Chapter 6 - The Broken Dam
Sitting alone in the damp, freezing dirt of the woods, I closed my eyes and concentrated entirely on survival.
The contractions were coming fast—much faster than they were supposed to for a first-time mother. My blood pressure, which had been borderline high for three weeks, was pulsing in my ears like a heavy drumbeat. Every two minutes, my uterus seized with terrifying force, squeezing the breath from my lungs.
"Breathe, Megan," I whispered to myself, clutching my huge belly with both hands. "Just breathe."
In the distance, past the wooden fence, red and blue police lights suddenly splashed across the dark tree canopy. Sirens chirped once, twice. Shouting echoed across our backyard.
"Megan! Megan!"
It was Drew. His voice was frantic, hoarse, and raw with panic.
"In the woods!" I tried to shout back, but my voice was weak, barely carrying over the wind.
A flash of bright white light cut through the pine branches. Footsteps came crashing through the underbrush—heavy, wild, and desperate.
Drew burst through the bushes, flashlight beaming in his hand, with two uniformed police officers right behind him. And right beside Drew, holding a heavy police flashlight with both hands and pointing the beam straight at me, was Eli.
"Over here! She's over here!" Eli shouted, his voice ringing with pride and authority.
Drew dropped his flashlight into the pine needles and threw himself onto his knees beside me. His face was streaked with sweat and tears. "Megan! Oh my god, Megan! Are you okay?!"
"My water broke, Drew," I gasped, clutching his jacket lapels as another contraction began to build at the base of my spine. "The contractions... they're two minutes apart."
One of the police officers, a tall woman with her hair pulled into a tight bun, immediately knelt on my other side, tapping her shoulder radio. "Dispatch, this is Unit 4. I have an active labor in progress behind the residence. Water is broken, contractions two minutes apart. Requesting immediate EMS transport with paramedic priority."
"Is the bag... did you find a bag?" Drew stammered hysterically, looking around the dark ground as if my hospital bag would magically appear out of thin air. "Where's the car seat?! We need the car seat!"
"Drew! Calm down!" I gritted out through clenched teeth, my fingers digging into his wrist as the contraction hit its peak. "The car seat is in the garage! Eli found me! He brought you here!"
Drew stopped his frantic rambling. He turned his head and looked at Eli, who was standing beside the police officer, holding the heavy flashlight steady, keeping the beam focused directly on us so the officer could check my vitals.
"You found her?" Drew asked his son, his voice shaking.
"I showed them where she was," Eli said quietly, his chest puffing out slightly under his wet hoodie. "I helped her."
Drew reached out a long arm, grabbed Eli by his waist, and pulled him down into a tight, three-way embrace against my side. "Thank you, buddy," Drew sobbed into Eli's shoulder. "Thank you so much."
In the distance, the loud, wailing scream of an ambulance siren echoed through the neighborhood, growing louder with every passing second.
The female officer checked her watch. "EMS is two minutes out. Can you walk to the fence, ma'am, or do you need a gurney?"
"I can walk," I said through my teeth, though my body felt like lead. "Get me out of this mud."
With Drew holding my right arm and the police officer supporting my left, I pushed myself up from the ground. Eli walked right in front of us, sweeping his flashlight beam across the root-strewn path, pointing out every single obstacle.
"Watch that root, Megan," Eli instructed firmly, pointing the light at a thick oak root. "Step over this branch."
We made it through the wooden gate just as the ambulance pulled into our driveway, its red lights flashing violently against the white siding of our house. Two paramedics jumped out of the back, wheeling a collapsible gurney toward the side lawn.
As they lifted me onto the gurney and strapped the safety belts across my lap, the chaos around us seemed to multiply. Neighbors were stepping out onto their porches, staring across their lawns in curiosity. Two more police cruisers pulled up, blocking the street.
"Husband can ride in the front," the lead paramedic announced, popping the back doors open.
"Wait," I called out, reaching out a hand from the gurney. "Drew, wait."
Drew looked at me, then looked down at Eli, who was standing on the wet lawn, looking small and suddenly terrified again as the paramedics prepared to roll me away.
"Drew," I said firmly, locking eyes with my husband. "Eli comes with us."
"Megan, kids aren't usually allowed in the back of the transport unit—" Drew started.
"I don't care," I declared, my voice echoing over the hum of the ambulance engine. "He comes in the ambulance. Right now."
The female paramedic looked at Eli's dirt-stained face, then looked at me. She made a quick executive decision. "Hop in, kiddo. Grab that jump seat against the wall and buckle up tight."
Eli's eyes went wide. He looked at his dad, then scrambled up the metal steps into the back of the ambulance, sitting on the yellow vinyl seat right beside my head. Drew climbed in right after him, pulling the heavy rear doors shut with a loud, metallic THUD.
The ambulance threw its sirens on, the vehicle lurching forward into the night, racing toward the county hospital.
I lay on the gurney, hooked up to an IV line and a heart monitor, my body shivering from adrenaline and cold. The contractions were now continuous, one rolling directly into the next with barely thirty seconds of rest in between.
Eli reached out a timid, small hand, hovering over the metal railing of the gurney. "Does it hurt real bad?"
I turned my head, looking at his small, mud-streaked hand. I reached out and squeezed his fingers tightly.
"It hurts a lot, Eli," I whispered, smiling through the pain. "But you're holding my hand, so I can handle it."
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Eli squeezed back with every ounce of strength his nine-year-old hand possessed. "I'm not letting go."
And for the rest of the wild, terrifying fifteen-minute ride through the city streets, he didn't.
