These felt more intense than the false contractions I’d started having in the last couple of weeks. They were more painful, and it felt like my belly was getting harder when they tightened through my muscles. I hoped the water would relax my muscles enough to calm down the bout. I kept breathing and focusing on other things, namely Sammi coming into town.
We’d been trying to arrange for her to come for a visit for the last few months, but it hadn’t worked out yet. But now she was coming for the last few weeks of the pregnancy and the first couple of weeks of the baby’s life to help out in any way she could. I didn’t know how she managed to get that much time off without it being a problem, but I wasn’t going to ask. Not just because I didn’t feel like the answer was going to be something I wanted to know, but also because I didn’t care why it was happening.
She was going to be there with me, and that was all that mattered to me.
I thought about everything we’d planned on doing together and how good it was going to be to have her there to meet my baby.
The thoughts made me happy, but they didn’t do anything to slow the pains. If anything, they started getting closer together. Finally, I got to my feet and got up, calling to Aiden as I got out.
“You okay?” he asked when he stuck his head into the bathroom.
“I think I’m in labor.”
He looked at me suspiciously. “You still have three weeks to go.”
“I know.” I cringed as another contraction rolled through me. “But I don’t think the baby cares.”
“And you’re sure it’s not one of those fake contractions you were having?”
I was doing everything I could not to be aggravated at him in that moment. He was only trying to help, and I needed to remind myself of that and not get snippy. He didn’t know what I was going through. He couldn’t feel it. He was doing everything he could to try to keep me calm and my thoughts straight.
“I’m sure,” I said. “The doctor said it was going to be different and I’d be able to tell, and this is different.”
He nodded. “Alright. Then let’s go. I’ll get the bag.”
We hurried out to the truck, and Aiden helped me in. The ride to the hospital in the next town over felt far longer than it ever had. I reclined back in the seat and rubbed my belly as the pain got stronger and the waves got closer together.
“Call the doctor,” I said as we went down the road. “Tell her what’s going on.”
Aiden did, telling the doctor what I said when she asked for a description of the pain and giving her a timeline. She stayed on the line as I went through two of the contractions, then told him it was the right thing to do to bring me on in. She wanted to check me out and see how I was progressing.
Aiden hung up the phone and glanced over at me.
“See how you are progressing,” he repeated. “That sounds serious.”
He sounded as terrified as I felt. I nodded.
“It does.”
The doctor was already waiting when we got to the hospital and got me right into a room. It took just a few moments for her to look up at us with a grin.
“Are you ready to have a baby?” she asked.
“No. I’m not due yet,” I said.
She laughed softly. “Well, you better start getting ready because you’re having this baby today.”
As soon as those words were out of her mouth, I burst into tears. Aiden reached down and grabbed my hand, holding it tight.
“Is the baby going to be okay?” I asked.
The doctor nodded. “The baby is going to be just fine. Thirty-seven weeks is usually a perfectly safe time to have a baby. Sometimes there are a few issues with breathing, but your baby is big and strong. It looks like it’s just time for them to come into the world.”
From there, everything seemed to happen both far too slow and much faster than I would have imagined. Several hours later, after a rush of heat and pain, and a strong scream, our baby came into the world.
“You have a healthy baby boy,” the doctor announced as she came up and put him on my chest.
Aiden leaned down and kissed both of us, then looked at the doctor.
“How is he? Does he look okay?” he asked.
“He looks wonderful,” she said. “Give him and mama a little bit of time together, and we’ll get him weighed and do a few checks. But right now, he looks great.”
Despite her words, I didn’t fully relax until they had checked him over, weighed him, and brought him back with his sweet little hat on, ready to eat. As he suckled eagerly, I looked over at Aiden, purely in awe of what was happening.