Read Online The Vampire and The Paramedic by Jamie Davis - Free Book Online Page B

him a sharp glance, she had said nothing of his presence
in the doorway. Celeste pressed against his back, watching over his
shoulder, her excitement and curiosity palpable at the surface of
her mind.
    “Okay, Jenny, sweetie, the baby’s almost
here,” Brynne said calmly. “You need to take some deep breaths, and
when you feel another contraction come on, I want you to bear down
and push while Rebekah counts to ten. Then take another deep breath
and push again for ten. Got it?” She rested a hand on the very
pregnant belly of the girl lying on the bed.
    “I’m tired,” Jenny said. “I don’t want to do
this anymore.”
    “I know, Jenny,” Brynne consoled. “It’s
almost finished now. I can see the baby’s head.”
    James glanced down and saw a wet, hairy,
curved bulge slightly protruding from the girl’s vaginal opening.
He couldn’t tear his eyes away, it was like nothing he had ever
seen before. Was that the top of the baby’s head?
    “Oh, oh no, here comes another … ahhhrgh!”
Jenny wailed.
    “Okay, Jenny, now push. Bear down and push
hard!” Brynne urged.
    Rebekah sat at the head of the mattress, her
arms around the girl, counting down from ten quietly in her ear.
She used a pillow to help lift up the tired girl’s upper body as
she curled around her abdomen. Jenny’s face was red with effort,
and her red hair was plastered to her forehead and the sides of her
face with sweat. Rebekah watched Brynne’s face intently.
    James returned his gaze to the foot of the
bed where the hairy bulge began to grow and slowly push through the
opening. Then he saw an ear, and the outline of a nose facing down
towards the mattress. Suddenly there was a tiny head protruding
from this girl’s pelvis. The skin tone was blue, and there was a
sort of jelly and white paste liquid all over it.
    “Okay, stop pushing for just a second,”
Brynne said. “Jenny. Stop pushing. I have to clear the umbilical
cord. It’s wrapped around the baby’s neck. Stop pushing!”
    James watched as she slid a gloved finger
along the line of the baby’s chin towards the ear, hooking down and
underneath an inch-thick pulsing cord the encircled the baby’s
neck. She applied a steady pull, creating some slack in the cord
and then slipped the slackened, ropy umbilical cord around the
baby’s tiny blue face and over the head until it was loose.
    “Got it!” She announced. Brynne looked back
up at Jenny. “Okay, sweetie. One more big push and you’re all done.
I just have to slip the shoulders out, and the rest of the baby
will come right out. You’ve got this. Just one more push.”
    “Oh, gods,” Jenny wailed, tears flowing down
her face. “Just get it out, get it out, get it out!”
    Brynne nodded at Rebekah and the older woman
lifted at the pillow behind the girl’s shoulders helping her push.
She was whispering encouragement in Jenny’s ear and Jenny began to
groan as she started to push again. Brynne used both hands to
support the baby’s head and guided, angling the head and neck down
towards the bed. Suddenly a shoulder popped free of the upper side
of the birth canal, and Brynne angled the baby’s head and neck up.
With a whoosh and a rush of fluid, as pressure was released, the
rest of the baby came free. The whole baby’s skin tone was blue,
but the arms and legs seemed to be feebly moving on their own
though there wasn’t a sound from the baby’s mouth. He had expected
crying or something. Brynne laid the baby down on the mattress
below its mother and reached for a blue, rubber bulb syringe.
Squeezing the bulb to remove the air, she stuck the soft rubbery
tube end in the baby’s mouth then released the pressure on the
bulb. She then pulled it out and squeezed the mucousy contents out
on the sheets. The paramedic repeated the process with each nostril
twice and on the second time around the baby coughed and then let
out a tiny wailing cry. Everyone in the room seemed to sigh at
once.
    “Incredible,” Celeste