Miracle Birth

Sophie abruptly woke as Otis, the German Shephard, barked into the darkness. She found this strange because Otis never barked unless he had something, or someone, to bark at. Otis, who was tied to the garage for his own safety, must have gotten loose as the light sensor illuminating the outside of the house was triggered. She wiped the sleep out of her eyes and looked at the clock on her bedside locker. It was 3:56. As she pulled the eiderdown duvet cover off of her, she felt a waft of cold air hit her warm body. ‘The weather sure is turning!’ she groaned to herself. She swung her legs from the safety of her queen-sized bed and placed her feet on the sheepskin rug and felt a twinge in her uterus. ‘Not now little guy!’ she said rubbing her stomach. She bunched her toes repeatedly in search of her slippers, whilst her free hand reached for the lamp.

Once she stood up Sophie took a minute to steady herself, ‘pregnancy is no joke!’ she thought as the baby moved onto her bladder. She walked around her spacious bedroom, grabbing her dressing gown from the end of her bed and navigated her way past the walk-in wardrobe to the ensuite, Otis’ barking became more vicious. Suddenly, he stopped. The house was dark once more. Sophie waddled like a penguin back to the sheep skin rug and sat at the end of her bed. She shook her head, ‘bloody dog! probably just a cat’.

As Sophie kicked off her slippers, she extinguished the bedside lamp and fell back into bed. Before she shut her eyes, the back light shone through the wooden blinds again…. but Otis ceased from barking. ‘That’s weird!’ She shielded her eyes from the light with her hand and once again, she flung the duvet off of her. With her dressing gown still on, and fished for her slippers, the outside light aiding her search.

As she slipped her foot into the second white fluffy slipper, she heard a noise, it was coming from downstairs. Sophie knew there was no one else in the colonial mansion, as her husband Steven was away on business. She was nervous. Her breathing became shallow. She heard a bang followed closely by a crash; there was someone in the house!

Sophie gasped as she heard what she thought to be two men arguing over knocking the vase beside the sitting room door. ‘That was my grandmothers,’ Sophie thought, ‘it was an heirloom!’ Obviously, her priorities were askew as the value of an object should have been the last thing on her mind. She tiptoed towards the door to lock it. She could hear the men, who were in no way quiet, go from room to room rifling through her things. Her heart nearly stopped as she heard them in the hallway next to the stairs.  

As money was no object in Sophies life, her husband being a millionaire two and three times over, she hoped upon hope that the intruders had enough to take to satisfy their needs downstairs, leaving upstairs alone. Her wish was demolished as the third step of the stairs squeaked under the weight of the imposters. She heard one say to the other, ‘we should do the main bedroom first, that’s where all the jewellery would be!’ At that very same moment, Sophie grabbed her stomach, she was having a contraction. She tried hard to convince herself it was Braxton hicks.

‘Not now, please, if there is a god, not now!’ she said to herself as she started to feel pressure in her pelvic area. She winced through the pain which was followed by a gush of liquid…...her waters had broken. ‘But I’m only 35 weeks!’ she said to herself. She had had an argument with Steven not two days before about him leaving her when she was so close to her due date. He promised he would only be gone one night…. yet he wasn’t back. ‘Typical men!’ she shook her head as her contraction eased.

She heard the trespassers outside her door. Sophie waddled uncomfortably into the ensuite and locked herself in. That meant there were two locked doors between them and her. She thought that they would just take her jewellery and leave without bothering to enter the vast wet room.

CRACK! The door to the bedroom was open. She heard a loud thud followed by a deep voice disgusted as he had just slipped on her amniotic fluid. ‘Serves you right you bastard!’ Sophie thought as another contraction commenced. She sat down on the white, non-slip tiles and tried not to moan in pain.

