The babe lay quietly on Emily’s chest looking at her with deep blue eyes. No one noticed the blood or vernix (wax like stuff that coats babies while in the womb to protect them from the amniotic fluid. Without it they’d look like raisins when born) that covered her skin. With Micky and Jane’s help, Emily rubbed away the messy stuff with a soft blanket. As they rubbed her clean she began to cry. Her first sounds brought renewed tears to my eyes. It made my heart melt all over again.
The cord of life still pulsed between them. Debbie waited for it to stop before she clamped it off. She stood there looking at Emily for a little while, not wanting to intrude on the bonding between mother and daughter to ask if Emily wished to sever their connection. Finally Emily lifted her eyes from her child to smile at me and gaze in wonder at Matt’s presence. I’m sure she had no clue how in the heck he came to be there in the room holding her left leg aloft but she just let it pass. I signed to her, “You want to cut the cord?”
She shook her head no as her hands were still absorbing the feel of her child but mouthed, “Jane.” Sharon signed to Jane what we’d said. Jane took the scissors from Debbie and carefully cut through the rubbery cord.
Matt and I continued to help Emily hold her legs up while Debbie gave Emily a stitch or two from where she’d torn slightly because of how fast the baby had crowned and been born. Then it was a waiting game once again for the placenta to separate and pass. It didn’t take long luckily. I watched her examine it. She showed me that it was double lobed, meaning that even though the twin had reabsorbed long before its placenta had continued to develop. Once Debbie made sure the placenta was completely there and not fragmented, she placed it in a sterile container so that she could send it to have genetic testing done. Then she cleaned up Emily and helped her into bed from sitting on the very edge.
Matt left the room after Emily was settled. I’m sure he had a lot of emotions to deal with as to what he’d just experienced. The participation in the birth of Emily’s baby was something he’d not remotely expected. He needed to get away to sort through his own feelings.
Jane, Cherry, Micky and I sat around Emily as she held her daughter in her arms totally enraptured by her. The baby mewed in her arms. Micky said and Sharon signed, “Do you want to try and feed her?”
Emily nodded as tears continued to roll down her cheeks. Micky moved Emily’s gown and helped her to put the baby to her breast. Emily’s baby was a quick study and latched on immediately, nursing hungrily as we all sat spellbound by the moment. No one spoke with their voices or with their hands. We just watched and waited. I think we were all lost for words until the baby finished her first meal. Eventually Cherry spoke up, “Debbie when was she born?”
“Oh she has a unique birthday. She was born at 12:19 AM on the 19 of December,” Debbie answered looking up from her paperwork as Sharon told Emily what Cherry had asked and Debbie’s response.
“Look at her mother’s birthday. She was born exactly one week after her mother,” I said.
“She’s going to be a specially little girl I can tell,” Micky said holding the baby’s right foot in her hand.
“Yep, I think everyone at school will be spoiling her rotten!” I said with a smile.
Emily then signed with her right hand, “Is she healthy?”
“She looks fine but I’ll check her over when we give her her first bath and I take her weight and measurements. Does she have a name?” Debbie asked as at least I waited with baited breath.
Emily proceeded to fingerspell, “Laurel Aponi Sky. Aponi means butterfly in Indian.”
“That’s pretty,” everyone said in either voice or in ASL.”
“She is beautiful.” Jane said with a yawn. “I need to go home and try and get some sleep. I have a final yet to give.”
“You can tell the students about Laurel,” Emily signed as she also yawned.
Jane got up from the bed after giving Emily a kiss on her cheek and found her jacket. Cherry and I then gave her a hug before she went in search of Matt to either call her a cab or take her to Emily’s for her car.
I looked at the clock on the table beside the bed and saw it was 1:30 AM. Cherry, Emily and I had been up for 20 and half hours. Emily may have been up more than that. I’d never asked her how long she had been awake when I found her hugging the toilet. It had been a very long and eventful day. “Maybe Cherry and I should go, too. You and Laurel need your rest.”
“No, please stay. I’ll go home in a few hours and I don’t know what I’m doing. Nora was going to help me. Now I’m alone,” Emily signed before looking back at her sleeping babe.
I looked at Cherry. How could we refuse to help Emily now when she needed us most? A few more hours wouldn’t change anything. We both signed “Fine++”
“I take it you two will be staying with her for the rest of the night. There is a cot in the closet and pillows and blankets in the closet down the hall. One of you can sleep in the family room, the other in here if you wish,” Debbie said as she came to examine little Laurel who was making cute squeaking sounds in her sleep.
I got up and found Emily’s bag. In it I found the sleeper Emily had packed if the baby was a girl and a diaper that looked small enough to fit a doll. Looking at the baby as Emily passed her to Debbie, I was amazed to realize that these tiny things would fit her. I also found Emily’s fresh gown and her hairbrush and carried everything to her.
After Debbie weighed and measured Laurel, Micky helped Emily from the bed and to change into her fresh gown. Debbie checked to make sure Emily wasn’t bleeding heavily. Then with Micky’s help Emily walked with Laurel to the bathroom where Emily and Debbie gave her her first bath. Together they washed away the remnants of her birth. Laurel was then dressed and placed in the bassinet next to the bed as Emily was helped back into bed.
While Emily was bathing Laurel, Cherry had slipped out of the room. I went to find her once Emily and the baby were settled. I found her fast asleep on the couch in the family room with a blanket pulled tight against her chin. I twitched the bottom of the blanket over Cherry’s sock feet and returned to the bedroom as Micky was putting on her coat.
“You’re leaving?” I asked surprised.
“Yes, my job is done. I think this will be a birth that I remember for a long time.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know really. It’s just special. Emily is the first Deaf woman I’ve worked to help,”
“It’s special to me too. Emily has been such an inspiration to me. Witnessing the birth of her child well I don’t have the words to say all I feel. I just know I will never forget what took place tonight.”
“It was nice meeting you Rachel. Here’s my card. Email me. I’d like to stay in touch.”
“I will thanks,” I said taking the card and slipping it in my pocket. “It was nice meeting you too. Drive home safely.” I said before Micky went through the door leaving only Debbie and I with Emily and the baby. I didn’t know when Sharon had left. I guess she’d gone while I was looking for Cherry.
“While the baby sleeps you should get some sleep,” I signed to Emily as I sat down on the edge of the cot.
“In a minute. I want to thank you for being here with me. I’m not sure I could have done all of this without your help,” Emily signed.
“I’m glad to have helped you. She is beautiful.”
“I don’t mean just yesterday and today. I mean to thank you for helping me through the whole pregnancy. If you’d not learned that I was pregnant when you did she’d not be here. I’d never have known how full of love my heart could be.
“I thought my life was complete but now I know it was empty. I just filled the emptiness with work. Work has no meaning. Work has no identity. No one would have said after I died “There lays Emily Wesson. She was a wonderful teacher.” Only my students would have remembered me but I would have been a fleeting memory. I would eventually have been forgotten and faded from all memory. But from this day on I am Emily Wesson, Laurel’s mother. From this day on there is one person who will always remember who I am. I am her mother. And I owe you for giving that to me.”
I sat in tears at her words. “I didn’t give you your baby. You gave her her life. All I did was let you know you weren’t alone and to help you believe that you could be a mother no matter the obstacles. Laurel is your victory. She is your miracle. Don’t diminish what you have accomplished by giving me credit when there isn’t any due unto me. The credit is yours. Your love and strength is why she is here. Laurel wasn’t born today because of me. She lives because of you.”