Page 113 of Breeding Clinic

“Well… they will. Sooner rather than later.” I can’t keep stalling. “You’re in labor.”

She blinks at me, then furrows her brow. “What? It’s too early. And I think I’d know if I were in labor. Doesn’t it hurt like hell?”

I shrug. “It’s different for everyone. Pushing will hurt. But early labor isn’t always that bad. We need to start timing your contractions.”

I see the moment reality sets in for her and she realizes exactly what position we’re in. “I can’t be. It’s too early. Thebirthing center… They said first-time moms usually go over their due date.”

It’s a helpless thing to stand here with no answers that will satisfy her. “Babies come when they come.”

“I can’t have the baby here,” she argues, getting shrill. “Not now. Not like this. I don’t know any of the doctors at the hospital here. If we can even get to a hospital. Oh, God.”

“If you’re done going to the bathroom, let’s get you to bed.”

“No.” Her face creases with worry. “I want to go back to the couch.”

She needs time to accept this is real and not going away. Kat cleans herself up and I walk her back to the living room. Matthew goes by with a mountain of sheets and towels nearly blocking his view. I snag one for her to lie on and lower her down onto the couch into her impromptu nest.

“Where’s Liam? Does he know?” she asks.

“He’s digging the truck out.”

She whines and pulls the blankets closer, shoving them around her and getting comfortable. “That’s not going to help if the roads are undrivable.” She winces, and I cradle her belly. It’s tight, raised, and firm with a contraction.

There’s no need to be discreet anymore. I set the stopwatch and time her contraction while we both pretend to watch the latest holiday movie. Her contraction lasts less than a minute. I clear the time and reset it. It’s five minutes and forty seconds until the next one. The movie distracts her while I keep time.

The side door off the kitchen opens and Liam bursts inside, stomping to shake the snow off his boots. “It’s stopped snowing, but I don’t see any sign of the plow yet. It might be a while before they get this far up the mountain. But I got the truck out.”

“Be right back,” I tell Kat.

Liam watches me approach him with trepidation. He bowshis head so he can hear me while I tell him everything in a low, calm voice.

“Her water broke,” I say.

“Does that mean it’ll be soon?” he asks, his expression grim.

“Hard to say. That depends on her and how quickly she progresses. But her contractions aren’t too close together, so that’s good. Could be tonight or early tomorrow.”

Liam lets out a low growl and runs his fingers through his hair. “I don’t like this. She should be in a hospital.”

“I don’t like it either, but it’s not like we have much choice.”

“I called for an ambulance,” Liam says. “They said there’s no way up the mountain until it’s plowed. They called the city to have a plow sent from the highway department but I don’t know when they’ll get here. They said they’ll come as quickly as they can.”

The news is disappointing, but not unexpected. Ambulances are big and heavy, but there’s not much that any vehicle can do against two feet of snow. “What about a helicopter?”

His face pales. “You think it’s that dire?”

I shrug. “It doesn’t hurt to ask.”

Liam nods, grateful to have a task again. “I’ll call them again.”

“Out of earshot,” I order. We don’t need Kat getting more alarmed than she already is.

Liam shrugs out of his coat and boots and goes over to Kat, kissing her in greeting. He tells her he’s going to take a hot shower to warm up.

What else?I think, looking around. If there’s no way out, then we need to be prepared to deliver here. I raid the cabinets to see what we have. A bottle of vodka can help with disinfection. We can use hot towels from the dryer to keep the babywarm. Matthew boiled water and it’s cooling now. We have sanitized towels and blankets to clean her. But there are a few more things we’ll need. I rummage through drawers to search for anything useful and start making a pile. Trash bags, kitchen twine, and newspaper.

I raid the first aid kit next. There are bandage scissors and a bottle of rubbing alcohol. Sterile gauze and an oral syringe I can use to clean the baby’s airway since we don’t have a bulb syringe. It’s not enough but it’ll have to be.

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