xover: Inner Fire and The Light (16/16)
Jeannie Ecklund, Aug 17, 2000


I would like to say again  a special thank you to Elise for first beta
reading  and correcting a million gramatical problems. Also to Linda my
sister for also reading for content and Biblical accuracy.  She also
added her knowledge of child birth.  Something I know nothing about. She
added some wonderful scenes to the final two chapters.

----

"I was a surgeon in the 1800's.  I have done the procedure, even before
it was acceptable.  Most women in those days died in childbirth.  This
baby did not die... and neither did the mother."

Nick was sweating with fear. "You!  You saved babies?  Why?"

"I was posing as a doctor. That's what doctors do.  I'd seen a vet turn
a calf.  I thought the mother would die anyway so it might be an
interesting experiment.  It worked."  He shrugged.

He took Natalie's face in his hands.  "Let me try. I will be as gentle
as I possibly can.  I remember the event very well.  It was one of the
most human things I ever did when I was a vampire."

Nick shouted over a new thunderclap, "I don't know...."

Natalie screamed, "Nick, we have to let him try.  We have no choice.
Grace will have to do a C-section if it doesn't work."

Grace said, "I can do a saddle block for a C-section, but I don't have
anything to deal with the side effects and that could be quite
dangerous."

Natalie shook her head.  Between clenched teeth, she said to LaCroix,
"Father, I trust you... God will guide you.  Just do it!"

LaCroix ran to the kitchen and scrubbed his hands and arms in hot water
and soap.  He hurried back and put on the gloves Grace held out to him.

The older woman had prepared Natalie.  She was on clean sheets, lying on
the bear skin rug.  Nick was propping up her upper body.

She moaned,  "I wish you had your hypnotic ability."  Another
contraction hit her and she pressed her lips together trying to suppress
the scream, but a low moan still escaped her lips.  She was drenched in
sweat.

The suppressed scream tore at Nick's heart. "Scream, Natalie, if it
helps.  Come on... breathe the way we were taught... breathe," he
instructed using the LaMaze techniques they had studied to try and
distract her.

Janette stood off to the side, watching  the whole process.  She started
to pray for her new friend and for wisdom and help for the man she loved
that was trying to help her.

LaCroix knelt between Natalie's legs.  He examined her as gently as he
could, then his lips tightened and he nodded.  "She was right.  The
first baby is not in the proper position.  It must be turned.  Nick,
you'll need to hold her tightly."

"Grace, can you help brace her legs?" He waited until the end of the
next contraction, then slipped his hand inside her and up the vaginal
wall into the uterus.

Great sobs of pain came from Natalie. LaCroix felt the baby's feet.  He
slid his hand along the legs and up the spine and shoulders.  He
supported the baby's head and neck and gently rotated it around, then
withdrew. Natalie had gone limp and silent, and he looked frantically
into her face.

Grace moved around and took her vitals, then reassured everyone, "She
just passed out. Vital signs are okay." She took an ammonia ampule,
broke it and waved it under Natalie's nose.

Natalie awoke, coughing and sputtering.  LaCroix, pale and sweating from
his exertions and the tension, moved back and to the side as Grace took
his place.

"Natalie, at the next contraction I?m going to need you to push, OK?
Here it comes. Now... push, Natalie!"

Nat took a deep breath and pushed as hard as possible, tears streaming
down her face.

Joe held Janette as they watched in nail-biting silence.

Natalie was holding Nick's hand so tightly he thought he heard bones
crack.  All of a sudden the first baby's head crowned.  Grace said
tensely, as she worked, "It's crowned, Natalie.  Stop pushing while I
ease the head out...  There we go... Ok, push again..."

The laboring mother strained again, screaming in pain and joy as she
felt the baby slither from her body.

The slippery child slipped into Grace's waiting hands. "It's a girl,"
she cried.

Joe handed her a soft towel, and she wrapped the infant in it, rubbing
her gently until she cried with frustration at being in this harsh new
world.

Outside the storm raged, the shutters rattled, and the rain poured.
Inside it was warm and six faces peered at the new little one.

Natalie cried and laughed at the same time.  Nick did too.  He pressed
his lips against her forehead.

