Page 44 of There I Find Rest

This was something Kim was going to have to go through, but at least God had orchestrated it so that he was with her. It could have happened two weeks ago when he hadn’t been around.

It could have happened while she was at the house by herself.

He took the time to thank the Lord for choosing the timing when he could be there. Even if he wasn’t any help, at least he was driving her to the hospital, which was so much better than the thought of her groaning on the floor of her cottage with no one around.

“We’re almost there... Are you doing okay?”

“Yeah,” she said, although she sounded anything but okay.

It felt like forever until he was able to pull up to the emergency room. He parked right in front of the doors.

He was going to have to move his vehicle, someone was, but he didn’t care about that right now. All he cared about was getting her into where she needed to go.

He ran around the car, opened her door, and ignored that she was trying to get out on her own.

Putting his arms under her, he carefully moved her so that he didn’t hit her head as he was lifting her around the car.

“I think I can walk,” she said, the words pinched out.

“And I know I can carry you. Let me, please,” he said, having absolutely no intention of putting her down regardless of whether she said he could or not. It just sounded better for him to ask.

She didn’t insist, and he pushed through the double doors, impatient for them to open, and then walked boldly up to the desk.

He’d only made it halfway there when the woman behind it stood, her hand at her chest. “What is it?” she asked, her words clipped and short.

Thankful for small-town hospitals that typically didn’t have a wait in their emergency room, he prayed they also had skilled surgeons and doctors in the ER. “Premature labor.”

“All right,” she said, pushing a button underneath the counter that opened the doors to a hallway that led back to exam rooms. “Set her on the first bed in room A, and I’ll have the doctor there immediately.”

“All right. Hurry, please,” he said, grateful his voice sounded calm, although the rest of his body was panicking.

Kim tensed and doubled around her stomach, her head pushing into his chest, as her knees tucked up.

“Just hold on, just a little bit longer.”

“I think I need to push. In fact, never mind. I know it.”

He was at the doorway, and he forgot all about his calm, rational voice as he called over his shoulder, “She says she needs to push.”

“Got it.” A woman materialized beside him, holding a gown as he walked through the door and she followed closely.

Things went by in a blur from there, with someone getting Kim into the gown as the hospital loudspeaker called for a labor and delivery team to assemble, and the doctor strode into the room as Kim lay down on the hard hospital bed.

The doctor looked at him. “You’re the father?”

“Yes.”

The doctor jerked his head up. He put a hand on Kim’s shoulder, which made her open her eyes. “We have a team coming, and we’re going to do our best to take care of you and your little one.”

He said a few more things, explaining what he was doing as he started examining Kim.

They allowed Davis to stay with her until they wheeled her away. The nurse who had brought the gown, who he assumed was in the ER and not a part of the labor and delivery team that eventually showed up, explained that normally the husband was allowed in, but because it was an emergency, she would show him to a waiting room, where they would let him know the outcome.

It wasn’t busy; he was the only one in it as he paced from one side to the other, unable to sit down and be still. He was able to pray just as easily while he was pacing as he could on his knees.

Then, he decided that maybe the suggested position of being on one’s knees wasn’t just to show respect and humility, but it was also to calm oneself and allow a person to remember that God was in control.

At that point, he knelt down by one of the chairs, his forehead on the seat, his eyes completely closed while he breathed short prayers.Let her be okay. Let the baby be okay. Give the doctors wisdom. Give them what they need. Watch over them. Keep her safe.

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