A Beautiful Day

The day was so sunny and wonderful. But it's always calmest before the storm, right?

“I’m in active labor! Going to the hospital right now! Yay!”

I smiled at Anna’s text message. Molly and I had gotten the text notification at the same time, read it, and looked at each other.

“Ahhhhh! This is so exciting! Do you want to take bets on if it’s a boy or a girl?” Molly asked.

“Fifty bucks it’s a girl.” I said.

“Deal.”

I called Zeke to see if he could cover me for the show that night so I could go to the hospital with Zoey and Molly and he said he would. Before we left, I walked down the street with Molly to a flower shop to buy some balloons and flowers for Anna. I couldn’t believe how gorgeous it was. Spring had finally arrived and the sunshine on my face felt nice as I walked.

“What a gorgeous day to be born, right?” I said happily.

Molly nodded as we entered the shop. We picked out a bouquet with yellow, pink, and blue tulips, and had them blow up a balloon in the shape of a bottle that said congratulations.

“Our friend just went into labor.” I said to the store attendant as she filled up the balloon.

“Oh, how wonderful! Is it her first?”

“No, her third!” Molly interjected.

We bantered back and forth until Zoey sent me a text.

“I’m outside your apartment, let’s go!”

“Zoey’s here.” I said to Molly as we collected everything and waved goodbye to the store attendant.

“Oh, Faith, aren’t you supposed to hang out with Adam later? You might want to let him know what’s going on. Anna could be in labor for awhile.” Molly reminded me.

“You’re right. I should call him.”

I tapped his number into my phone and listened to it ring.

“Hey, cutie.”

“Adam, Anna is at the hospital in labor. I may need to rain our date tonight.”

“Yeah, sure, no problem. Tell me when she has it!”

“Okay, I love you!”

I hung up as we sped towards the hospital. When we got to the maternity floor, Theo was waiting for us and he looked nervous. He was wearing his scrubs.

“Hey!” I said hugging him, “Are you getting ready!?”

He clasped his hands together and grinned stupidly.

“How close is she?” Molly asked enthusiastically.

“She’s 8 centimeters, they think it’ll be soon.”

“Is she in a lot of pain?” Zoey asked.

“She was, but they gave her an epidural. I’m going to head back in, okay, guys? I’ll update you.”

“Okay.” I said giving him another hug as he walked through the doors waving.

We settled into the waiting room with other excited people presumably there for their loved ones.

“Wow. Anna is going to have three kids.” Molly said staring at the ceiling.

“I know. I can barely take care of my dog and cat.” I joked.

“Where are Weatherly and Andrew?” Zoey asked.

“I think Anna said that she had arranged for a neighbor to take them when she needed to go. The old lady across the street, I think?” I said.

“Oh, right.” Zoey nodded.

“And her parents are coming down in the middle of April to see the new baby and help out.” Molly said.

“We spent the time talking and reminiscing about when the twins were born.

“Oh, God, remember how disastrous her baby shower was!?” Zoey laughed.

“Talk about awkward! I barely knew you guys and that friend of yours…Elise? God what a terrible woman.” Molly said.

“She’s not that much better now.” Zoey said.

“How do you know that?” I asked her.

“Anna and I occasionally see her through work functions with other fashion-biz types. She’s been blacklisted at the magazine for years because she always showed up late and was really unprofessional.”

“Wow.” I said.

“Don’t worry,” Zoey said, “She’s just as shallow and immature as ever.”

Theo burst through the doors but he wasn’t happy. We all stood and he came over to us but his face was etched with confusion and worry.

“Theo, what is it?” Molly asked.

“They…They made me leave. They’re taking her for an emergency cesarean.”

We sat him down and pulled up chairs to sit around him.

“Why aren’t you in there?” Zoey asked, “I thought dads were allowed to be there for those.”

Theo shook his head and his eyes were awash in panic.

“They said the cord was prolapsed and the baby was in distress. They didn’t want me in there…”

I took Theo’s hand and Molly rubbed his back.

