Epilogue

The excitement of being Jacob Draiman had finally died down after a month.  There was no more research, no more interviews and no more travelling to do interviews or get prizes that he didn’t want.  He did however oversee his best friend from high school’s treatment once he was granted privileges at the hospitals in Colorado Springs.  CSMC was glad to take on the responsibility of being the first non- military hospital to administer the treatment.  And Jake gladly paid for the entire thing.

Maddie’s wedding was beautiful.  Jake sat behind his parents and actually got to see his father cry for the first time.  Giving his little princess away was the hardest thing David Draiman had ever done, his son knew it.

During the reception after the bride and groom danced and then the bride danced with her father, David and Brie kept disappearing.  When they were found they were sitting on the stairs at the banquet hall where the reception was being held, talking about how they couldn’t believe that Maddie’s third child to marry and that Jordan was going to finally make things with Davina not long after.  Their four oldest children were all either married or going to be.  They kept humming the song “Sunrise, Sunset”, from Fiddler on the Roof.

Colton and Madison GreyEagle were on their way to the Bahamas not too long after the ceremony was over and everyone else went home.  The entire family talked about how beautiful the wedding was and how Maddie and Colt looked so happy together.

That night, as the last child Brie carried to term flew away to the Bahamas for her honeymoon, her parents laid in bed and cried.

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Jake was just walking in from work when he heard his wife scream in pain suddenly.  He dropped his things on the couch and ran to the kitchen.  Delilah was alone in the kitchen and there was a mess all over the floor.  “Jake, my water just broke and OH MY GOD IT HURTS!”

He went directly to her side and helped her sit down.  “Ok, baby, when the next contraction hits I’m gonna time it, then the time between.”  He offered her a hand.  When the contraction hit, she grabbed a hold of his hand and squeezed with everything she had.  Jake checked his watch and started counting.  He checked his watch again when the contraction ended and he timed the space between contractions.  It was rather short.  His eyes turned into saucers.  “FUCK!”, he said under his breath, then looked at his wife.  “Baby, how long have you been having contractions?”

“That I remember they just started”, she said through her teeth.

“We need to check to see how far along you are.  We might not have the time to get you to the hospital.”

She nodded slowly.  “Help me up.”

He helped her up and they started slowly making their way to the living room.  When they walked in the living room, his parents walked in with Miri.  “What’s going on, Jake?” Brie asked.

“She in labor”, he said simply.  “I brought her in here to check how far along the labor has progressed.  You wouldn’t happen to have gloves around here anywhere, would you, Mom?”

Brie sighed and looked at David.  “You know where my kit is, right?”

“The birthing kit?”

“Yeah.”

“Yes.  You need me to go get it?”

“Yes please.”  She looked at Jake.  “What size gloves do you wear?”

“Large.”

She turned back to David.  “Grab a box of Large gloves too, baby.”  She held Miri out to him.  “And drop her off in Jessi’s room, please.”  David took Miri and went for the stairs.  Brie was at the couch with Jake and Delilah in no time.  “What do you think is going on, Jake?”

“I think we’re not getting her to the hospital, but we should have an ambulance standing by to take her and Ira to the hospital to be checked out after he’s born.”

“Alrighty, then.”

David came down the stairs with the kit with Jessi on his heels.  “I want to help deliver the baby if Delilah and Jake will let me.”

“That’s fine, Jess.  We’re gonna need the help”, Jake said as he slipped on a pair of gloves.

“Cool!”

“Jacob, you do know what you’re doing, right?”

“Mom, I’ve done OB rotations and in that time I delivered my fair share of babies.  As Uncle Matt would say, this isn’t my first rodeo.”  Jake pulled Delilah’s sweatpants off and checked her.  “Yep, just as I suspected.  She’s not going to make it to the hospital.  She’s 9cm and fully effaced.  And I felt the top of his head.”

“Then we need to get her in the floor here in a few and get this baby delivered, don’t we?”

“Do what you usually do to prep for this kind of thing, then, Mom.  I don’t know how you set these things up.”

Brie stood and started getting people moving.  David was even involved.  Pillows were piled in the floor for her to lean against, towels and blankets were gotten together and warmed, Brie started laying out the tools they’d need.  “So, who’s pulling this baby from your wife?”

“ME.”  His tone made it known that there was no questioning it.

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He knelt between his wife’s legs with glove on.  There was head full of hair trying to come out.  His mother was behind him trying to instruct him on how to deliver a baby.  He carefully massaged the opening that his son was coming out of in between contractions.  When a contraction came on he carefully maneuvered the baby out of the birth canal as she pushed.  “One more push, baby.  You’re almost done”, he coached.  She pushed and he maneuvered the shoulders out.  Everything else came with the greatest of ease.  “Suction, please”, he said and held a hand out.  He suctioned out the mouth and nose and his son took his first breath and screamed.  It was the most beautiful sound in the world.  “Welcome to the world, Ira Benjamin”, he said with a smile.

The End!