“This is it. Push.”
Marie pushed with everything she had left. Every ounce of strength, every bit of energy she’d been saving for this moment.
Kassie held her leg, Tyler held the other, both of them encouraging her, telling her she could do this.
“That’s it! That’s it!” the doctor said. “One more, Marie. Give me one more!”
Marie bore down, her face red, tears streaming, a sound coming from her throat that was part scream, part determination, part pure survival.
“He’s coming! He’s here!”
At 11:34 PM, less than thirty minutes before James’s second birthday, Marie’s baby boy entered the world.
The doctor placed him immediately on Marie’s chest. “You did it, Marie. You got him out.”
Marie was crying, laughing, her hands going to her baby. “I did it. Oh my God, I did it.”
The nurses ru
