by K. F. Breene
And here she was. Forty-one weeks from conception. A week late and labor pains to show for it. She was on maternity leave, so Sean had no idea she was in active labor.
Yes, she should have called.
But in reality, he’d just freak out and insist they go to the hospital immediately. He wouldn’t understand that the hospital would only admit people after a certain point in their labor—and she wasn’t there yet—so it would be a constant argument she didn’t feel like having. Instead, she was enjoying a nice glass of white wine and looking out at the ocean. She figured a little alcohol wasn’t going to phase the baby now, no matter what study you ran, so she let her body relax and the pain rise and fall in gentle waves.
A while and harsher pain later, Krista decided she might want to get the show on the road. The pain was slightly more intense and the ocean waves were no longer calming. In fact, they reminded her of the pain. She knew that walking would help speed up labor, as would various other exercises she learned during her horrid breathing classes. Walking was the easiest without a partner, though, so she got up and headed for the door.
She made it to the end of the driveway before the contractions doubled in ferocity. Up until that point she had thought she could deal with labor quite well. Sure, they would hurt toward the end, probably, but she was good with pain. She could handle it.
That was until they turned it up a notch. Now it was starting to get serious. It was a game changer.
Krista took her cell phone out of her pocket and called Sean’s office.
Janice picked up on the third ring.
“Janice?” Krista asked before the matronly assistant could finish her spiel.
“Yes? Krista?”
“Yeah, hi, Janice. Is Sean in?”
“I’m sorry, he’s in a meeting. I’ll have him call you right ba…”
“No Janice, it’s an emergency. Tell him I’ve started labor.”
“Oh my God, honey, congratulations! He’ll be so excited. Just so you know, you’ll have hours and hours before you’ll need to go to the hospital. I know this is your first so you…”
“Janice, I’ve already been at this for about five hours. It’s time for him to come home now.”
“Oh! Please hold…”
Krista felt another wave of pain coming on. It was like being caught out in the ocean in San Diego when that huge set came out of nowhere. Sure, they had been quite large all day, but she hadn’t been ready for what the ocean threw at her next.
This was next. It felt like her abdomen was in a vice that was squeezing, forcing everything inside her body to attempt evacuation, except there was nowhere for it to go. And then there was the back pain. It was worse. It was like her bones were cracking apart and sending shooting spirals of razors down her spine.
She leaned against the light fixture and breathed. She wasn’t using what she learned in birthing class—she wasn’t going to do a bunch of loud, guttural moaning, thank you very much. Instead, she used her breathing techniques for running. When she couldn’t go that last mile, she would breathe it out. Focus on the breathing. Keep calm and relaxed. Just focus on the—
Oh holy God…I do not like this, Sam-I-Am.
She could hear the trace sounds of panic in Sean’s voice as he picked up. “Krista?”
Usually she would then calm down to calm him down. Not this time, señor. Another bout of pain was right around the corner and she no longer wanted to be alone.
“Hi Sean. I am having contractions. Come home.”
“Of course. I’ll call you back on the cell. I’m so excited!”
“Uh huh.”
“Okay, call you right back. Stay by the phone.”
“Uh huh.”
“Love you. Bye.”
She was supposed to go to the hospital when contractions were sixty seconds long and about five minutes apart. So far she knew she wasn’t there yet. That meant that the pain, on a scale of one to oh-my-God, was still closer to numerals. That didn’t bode well for her mood. She was still toying with the idea of a natural birth.
The phone rang. Before Krista could say hello, she heard Sean yelling, “wish us luck!”
“Hello, Krista?”
“Yeah, Sean.”
“Okay, now I’m headed out of the building. How are you feeling?”
“Scared.”
“Okay, no problem. That is only natural. It is going to be okay. Women have been doing this for thousands of years, so it is doable.”
“Women have been dying in childbirth for thousands of years. Modern medicine doesn’t make it any less terrifying.”
“That’s true, Krista. Of course that’s true. How bad is the pain on a scale of one to ten?”
