Aiden, Nathan and I stood around Kelsey, trying to make her feel better. Just seeing my friends, my brothers, made me feel even more grateful for this family we had made. Then, reality set in; my baby sister was moaning and cursing in pain. I have seen and been through some fucked up shit throughout my life, but seeing Kelsey like this made me feel powerless. The guys left pretty quickly, especially when her clothes started being removed and they hooked her up to some machines and asked her questions.

Jane was barking orders at some guy who, I’m pretty sure, was a doctor. She was telling Kelsey soothing things and how she was about to meet her baby. I held Kelsey’s hand, giving her the encouragement I felt she needed to hear. I read that book she gave me and literally, in that moment it’s like, all the information disappeared.

“FUUUUUUUUCK!” Kelsey screamed as Jane checked on her.

“She’s crowning.” Someone said way too calmly.

“Callum, you might want to face the wall,” Jane said while walking around the room, getting things ready. She kept firing out orders to the doctor and a newly arrived nurse. In between all of that, she kept giving Kelsey words of encouragement. She mesmerized me by the way she took charge, but also by how she took care of my sister. If she was like this with her other patients, they were lucky. Kelsey squeezed my hand, and someone lifted the blanket covering her.

I turned away quickly, looking at only Kelsey’s face or the wall behind her. It was very different from what I expected. The doctor from labor and delivery arrived, taking charge, and within minutes (and a whole lot of cursing from Kelsey) a sharp cry cut through the commotion. I looked over my shoulder to see the doctor laying the baby on my sister’s chest and I was speechless. I couldn’t take my eyes off the baby. A rampage of emotions punched through me as I tried to process what was happening.

“Congratulations Mama, you were incredible. She’s so beautiful,” Jane said on the other side of Kelsey, looking down at the baby and then up at me. Her lip trembled slightly, and I knew she was thinking about her baby. I felt like an ass for dragging her into this, but I knew no one else who would take care of Kelsey like her.

“I couldn’t have done it without you,” Kelsey cried.

Jane beamed at the praise. “Yes, you could of, because you are a badass.”