It was a sunny mid afternoon about a month after Susie started dating Tommy. Everything was going perfect for her and she decided to walk over to Fiona’s house with a treat for her and some new toys that just came in at the hardware store for the kids. As she knocked on the door Fiona yelled out. “Susie help me!” she immediately burst in and saw Fiona sitting on a chair with the kids in bewilderment. “It’s time… I need to get to the hospital but no one is picking up the phone at William’s office… can you watch the kids? I am going to drive myself…”

“Oh God are you sure Fiona!”

“Yes… Kids Auntie Susie is going to stay with you… Tell William to bring my bag to the hospital…” She only managed to drive the few blocks to Williams office when she knew she’d never make it 30 minutes to the city hospital… She parked the car half on the sidewalk and stumbled upstairs and into his office to a scene of utter pandemonium. “William!” She shouted out to see Audry rushing through the waiting room.. “What’s going on!”

“Jeanette suddenly went into labor and wouldn’t make it to the hospital!”

“Neither am I… Get my husband, oh God!”

“Fi!” she heard her husband yelling out… “Get in room two… I’ll be right there… Audrey, Florence and Mary have a date most Tuesday afternoons. They’ll either be in the movie theater in the back row or diner’s back booth. Get them! Drag them if you need to... Get Mary here!”

“Date?” Audry responded.

“Audrey, two unmarried women who’ve lived together for 30 years… figure it out.. But that doesn't matter now.” He said shaken, but in control as he helped his wife into the room next to Jeanette.

“Oh Gosh Fiona is it supposed to hurt like this!!! Oh God!” Jeanette screamed as a contraction hit her.

“I’d much rather be at the hospital because they give you ether!” Fiona screamed back as a contraction hit her strongly.

Just then Audrey rushed back with Mary and Florence. Mary made some hurried phone calls then grabbed the frazzled doctor. “William you got this, you go with Jeanette, Audrey you go with him… Florence and I will be with Fiona… Jeanette, I called Bobby at work… William, I called your dad… He’s on his way… I have been around a lot of natural childbirths OK? We are fine, you ladies are fine… Once you give birth we’ll get you to the hospital.”

“Mary, but Fiona!”

“There is a reason we don’t want dads in the delivery room! Especially if they are doctors. She’ll be fine! It’s Jeanette’s first Baby she will probably need a doctor more… Go!”

“Mary! I think Fiona is really close!” Florence yelled out.

“Jeanette you’re starting to crown I think…” The doctor yelped out as Audrey grabbed her hand tightly… and in the office in near harmony you could hear Mary and William yelling “PUSH!”

“I’m going to kill Tommy!” Jeanette screamed at the top of her lungs pushing hard…

“Again! Push Jeanette…”

“That son of a bitch!” She screamed again with her next push as Tommy burst into the room out of breath from running up the stairs. “You did this to me!”

“Jeanie… I’m here! What does it feel like?” He said, grabbing her hand…

“One or two more pushes Jeanette and we’ll get the baby OK!”

“AWE!!! You!” she screamed while punching him in the groin.. “Probably feels a lot like that!”

He hit the floor in pain while Audrey tried not to laugh. Jeanette gave one more loud scream and then a beautiful baby girl was born… The joyful sound of the crying baby filled the air and once the doctor had the umbilical cord tied off he asked Tommy “Do you want to cut the cord?”

“Tommy, barely able to get up, just shook his head." No."The doctor quickly checked the baby and wrapped him in a blanket, handing her to an exhausted Jeanette.“

Just then his father Doctor Daniel Richardson rushed in. “Willie, your mom is at the house with the kids. I’ll go attend to Fiona.” he shouted out as he heard her scream again with a contraction.

Meanwhile at the Richardson’s house Emmie arrived to see Susie playing with the kids and was more than relieved to see that Fiona didn’t rush off leaving them alone. They shouted out “Gramie!” and ran over to her.

“I’m Fiona’s friend Susie.”

“I’m William’s mother, Emmie.”

“How’s Fiona?”

“I don’t know. Danny, my husband, William’s dad dropped me off on the way down, but probably fine. Thanks for staying with the kids.”

“Of course! I wish I could have helped Fiona more.”

“I am sure, but trust me you might not wanted to see a child born.”

“I am a bit curious…”

“Well you know where a watermelon sized baby comes out while everyone is watching…”

“Hahaha I am not a little girl… I want to be a mom someday.. Hopefully Tommy marries me.”

“How old are you Susie?”

“Eighteen Mrs Richardson.”