“I don’t know, Sean. It hurts. I thought I might go for a walk to speed things up and they suddenly got super worse.”
“What? Where? Walk where? Where are you?”
Some men got the protective urge when their partners were pregnant. Sean made those men look unconcerned. Krista couldn’t count the times she was carried up the stairs. He checked up on her constantly. Forget lifting anything heavy. Getting up on a stool? No way. It was cute at first, but quickly turned extremely irritating. He did it all out of love for both her and the unborn peanut, so she didn’t push back too hard, but scowl lines might be permanently etched into her face. Especially when he started pushing a freaking chauffer on her!
“Calm down, I am at the bottom of the drive way,” Krista said slowly.
He muttered a curse.
“Okay, great,” he said, trying to stay positive and not get mad at her for traipsing around the yard while in labor with his child.
Sometimes it was only his child—usually when he thought she was being reckless.
“Well, I am about twenty minutes out. Did you want to sit on the little brick wall until I get there? I hate for you to be walking up the driveway and fall…”
“I’ll just stay here. Drive safely.”
“Of course I will. Of course. Okay, so how was your day? When did it start?”
“I’m not really in a chatty mood, Sean.”
“Absolutely. No problem.”
“I’ll see you when you get home.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to stay on the line?”
“No I…” pain surged in the center of her and radiated out. She bent over and breathed, forgetting about Sean entirely. It was as though all the time sitting still stalled the pain, and now it was coming at her with a vengeance. Maybe she needed to relax again. Maybe that was the big thing. Sitting was certainly the thing. So were drugs.
When it was over, she put the phone to her ear again. Sean was saying her name in a panic.
“I’m here.”
He gave a deep breath. “What happened?”
“I’m in labor Sean, I have contractions. Don’t freak out every time I have one. That is my job.”
“Okay Krista, I am closer now.”
“I’ll see you when you get home.”
“Krist—“
She pulled a Ben and hung up without saying goodbye.
She slowly straightened and started walking back up to the house. The driveway wasn’t steep by any means, but it wasn’t flat, either. She hadn’t thought of the climb up when she was lumbering down.
Halfway up she was winded from lugging her girth any great distance, and stopped to take a break. She had another contraction. Walking was unreal for speeding it along. She breathed through it, but had a harder time staying calm. Shit was starting to get serious.
More serious than the last time she thought it was getting serious.
She’d wait for Sean after all. She was far enough up that the little brick wall Sean talked about was too big to climb up and sit on. Instead, she hopped up on her car’s hood. There she stayed until Sean got home, two contractions later.
He came racing up the drive until he saw her, and then immediately slowed down. She wondered if he knew how transparent he was. Probably not. She wai
ted patiently for him to get out of the car and walk to her in a measured pace.
His smile was radiant. Of course, he wasn’t the one in pain…
“Hey baby, how are you doing?”
She was. “I need you to start timing.”
“No problem. Let’s get you to the house and we’ll fire up the stop watch. How long have you been feeling contractions?”
“Oh, about five hours or so.”
His grip on her tightened spasmodically. He wanted to berate her for foolish behavior, but his voice came out even and positive. “You should have called earlier. That is a long time for you to be on your own with this.”
“I didn’t want to worry you.”
His jaw clenched but he struggled through it and remained up-beat. “Well, let’s get you inside and see how we’re doing.”
They were ten steps from the door when another wrenching flood of pain caught her. She sucked in her breath and bent over, trying to continue focusing on her breathing. Immediately Sean started massaging her lower back and cooing. The pain lanced through her lower section. Now it felt like the vice had her whole lower body under pressure, not just a few bits on the inside. The waves of pain radiated in pulsing, thick tendrils.
It lightened up, then stopped, leaving her slightly dizzy.
“Start the timer,” she said breathlessly.
Sean reached for his phone, tapped a few things on the face, and then resumed helping her to the door. He did not look frazzled or flappable in the least. He was sure handed and seemed to know what happened next.
