Vegas Baby

We were having this baby alright.

Chapter Thirty-Four

~Nicole~

Boy, they weren’t kidding about those contraction cramps in the one birthing class I had been able to attend via video. I felt like someone had a hold on my stomach and was trying to push it down into my abdomen and out of where the sun didn’t shine. No matter how slow I breathed, or how much I focused on calming rivers and soothing forests, panic came with each and every wave.

Ow.

Own.

When we reached the hospital, I was on my third set of contractions and I just wanted to curl in on myself so hard that I stopped existing. Unfortunately, since I hadn’t figured out a way to break the laws of physics, all I could do was rock in the passenger’s seat until he came around to help me out.

“We’re almost there,” he said, opening my door but leaving me stuck inside of the car. I called after him to help me out, before realizing that he was grabbing a wheelchair.

Oh, that actually was a good idea.

He rolled it up to the car and threw on the brakes before helping me into it. I wasn’t sure how I managed considering the state of my insides, but maybe it was just adrenaline borne out of the fear of having my baby right in the parking lot.

James, to his credit, rushed me as quickly as he could inside and right to the front desk.

“Hello, sir, how can I-”

“She’s six months and she’s having her baby. Her contractions are less than ten minutes apart and her water broke.”

“Of course sir, take a deep breath. We’ll admit her as soon as possible. Ma’am, are you alright?”

“I dunno, my water broke about three months early, you tell me.” The receptionist just gave me a look over then nodded. “Alright then, ma’am. Sir, if you want to wheel her over to the door, we’ll have someone from our obstetrics unit by to pick you up and admit you.”

“Thanks.”

I didn’t know how James was able to keep his relative cool, because I felt like I was losing it more and more with every passing minute. I guessed that I was lucky an orderly came to wheel me off before I blew a freaking gasket.

My cramps wore off as we went down the hall and I had a chance to breathe. Thank goodness, because I really didn’t want to be admitted to the hospital when I was cursing and covered in sweat. If the next round could wait until after I saw my doctor, that would be great.

Surprisingly, I got up into a room relatively quickly. I mean, not ten minutes quickly, but certainly not as long as it had taken when I was first admitted that time I passed out in my work parking lot.

I was in the middle of another round of contractions as they plugged and IV into me and those little sticky circles that read out my vitals. The frantic beeping of the machines only made my anxiety worse, and before I could ask what was going on, they were injecting something into the mainline of my IV.

“Hey, what’s that?” I asked, gripping the nurse’s arm with a vice-like grip. “What did you give to me?”

“Just a little something to calm you down. Your heartrate is a little high and we don’t want you stressing out the baby.”

“But I didn’t want pain pills,” I argued, not caring if sweat was pouring down my forehead and down into my eyes. “the doctor said that even if I was premature, that we would only use them as a last resort.”

“Don’t worry honey, that wasn’t pain medication. I promise. The doctor will be here soon to talk about your options and what’s going to happen, so don’t you worry, okay?”

I tried to tell her that I would do my best, but instead a cry of agony ripped out of my throat before I could do anything about it.

“Yes ma’am, I know exactly what you mean.”

She patted my head and then left, leaving me alone with James for the first time since we had been admitted into the room.

“Hey, are you alright?” he asked, rushing to my side and holding my hand.

I tried to answer him, I really did, but another powerful surge rent through me and it was all I could do to hold on through the pain. At least this time I didn’t scream, I was started to get a headache from my own voice.

“You’re doing great, really,” he continued, pulling a damp cloth from goodness knows where and dabbing it on my forehead. It felt magical, to be perfectly honest, and I leaned up into the comfort.

“I… I think this wave is stopping now,” I said, trying to catch my breath. As hard as I tried to keep control of my inhales, it was hard to get enough oxygen when it felt like my abdomen was being squeezed through a vice.