Its three days past her due date and Rachel is still very much pregnant. She's actually fine with that though. She'd rather be late than have given birth far too early, so early that there were health risks to her baby. The only thing that is actually beginning to annoy her is the fact that every single time she calls out to Noah he starts to jump up and freaks out like he's absolutely positive that she's about to tell him that she's having the baby. Only he's been doing it for nearly a month already so it's gotten to the point that every single time she opens her mouth she's worried he's going to run around like a chicken with its head cut off.
So, despite him wanting to talk to her and help her with things until the baby decides to make an appearance she tries not to call his name when she needs or wants something. She tries to do as much of it as she can on her own because she doesn't want him rushing around like he's simply got to do something to help her. She doesn't want him to stumble over himself worrying about something that wasn't happening. She had told him a million times that if she was in labor she would tell him that and not just simply call his name.
So, even though she feels like a beached whale and she waddles when she moves, even though she has back pain and her ankles feel twice their normal size she gets up and gets what she needs herself. Because if she calls his name he'll just look at her with that wide-eyed look that makes it seem like he's about to have a heart attack or something with anticipation.
She sort of feels sorry for him though. He's so anxious for her to actually have the baby that he thinks it's about to happen at any second and yes, she feel badly that he's so anxious. But there's nothing she can do about it. There's absolutely nothing she can do about it because she can't make herself have the baby any sooner. And the truth is that she really wishes the baby would come already. She doesn't hate being pregnant but she's anxious to meet him.
The nursery has been ready for months. Noah painted it pale blue as soon as they found out that it was a boy. The crib has been put together and her fathers have bought them so many clothes for the babies that she's sure most of them will be given away unused because he'll grow out of them before he can wear each outfit once. It's sweet and amusing but it's just further proof that they're more than ready for the baby to come.
He seems determined to take his dear, sweet time though and not show up until he's damn good and ready to. Which means he's most definitely not like his mother in that regard. He hasn't inherited her impatience. If he had then he probably would have come early rather than making them wait past the due date. And this was probably the only time Noah was hoping that baby would inherit her determination. Because she knows all the waiting is making the expecting papa anxious.
Her son is moving around a lot though. He doesn't want to pop out any time soon but he still doesn't seem to understand the idea of not kicking and not resting on her bladder. He seems to have taken up permanent residence in a position that makes it feel like she has to pee every two seconds. And sometimes when he kicks it feels like she's going to be bruised on the inside. And yes, she loves her son even though she hasn't met him yet but at the same time she wants him to stop kicking her like that. It's not the worst thing in the world but after a little while it gets to the point where she's annoyed and just wants him to stop.
They're sitting on the couch watching something on television- she's not even sure what because Noah picked it and she's not really paying attention. The baby is kicking up a storm and its making her uncomfortable. Very, very uncomfortable. So she's not really watching the show she's just sitting there rubbing her hand over her stomach while Noah eats some obnoxiously cheesy nachos on the couch next to her. And she wants to be mad at him for eating something so messy in the living room but she's not doing that. She'd much rather try to get herself comfortable.
A part of her wants to tell him to stop beating her mother up from the inside out but she refrains because every single time she does that Noah laughs at her. He genuinely laughs at her like it's the funniest thing in the world. It makes her wish she could put the baby inside of him so he could feel how annoying it is to have a baby constantly kicking you. All men should have to go through pregnancy for a little while if they're going to reproduce, or at least that's her opinion. It only seems fair that they understand how it feels during the time a child is gestating inside of the body. They don't get to experience that. They get the really, really simple job of having sex and having an orgasm. The women get to handle all the uncomfortable, awkward stuff.
Noah laughs at something on the screen, something she's not paying attention to at all and the baby kicks even harder. So she stands up after a moment and slowly makes her way towards the kitchen. Her fiancé looks up from the television like he wants to ask her if she's alright, if she needs something but he doesn't because she just waves a hand at him to tell him that he should just continue watching his television show. All she wants to do is go get something to drink. It won't help with the kicking. It's just nice to get up and get out of the living room for a little bit. Sometimes she likes walking despite the swollen ankles.
So she makes her way into the kitchen and she takes a glass out of the cabinet- she has to stand on her toes to reach it which is annoying but she's learned to deal with it by now. She fills up the glass with water and she leans against the counter drinking it when the baby kicks again, harder this time. And then she feels this strange feeling that's almost like a cramp but not really.