“Hey, I’m sure everything it going to be fine.” Zoey comforted, “You’ll see. They’ll come out here and everything will be fine.”

Theo started rocking back and forth.

“If it dies it will destroy her.” He said to himself.

Molly, Zoey, and I all shared a serious look. Theo is a doctor and he was more familiar with what everything meant, and also how dangerous it could be, than we were. I pulled out my phone and looked up what a prolapsed cord could mean and I wish that I hadn’t.

Time seemed to pass so slowly as we waited. The waiting room gradually emptied of expectant relatives. It was painful to watch Theo look up at the door every time it opened only to see an excited person walk through to announce a birth to their group of people. We were completely alone in the waiting room when the doctor and a nurse finally walked in, they were wearing bright pink scrubs but their faces weren’t nearly as cheery. Theo stood up and looked at him, the doctor’s face was grave and he motioned for Theo to sit.

“Theo, the baby was stillborn. We weren’t able to get her out in time, all our efforts to resuscitate her failed. We did everything we could.”

Tears rolled down all of our faces.  But what he said next threw us all into shock. I only caught snippets of words because there was a rushing sound in my ears. It felt like my mind was moving a thousand times slower than the doctor’s words.

“…Placental abruption…Massive hemorrhaging….She died…sorry…loss.”

The sound of Theo wailing “no” over and over again is something I will never forget for the rest of my life. It cut through my very core and if grief had a sound it would be what those wails sounded like. I felt Zoey’s arms around me and Molly’s tears on my back. Theo was inconsolable. I was silent.

The doctor asked Theo if he wanted to see them and Theo nodded. He was led away by the nice nurse and we were left behind in the waiting room. I had stopped crying and numbness had taken over me, I didn’t want to feel.

“We…we should call the neighbor and tell her what happened so Theo doesn’t need to take the twins home.” Molly said through tears.

“Theo’s going to need a ride home.” I said in a monotone.

Zoey nodded and sniffled.

We waited for at least two hours for Theo to come back out. When he did my heart broke all over again. He was ghostly white and his eyes were red and puffy. Tears streaked down his face as he ran into my open arms. I patted his hair.

“I…I, uh, need to go get the kids…” Theo started as he pulled away from me.

“Your neighbor said she’d take them for the next few days.” Molly said gently.

“I’m going to take you home, Theo.” Zoey held his arm and we led him to the elevator.

When we left the hospital it was dark, windy, and cold. It was the longest drive I’ve ever taken. All four of us were silent except for the occasional sniffle as Zoey drove towards Theo and Anna’s house. When she pulled up it was dark and looked so empty.

“Are you going to be okay to be alone?” Zoey asked him as we sat and stared at the house.

“Yeah…I need to call m-my parents. And Anna’s and tell them what happened. I don’t want you guys there when I make those calls.” Theo wiped away his tears and got out of the car.

We followed suit and each of us gave him a hug.

“Please don’t hesitate to call us if you need anything.” Molly said as he pulled away.

Theo nodded and then made his way up their front stoop and into the dark house. Molly, Zoey, and I climbed into our car, too shell-shocked to speak. Zoey drove to my apartment and we sat in the living room in silence. Zoey and Molly both couldn’t stop crying but I had stopped hours ago. I got up, threw on my jacket, and grabbed my keys.

I walked without purpose, letting the cold wind sting my face. I wanted it to hurt me to provide some relief from the pain I was feeling inside. I wanted to be alone. I wanted to run away. But I realized I wasn’t running away from what happened, I was running toward something.

I found myself there in a matter of minutes.

“Hey, wow it’s really la-” Adam answered the door in his pajamas and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, but he was suddenly alert when he saw my face, “What happened?”

He pulled me into his apartment and shut the door.

“You’re freezing! What’s go-”

“Anna died.” My voice cracked and I couldn’t hold it back anymore.

I started sobbing and Adam pulled me to him. My legs gave way and we ended up on the floor. He rocked me back and forth as I told him what had happened between fits of sobbing.