Thank God because Krista hadn’t a clue.
They made it up the steps slowly, his arm supporting her. At the door, another wave crashed over her, stopping the progression, making her tighten her jaw and grip Sean’s arm. Stuff was happening that wasn’t supposed to, Krista was sure of it. No way were things supposed to hurt this much. No way.
“Oh Lord,” Krista said as it passed. “This is starting to seriously suck.”
Sean sat her down, telling her she was doing great, telling her it would all be worth it, telling her there were drugs at the hospital that would take all the pain away if she wanted. He was positive and excited. She was still scared.
Next, he took out his phone again. “Cassie? I’m activating the phone tree…No, start calling—the little vixen waited all day to call me…Yeah, I know, you were right…I don’t know, hold on…” Sean put the phone to his chest and leaned down to Krista. “Did you want Kate, Jasmine, and Ben there, or would you rather just me and Cassie?”
Krista felt things start to tighten and realign in the world of pain. She started breathing and ignored Sean as her torso tried to disengage from her body and stuff itself into a tiny box. A sledge hammer was banging against the bottom of her spinal column. She lost control of her breathing as the pain ripped through her.
She wasn’t going to be able to handle this. Too much! Way too much pain! People could not do natural birth through this! Something seemed wrong.
Krista whimpered Sean’s name and clutched his hand. Tears came to her eyes. This one was stronger than the last one. She must be ready for the hospital by now. There was no way it could get much worse! Maybe she was too late for drugs.
Oh no, what if I am too late for drugs?!
“Time,” she panted as the pain receded. The memory of the pain stayed behind.
“You’re doing great, Krista. Really, really well. That was six minutes and lasted for nearly a minute. Almost time to go.”
“You can invite the girls. Don’t want Ben to see my hoo-haw.”
Sean relayed the message. “Of course. Sure. Cassie?... Yeah, we’re really close. I might get her loaded up after another couple contractions. K-Jaz is a yes, Ben is a no for now…See you there.”
Sean stuffed the phone in his pocket and kneeled down to her. “Do you want to go look at the ocean? Would that relax you?”
“No. Let’s get this done. I need to walk around.”
“Sure, of course.” Sean helped her up gently. They took a turn around the living room. Half way through she had to stop, bow down, and breathe as her ass was ripped apart from her uterus, which was being kicked and stepped on by a giant goat. They kept walking until the next one, which didn’t seem worse than the last, thank God, and Sean informed her excitedly that it was time to go. Things were starting to speed up.
Thank God.
The pain was starting to make her into a potty mouth like Kate.
Krista leaned against the couch as Sean ran around like a wild man getting everything they would need. He had a checklist that he actually checked things off of. Once everything was loaded, he took a break to help Krista through the next contraction, then got her coat, and started patting his pants frantically.
“Keys, keys…” He looked around wild eyed. “Okay, Sean, stop a minute, take a breath…” He took a big breath, “and think. Oh yes—“ He dashed to the counter, reclaimed his keys, and raced back to Krista. “Let’s go, baby. You’re doing great.”
Krista tried not to waddle for any part of her pregnancy. Now, however, she did not care. She teetered out of the house, stopped to basically try and push out a thorny Buick, and continued on when the pain passed.
In the car, she was in agony. Bumps and the car’s rocking made her uncomfortable, and there was nowhere to bend or move when the contractions hit. She gripped the handrail and braced herself, but it didn’t help.
“Call Marcus,” Krista said through clenched teeth.
“Marcus?” Sean asked in confusion.
“He is the most relaxed person I know. Call him.”
“Oh right. Of course.” Sean hit a button on his dash and instructed the computer to call.
“Hello?” Marcus answered lazily over the car’s speakers.
“Hi Marcus, this is Sean.”
“Sean, I am almost finished. I literally have been working on your…”
“No Marcus, not why I’m calling.”
“Oh. What’s up? Need the latest? Kim in New York was saying—”
“Marcus, shut up and head to the hospital,” Krista yelled.
