thirteen
"the salabhasana"

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"HEY. SHE'S THIS WAY."

BUCK, Bobby, and Lynn all quickly shuffled out of the silver elevator to follow a young, good looking woman down the hallway. They had received a call that a pregnant woman was in agonizing pain, during a bad move in a yoga class. So, Bobby had said he'd meet the two paramedics down at the address.

"Jackie's six months pregnant," the woman explained, turning around to glance at the paramedics, but her eyes seemed to linger on Buck. "Uh, she's new. This class is only open to moms who are at least twenty-six weeks. I warn them about overexerting themselves."

The paramedics all gripped their medic bags, and softly gasped as the woman swung open the black doors. 

"And behold, the Salabhasana."

Lynn rose her eyebrow as she stared down a woman who seemed to be stuck in some sort of yoga pose that had her leg raised high above her waist.

"God, I can hardly do yoga as it is, how do women do it when their pregnant?" Lynn questioned, but it was more towards herself than actually asking anyone for their opinion.

"Yeah, Locust Pose," Buck stated, and both Bobby and Lynn glanced over their shoulders to give the boy a weird look. "I've dated, like, fifty yoga instructors."

"Can you guys please clear out so we can get in there," Bobby spoke up, rushing a bit to move towards the woman in pain, quickly followed by the younger paramedics.

After Lynn had pushed back all the pregnant women out of the way, she saw Buck check her heartbeats while Bobby was checking on the baby.

"Ma'am, can you tell me where you're feeling the pain?" Lynn asked, bending down on both of her knees to try to make eye contact with the soon to be mother. "Is it mostly in your back, your arms, your legs?"

"Arms and legs," the woman replied dramatically, sucking in deeply as another round of pain must've shot throughout her body. "But i-it's the worst in my butt and down my thigh and calf."

"Okay, I think you slipped a disc," Bobby stated, and then he pointedly glanced over to Buck and Lynn. "We're gonna need to get
her on her side, okay? Very carefully support her head. Let's go this way towards you guys, okay? Very gently."

Seemingly just as soon as the paramedics softly placed the misplaced disc woman, another scream rang throughout the small apartment. When they all gazed up instinctively, they were met with a woman piling on her side while clutching her stomach.

"Alright, I'm gonna take care of that," Bobby indicted, and then he waved his index finger towards the woman with the disc. "You take care of her."

After a minute or so of Bobby trying his best to keep a woman who was soon to be in labor peaceful and calm with a glass of water, and then Lynn and Buck focused on keeping the one woman still so the disc wouldn't shift any further. They were met with a splashing sound of water, and everyone seemed to go wide eyed as a brunette's water just broke.

"Oh, my God," the woman gasped, glancing down to her now wet feet along with the purple yoga matt. "My water broke."

"Guys?" Bobby inquired, raising an eyebrow at the two paramedics who simply needed a second to process how so many woman seemed to be going into labor at the same time.

"On it," Lynn spoke firmly, jumping up from the woman who was now safely placed on a yellow backboard towards the broken water woman. "Sit down, ma'am, I'm right here."

Lynn bobbed on her knees while pressing her palms against the floor, and she helped the woman gently take off her grey sweats while placing her on the matt.

"Evan, towels!"

"Yeah, yeah, right," Buck nodded quickly, but he couldn't quite take his eyes off the woman about to give birth.

"Buck!" Lynn shouted, and he seemed to have snapped out of his thoughts because he quickly picked up two white towels from the medic bag and rushed forward towards the two women.

"It's coming. It's coming now," the woman cried out, hooking her arms around those of another woman's behind her.

"Y-you only just started contractions, it's okay," Buck stated, placing one of the towels underneath the woman while handing another over to Lynn's hands.

"No, this is my fourth kid. It's coming," the woman deadpanned with clear attitude, and Lynn would've laughed at her proving Buck wrong but now wasn't the time.

"Uh, okay, I need towels! I need towels!"

Once again, Buck rose to his feet in a sudden second and rushed over towards Bobby, where the woman he was taking care of seemed to be ready to give birth.

"Okay, alright, I've delivered baby's before so you're gonna be just fine," Lynn smiled, wrapping her now gloved hand around the woman's, and she nodded with heavy, deep breathes.

"Oh, no!"

Everybody rose their eyes as once again, another woman's yells could be heard echoing around. Lynn let out a slight scoff, feeling slightly overwhelmed since they were currently way too understaffed to deal with the situation.

"Seriously? I'm not...guys, I've never done this before," Buck spoke up, and Lynn saw a bit of panic glisten in his eyes.

"Evan, c'mere," Lynn indicted, and then she turned back towards the woman, and gave her hand the tightest, supportive squeeze she could muster. "You ready?"

"Yes!" the woman shouted, and she squeezed Lynn's hands with almost twice as much strength as she had just previously did it.

"Okay, you got this!" Lynn remarked, and she covered the woman's lower half with a towel as she let out another ring of gasps when she gave a large push. "Yes, yes, that's it, girl, just another big push."

Lynn suddenly felt breath on the back of her neck, and out of the corner of her eye she saw how Buck was watching each of her movements with a certain care and delicacy.

"They say when a full moon's halfway between the eastern horizon and its highest point, it can induce labor," the woman in charge of the yoga class began, and as every single woman let out rings of pain, she sighed. "I knew I should have canceled this class."

"Just saying, I did tell you guys."

"Okay, we can discuss the moon later, Buck," Bobby replied with his usual amount of sarcasm. "If you're not in labor right now, could you please go out in the hallway and give us some space. Thank you!"

"Okay, you're doing great," Lynn grinned, and she nodded supportively towards the woman yelling in agony in front of her. "He's crowning! Yes, that's it! Evan, I need a towel!"

"Coming!" Buck hummed loudly, and he ran over towards the brunettes, handing Lynn one more white towel.

Lynn bent down beside the woman, helping the baby wiggle its way from his mother, and she immediately wrapped its gentle skin in the towel.

"Wow," Buck breathed out, and he seemed like he was in more shock than the woman who had just given birth.

"Evan, here," Lynn pulled on Buck's arm, pulling him to kneel down beside her. She then placed his hand on the placenta, and he let out a hitched breath. "Clamp it, yes, exactly, and then you cut."

Buck used the medic scissors to safety cut the cord, and he let out an amazed laugh as he grinned, glancing up to Lynn for a moment to make eye contact. Snapping out of her thoughts quickly, she finished tucking the towel around the baby and handed him softly to the mother, who let out a gasp at the sight.

"You have a healthy baby boy," Lynn smiled, taking in the moment between a mother's first touch of her newborn. She made that happen, sometimes she forgets the amazing things she does.

"Congratulations," Buck childishly grinned, and then hopped back up so he could help the smaller woman who was now in labor.

As Lynn rose up from the spot, figuring she should probably help the newbie in case the other woman was about to give birth. Stopping her, the woman with the newborn baby in front of her.

"Thank you," she breathed out, giving a small smile towards the girl, which she proudly returned when she glanced down to the healthy baby.

"You're absolutely welcome."