Page 19 of His Best Friend's Baby

‘Would you like me to check?’

No. She didn’t want Seth looking down there, seeing her lady bits all stretched and—‘Yes,’ she cried as another urge to push arrived and she found herself gripping her knees, grunting with the exertion, and no longer caring about modesty.

‘Yes, I can see the head,’ Seth cried and he sounded excited. ‘Summer has dark hair. Just like yours, Polly.’

‘Really?’ Summer. Her little girl. Almost here.

I’m sorry this is too soon. I hope you’re okay, sweetheart.

Polly wanted to see her, but she was also scared that something might go wrong at the very last minute. And this pushing was too hard.

Exhausted, she sank back against the pillows. The baby might be close, but Polly had had enough. She couldn’t push again. She didn’t have the strength.

‘I reckon Summer’s almost here,’ Seth was saying and he sounded amazingly calm. ‘Don’t give up now, Pollz.’

‘I can’t push again,’ she said wearily. ‘I need to rest.’

But next moment, in total contradiction, she was gripping her knees and pushing again, assisted, thank heavens, by another forceful contraction.

‘Good girl!’ Seth cheered. ‘You’re doing brilliantly. I can see her face. She’s beautiful.’ Now his voice sounded choked and broken.

*

Seth was crying.He couldn’t help it. He couldn’t believe how emotional this was, to witness a birth, the very beginning of a little human life.

And Polly was being so brave.

He couldn’t just stand around bawling though. He’d been instructed by the ambos that his job now was to support the baby’s head as it came out. Then the shoulders.

One shoulder, then the other.

‘She’s almost here, Polly!’

Remembering the paramedic’s advice over the phone, Seth kept his hands at the ready, carefully cradling the baby as her shoulders cleared, and lifting her slightly towards Polly’s stomach. They’d warned him that the little body would be slippery, and she certainly was, but she was perfect.

So perfect. Tiny and shiny and reddish purple, with little arms reaching into the air, and legs kicking.

‘Here,’ Seth said, carefully lifting her higher onto Polly’s stomach. ‘Here’s your little Summer.’

The baby screwed up her face and gave a little cry.

‘Oh,’ Polly whispered. ‘She’s okay.’

Seth’s eyes filled with fresh tears and his throat tightened painfully. ‘Yes, she’s fine.’

‘Oh, wow. Isn’t she beautiful?’

‘She is,’ he said. ‘She’s gorgeous.’ Blinking away the tears he refused to think of as unmanly, Seth picked up a spare towel and gently patted the most obvious damp patches on Summer. ‘Apparently, skin-to-skin contact’s important for keeping her warm.’

‘Right. Can you help me yank this dress off?’ Polly was wearing a maternity smock that was pretty easy to lift over her head. ‘At least it’s a hot day,’ she said, as she settled more comfortably and Seth tucked the towel over Summer who was now nestled against her mother’s stomach.

‘And I’m to leave the cord alone till the ambos arrive, but they shouldn’t be too long now.’ With luck, they would arrive before he needed to deal with the placenta.

‘Thanks, Seth.’ Polly reached for his hand and her eyes glistened with tears. ‘Thank you so much.’

Seth knew he was grinning like a loon, but he was blinking hard too. Not so surprising that they were both battling tears.

He wasn’t too sure that he’d helped much, and he was incredibly relieved that the ambulance was only five minutes away now and the baby was alive and she seemed to be breathing on her own—although the ambos said they could supplement her with oxygen if she needed it. But perhaps more importantly—Polly was alive.

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