You Are My Light Part II

231 - Birth *Modern*

"Argh!"

"I know, baby, just a few more minutes, we're nearly at the hospital!"

It's true that if Mr. Valois-Angoulême gripped his steering wheel any tighter, his knuckles would be well past the white they were at this moment, and would have probably been dislocated from his large hands. Every coil in his body is tight, ready to snap, like an accordion or a violin tuned too tight. His eyes look like blue buttons, they're that wide, taking in the dark night's sky in comparison to the bright street lights high above them. His hair blooms with how fast he turns his head, trying to keep an eye on his wife and on the road in front of them.

"Oh, God!" Mary cries out, her body folding slightly, as much as it could in the tight ensnarement of her seatbelt. She presses a hand onto her swollen stomach, cringing as tears line her eyes. "It's too early!"

"It's going to be okay, Mary. We're nearly there, just hold on a little longer, okay?" he asks, biting his lip as he saw what kind of pain his wife was in in this moment. She bites her own lower lip and pushes her head against the headrest, arching backwards now, her face scrunching up in pain. He's terrified in this moment, knowing full well that this labor was different to any of the rest of them. Mary had never gone this early before, and she'd never been in so much pain so quickly before.

"Hurry up!" she sobs. "This-this baby wants out, now!"

"I'm already going over the speed limit, love. We're almost there, okay?"

Mary seems to ignore him as the pain begins to lessen. Her body lessens from its coil, and her face relaxes, but it doesn't stay there for more than a moment, as she suddenly looks concerned and she cringes, her hand slipping underneath her joggers. Francis licks his lips, looking back from the road as his wife gasps, staring at her hand that's covered in blood.

"F-Francis!" Mary's eyes are wide, and tears line her eyes for another reason. "This-this isn't right!" Mary begins to sob, and Francis tries his best to comfort her, even though he's just as scared as she is. "Our baby, she-she's dying!"

"No, no, she's going to be fine, okay? Trust me." he answers, running his hand through her hair a few times, before putting it back on the wheel. "We're almost there, just a few more minutes."

"I'm bleeding really bad, I can feel it." she sobs. "It's not water, nor fluid. It's blood, Francis."

He inhales sharply. That hadn't happened in any of their births, not even in the last one where Mary had the twin boys. Of course, he knew women bled in childbirth, he's the eldest of ten siblings to his parents, and Mary had already given him five children, so he knew the ins and outs of it, but that also meant that he knew that this wasn't normal.

"Oh, god." Mary groans. "I-I think it's happening."

Francis doesn't know what to say in that moment. And, it turns out he doesn't really need to say anything because in that moment, all the two of them see are a pair of headlights coming towards them. Mary screams, and then the sound of breaking glass;

and then everything goes black.

/

Mrs. Valois-Angoulême wakes with a moan. At first, she doesn't know where she is, but the smell of disinfectant that makes her want to sneeze and the sounds of beeps with small intervals make it obvious that she's in the hospital. She moans again, realising she's laying on her side, her legs bound.

Mary frowns, opening her eyes. She cringes, the burn of the lights horrifying her blurry vision. Her eyes snap closed, but they open again slowly.

"Good morning, Mrs. Valois-Angoulême."

Mary jumps, looking around, spotting a female doctor standing near her, her dark hair in a ponytail, wearing a red uniform, a stethoscope over her neck. She smiles, a kind smile, and walks over towards Mary, squatting to her height. Her doctor is pretty, all dark eyes and pale skin and a kind smile. She has motherly attributes about her that make Mary at ease completley.

"My name's Dr. Manning, and you're at Highsmith-Rainey memorial hospital in Paris." Dr. Manning begins. Mary licks her lips slowly. "Mrs. Valois, you and your husband were involved in a head-on collision last night, do you remember?"

"Y-yeah." she whispers hoarsely. "Where's my baby? Did-did she-"

"No, no." Dr. Manning says gently. "Your daughter was delivered on the road via. vacuum delivery, for when paramedics arrived, her head was half way out. Baby girl was born a month early, so she's been in the NICU, we're running tests, but from what I understand, you've got a healthy, perfect baby girl."

Mary smiles through her drugged haze.

"Now, there aren't many injuries you sustained in the accident, however, you do have a concussion, a slightly fractured collarbone and three broken ribs. Your right shoulder is severely sprained, and there were a few lacerations that needed stitching on your head, neck and just above your collarbone. You'll be sore for a while, as there are significant bruising all around your body. However, regarding the birth, you did suffer an acute hemorrhage of the placenta. Dr. Rhodes managed to fix the bleeding without surgery, but you did lose a lot of blood, and it's advised to remain on the side, so you don't accidently tare the delicate flesh. We had to give you two transfusions, however, your body is responding well to treatment."

"I'm okay?"

"Yes, all things considered, you and your baby and your husband will make a complete recovery."

"Can I see her? And my husband?"

"Of course, I'll page Dr. Kravitz."

Before long, her door opens and in limps her beautiful husband, his arm is in a sling, and he looks to be as bruised and sore as she is, but there's such a beautiful smile on his face that it hardly matters. A beautiful nurse with dark skin and thick hair pilled into a ponytail wears a blue uniform and reaches in to cradle her baby girl.

"Meet your baby, Mrs. Valois." she smiles, resting the child onto the bed, seeing as though Mary couldn't exactly hold her at this moment. "She was born last night, at eleven seventeen, weighing in at five pounds, eleven ounces. Baby is responding well to the testing, and although we may need to keep her for observation for a few days, you have a healthy baby girl."

"Francis, look at her. She looks like you." Mary whispers happily, stroking soft blonde tendrils of the sleeping baby. She's so tiny, and Mary can already feel the love for this delicate baby.

"Do we have a name?"

"Yes, Geneviève Acacia Lucelle de Valois-Angoulême." Francis smiles, grateful that all they went through the night before, he finally has the respite of seeing his wife holding their child.