Chapter 4

It's another twenty-four hours before the doctor pulls me out in the hall. "We are now entering the stage where the tables are turning. She's not dilating any further and the longer she stays in labor, the more at risk the fetuses are. We need to either force dilation or stop the labor and we need to pick one now. Which is she more likely to agree to?"

I shrug helplessly, "Neither. Unless you can do it without anything but 'natural' methods."

He thinks fast. "We could force the dilation. It's painful and it may not work. But we could try."

"Do it. I'll tell her. No drugs, right? She sees a needle, we gonna have problems."

"She won't see a needle." Which isn't exactly the same thing but I don't question it. I just go tell her what's going on.

When the Doctor and a pair of nurses come in, we get Ame in the necessary position. I stand in front of her, blocking her view of anything other than me. The Doctor starts droning on about working as an assistant to a mid-wife and I lose the thread of the conversation real fast. All I can see is Ame in pain. For me. She didn't want kids - that was my request. I couldn't be the only McElroy without a son, oh no, not me and Ame gets to suffer for my arrogance.