"Oh my god." With a groan, Rachel lowered herself to the couch.
Finn looked up from the files he was studying. "Baby hurting you?"
"Yes. Another one of your giant offspring playing football with my internal organs." Rachel moaned.
"Hey, you knew of my Frankenstein's monster genes when you married me. I plead not guilty!" Finn raised his hands in mock surrender. He set the files aside and moved to the couch, encouraging Rachel to lie on her left side and placing her feet in his lap. He began to gently massage them.
"1 week to go until our due date. And CK was a week late; this one could do the same to me!" Rachel exclaimed in mock horror.
"I know babe. But I don't think you'll go that long. You just...look different or something. And all those Braxton-Hicks you've been having. Maybe you're carrying yourself different. Of course, I'm a music teacher, so what do I know?" