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Title: Labor Day
A/N another little tidbit from the What's New Pussycat era.
The first twinge hit around midnight. Brittany awoke up with a grimace till the cramp ended and then she fell back to sleep. Minutes later, another twinge. This one lasted longer and caused her to lose her breath a bit. She sat up a little against the pillows and headboard smoothing her hands over her protruding belly. "What's going on in there you little devil?" she whispered.
Santana moved closer, her face pressed against Brittany's thigh. "What happened?" she mumbled.
"Just some cramping or something, I'm sure it's nothing, go back to sleep Baby," Brittany assured and ran her fingers through her wife's bed head. She slept fitfully for a while longer, in between twinges of pain. As the intensity increased her breaths turned to groans. Santana moved in closer, fully awake now. She kissed across Brittany's cheek and over her nose looking into her eyes.
"Time?" she asked.
Brittany bit her bottom lip and nodded. "I think so."
Labor continued. Santana swiped the wet bangs from Brittany's forehead and off to the side placing a gentle kiss there. Brittany panted lightly, her pulse pounded in her ears and another fierce contraction ripped through her body. She tensed and curled her fingers into the front of Santana's shirt, pulling her closer bringing their foreheads together as she growled and grunted through the pain. "Breathe Baby," Santana whispered and lead by example, taking a deep breath and letting it out, over and over, until Brittany instinctively synched her breath's with her lover's.
Her head lolled back against the pillows behind her as her body calmed for a moment, her fingers still curled, though not as tightly in Santana's shirt. "I wanna get up," she insisted.
Santana looked to their midwife, Nia, who nodded. "Ok B." She helped her up from their bed and followed at her side as she paced the room slowly, often stopping to rock back and forth on her heels and toes against the wall, or a table, or Santana, as contractions continued to ripple through her. Santana smiled, Brittany was never one to sit still, not even during painful, mind numbing labor. Her mind wandered to her own labor with Eden; it was different or she was different, probably both. She'd only wanted to sit sideways on Brittany's lap with her arms wrapped tightly around her neck, even during the worst of the worst. Brittany had held her in place securely, softly palming and massaging her back, whispering sweet nothings of encouragement, placing kisses when needed and a constant reminder to breath, relax, and to, "listen to your body". She never complained about the goo on her own bare legs or the fingerprint bruises Santana was imbedding into her skin from her powerful death grip, well, birth grip really. Eden had entered the world right in their living room; a mess of blood, sweat, tears and more goo. Santana had squatted down right on the wood floor, Brittany right in front of her, holding her body up while she pushed and screamed, her arms still wrapped tightly around Brittany's neck. Nia their midwife squatted behind them, hurriedly placing towels under them and caught the baby, immediately squishing her tiny naked body between both of her mommies as they laughed and cried and kissed all over each other and their goo covered infant. This time, it was Brittany's turn. At first Santana was extremely nervous about witnessing her beloved in pain with no way to ease it, but as time went on, she adapted, knowing she must remain calm, so Brittany would.
Brittany was a trooper, this labor was long, way longer than Santana's was with Eden. Three year old Eden awoke this morning oblivious to the past eight hours Brittany already labored. The little girl was eager for the baby to arrive, but was very concerned that Brittany was in pain and not her usual happy, chipper mama, but both mommies knew it would be ok to have her around through it all. They wanted her to experience all of life; ups, downs, highs and lows included.
Brittany stood, leaning against the kitchen island while Eden sat on one of the stools and carefully used a cool cloth to wipe her mommy's sweaty brow. Santana and Nia watched close by while Brittany's mom, Susie, and Santana's mom, Mari watched from the sofa. Eden had a serious look on her face, her brow furrowed with an infinite amount of unasked questions. "What Baby?" Brittany questioned, looking into her daughter's eyes.
"It hurts Mama?" she whispered.
Brittany nodded and spoke through her ragged breathing. "Mommy's body is getting ready for the baby to come out," she explained honestly, "and in order for that to happen my vagina has to open up really big so I can push the baby out. All the things inside Mama have to move around a bit and it's very painful, but I'm ok, I'll be just fine, I promise."
Eden climbed further onto the island and instinctively Santana jerked forward to protect her, as did Brittany, arms instantly surrounding her daughter's body. Eden continued to use the cloth on the back of her mommy's neck and forehead, kissing Brittnay's nose. "I help," she insisted, "I'll make you feel better Mommy."
"I love you," Brittany's voice broke and tears welled in her eyes at her baby girl's compassion, "thank you for helping me." This is why they wanted her here.
Life went on around Brittany's laboring. Mari and Susie helped keep Eden occupied while Santana never left Brittany's side. Nia checked things out every once in a while but otherwise let them be. Puck and Mike kept things running smoothly downstairs at the club, while friends and family popped in and out to check in on Brittany's progress but never lingered or intruded. Mari and Susie took control of both Brittany's & Santana's cell phones, constantly keeping in contact with all their concerned family and friends. Around three p.m. Brittany was so exhausted she tried to sleep fitfully in between contractions, she was just so tired, but the short minutes between contractions were not letting her rest for long. An hour later her water broke and the pain increased, the contractions closer together. Nia offered to fill the birthing tub. They had one from when Eden was born but never used it because Santana hadn't wanted to. Brittany groaned as another pain hit, hard. She rolled from her side up onto all fours and moaned through the pain. "Do you want to try the pool B?" Santana asked from behind, massaging Brittany's aching lower back. She nodded and Santana motioned to Nia who scurried off to fill the bath with warm water.
"Fuck Baby!" Brittany cried out as another contraction hit just seconds after the last one. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" Her body writhed and her cries brought Mari and Susie to the door with Eden attached tightly to Mari's hip.
"Mama..." her lower lip quivered, scared because Brittany rarely yelled or raised her voice unless in play, never in anger, never in pain, never like this.
"Shit, shit, shit," B whispered, turning and burying her face is Santana's lap, still on all fours.
Santana rubbed her back and called over to Mari to bring Eden closer. "Help rub Mommy's back," she encouraged, "remember how we told you that having a baby hurts?"
Eden nodded, eyes caught with Santana's and followed her lead, gently rubbing Brittany's back.
"Mama's ok," Santana assured her daughter, "she is just in pain and sometimes when things hurt we cry and yell, right?"
Eden nodded again and leaned down and softly kissed Brittany's back.
"Mommy is not mad, her body is just getting ready to let us see our baby and it hurts. She is not mad ok. Promise." Brittany rested her cheek against Santana's thigh, tears cascading from the corners of her eyes.
Nia reentered the room and told everyone the tub was almost ready and Brittany could undress and get in whenever she wanted. Santana helped Brittany sit up and with Eden's help they got her undressed. In fact they all undressed because Brittany wanted Santana to hold her in the water and Eden wanted to play in the water too. The warm water was very soothing to Brittany and she felt some of the tension in her back ease a bit, the intensity of the contractions still rippled and left her breathless,but manageable. Nia assured it was a ok for Eden to join in the family bath for a while and Mari and Susie took tons of pictures of them all three laboring in the birthing tub, Edens's yellow duckies floating around their bodies. Mari and Susie sat nearby at Nia's request. She told everyone that pushing was emanate and Miss E would have to hop out when the time arrived. Susie grabbed an armload of towels and waited nearby. Eden grew tired of the duckies and nestled close to Brittany resting her head on her chest, her hand instinctively coming to rest against Brittany's exposed breasts. "Boobie Mama?" she asked. It was getting late, Eden was getting sleepy and Brittany had almost been in labor for 17 hours. She looked at Nia, silently asking if it was ok to let Eden nurse, which she had done all throughout her pregnancy. Santana looked at Nia too, ready to step in if the answer was no and she would gladly nurse their daughter.
Nia nodded and smiled, "if you're up for it, it won't hurt you or the baby."
Brittany helped Eden rearrange in the water so she could reach her nipple without laying across Brittany's big tense belly, just nestled closer against her side. Susie snapped pictures quietly, tears welling in her eyes at the sweetest scene on the planet. Brittany breathed through oncoming contractions, holding her daughter close and reveling in the feel of her wife's heartbeat and breasts at her back. Santana whispered into Brittany's ear and placed millions of gentle kisses to her shoulders and neck. Nia touched Brittany's arm to let her know she was going to check her again before reaching beneath the water. She smiled, "you guys ready to meet your new baby?"
Brittany nodded excitedly feeling a bit more energized, finally picturing a light at the end of the tunnel and rested her head against Santana's shoulder. Santana peppered kisses to Brittany's cheek. "So close Baby," she whispered.
Mari lifted Eden from the water and placed her into Susie's awaiting towel. They dried and dressed the naked little jaybird while Nia prepared for the birth. She looked down into the water and gasped. "Brittany, have you been pushing?" she asked slowly.
Santana & Brittany looked up at Nia's face in confusion. "No," Brittany insisted, "why? Is something wrong?" Her heart raced with all the horrible scenarios rushing through her brain.
"No," Nia smiled and placed her hands on Brittany's knees pulling them further apart. "I guess the baby is just super done with this laboring business, the top of the head is already noticeably visible," she chuckled. Everyone's eyes widened, including Mari's and Susie's.
"Is that a bad thing?" Santana tried to stay calm, her hands running up and down Brittany's arms, "Is everything ok?"
"Everything is fine," Nia chuckled, "I just think that this warm water relaxed Brit so much that everything loosened up and baby was able to surface. It's happened before. Your not going to have too much more work to do Brit." Nia smiled warmly. "You ready? Gimme a nice gentle push ok."
Brittany grasped her knees and bore down gently.
"Good," Nia encouraged, her hands reaching down to help, "A little harder push next...or not!" She laughed as the baby slid out swiftly and surfaced with the help of her steady hands.
"Woah baby!" Eden squealed, "my baby can swim and look, him haves a penis!"
"A boy!" Mari and Susie exclaimed, mouths hung open in shock. Everyone, literally everyone, family and friends alike, expected another girl. This little prince was the first boy since Cruz and Adam, to join the Lopez and Pierce families. Even Santana & Brittany had resolved themselves to the same fate of an all girl brood, they hadn't even picked out any boy names. It just didn't seem realistic with them both having all sisters.
"Well shit," Santana laughed as tears streamed from her eyes, arms tight around her wife and their new baby boy pressed against Brittany's chest. "we can't name him Emily!"
Brittany laughed through tears of joy and shock, her head thrown back onto Santana's shoulder. "Our dad's are never going to believe this! The family lesbian couple are the first to have a boy!"
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