“Baby Time”

by Jo and Stacey

Kate had been home from the hospital not 24 hours when she began having the labor pains again. Sid had insisted she get plenty of rest when they'd arrived home, but she'd felt so good when she woke from her nap that she'd taken the opportunity to sit out on the deck and watch the stars. She wasn't sure where Sid was. He'd excused himself a while earlier when she woke from her nap. She thought most likely he was keeping his brother, Bar, company for a while.

Kate bit her lip, wondering if perhaps it was just false labor. She'd read that it was especially typical in first pregnancies and hoped perhaps this was the case with her. It was still several weeks or so before her due date and she worried about delivering too soon. When the pains began to increase, panic set in and she realized she'd better get downstairs to find Sid right away. She was halfway to the staircase when the next contraction hit, causing her to cry out and double over in pain.

Sid was coming out of his study when he heard her cry and looked up.  Katherine was starting to fall and he moved faster than he would have had she been able to care about what was going on around her.  He was simply there beside her in a split second, lifting her in his arms and carrying her down to the couch.

"SJ?" he asked, settling her, brushing long strands of hair back off her face.  "Is he all right?  What's happening?"

"Sid!" Kate breathed out as another contraction began to hit, "It's time...oh! Oh!" She suddenly felt wet all down her legs as her water suddenly broke. "Do...something! This is all your fault!"

His upholstery! She was soiling his upholstery.  He was totally distracted by the sight for a moment.  "What? What did you say?"

"Ohhhh!" Kate cried out again, clutching onto Sid's arm for support,  "I'm...in...labor... do... something... now... hospital... now!"

"Labor? You...you're...SJ is coming?"  He jumped up.  "Wait right there! Don't go any where! I'll get the car!"  He disappeared and almost in the blink of an eye roared up close to the front door in one of his larger vehicles.  Dashing inside, he scooped her up again, depositing her in the back seat where she could lie down.  He slammed the door, jumped in the driver's seat and zoomed off towards Coffs.

Though the drive to Coffs took only a short while with the speed Sid was driving, for Kate it seemed as though it was an eternity. With each new contraction that came she felt as though her insides were being ripped apart. She cried out, holding her stomach and praying that her baby wouldn't be born in the back of Sid's car on the side of the road somewhere. She was scared, too, that something was wrong with the baby. He was coming too soon, too quickly. This being her first she'd thought that the labor would take much longer. It had only been mere minutes since she'd felt the first contraction and now she already felt the need to start pushing.

"Sid!" Kate cried out, "Drive... faster! I... will... not... give... birth... in... this... car! Do you hear me?! Owww!!! Owww!!"

Sid drove faster. He practically flew down the road, passing other cars, even roadtrains as though they were so much flotsam in his way. Laying down rubber, he whipped the car around up to the emergency entrance and not waiting for a gurney, gathered Katherine up and sprinted through the doors, shouting, "My wife's having a baby! Do something!"

The attending nurse recognized the couple from when Kate had been in there earlier that week. She rolled a wheelchair up to them, smiling. "I'm sure she still has plenty of time, Mr. Harbour. Here, just set your wife down in this chair and we'll get her into a room."

About that time, Kate screamed out in pain again, "Doctor! Please, get... the... doctor... now!"

The nurse, realizing Kate must be much further along in her labor than first thought, called an attendant over with a gurney and had Sid lay Kate down on it, then rushed her into one of the labor and delivery rooms.

Sid hesitated.  Did he want to be with her?  Delivering a baby, from what he'd heard, was...messy.  Still, this was SJ, HIS SJ.  He grabbed a passing nurse.  "Get me in there. What do I do to get in there with my wife?"

The nurse led him to a room where he could wash up and get in a cap and gown.  Sid was past caring, for the most part anyway, that the gown looked like something a medieval squire would turn his nose up at.  Just as he was coming through the door into the delivery room, he heard the doctor tell Katherine to give one last push.  "Wait!" he called out.  "I need to see!"

"Sid!" Kate cried out, extending her hand for him to grab hold of.

Sid grabbed Katherine's hand.  "He's coming? Is he coming? Is he here?"

"Come on now, Mrs. Harbour, you can do it, one last push!” the doctor said again, "He's nearly out now."

Kate squeezed Sid's hand as tightly as she could and began to push with all her might until finally she heard the unmistakable sound of a baby crying.

"Congratulations," the doctor exclaimed, "it's a boy!"

"SJ."  It was Sid, saying the name with a sigh of happiness.  Then the doctor lay the baby on Katherine's stomach and offered Sid the implement to cut the cord.  Sid looked at the cord, smiled with satisfaction, then cut through it.  "Mine," he said.  "My son.  Mine."