Prese sentation on by fully_d _dialated
B rian stifled a grin as Mandy's swollen belly entered the room, followed several moments later by Mandy herself. He felt a little guilty about the joke, but he'd heard her make it herself, which helped. Her dark hair was done up in a neat French twist, and she was wearing a red dress that clung to her abdomen, revealing the full curve of her massive belly. Glancing down at the planner in front of him, he counted the days that had passed since January thirteenth, her due date. Today was February second, so that made her twenty days overdue, nearly three weeks late. Poor girl. She flashed him a smile as she crossed to the laptop set up in the front of the room, her normal confident walk having degenerated into a slow, awkward waddle over the past two months. He gave her all the credit in the world though; when she announced her preg- nancy, she’d told everyone that she had no intentions of using it as an excuse to not do her job. Even now, overdue to the point of burst- ing, she was still the hard-working overachiever she’d always been. She never called attention to her pregnancy, not that she needed to, her massive girth made it ridiculously obvious that she was in a del- icate condition. She was almost too dedicated. She’d confessed to the team that her doctor had wanted her to stop working on her due date, but she’d been determined to work up until delivery or until their final client presentation, whichever came first. Today was the long-awaited presentation, and everyone grew quiet and attentive as she switched on the projector, walking their clients through the proposed advertising campaign. He’d seen the clients shoot concerned looks at each other when she waddled to the front of the room, her size making them clearly uncomfortable. However, looking at them now, he saw them completely captured by her speaking skills, her advanced pregnancy forgotten. Laura, a fellow team member caught his eye and shot him a clandestine thumbs-up to indicate that they’d won the clients over. He returned the signal and looked again at Mandy, his brow furrow- ing in concern when he looked at her face. She was flushed, beads of perspiration breaking out along her hairline. As he watched, she tugged at the neckline of her dress, apparently trying to cool herself off. As she went on to the next slide, he saw her wince and brace her hands against her lower back. Glancing around the room, he saw that no one else seemed to have noticed Mandy’s distress. Her voice was a bit breathless, but she continued the presentation without missing a beat. Shaking his head, he forced himself to relax, telling himself that he was seeing things. Still, he found himself watching Mandy far more than the carefully-designed presentation, noticing how the flicker of light made her belly look like it was warping underneath her snug dress. 1
Mandy pointed at the screen, her hand trembling a bit. “And during stage two of the roll-out...” Her voice trailed off as a strange look crossed her face. She shook her head and adjusted her stance, parting her feet a bit more to give herself a more stable base as she rubbed her belly. “During stage two,” she attempted again, “We— “ She froze, her eyes going wide for a moment before she suddenly doubled over with a loud groan, catching herself on the side of the table as a pop- ping sound was heard in the room. Using one hand to brace herself, Mandy clutched her huge belly with the other, groaning wildly as Brian saw a wet patch appear on her dress, spreading rapidly. “Her water broke!” Laura shouted, leaping to her feet as Mike, the final member of the team spoke quickly to their clients, leading them out of the room and shutting the door behind him. Brian slowly approached the two women. Laura was standing beside Mandy, a hand on her shoulder as she spoke quietly to the hugely-pregnant woman. Mandy was still hunched over, moaning continually, her face contorted with pain. “How long have you been having contractions?” Laura asked. Mandy shook her head, gritting out, “Don’t know! Ohhhhhhhhh!” Her eyes were wide with shock as she cried out. “Have you been having cramps or backache?” Laura pressed, rubbing her back gently, and Mandy nodded. “For how long?” “Yesterday... lunch... ohhhhhhh shit!” Mandy grunted, her knees buckling. Hastily, Laura and Brian guided her to sit in one of the confer- ence room chairs. Laura looked up at him, “She’s been in labor since yesterday! Call 911.” Brian whipped out his phone, quickly dialing the dispatcher as Laura tried to soothe Mandy, “Stay calm, honey. Just hold on. Women have babies every day.” Mandy’s lips drew back in a snarl as she clawed at the armrests, shrieking. Beneath her thin dress, he could see her belly heave, “Uuuuuuuhhhhhhh GOD! It’s time! I want my epidural!” “Real soon, Mandy,” Laura assured her, placing her hand on her belly. Looking up at him, she mouthed, “Hurry!” At what seemed like an eternity, the dispatcher picked up. Brian explained their situation. “I’ve got a woman in labor. Her water just broke. She’s really overdue. You have to send an ambulance!” He had to move away, speaking loudly to be heard over Mandy’s desperate moans and yells. After getting the relevant information, the dispatcher assured him that an ambulance was on the way. He hung up, telling the women in relief. “They’ll be here in a few minutes.” 2
“Aaauuuggghhhhh! The baby’s coming! Oh my God, the baby’s coming! Hhhhuuunnngggghhhh!” Mandy bellowed, spreading her legs wide in the chair. Laura blanched. “I’m not sure we have a few minutes!” Taking Mandy’s hands, Laura tried to get her attention, “Mandy, you have to breathe, okay? Breathe. Nice and slow. Come on, take a deep breath. Breathe!” Desperate for something to do, Brian grabbed a water bottle, pouring half its contents over his handkerchief, he pressed it to Mandy’s face, blotting away the sweat. Her head rolled back, lying against the back of the chair as she breathed hard, her face flushed a deep red. “Hhhhhuuuuuhhhhh! Hhhhrrrrfffff! Uuuuffffhhhh!” “Good girl, Mandy. You’re doing great. The ambulance will be here any minute. You want some water?” At her nod, Brian picked up the bottle, carefully pouring a bit of liquid between her panting lips. She drank thirstily, then turned her head away with another scream of pain as her belly jumped beneath her dress. “Here we go... Breathe, Mandy!” Mandy huffed and puffed and screamed, thrashing her head back and forth like a woman possessed. Sometimes she tried to stand up, bracing herself on the arm rests and pushing herself halfway out of the seat only to fall back down when her belly heaved. Brian took her hand, wincing as she squeezed his fingers in a death grip, hard enough to shatter his bones. Taking one look at her face, he realized there was no point in trying to get her to ease up. His cool, collected co-worker was gone, and in her place was a woman in the throes of unbearable agony. After what seemed like hours of holding Mandy’s hand while she writhed and howled, the conference room door swung open, admit- ting a pair of EMT’s, a man and a woman, toting a gurney. Looking beyond them, Brian saw that a crowd had gathered outside the con- ference room, twenty-five people watching the proceedings through the floor to ceiling windows. “So which one of you is our mom-to-be Mandy?” The male EMT joked as he approached the trio. At the look on their faces, he tried again, “How far apart are her contractions? How long has she been having them?” “They’re right on top of each other!” Laura answered over Mandy’s anguished cries. “She’s been having them since lunchtime yesterday.” “Her water break?” Brain looked down at his watch. “About forty-five minutes ago.” The longest forty-five minutes of his entire life. “When’s she due?” “January thirteenth,” both he and Laura answered in unison, seeing the EMT flinch. 3
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