Total pages in book: 54
Estimated words: 49589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 248(@200wpm)___ 198(@250wpm)___ 165(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 49589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 248(@200wpm)___ 198(@250wpm)___ 165(@300wpm)
“We’ve got to get ready for this baby, Pain.” We’d danced around this a couple times, and I got the sense Pain didn’t want to let himself think about having to deliver the baby here.
“Yeah,” was his mumbled response.
Silence.
“And?” I crossed my arms over my chest.
More silence.
“Pain. Are you listening to me?”
“I’m listening, Nadine. I just don’t want to think about it, OK?”
I was about to lay into him because, what the fuck, when it hit me. “You’re afraid of delivering that baby.”
“Look, Nadine. I did my OB rotation on L & D and Postpartum. I delivered exactly two babies. Why? Go on. Ask me why.” OK, he was getting a little defensive, but it was still funny as shit because I, having done my own OB rotation, knew exactly what he was going to say.
“How about I ask you a different question?”
“Yeah?” He crossed his arms over his chest, looking as disgruntled as a man could be. “What’s that?”
“How many times did you puke?”
He didn’t miss a beat. “Four times at the first birth, seven at the second. The poor mother was asking me if I was all right. After that, they let me do everything but deliver babies. They passed me because I got everything else right. That was when it was suggested to me surgery might be the way to go if I planned on working in a hospital. I was also advised to avoid small rural hospitals because they didn’t want me to be the only doctor in the building. Just in case.”
Yeah. No way I wasn’t laughing. “Oh, my God, Pain! You’re a fucking surgeon! Surely to God a surgeon can deliver a baby.”
“Yes. I am. There is a reason I’m a surgeon.”
I thought for a minute, narrowing my eyes. “Because… in the event of an unexpected birth, the Emergency Department takes care of it.” I chuckled. “In fact, the only doctor in the OR who’d ever get called to help with a delivery would be an OB surgeon or an anesthesiologist.” I knew my eyes were growing wider and wider as realization hit me. “You became a surgeon to avoid anything to do with delivering babies!”
“Exactly. L & D has a staffed, dedicated OR of their own. I’m pretty much the very last doctor who would be in the hospital after seven in the evening on the list to call for an emergent delivery. The very last. Meaning, if I got called to deliver a baby, there were more things to worry about than just the mother and baby.”
“Oh, Pain!” I laughed so hard tears were rolling down my cheeks, and I clutched my sides. “I n-never r-realized you w-were such a p-pussy!”
“It’s not that Goddamned funny,” he grumbled. But I could tell the endorphin release of laughter did him as much good as it had done me even if he did look disgruntled. The humor was there in his eyes when he tried to glare at me.
“It is, and you know it.” I leaned up and pulled him in for a lingering kiss. “But we still need to make plans. Multiple plans.”
He sighed, pulling me closer and kissing me more deeply. He swept his tongue in to tangle with mine and I wanted nothing more than to lose myself in the sensations.
I pushed him away gently, kissing his lips several times as I cupped his face in one hand. “Much as I want to, I can’t let you distract me from this. And I don’t think you really want to forget about it. So tell me what’s going on.”
“How the fuck do you know me so well already?”
“I pay attention. Now. Spill.”
He sighed. “Knuckles said Tonio asked for one more week. Apparently, there’s a power struggle going on in the underground and Tonio has to deal with that first. He’s also sure Roscoe is making a play for the game. Either for himself or in conjunction with someone else. Which is what he’s trying to figure out. I’m keeping an eye on Tillie. And yes, she’s effacing, but she’s still well within acceptable parameters for her third trimester. Obviously, you’re right. With the heightened stress, we need to keep a close eye on her. But I don’t think she’s at increased risk otherwise.”
“I still don’t like it. I’d feel better if we at least had a labor pack.”
“I’ll see what I can do. For now, try not to worry so much.”
“Really? You realize it’s been two weeks since anyone went out for toilet paper. Unless you want to start rationing it out one square at a time, you might want to look into getting some supplies sooner rather than later. When you make the TP run, see if you can find a labor pack.”
“Smartass.”
“Better a smartass than a dumbass.”
“I don’t remember you being this sassy when you were younger.”