Page 141 of Family Bonds: Coy & Angel

“Nothing,” Ava said. “Other than your contractions, there are no signs that you’re in labor. That’s positive. The negative is you need another dosage of this.”

“Shit,” Angel said.

“You can do it,” Ava said. “Just let me know when you’re ready.”

“I’m ready,” she said. “Get it over with.”

Coy sat down again and prepared to have his fingers crushed and was going to accept it while his wife got the medication a second time and yelped and swore under her breath.

When it was done, they both breathed a sigh of relief.

“You know what to expect this time,” he said, moving over to turn the fan on higher. Once her hot flashes stopped last time, he lowered the speed for her.

“Thanks,” she said.

There was shouting and almost screaming coming from the hallway. Someone else was in labor and his cousin was running back and forth.

With another scream coming from outside the room, he broke out in a sweat and stood in front of the fan and lifted his shirt to cool down.

“I think I might pass out,” he said.

“Coy,” she said firmly. “I expected better of you. Pull yourself together. I need you to be strong next to me when the time comes. It’s not going to be today. I feel it. We just need to get through this.”

“I hope you’re right,” he said and dropped his shirt, then sat next to her on the bed rather than the chair. He tucked her under his arm to hold her while she went through the reaction of the drug again, gently rubbing her belly to soothe them both.

He felt it get hard and fought back the tears that nothing was going the way it should be.

Their family came in and out a few times, visiting and giving them space.

Angel started to doze off and he did the same.

He hadn’t even realized it until Ava woke them up.

“I’ve got good news,” Ava said, looking at the printout of the monitor. “While you two have been having a nap, your contractions look to be stopping. You haven’t had one in over thirty minutes.”

“Really?” she asked.

“Yep. And the last two you had were much milder.”

Coy let out a big breath. “So that it’s? It’s done, but we don’t know what caused it and it could happen again?”

“Actually, that was the good news,” Ava said. “I was coming back with your test results from blood and urine. It’s a little slower here on Saturdays. But you’ve got a UTI and kidney infection. My guess is you had the UTI and didn’t realize it andit spread to your kidneys. That is most likely the lower back pain you’ve been feeling. An infection can trigger contractions and labor if not addressed.”

“How could I not know I had it?” she asked. “Wouldn’t I have felt some symptoms?”

“I think you dismissed the symptoms with everything else going on in your body,” Ava said. “It can happen.” She pulled out another syringe. “This goes in the IV. It’s an antibiotic to start quickly, then I’ll send you home with a prescription to start tomorrow.”

“We can go home?” she asked.

“Not yet,” Ava said. “We are going to wait at least another hour. I want to be positive the contractions have fully stopped, but you are out of the woods in my eyes. Do you want me to send in your family for the good news?”

“In a minute,” she said.

Ava gave Angel the antibiotics and left the room.

“This is where I get lectured, right?” he asked.

“Not lectured,” she said, smiling. “I love you, Coy. I know you want to protect me. I know you want to do everything for me and I appreciate more than I can say how you’ve let me do things for the past few months.”

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