Friday, October 1, 2004
Rose waddled awkwardly into the backyard, carrying Daniel. As had become her habit since she had stopped working, she spent part of every morning working in the vegetable garden she and Helga had started the previous spring. Both had decided that they wanted their babies to have the best, most natural foods, but everyone had benefited from it.
Rose set Daniel in the outside pen Tommy had built for him when he started to scoot around, giving the baby a safe place to play while the adults did other things. It was situated in the shade of a scraggly maple tree, allowing just enough sunlight to keep the baby warm and content while protecting him from sunburn. Daniel would often stare contentedly out the slats of the wooden playpen, or examine anything that happened to come within reach.
Rose was glad to put him down. The boy was growing big and heavy, and her back was still aching, tightening more and more frequently as the hours went by. She knew by now that she was in labor, but didn’t worry about it yet. The pains were a good forty-five minutes apart, so she had plenty of time before the baby would be born.
Rubbing her back, she picked up a large basket and a trowel and moved toward the vegetable garden, separated from the rest of the yard by grapevines that had been there for years. There was a wide space where the vines did not grow, closed off only by the maple tree, so she was able to keep an eye on Daniel as she worked.
Moving slowly, Rose stepped amongst the plants, picking tomatoes, green beans, and squash that still grew in the warm autumn weather. Some of the plants had finished their producing and been removed for winter planting, but there was still plenty of work to do.
Stopping occasionally to look back at Daniel, she moved amongst the rows, picking whatever was ripe. The baby watched her, grinning and cooing, then turned his attention to a bird that perched on the opposite wall of the playpen, just out of his reach.
Rose smiled, watching the baby, her thoughts turning to her own baby. In just a few more hours, she would be born. She and Jack would have a daughter of their own to love and bring up. Jack had promised to be there for the birth, not wanting to miss a minute of their child’s life.
It’s sad, she thought, that Daniel will never know his father. How would Fabrizio have reacted to his tiny son? Everyone loved and adored the little boy, but Rose still thought it sad that he and his father would never meet, and she was glad that she and Jack would be raising their baby together.
Rose stopped, bending forward and holding her stomach as another contraction went through her abdomen. She glanced at her watch, calculating how long it had been since the last pain. Forty minutes. The pains were growing closer together.
At last, the contraction ended and Rose straightened up—just in time to see Daniel stuff something green and wiggling into his mouth.
"Daniel! No!" She hurried over to the baby, squatting down to see what he was trying to eat. "Open up. Let me see what you’ve got."
She pried the infant’s mouth open, removing a half-crushed tomato hookworm from his mouth. "Icky! Daniel, that’s icky. You don’t want to eat that." She flung the dead pest across the yard, wondering what it had been doing in the grassy playpen instead of in the tomato vines. Maybe a bird had picked it up and dropped it.
Daniel stared at Rose for a moment, his mouth still hanging open. Then he let loose with an outraged wail that sent the birds scattering from the maple tree. Kicking his feet and waving his arms, he angrily protested the loss of his new toy.
Rose picked him up, patting his back, but the angry baby refused to be soothed. Howling, he struggled in her arms, grabbing a handful of hair and yanking.
Rose disentangled her hair from Daniel’s grip, setting him on the sun-warmed grass and letting him scream until he calmed down. When at last he stopped wailing, she took a pair of old scissors from the basket and cut a length of green grapevine, one of Daniel’s favorite teething toys. Picking him up, she helped him hold the length of damp vine, putting him against her shoulder and letting him chew on it. She rubbed the baby’s back soothingly as he chewed, the worm forgotten.
"I know, Daniel. Your Aunt Rose is mean. But there’s some things you just shouldn’t eat. Worms are one of them. I tried to eat one when I was a baby, and Mom wouldn’t let me have it, either, or so I’m told."
Daniel gurgled, waving the length of vine, before putting it back in his mouth. Settling him on her hip, Rose went into the garden to pick up her basket.
