The Time is Now

Posted on 30 Jul 2014 @ 4:09pm by Lieutenant Tuula Voutilainen M.D. & Lieutenant Olsam Mott
Edited on on 30 Jul 2014 @ 8:01pm

1,836 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Galileo - Holodeck/Sickbay
Timeline: MD8, 1645 hours

Previously, on New Endeavours II...

Tuula looked at T'vanna, then back at the puddle on the floor. "Don't worry, I'm a doctor," she said, quickly transferring her naked body back into her chair. "Just lie down, and I'll take care of everything." Holding her companion's hand, she helped her lie on the cedar bench. With no time for either of them to change, she reached for a comm badge. "Transporter room, two to beam directly to sickbay."

And now, the conclusion:

ON:

Before she could even respond or voice her concerns, T'Vanna found herself re-materialising onto a biobed in sickbay. Utterly, and stark naked. She turned her head and found Tuula sitting in her chair next to the bed. Panting for breath, she reached out to her, then wrenched her eyes shut as another contraction hit her.

"Okay, T'Vanna, the baby is coming. Everything is going to be okay, just listen to me, do what I say." She offered T'Vanna a reassuring smile, likely an exercise in futility, before turning towards a surprised nurse. "She's going into labour. Get me some forceps. And..." she glanced down at her naked, sweat-covered body. "two gowns!"

Roused by some commotion just around the corner, Mott exited the sickbay office and barely side-stepped the nurse rushing after the surgical gowns. The source of the disturbance was a naked colleague and a naked patient. Or, he assumed she was a patient.

"Uh... Is this some sort of Betazoid ritual?" he asked, lifting a hairless brow. He began tugging at the pips on his collar and loosening his belt. "Am I supposed to be naked, too? We should still probably wear surgical gowns... I think it might be breaking some regulation if we don't."

"We were in the sauna," replied Tuula, with little time to explain. "Just help me deliver this baby!"

T'Vanna groaned in a very un-Vulcan like manner, seemingly unaware of her rather undignified attire. "No ritual," she breathed, "as she said...sauna."

Olsam paused for a contemplative moment. Humans had a very annoying habit of developing sayings with more than one meaning. Did she mean deliver the fetus, close a business deal, get a package somewhere on time or what? 'Help me deliver this baby' could mean anything. Why have a word with so many different meanings? He suddenly remembered the romantic connotation of "baby" and almost groaned from the effort of picking apart his colleague's request. Was she hitting on him? 'Help me deliver this, baby.' He'd really only met her two days ago, and that seemed to be moving fast...

Taking a gamble, largely based on the surgical gowns, he assumed they were delivering an actual baby and dragged a medcart over. While picking through the various vials of medication they were likely to need, he rambled on without end. "You know, elevating blood temperature in a sauna can induce labor. Were you trying to induce labor? If you weren't trying to induce labor we can probably just stuff the baby back in there for a little bit. I've done it before and I'll probably have to do it again, so don't worry about being a bother with it. It's no problem for me, really."

The half-Vulcan's eyes widened in both horror and surprise. "What? No...no I want it out of me!"

"If I were trying to induce labour, don't you think I would be, I don't know, wearing clothes?!" asked Tuula in a tone dripping with sarcasm. A nurse threw a towel and smock on her lap before going to assist T'Vanna with a gown.

"Every doctor has different methods," Olsam said a bit defensively.

"Well, this isn't my usual method." Tuula dried herself off with the towel, tied her hair back, and put on the smock. It was time for business. She got herself into position and waved a wand over her arms, sanitizing her hands. He's a talkative one, she thought. Bolians...

From her position at the foot of the bed, Tuula looked between the patient's legs and up at T'Vanna. "Okay, you're not fully dilated yet. As your contractions get closer and closer together and you dilate up to about ten centimetres, that means we're getting closer to the moment of birth." She offered her friend a sympathetic smile, though she had no firsthand experience with what she was about to go through. "Don't worry, you're in good hands. I've done this many times." In the holodeck, she added mentally.

T'Vanna just nodded, gritting her teeth. "This is so uncomfortable," she complained, "and embarassing!"

"Don't worry," replied Tuula. "This is nothing to be embarrassed about. It's a beautiful, natural part of life. And if everything goes well, it should only take another few... hours."

"Hours?" the Vulcan woman breathed in visible disbelief.

Seeing that the last comment did little to relax the patient, Tuula tried another tack. "Don't push yet; we've got a long way to go. Computer, activate playlist Voutilainen Beta Three." The sickbay was filled with relaxing classical music. Tuula wheeled her way beside her new friend. They had only met about an hour ago, and now she was beside her, helping her deliver her first child. She knew that without a father in the picture to support T'Vanna, she might be the closest thing that the soon-to-be mother had.

