Page 108 - Middle Georgia State University - Knighted 2019

hours were coming to an end and Jonathan needed to pick up Joshua and get ready to go back to
work on Monday.

I went into labor later that evening. The Rosie Maternity Hospital is 43 minutes from our
home in Thetford. Unfortunately, there was heavy snowfall that night and what should have
taken 43 minutes took hours for Jonathan to return to the hospital. The nurse assigned to my
room in dark blue scrubs called Jonathan on my cell phone she said something like “You need to
come back she’s going to deliver today.” The nurse spoke in her crisp British accent with no
alarm or urgency in her tone, like she was asking him over for tea or something. If my body
wasn’t seized in pain, I would have rolled my eyes in utter annoyance. I had a difficult time
focusing. This wasn’t like the labor pains I had with Joshua. I was in a lot of pain and I wanted
Demerol, a pain reliever I had with my first delivery. However, it wasn’t available because it had
to be administered by the anesthesiologist, who was currently in theater (surgery). All the
midwife with dark blue scrubs trimmed in white piping could offer me as relief was nitric oxide
gas.

I hear buzzing sounds in my mind, but it's not a real sound. I can’t feel my teeth, lips or
nose. My brain is vibrating bouncing in and out of consciousness. I don’t understand why people
are willing to get high; this is so painful. Far away I hear a voice in my right ear, but I can’t quite
make out what it’s saying. The buzzing is fading, and my senses are coming back in focus, it’s
the midwife calmly saying, “Breathe through the pain.” I hate the midwife right now; I don’t
really. At the moment, I do because she is helping me, helping me give birth prematurely. I turn
away from her and I notice there are more people in my room than just the midwife, but I can’t
make them out. There is a small dull lamp lighting the end of my bed but all I can see are

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