"Janette, could you come and take Nick's place so he can cut the cord,"
Grace asked the awed woman.

Janette slipped into Nick's place, bracing Natalie.  Tears ran down
her cheeks.  She'd never been touched more by any event in her life.

Nick slipped into Grace's place.  She showed him how to tie and cut the
cord, then handed Nick the baby.

He took his new daughter, with trembling hands, and brought her to
Natalie, to lay her on his wife's chest.

Natalie stared at the beautiful, newborn. She had blond hair like
her father and a little upturned nose.  "You shall be called, Lucy
Anne."  She looked up and met the eyes of a very surprised and touched
ex-vampire master. She saw the tears that sprang to his eyes.

The baby cried, and nuzzled Natalie's chest, hungrily looking for her
first meal.  Janette helped Natalie with her blouse, and covered mother
and child with a warm blanket.

Natalie got an amazed look on her face as the baby attached herself,
drawing the first drops of precious fluid into her tiny body.

"Oh, Nick," she cried.

Suddenly a second round of contractions hit.  Quickly, Grace took Lucy
from Natalie, handing her to a stunned LaCroix.  He stood nearby,
peering at his new name sake.

Grace turned, "Nick, just stay there. When you see the baby's head
crowning, let Natalie know to quit pushing.  Place your hands on both
sides and gently ease the skin down and around it.  Tell Natalie when
she can push again.  Support the head as the baby emerges and the moment
you see the shoulders, take hold of them gently with one hand, keeping
the other under the baby's head.  As you draw the baby out, slide your
hand further down its body until you cup its little bottom."

Natalie cried out and bore down. Grace massaged her uterus through the
stomach wall to help it contract enough to start the other child on its
way.   After several more contractions, the next infant's head crowned.
Following Grace's instructions to the letter, Nick finally felt the baby
slide out in one quick motion, leaving the awe struck father  juggling
the slippery little body. Nick cried out, "It's our boy."

Everyone laughed. They'd all known it was to be a boy.

Nick found Joe beside him with another soft towel.  Wrapping the newborn
in it, Nick held his son, fascinated.  Natalie watched her husband as
the baby flailed around with his hands finally wrapping his tiny fingers
around Nick's large one.

Nick whispered softly, "I love you, Nat!  Thank you, my love."

Grace tied and cut the cord.

"Nick, you can give the baby to Natalie and let him nurse.  It will help
start the contractions to expel the afterbirths and we can finish this
up."  She got busy preparing for the afterbirths.

Nick moved to sit down near Natalie as she rested against Janette.  Her
friend was gently washing the tired mother?s face with a cool towel that
Joe has brought.

Nick looked up at Joe.  "This baby will be called Joseph Nicholas."

The big man's face melted with emotion, and tears ran down his ebony
cheeks.  "I am honored," he said.

Grace coached Natalie through several more contractions and soon the
afterbirthing was done.  She finished cleaning up with everyone's help.

They had decided against moving the new mother upstairs for the time
being, and had made a very comfortable bed with a down comforter and
pillows.  Finally, they put the worn out Natalie onto the temporary bed
where she snuggled down and put the babies to nurse.

The storm raged outside, but inside everything was safe and warm.  The
cabin's occupants sat or reclined around watching the little miracles of
life take their first meal.  Nick sat behind his wife again, caressing
her hair and gently touching one baby or the other, bestowing kisses on
Natalie's lips every time she raised her face to look into his eyes.

"I love you so much, Natalie.  You have made me the happiest person
alive."  He kissed her again.

"As  you have me," she returned. "How did we ever live without them?"

Nick said,  "I don't know."

"Listen," Natalie said.  "I think the storm is over..."

Everything was still outside.  "Sometimes God takes away the storm?s of
life, and other times He goes through them with us..." Joe commented
quietly to the agreement of all.

After a while, Grace came and took the babies, telling Natalie that she
needed to rest.  She handed Lucy to LaCroix and Little Joey to Joe. Nick
and Natalie watched as the two men became enamored with the tiny beings
in their arms.

LaCroix looked at the baby in his arms and said, "THIS, truly is
immortality."

Every one murmured their agreement.

The end

***** Jeannie Ecklund ***** gersknightlady@cs.com