And then she feels this gush of warm liquid running down her legs and for a moment she thinks the baby sitting on her bladder made her urinate a little but she realizes that's not true when she looks down and sees the small puddle on the floor. And she realizes then that the baby didn't make her urinate a little. Her water broke. And her water breaking means that she's going to have the baby. That it's decided it has to come now, right now. And she knows how nervous she should be but for some reason she's notall that nervous. Not yet. She just knows that she's about to be a mother.
"Noah?" Her voice is surprisingly calm even to her own ears. Almost too calm. But she reasons that's because she just doesn't want to panic and make him panic. If he starts to panic then he'll just be running around like an idiot and neither of them need that. He has to stay as calm as he possibly can. So she has to keep her voice calm.
"Yeah?"
"Can you come in here?"
She hears him let out a sound almost like a groan as he stands up from the couch and she keeps herself leaning against the counter in the dimly lit kitchen until she sees her him round the corner and lean against the doorframe to look at her, eyebrows furrowed. "Yeah?"
"My water just broke."
He blinks at her twice in an owlish way, like he can't really process what she just told him and maybe he can't since it seemed like they were waiting for that for weeks by now. So it makes sense that when it happens he's surprised. "All of it?" he finally asks in this strange tone.
"Noah!" Sometimes his brain really, really amazes her. Who asks their pregnant fiancé if allof their water broke? Noah Puckerman does, apparently. But by then she's learned to expect his brain being something she'll never truly understand. But a part of her sort of likes that she's never going to completely understand his brain.
"I….shit." He let out this almost amazingly shocked breath and ran his hand over the top of his head. "Shit. Okay. Okay. Shit."
"You said that already." She waits a moment, puts the glass in her hand down on the counter behind her and then motions to him. "I'm having the baby. Now. So, get the bag and get the keys. Because I am notdelivering this baby in our kitchen, Noah Puckerman. I refuse to do that."
"Right." The reply was slow and he nodded his head a little like the fact that this was actually happening slowed his brain down. "Right." He watches her for another second and then he heads down the hall as quickly as he can so he can get the bag they set up for when this happened and the keys and she tries to move towards the front door as calmly as she can. Running won't get things done any faster. She knows that for a fact.
She gives him a lot of credit because on the way there he's as calm as he can get given the situation. He asks her how she is every single time she has a contraction but other than that he doesn't waver. He just drives her there and fills out the stupid forms they give him to fill out when he gets there. He stays with her in the delivery room and lets her practically crush his hand when the contractions get worse and he tells her how good she's doing when she gets to take a break from pushing. He's being so perfectly amazing with her that she is happy that he's the one that's there with her, that she's the one who she's having the baby with. She doesn't even have the heart to yell at him when he teases her about having to clean up the kitchen floor when they get home though she wants to slap him. It wasn't like that was her fault or anything. You don't choose when you're going to go into labor. It just happens.
It's not until afterwards, not until she's through with labor and she's able to sit there in the bed, their son wrapped up in a little blue blanket and nestled in her arms that she looks at him with an amused smile on her face, one finger brushing over their son's cheek. "Who asks if someone's entire water broke?"
He does his best to look sheepish but he keeps on looking down at the tiny little baby in her arms like he can't believe that the baby actually -exists and that he's seeing him after waiting and waiting and waiting for him to actually come into the world. "Shut up. Call it a moment of stupidity."
"Seems like you get a lot of those these days," she continued to tease as she looked up at him, watched him watching their son so intently. It's like he thinks the baby is the most amazing thing in the world. And maybe he does.
So she nods towards him a little bit, the baby still cradled in her arms. "Do you want to hold him?"
"Do you really have to fucking ask?"
"Language," she scolds halfheartedly and holds the baby out to him, waits until he takes the infant and carefully holds him against his chest like he's afraid he's going to drop him at any second. It's both amusing and adorable.
"By the way," she tells him as she settles down into the bed a little to try to get more comfortable. "I just pushed a kid out of me. Youget to clean up the kitchen floor."
Noah glares at him a little bit but its halfhearted because the slight tilting up of the corners of his mouth? Yeah, a total give away that he's too happy to even care about having to do that. Maybe he even thinks it's worth it.