The burglars weren’t subtle in their searching of the room. ‘Where is she?’ she heard the same deep voice ask. Another contraction. This time she couldn’t but make a sound it was so painful. She heard someone try to enter. She was preoccupied. Suddenly possessions were far less important than her baby as she figured that was three contractions in the past fifteen minutes……she was starting to think something was wrong. She felt pressure. ‘She’s in here!’ a softer voice spoke.

Sophie took off her bottoms and noticed that there was blood on them. Panicking, she put her hand onto her vaginal area. She had a degree in nursing but never went on to practice as she had Steven to look after her. She tried to remember how to determine how many centimetres she was. CRACK! They had entered her sanctuary.

As Sophie looked up at the two men, tears streaming down her cheeks, she noticed both had youthful faces that were contorted by what they were seeing. The one with the deep voice dropped his pillowcase full of all the goodies he had collected and entered the wet room. ‘Please,’ Sophie cried, ‘please call me an ambulance?’ It was more of a question than a demand. They looked at each other. The one with the softer voice, who was shorter and had lighter hair spoke, ‘c’mon Davey!’ The one called Davey shook his head no as Sophie started to howl as she experienced yet another contraction. ‘We can’t!’ Davey’s voice broke. Sophie, her eyes closed tightly, was relieved as she heard Davey call for an ambulance. When the longest one yet had finished, she opened her eyes and saw that it was just her and Davey in the room. The one with the softer voice was gone, as was the pillow case Davey had dropped.

She flinched as Davey came towards her, another contraction hit. ‘I need to push!’ she cried closing her eyes tightly once more. To her surprise, Sophie felt a wet compress being placed on her forehead. She opened her eyes and saw Davey gathering some towels. She was confused but grateful. He helped her lay on her back, a soft towel underneath both her head and her pelvis. ‘Don’t worry missus,’ Davey said in a soft tone, ‘I grew up on a farm!’ They locked eyes and Sophie was actually grateful he was there.

‘What did you do to my dog?’ she asked through gritted teeth. ‘Gave it some Xanax in a sausage,’ Davey confessed. Sophie screamed in agony as Davey reminded her to breathe. She felt Davey’s hand in hers and she squeezed it as tightly as she could, secretly hoping she would break a bone or two.

Twenty minutes passed with Davey by her side. He was treating her as if he knew what he was doing; he even coached her in the Lamaze breathing technique. ‘Where is that damned ambulance!’ Sophie screamed as the baby began to crown. She felt indifferent to having Davey so close to her vaginal area, she was in too much pain to care.

‘Push!’ Davey shouted, prising his hand free. Sophie had never felt a pain like it, it felt like all of her menstrual cramps that she had ever felt in her thirty-seven years as a woman with the added bonus of a bowling ball being pushed through her vagina. ‘The head is out!’ she heard from a distance. She pushed again with all her might until she heard the most satisfying sound she ever had the pleasure of hearing, her baby’s cry. She opened her eyes as Davey held up her new son. ‘It’s a boy!’ he smiled with kind eyes and placed the baby on Sophies chest. ‘Hello little guy, I’m your mammy!’ she cried tears of joy, surprised that Davey mirrored her.

The sound of the ambulance sirens finally became apparent. She looked at Davey, tears streaming down his face, his clothes covered in a gooey substance from the baby. ‘Thank you!’ Sophie smiled at him. He nodded in response, draping a towel over her for modesty. He sat on the tiles beside her and gently caressed the baby’s cheek. ‘Run you fool! she told him, ‘but open the front door as you go for the paramedics.’ ‘But missus, I….’ Davey started, ‘…...you gave me my beautiful boy!’ Sophie finished. He nodded with gratitude and bolted. He must have only missed the paramedics by seconds.

As Sophie, the proud mother to baby Theodore, reported the burglary to the police as soon as she got the all clear, she was asked if she had seen any of their faces. She was so grateful to Davey that she answered ‘no.’ Steven got to the hospital a few hours later, and together, they marvelled at the wonder that was their bouncing baby boy.

picture from pixabay