“Ahhhhhh it burns!” Sunny moaned, tucking her chin in to her chest as she pushed again and Bailey felt the girl’s labia parting under her palm, the baby’s head descending further.
“Can you wet some paper towel?” Bailey asked him softly over her shoulder, wondering if Sunny was going to tear. She tried to remember everything she’d learned about supporting the perineum to keep that from happening as Jacobs did as she asked, bringing over a stack of damp brown paper towels.
“Put one on her forehead.”
Sunny’s eyes fluttered open and she thanked him with a weary smile as he pressed it against her damp forehead. Her body was clearly working very hard.
“I could use a towel or something to wrap the baby in,” Bailey mused, turning her focus back to Sunny. “This baby is coming fast. Is the ambulance on the way?”
“Yes.” Jacobs didn’t hesitate. He knelt on the floor in a mix of amniotic fluid and blood, unbuttoning his white dress shirt before she knew it. “I called them myself.”
“Ohhhh no! No! No!” Sunny was still trying to pretend this wasn’t happening.
“Sunny!” Bailey said the girl’s name sharply and her eyes snapped open. “Listen to me. Your baby is coming. It’s going to be born. You’re okay. You’re going to be okay, and so is your baby. I’ve done this before. Trust me.”
Sunny hesitated, looking at Jacobs like she must be dreaming, but then she nodded, whispering, “I’m scared.”
“It’s okay,” Bailey soothed, her other hand stroking the girl’s inner thigh. “You’re doing great. Perfect. I think your baby’s head is going to be born with the next push. Do you know if it’s a boy or a girl?”
“A boy.” Sunny’s eyes closed again, her head nodding. She was floating away on endorphins again.
“You’ve done this before?” Jacobs pulled his shirt tails out of his jeans, which were going to be ruined after this. He took his suit coat off, draping it over one of the sinks, and then peeled off his shirt. She couldn’t help but notice the man was just as perfect under his clothes as he seemed, sporting six-pack abs any male model would be proud of. His chest was wide but not too wide, his arms nicely defined but not overly muscled.
“Sort of.” She felt more amniotic fluid flowing under her hand and she knew Sunny’s uterus was beginning to contract again, forcing the fluid out, the baby’s head further down. Her labia was stretched wide, the baby’s head making it into an oval under Bailey’s palm.
“Ohhhhhhh God!” Sunny moaned, head thrashing from side to side. “I can’t! I can’t!”
“Yes you can,” Jacobs said before Bailey could even open her mouth. “You are.”
“Please help me! Get it out! I want it out!” Sunny moaned and arched and a low, guttural noise began in her throat and then disappeared as her breath caught and her body began to push. Bailey knew she had no choice.
“Okay, easy now, let your body do the work,” Bailey urged. The baby’s head was past crowning now. It was easing its way out. She turned to Jacobs. “Hold her panties aside for me?”
“Uhhhh….” He swallowed and blinked at her but he reached out and hooked a finger in the elastic, doing as she asked. It gave Bailey more room to work.
“He’s turtling,” she whispered to herself, seeing the baby’s head out up to his little eyebrows. He had a full, gorgeous dark head of hair. “Damnit. Damnit!”
“Turtling?” Her professor blinked at her and she had a moment of surrealness. Was this really happening?
“Shoulder dystocia. Ummm. He’s big and his shoulder is getting stuck behind the pubic bone.” She felt a rise of panic in her throat and fought it. She’d never delivered a baby, had only ever watched. She’d seen a few instances of this happening and had watched the solution, but had never done it herself. She’d only read about it.
“What do we do?” He tossed his shirt over his shoulder to keep it out of the way.
“I need to get his arm…” Bailey looked down and saw the top of the baby’s head turning dark, dusky. Blue. He was losing oxygen. Was there a cord stuck somewhere? They didn’t have a lot of time. “Crap.”
“What’s wrong?” Sunny’s eyes flew open. “Is he okay?”
“Sunny, I want you to hold…” She hesitated, realizing she couldn’t call him “Professor Jacobs” under these circumstances.
He anticipated her with a smile. “Dom.”
“Sunny, take Dom’s hand.” Bailey instructed. “Squeeze. Squeeze hard. But don’t push until I tell you, okay?”