"Come on, baby boy. Let’s go inside. You’ve gotten into enough trouble for one day."
*****
By late afternoon, Rose’s contractions were about seven minutes apart. It would be time to go to the hospital soon, but she didn’t need to leave immediately. There was time for Jack to get home and take her. In the meantime, she played with Daniel for a while, then set him in his high chair to feed him.
Daniel had been cranky all day, chewing on everything he could get into his mouth, as he usually did when teething. The tomato hookworm had only been the beginning of what he chewed on, and had stretched to include one of Jack’s drawing pencils, carelessly left out where the baby could get it, and a strip of linoleum from the worn kitchen floor.
Rose had finally put Daniel in his playpen and given him a frozen teething toy to play with. He had chewed on it for a while, then fallen asleep in the bottom of the playpen, finally giving Rose some peace.
It was just a stage he was going through, but it was hard to deal with a teething baby while slowly laboring toward giving birth to another baby. Rose could hardly wait for Helga to get home so that she could hand the baby over to her.
Heating up some baby-sized portions of rice and strained pumpkin in the microwave, Rose sat down to feed Daniel, letting him play with the spoon while she heated the food. The child loved the sound of the spoon beating against the high chair tray, though it annoyed any adult within earshot no end.
Finally, Rose sat down to feed him. She managed to get him to eat the rice without a fuss—he liked rice—but feeding him the pumpkin was more difficult. He spit out half of it, and was more interested in trying to grab the brightly colored stuff than in eating it.
"It’s no wonder you’re not hungry," she told the baby sourly. "You’ve eaten everything you could get your hands on today."
Daniel just grinned at her, then reached for the plastic dish of pumpkin. Rose moved it out of his reach, then held her stomach as another contraction lanced through her.
Daniel took advantage of her distraction to beat his hands against the tray, splattering his fist into some spilled pumpkin and then smearing the squash on his face and hair.
"Daniel...you’re lucky you’re so cute," Rose told him, straightening and reaching for a damp cloth to wipe the baby’s face. Daniel just opened his mouth, demanding more food. "Yes...very lucky." Rose spooned more pumpkin into his mouth, unable to help but laugh as he made a face and tried to spit it out. "No...you swallow it. It’s good for you."
They both looked up as the front door opened. Helga came in, her purse swinging from her hand as she walked. Daniel squealed with delight and held his arms out to her.
"Daniel!" Helga set her purse down and came over to the baby, but stopped short of picking him up when she saw what a mess he was. "Look at you!" She pulled some baby wipes out and wiped his face off. "Are you giving your Aunt Rose a hard time?"
"He’s teething again," Rose told her. "And he’s chewing everything in sight. He tried to eat a tomato hookworm, a pencil, and the kitchen floor." She pointed to the spot where the loose linoleum had been removed.
"Batting a thousand today, huh?" Helga looked Daniel right in the face. "Let me see your mouth, Daniel." She felt the baby’s gums. "Not much longer," she assured both Rose and the baby. "I can feel where the tooth is. You’ll feel better soon," she cooed at Daniel, chucking him under the chin.
Daniel gave her a wide grin, showing off his few teeth. Helga patted him on the back.
"Let me put my stuff away and I’ll finish feeding him," she told Rose, frowning as Rose set the dish of pumpkin on the edge of the tray and leaned forward, holding her middle. "Are you okay?"
"I’m fine," Rose gritted out. "Just having a baby, is all."
Daniel chose that moment to get his hands on the dish of strained pumpkin. Trying to pull it closer, he knocked it onto the floor, but not before grabbing a handful and trying to put it in his mouth. Most of it landed on his bib or smeared on his face. Grinning at his mother and aunt, he smeared the squash further across his face and into his hair.
The front door opened again and Jack walked in, carrying his portfolio casually at his side. He started to greet his wife, then stopped when he saw the pained look on her face and the way she was clutching her belly.
"Rose, are you all right?"
Rose gave him a look, which clearly told him the answer to that. Helga answered his question for her.
