Code Pink: Pediatric Emergency and/or Obstetrical Emergency. Usually called when an infant’s heart stops and needs to be resuscitated. Some of the things that happened in this chapter happened to my mom during my birth.



—

Hearing the news that I was going to have another little Collier running around nearly killed me with excitement. I spent a lot of time training for work, and working to get some extra cash to help support my family. It was a small family, but it was quickly growing.

I would catch Adrienne standing around rubbing her huge belly. We assumed she was having twins with the size she was, but I quickly realised that she was definitely eating for two.

Work had been busier than ever, it being the middle of summer. The heat was crazy in December but in August it was unbearable. I felt bad for poor Adrienne being pregnant. Apparently the heat did funny things to pregnant women, as far as I knew. Rumour had it, anyway.

So many people were needing my help at the beach, I couldn’t save them all. Seeing more than one person flailing around in the water and me being the only lifeguard in the vicinity hurt my heart. All I wanted to do was save my new friends, and all I wanted was a good reputation for myself and my daughter in the town.

We spent a lot of time at Arielle’s house, letting Coady meet Latoya and become friends. Both Adrienne and I agreed that it would be good for our children and our niece to have a good friend from birth. Latoya was spunky like my sister, and that was for sure. Her hair was purple like Ari’s. I didn’t know how that happened, since Ari’s hair was synthetically purple but it somehow passed down to my niece.

Coady’s birthday came up fast and we celebrated with a tiny party with just me, Adrienne, and Ace. She aged into a beautiful blonde little girl, gaining the Virtuoso trait. I knew my baby was musical!

The day after she became a child she ran to Ari’s house by herself to see Latoya. They giggled and chased each other being silly and crazy and I loved seeing a piece of me and my sister spending time together.

—

The night I went into labour was one of the most beautiful nights I had seen in years. It was calm and warm, the moon was full and the sky was a beautiful salmon pink. I was in the garden, sipping on lemonade when I felt the familiar pain of labour.

“Holy fuck.” I gasped, the pain making my head spin. I knew Bronson left his phone home when he was working, but I was still getting really angry at him for not having it on him. I was not having this child without Bronson there.

“Ooooooh. Fuck. Bronson, get your ass here.” I took deep breaths, in and out in and out in and OW!

I hopped into my car, this pain so much worse than when Coady was born. I drove to the hospital, praying Brons would know where I was when he got home.

—

“What the fuck are you doing out here?!” I was shocked to see Adrienne outside of the hospital, not inside giving birth like she was supposed to.

“I was not giving birth without you here, Bronson Collier. Now you come in here and let me hold your hand.” She snapped at me. I grinned. That’s my girl.

This stress was one of the worst I had ever felt. I can’t put it in words. It was as if someone stuck a vacuum down my throat and sucked up all of my innards. I was physically and mentally sick the whole night.

It started when the baby got stuck in the birth canal coming out. The baby was too far down to be able to perform a caesarian section, so she had to come out naturally. Adrienne was pale and sick and I wanted to just take all of her pain and have it for myself.

Next, the umbilical cord was tight around her neck and she was blue in the face. Her heart had stopped and she wasn’t breathing.

“I’m sorry,” the doctor pulled me aside as Adrienne was getting cleaned up and the baby was being taken by the nurses to get revived. “As of right now, we’re not sure if the baby will make it. The labour was very rough, and she was a long time without oxygen. It seems that if she does survive, there may be severe brain damage.”

I felt my world collapse. My baby, either dying or becoming a vegetable. I couldn’t handle it.

—

Two weeks later, we had our beautiful baby girl Darci home with us. She was lucky to not have any severe mental damage, but there was a chance she would have some minor mental disorders as she grew. I didn’t care. I had my daughter in my arms.

She aged into a gorgeous toddler, and Coady thought the world of her. Darci was diagnosed with minor autism. She had a major case of stereotypy where she would move her fingers in circles against each other and a minor case of ritualistic behaviour already. The doctors said that as a child it may worsen, but we’ll take it day by day.

Coady was so good with her, she would spend hours sitting on the floor playing with her little sister. It was one of Darci’s routines, sitting and playing with her older sister.

Coady would hold her sister close, whispering how happy she was that she had a baby sister in her ear.

“I love you D,” I overheard her whisper. “I love you so much. I’ll always be here to take care of you. I’ll always hold you close, and I’ll always protect you. I’ve already seen bullying at school when people look a little different, I can only imagine how they’ll treat you when they find out how different you are. I promise you, baby sissy, that I’ll never let those mean kids pick on you. I don’t care that you have autism, or if you had down’s syndrome, or even if you were born half dragon. You’re my baby sis and I love you.”