There wasn't any pain; not at first. Just a warm wetness. It was that sensation that awoke Tami from a restless sleep. In this last month of pregnancy, she had rarely snatched more than a two-hour block of sleep at a time. Either her back hurt, her legs cramped or just when she got comfortable, nature called. She rose up on her elbows and squinted at the bedside clock over Eric's shoulder. Four-twenty a.m. Damn. Tami flopped back with a sigh and wondered, slightly horrified at the thought, if she had peed a little in her sleep.
As quietly as she could, she slipped out of bed, skimming her hand over the sheet, relieved that the bed was dry. Yawning, she waddled into the bathroom to finish what she had started.
She sat on the toilet and glanced at her panties. Her mouth dropped open in surprise. A pink stain saturated the cloth. Tami's heart raced with excitement and grin stretched her face. Her water had broken!
Her smile faded just a bit. It didn't seem like much had come out, maybe it was just a leak. She tried to recall everything she had read but drew a blank. With Julie, it hadn't broken until she was almost at the end of labor and she barely remembered it. She stood and tossed her underpants in the hamper and after washing her hands, headed out to the bedroom.
"Eric." Tami rifled through her drawer to find some clean panties and called over her shoulder again when her husband failed to stir. "Eric! My water's leaking!"
"Huh?" He swung his feet out of bed. "Are you sure?"
"Yes, sugar." Tami set her clothes on the bed and began to head back to the bathroom to get her toothbrush and other items.
Eric heaved a sigh. "Great." He stood and ran a hand through his hair. "Just great!"
Tami paused in confusion. Maybe Eric's tone just sounded grumpy because he was half asleep. She was sure he meant to say it like, "Yay! Great!" Shaking her head, she continued into the bathroom.
She heard heavy footsteps in the bedroom and peeked out to see Eric, head down, stomp out into the hall. Her brow furrowed. What in the world? "Hon? Where are you going?"
"To get the phonebook!"
That's okay, I have the number memorized!"
The footsteps paused and retraced their route. They halted right outside the bathroom.
Tami glanced up from tossing some skin lotion into her bag. Eric had the strangest look on his face. "What?"
"You…you have the plumber's number memorized?"
"The plumber?"
Eric rolled his eyes. "For the leaky water? To fix the pipes?"
Tami blinked. "No! The pipes aren't leaking! I'm leaking. My water broke!"