Tuula grasped T'Vanna's hand in hers. "This is a long process. But we can get through it together. Just relax, use your breathing techniques, and everything will be okay."

"I never practiced any," T'Vanna gasped, realising now that she never really did any decent prepping.

"Okay, just take a deep breath. In through the nose... relax... and out through the mouth. Here, like this." Tuula demonstrated the technique a few times. "Relax... just focus on your breathing and the music. Everything is going to be fine."

Olsam finally turned back from the medcart, fully clothed in his surgical gown and holding up both a hypospray and a medical tricorder. His blue face was beaming amidst the bright red surgical gown as he held the hypospray slightly higher. "May I offer you some drugs? I have available Dr. Olsam Mott's Universal Pain Relieving & Nausea Suppressing Hypospray, which alleviates pain and suffering for those weakened by the debilitations of childbirth."

T'Vanna nodded, still gasping for breath, trying to battle the contractions that washed over her. "Please," she all but begged.


************************
7 hours later...

"Okay, I can see it. The baby is starting to crown. We're very close!" Tuula sat at the base of the bed, forceps in hand, in case the baby needed a bit of help. Unlike T'Vanna, Tuula was lucky enough to have a chance to change into something a little more appropriate to her position during a dull moment in the ordeal. "Push, T'Vanna, push!"

Gritting her teeth, and wrenching her eyes shut, T'Vanna pushed with all her might. Her face was turning a deep emerald colour as she exerted herself, pushing as hard as she could.

Olsam observed almost passively; Dr. Voutilainen was the attending physician after all, and there wasn't really any room for another pair of hands down there. He leaned forward a bit to get a peek at the crowning and then rocked back on his heels. Why did human physicians tell people to push? Push seemed like such an inaccurate word. It seemed better to tell the patient to "actively utilize your cervical and vaginal musculature to convey the baby toward and through the vaginal introitus." But then there was no end to the bizarre things humans di-

"Oh, I see it," Olsam said, cutting off his own train of thought and smiling as the baby's head emerged more fully. He reached down and patted T'Vanna's hand reassuringly, which seemed like a feeble attempt at comfort given the level of discomfort she was likely to be in. "No more pushing now, dear. Your body will manage things on its own."

She managed a feeble nod while trying to do as she was told. It wasn't easy, not with the pressure she felt. But after only a few minutes, the pressure was gone and her sharp hearing picked up crying.

Intently focused on the birth process, Tuula was supporting the baby's head from when it first poked out. As the baby slid out, Tuula gently guided it into her steady arms. It was one of those moments that tested all of the training and studying over the past several years to get her here. All the long nights, holo-simulations and long hours in residency training, it was all in preparation for moments like these. And then suddenly, she found herself holding a newborn baby in her arms, one that she helped bring into this world. Looking down at the tiny, crying, vulnerable infant just drawing a breath for the first time reminded her why she became a doctor - to preserve and protect life.

Her training? It was worth it all in this one moment.

"Congratulations, it's a girl," she said, beaming up at T'Vanna.

Face all sweaty and flushed, eyes shining brightly, T'Vanna held out her arms. "A girl?" she panted, joy brightening her Vulcanoid features.

Tuula placed the baby in a towel on her lap. Quickly and carefully, she clamped and cut the cord, then wrapped the baby in the towel. Before handing her off, she gave her a quick scan. "She's a healthy baby girl," she said, passing the newborn to Dr. Mott to give to T'Vanna.

Carefully cradling the child, T'Vanna stared down in the girl's dark eyes. They clearly betrayed the baby's half Betazoid genetics. They weren't black but instead a very dark green. Her hair, however, was black as coal and she started wailing loudly. Looking a little panicked, T'Vanna looked up at both doctors. "What do I do?" she asked, desperately.

"Hold her against your chest," replied Tuula. As T'Vanna repositioned the child, Tuula wheeled herself over to her side. Reaching up, she waved her tricorder over the baby. "She's fine, she's just trying out her new lungs." Tuula looked back up at her friend and smiled, holding back a single tear of joy. "She's a very cute baby; she takes after her mother. What shall we call her?"

"Emmaline," the woman said without pause, then met Tuula's eyes. "Emmaline Tuula Murray," she added, giving the baby's full name. Without the chair bound woman, who knows what might've happened?

Tuula could no longer hold back her tears of joy. She was almost speechless. "It's... It's an honour," she barely managed to utter, wiping the tears from her eyes. Lying on her mother's chest, Emmeline's eyes caught Tuula's for a moment.

"Welcome to the galaxy, Emmeline Tuula Murray"

[OFF]

Authors:

Ensign T'Vanna Murray
Assistant Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Olsom Mott, M.D.
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (J.G.) Tuula Voutilainen, M.D.
Medical Officer
USS Galileo

And introducing:
Emmeline Tuula Murray

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