"She’s fine. It’s perfectly normal. You’ll be parents in a few hours."
At that, the portfolio dropped from Jack’s hand, papers scattering across the floor. Helga burst out laughing as she watched him scramble around the room, picking them up.
"How typical—the father is more nervous than the mother."
Jack just glared at her as he hurried to pick up the last few papers.
Tommy came in from the garage door, looking in perplexity at the scene before him. Rose was holding her stomach and groaning, Daniel was smearing squash in his hair, Helga was laughing like a lunatic, and Jack was chasing papers across the kitchen floor.
He just shook his head. "Okaay," he said, walking quickly past the commotion and through the living room door.
The laughter of the three adults followed him as he hurried to avoid the scene.
*****
It was Helga’s week to cook, so after she had given the baby a quick bath in the sink, she gave him a bottle and left him under Tommy’s supervision. Jack and Rose sat on the living room couch, talking quietly, while Tommy absently bounced the baby on his knee and tried to watch the news at the same time.
"How long have you been in labor?" Jack asked Rose, putting an arm around her shoulders as she tried to settle back on the couch.
"Oh...probably since last night, but I wasn’t sure until this morning. The pains are about five minutes apart now, so we should leave as soon as dinner is over."
"You’re planning on eating dinner?" Jack wasn’t sure that was such a good idea, considering the way that she kept clutching her middle, but he reasoned that it wasn’t actually her stomach that was giving her pain.
Rose shook her head. "I’m not hungry. I haven’t really felt hungry all day. You just eat quickly, and then we’ll go." She hugged her stomach, closing her eyes. "Just a little while longer."
"This time tomorrow, we’ll have our own baby." Jack took her hand.
"I hope so." Rose opened her eyes and looked at him. "Mom told me a long time ago that I took twenty hours to be born. I hope this one doesn’t take that long. I don’t know if I can stand it."
"You’ll make it." Jack squeezed her hand. "You’re strong."
"Thanks," Rose told him dryly. "I still think you should do this part next time."
"Yes, dear."
Rose scowled at him. "Shut up."
"Anyone hungry?" Helga poked her head through the door.
Daniel had fallen asleep in Tommy’s lap, but he opened his eyes and looked at his mother when she came in, putting his thumb in his mouth.
"I take it that’s a yes." Helga picked him up and carried him into the kitchen, the others trailing after her.
Jack ate quickly, hastened by Rose’s nudges and urgent looks. Her contractions were about four minutes apart, so she wanted to leave.
"You ready to go?" he asked her as he put the last bite of food in his mouth.
"Help me up." Jack helped Rose stand up, her swollen middle making getting out of a chair difficult. "Could you get my bag for me? I need to use the bathroom before we leave."
"Sure." Jack hurried ahead of her as she waddled down the hall.
A few minutes later, he found her bag where she had stuffed it under the bed. Wondering what was taking her so long, he knocked on the bathroom door.
"Rose? Are you okay?"
He heard her groan in response.
"Ow..." A moment later came a shocked exclamation. "Shit!"
Jack knocked more urgently on the door. "Rose! What’s wrong?"
"Jack...could you please bring me some dry clothes and the mop? My water just broke."
"Open the door, Rose. I’ll mop up; you go get some dry clothes on."
Rose opened the door. Her maternity jeans were soaked and a puddle of fluid was on the floor by the sink.
"Let’s hurry," she gasped, holding her belly. "I don’t know how long we’ve got."
"It could be a short time, or it could be hours," Helga told them, coming down the hall. She had heard the commotion and had come to see what was going on. "You two get going. You left some clothes in the laundry area in the garage last weekend that you can put on. Now, go."
"We’re going. We’re going." Rose tugged on Jack’s hand. "Thanks, Helga."
"Good luck, Rose."
Jack put his hand on Rose’s back, propelling her gently through the hall and kitchen and through the garage door.
"Good luck, you two," Tommy called as they hurried past.
"Thanks," Jack called back, hurrying Rose into the laundry area and then out to his car.