“Oh, don’t rush into it then! I met Danny when I was nineteen but we didn’t get married right away… or well don’t you know… before you’re married…”

“Oh! I’d never!”

“Well I thought William would never, you know, before he was married…”

“Mrs Richardson, how many kids do you have?”

“You can call me Emmie and four. Three sons and a daughter. William is the oldest and what a birth story! He was born in a blizzard at home. Threw all Danny’s plans about going to a modern hospital out the window! Though we stuck with home birth for the next three.”

“At least your husband was a doctor.”

“Oh when William was born he had the flu and was camped out in his office. I had a midwife and Florence and my aunt…”

“Oh…”

“Anyways at the hospital you have a dozen people looking at your… where the baby comes out… at home maybe three… Though you’re not in a state to be modest... You just want the baby out. Now as for having a doctor as a husband… He only was on the catching end for our last child Mary. We needed some help…but it was OK… I think seeing a child come out of there disturbed him a bit…”

Susie half chuckled. “Mary is fine though, we named her after Mary Mason, you must have met Nurse Mary by now.”

“I haven’t actually… Fiona and Audrey talk about her a lot. She seems funny.”

“Oh she’s a riot, We’ve been like sisters.”

Back at William’s office Jeanette and Bobby were in full new parents mood, cooing and cuddling the baby. She even asked for forgiveness about her ill timed punch to Bobby’s groin. Audry called the hospital and they were planning to drive down with William as soon as Fiona was finished.

Fiona was struggling when her father in law came into the room and asked “Willie have you ever done a ECV before?”

“Yes.. Fiona?” he said nervously

“Yes I think the baby is breech, we’ll need your help…”

“It’s been a while… But ok… Ummm…”

“We’ll be OK… The last one I did was your sister though… and… Do you have any ether?”

“I’m not a surgeon dad…”

“I didn’t think so… ok… come on.”

“Fiona… The baby is breech. We are going to try turning him OK? This is going to probably be painful but we’ve both done this before…Florence… Go call an ambulance just in case..” Doctor Danial Richardson said as he nodded to his son and they both began pressing on her swollen belly while Mary kept tabs on Fiona’s vital signs… “Lots of pressure Fiona.. OK?”

Fiona nodded and then screamed as the two doctors pressed on her belly, turning the baby… “I love you Fi.” William said as they pressed again harder…Fiona screamed again. But then started pushing again…

“Fiona? Fi…” William said.

“Oh!” She screamed

“The baby is coming… Head first! PUSH Fi Push!! Fi Push!”

Fiona screamed again pushing as hard as she could while William nearly shoving his dad away sat down to take the baby. “You can do it Fi… PUSH!”

She screamed again and a baby boy came forth… Danny took the baby to look him over and Fiona passed out.

“Her vital signs are still good gentlemen but we need to get her to a hospital STAT.” Mary said.

The ambulance came and quickly took Fiona to the hospital with Doctor Danial Richardson riding along. William still shocked and worried, promised he’d take Jeanette and Bobby in… though he was too shaken up to drive so Bobby did. In the hospital some good news was that his newborn son was fine and healthy and his wife had picked the name Liam after her dad but Fiona hadn’t woken up since passing out. She was rushed into emergency surgery for a suspected internal bleed though he got some hopeful news a few hours later.

“William.” the doctor said coming into the waiting room and sitting down next to him. It was a doctor he knew for years, since his medical school days. “Fiona will be fine. I didn’t do a radical hysterectomy… but she had some bleeding and we stopped it. She’ll probably be here for about a week… Though she’s in recovery now and probably just waking up… Umm William, she might not be able to bear anymore children…We’re giving her a blood transfusion.”

“Is she going to be OK?”

“She’s so strong I am sure of it… Go see her, ok?”

William walked into the recovery room and sat down next to the bed as Fiona was waking up. “William… What happened?” She said, “Is the baby ok?”

“Yes Fi it was a boy… I had them name him Liam after your dad like we said.”

“Good.. I feel so sick” she said before immediately throwing up.

“It’s probably the ether… and I am just glad you’re going to be OK… I called your parents, they’ll be here soon.”

“Good… Are you ok?”

‘“I was terrified I’d lose you.”

“Well you can’t get rid of an Irish tempered redhead that easily now… Oh no, I’m going to throw up again…”

A few days later when he took little Liam into the hospital room to see Fiona before he took the baby home she was sitting up in the bed with her parents around. “Oh William, great news. My mom is going to stay with us for a few weeks to help out.”

“Your mom? Umm, thank you Maurine.” He said, faking a smile.

“Mrs. Murphy… And it’s the least I can do to make sure my grandchildren are treated right...”