“Krista? Hey sexy, how are things going with your waist line?”
“I’m about to lose a few pounds, actually. I need…”
The pain came out of nowhere. She let out a moan as her world went a bad kind of sparkly.
“What’s going on?” Marcus asked quickly and loudly.
“She’s in labor and she has asked for you. Says you’re the most relaxed person she knows. Can you stay the most relaxed person she knows?”
Was that a hint of steel in his words?
“Oh my gosh. I am strangely excited.” Marcus sounded like a little boy.
“But can you stay calm?” Sean asked with an edge. Yes, definitely steel.
“Life is but a breeze. Krista, make sure that young stud of yours doesn’t scare the hospital staff. I’ll see you in twenty. Hospital, right?”
“Yeah, see you there,” Sean said as Krista looked out the window.
“Probably should invite Ben, now. But no one gets to see my vajayjay unless it’s you or they have one of their own.”
“Noted.” Sean barely suppressed the laughter in his voice.
Being admitted to the hospital was torture. Krista had to answer questions and fill out a form, all while being racked with pain every five minutes. Then they gave her an exam to make sure she was far enough along to be admitted. She was three centimeters by that point. She had to get to ten. This pain, which was the worse she had ever experienced, was nothing compared to what it would become.
She was no hero. Decision made—epidural, please.
She had often wanted to punch mother nature in the vagina for making pregnancy such a pain in the ass. Feeling sick, feeling immobile, random fears, terrible acid reflux, restless leg where her feet felt like they had ants and needed to stay moving when she was trying to sleep—all that was terrible stuff to endure. But labor? Millions of years of evolution an
d it still hurt this much? Really?!
They got to the room and the nurse got Krista all situated. She was hit by a harder contraction and life stopped to gather around the pain. Sean got in her face and started coaching her through it.
Back when they were in the labor and breathing class, Krista decided she would be highly irritated if someone got in her face while she was trying to work through pain. That was before she knew how much pain they were talking about. Now she was happy to have something else to distract her, even if it was a ridiculously charged, over-the-top positive, über gung-ho Sean.
At least she got to look at a crazy handsome face. Could definitely be worse!
As the pain subsided and her claws relaxed back into hands, she noticed Kate and Jasmine in the corner with a terrified looking Ben. Maybe having him come along wasn’t the best idea after all. Ben had a girlfriend, but they weren’t serious. She had a feeling Ben wouldn’t look at his woman the same after this.
Good thing gay wasn’t a choice, because if it were, he would sprint toward Marcus’s side of the yard.
“Hey, guys,” Krista said as she was eased back into the bed by the nurse.
“Hey, Kris, how about those drugs?” Kate asked. Her eyes looked slightly wild. Jasmine also looked on edge.
Krista let the realization tug the corners of her mouth into a smile. “Nervous for the future, girls?”
Both smirked, but didn’t relax.
Cassie walked in next, the size of a trailer. In a few more months she, too, would be the size of a house. It had taken her four months to get pregnant, so she was always a few steps behind Krista. As her smile turned into alarm, it probably wasn’t a good thing.
“Does it hurt?” Cassie asked in a small voice.
World’s dumbest question, yes, but that’s what happens when a girl realizes what she is heading for. She needs the obvious voiced, sometimes repeatedly, as the brain tries to hold onto the bliss of ignorance.
“Do I look that bad?” Krista asked, eyeing everyone.
Sean stepped to her side quickly. “You look absolutely beautiful, Krista. Radiant.”
“And like shit hurts,” Kate said dryly. Ben’s bobbed up and down.
“Yes, shit does hurt.”
They passed a while talking, sporadic laughter, and intervals of pain. Sean was the ring leader. When it was time for Krista to focus on breathing, or moaning, or anything but the agonizing pain of her body being ripped apart from the inside out, everyone was to lend support. When she was supposed to be distracted so she wasn’t worried about the pain to come, Sean had endless chatter. It was like he was throwing a party.