanh isn't available, and Lanh's SUV, but that was it. Now she wants him to drive a huge, new pickup truck? Not only was he unfamiliar with it, but the luxury in that beast was unfathomable to a farm boy and Don felt the terror building. To Don this truck is a Rolls-Royce Wraith, a Bently Continental GTC, Mercedes-Maybach... "Stop droolin' an' jest git in!"

"Yes ma'am!"

"Lanh not coming," Karole said, "did you text her too?"

Of course, he texted her, he looked at his phone and read Lanh's response one more time praying that maybe this time he looked it would say something different. "I can't get out of clinic. I know you can do it! I will be there as soon as I can, I love you."

Nope, it didn't change. Lanh is in clinic today, evaluating potential new patients who were almost always young children. Lanh can never say no to a child in need. Don climbed into the driver's seat of the overly luxurious monstrosity that is what Detroit now calls a pickup truck and took a deep shuddering breath. How the hell do you start one of these things? He mashed down on the brake pedal and hit the starter button and the dashboard scolded him for not wearing a seatbelt and it refused to start. He clicked the restraint in placed, pushed down on the brake and pressed the start button and the nearly silent engine fired up. So far so good. He looked over at Karole and saw those exhaust ports of that huge ugly F-15 staring back at him, they had been gone for so long but now they're back, taunting him, glaring at him, but nothing happened. They remained silent, but they were there, ready to roast him alive like they did his friend Mack... or blow him into a post and bend him 90 degrees backwards and snap his spine like they did to Cynthia, or crush and warp his skull like they did to Wendy, or crush the truck around him like an aluminum can... again... He squeezed his eyes closed and then opened them again and there was Karole looking at him.

"Are you ok to drive?" asked a worried Karole.

"Oh, yeah. I'm perfectly fine." Don's voice trembled, his skin was pale, he was soaked with sweat, and he was shaking with terror, but he put the truck in gear, and they started to move. For Karole the trip was uneventful, as they headed into town she notified the hospital they were coming in and had regular contractions, and her water broke. During the trip Don made one huge mistake. He reached over and held Karole's hand during a contraction, and she crushed his hand with such force that she scared the F-15 away. Fear that he would never regain usage of his hand caused him to pick up the pace and they were at Greeley Children's Hospital in record time.

As practiced in several false alarms, Don grabbed a wheelchair and took Karole straight up to obstetrics where her room was ready for her, and a nurse was there to help her undress. While Karole was getting situated in her bed the check-in orderly showed up with a computer on a wheeled standing workstation. She asked Don for all of Karole's information and as planned, he had every bit of information that the hospital would need, birthdate, insurance cards, etc. "Is there anything we can do for you?" asked the orderly.

Donning his best professional voice Don said, "Ahhh, yes. Could you page Doctor Campbell and have her come down here as soon as possible? She's in clinic today. Thank you."

"No problem," she said brightly and clicked a few keys. "The page is sent and... Doctor Campbell?"

"Yes?" answered Don.

"You wanted Doctor Lanh Campbell?"

"Oh sorry, I thought you were talking to me. It would make no sense to page me, I'm already here." He turned to Karole and said, "I am already here, aren't I?"

Karole recognized Don's absent-minded professor act and he's getting pretty good at it. He's been practicing in case some college messes up and attempts to hire him. She also knew he was doing it to get her to smile. "Yes Doctor, you're here."

"Yes, of course, thank you." He turned to the orderly and smiled, "We agree, it wouldn't help to page me so yes, please page Doctor Lanh Campbell."

It was clear that the orderly was desperately fighting the urge to run. "But she's a speech pathologist..."

"Yes, absolutely. Just in case baby's first words come early, we may need her help translating." Don gave her a look of wide-eyed innocence while Karole nodded from over on the bed.

The look on the orderly's face was priceless, she was sure someone in the room was crazy and was beginning to wonder if it was herself. Karole came to the girl's rescue by saying, "Don, leave her alone. Doctor Lanh is my coach; Doctor Don is her comedy relief." With a sigh of relief, the orderly rushed out of the room hoping the next check-in would be someone in mortal agony or chemically dependent, someone who wasn't as crazy.

It wasn't long before the real work of labor began, and once the real labor pains hit Karole began second guessing her decision to keep Krissy. "Ah ain't got no man to help me, ah'm all alone," she moaned as she tried to relax between contractions.

"If you want, we can pack you up and move you to Minnesota next week, you can be there when Kim-ly has her baby."

Karole panted, she was exhausted already, "Ah don't think ah should move just yet," then very softly she asked, "kin I git some water please?"

"Just this," said Don as he extended a spoonful of crushed ice to the sweat drenched beauty. "We don't want you taking a big old drink when a contraction hits."

"Ah might spit water on the baby?"

"It could go the other way and end up in your lungs. That would be bad."

