be hurried and it had been over an hour since Carl’s call. Anything could have happened in that time. He took his mother’s arm and hurried her through the rotating door, stopping briefly at the reception desk to ask for obstetrics. Without speaking, he urged his mother toward the elevator and pushed the button for the 7th floor. As they stepped off the elevator, Pieter was the first to notice Carl huddled in a chair, his face gray.
“Thank you for coming,” Carl managed to say. “She is all alone and I can’t do anything to help her.”
Pieter took in the situation immediately. “Carl, you need to go home and rest.” He turned to his mother. “I think it best if I call a taxi and you take Carl home and wait there. I will help Janan.”
“How can you help her?” Loes scoffed. “I have had three children and you haven’t had any. You’re a psychiatrist. You don’t know anything about childbirth.”
“Oh, but I do, Moeder.” He smiled ruefully at the memory of his three-month obstetrical rotation in Dallas. “You may not believe it but I have delivered close to 50 babies.”
“Pieter,” Janan whispered in disbelief as Pieter stepped into the room and paused in the doorway. “What are you doing here?”
“Carl called and asked my mother to find a doula for his wife.” He took a step closer to the bed. “My mother knew that she couldn’t find one this late at night and so she decided to come and help you. I drove her.” He stopped, unsure how to go on and then took a deep breath. “When we got here, Carl did not look well and I asked my mother to take him home.”
“Will he be all right?” Janan gasped as another contraction began.
“I think he is just very tired.” He moved closer. “If you are willing, I will stay and help you.” At her slight nod, he took off his jacket and washed his hands at the sink in the corner of the room “Will you let me help you now?”
“Yes,” she begged, clenching the edge of the bed as a powerful contraction swept over her.
He wiped her face with a wet washcloth and held a cup of ice chips to her dry lips. “Have you told your doctor that you want to have pain medication?”
“I did, but they don’t approve of it here. They say childbirth is a natural thing,” Janan croaked. As the next contraction, stronger and longer lasting, seized her, she cried out, “I don’t think I can do this.”
“I am going to help you turn on your side after this contraction ends and I will rub your back very hard. It will help.”
“I can’t turn.” She sobbed, trembling all over. “I can’t move.”
“You don’t have to do anything. I’ll help you.”
“Ah, that feels so good,” she murmured as she felt his hand pressing firmly against her lower back. “How do you know what to do?”
“Remember, I had an obstetrical rotation in Dallas.” He continued rubbing although his arms ached and his thoughts flashed back to the endless hours in steamy hot labor rooms.
As another powerful contraction seized her, Janan whispered a plea for her mother, “Anne.”
Pieter moved closer and said, “You are doing fine.” He hesitated, and then unable to help himself, he added softly, “Iyi, Iyi, Sevgilim.”
Janan clung to his words. He had called her his darling.
Pieter took a thin ice cube between his fingers and held it to her dry lips as he said hoarsely, “The contractions are lasting almost 60 seconds and are less than three minutes apart. I’ve asked them to notify your doctor that you need the epidural. Now!”
As another contraction gripped her, Janan, trembling and her eyes dilated, sobbed, “I can’t do this, I can’t.”
Pieter put his arms around her. “Lean on me, Askim. Help will be here in a minute, and soon, it will be over.”
She let her head drop to his shoulder as she cradled his words to her heart, Askim, my love. For this fragile moment within the safety of the Turkish language, he had told her that he loved her. It would have to last her a lifetime.
After the anesthetist had given the epidural, the obstetrician glanced at Pieter and raised an eyebrow. “I don’t believe we’ve met.”
Pieter met his gaze without flinching. “I am Dr. Pieter Bentinck. She did not have a doula and I offered my help.”
With a noncommittal grunt, the obstetrician said, glancing at his team of assistants, “We’re about