"How are we doing here Karole?" said her OB/Gyn Dr. O'Connor said cheerfully. "Are we going to make a Krissymas Karole?"

"Ah knew ah shoulda picked a better name for her," groaned Karole. She immediately hated the term "Krissymas Karole."

"What... you don't like that?" said Gale as she pulled on gloves and sat down between Karole's legs. "Krissy could be here any time now, is Doctor Campbell here yet?"

"I'm right here," said Don.

"Doctor Campbell, your voice has changed since the last time we spoke."

"Oh, please don't let him start," groaned Karole as the next contraction started. She was tired of the absent-minded birthing coach routine and just wanted to go home.

Once the OB/Gyn Dr. Gale O'Connor said it could be any time, Don became the model coach, his comedic banter really did help Karole as they waited for either the baby or Lanh to show up. Don was becoming fond of saying, "We can either laugh or cry, laughing hurts less," but now his tone gentled and he now acted the concerned partner. He brought out a deck of cards and between contractions they played Rummy or War until the next contraction started.

When Karole's water broke earlier it was a signal to all that Krissy was on her way, one way or another and there was no backing out this time. Labor began to become intense before Lanh was able to free herself and dash to the delivery room. "Uncross your legs," insisted Doctor O'Connor as she checked Karole's cervical dilation.

"My legs aren't crossed!" Karole nearly screamed. Her feet were in stirrups, her legs couldn't be crossed without the help of several nurses.

"She means relax, she thinks you're too tense and that's holding Krissy back," said Don as he wiped the hair from Karole's sweaty brow. He leaned forward and kissed her cheek, "You're really doing wonderful," he whispered to the terrified woman.

"Thank you, daddy," said Dr. O'Connor as she rose and pulled her gloves off. They had explained to all the nurses that Don wasn't the daddy, he was just there until her coach arrived, but it sure didn't look that way. He was very attentive, constantly caressing and reassuring, anything she wanted or needed was hers without asking. Don was pouring all his love into this because he sadly realized he would never be able to do it for the woman he loved most.

"I have another little one to check on, I'll be back," said the doctor as she left. And shortly after she left Lanh dashed into the delivery room wearing scrubs, "Not yet?" she gasped as Don stood and relinquished his stool to Lanh. "How is she?" Lanh whispered.

"She's stalled at eight centimeters," whispered Don as he moved to a chair nearby.

"Lanh," gasped Karole, "tell me..." her mouth and throat were dry, she was in so much pain, "if anything happens that you and Don will take care of Krissy."

"Yes, we will," said Lanh as she mopped her dearest friend's brow then offered her a teaspoon of ice chips. This was the closest Lanh had ever come to a friend. Even Rosa and Syd, her dearest (and only) friends in school, were never as close to Lanh's heart as Karole has come. "And if anything happens, we'll take care of you too. We're family now, and that's what families do."

"Family," Karole smiled as she lay back against the bed. She rubbed her rock-hard tummy and whispered, "we got us a family baby." Such a powerful word, so comforting. Suddenly she completely tightened up, the contraction bent her over and it seemed to go on forever.

When Karole's body finally relaxed Lanh smiled at her, "That was a good one, take some big deep breaths. The nurse in the room checked Karole's cervical dilatation and said, "it looks like little Krissy wants to come see mommy." Don sat up in his chair and leaned forward, an excitement clutched his soul and his eyes met with Lanh's. This is it, the moment they've been waiting for since they were teenagers, a baby! Sadly, it's not their baby, but at least they can love this one too.

Doctor O'Connor was recalled, and she took her place between Karole's splayed legs and the back of the bed was raised until Karole was sitting almost straight up. The labor seemed to go on forever, contraction after contraction, push after push. After what seemed like a week Karole was completely spent, and still, another contraction was coming. "Time to push sis," Lanh said.

"Ah can't, ah'm so tired," groaned Karole.

"Ok, honey chil'," said Dr. O'Conner letting her native accent free finally, "Us Georgia girls gotta stick together, am ah rat? Let's get this lil' Bulldawg fan out here. Now push with everything you got chil'."

Of the moments Lanh will remember for the rest of her life was the look of wonder on Don's face as Krissy emerged from the birth canal, the joy and surprise when he saw a new born baby for the first time in his life, his look of sorrow and pity for the scared little thing when little Krissy began to cry, his look of concern as he cut her umbilical cord worried that he was hurting Krissy, and the look of adoration as he watched the doctor hand Krissy to Karole for the first time. As mother and daughter gazed into each other's eyes, Don and Lanh melted into each other's arms. They saw the love in each other's eyes but also the pain of separating from Krissy even though Don only touched her for a moment. They stepped back and watched Krissy and Karole communicate wordlessly while the nurses tried to tell Karole the volumes of information that she needed to know for caring for her new baby.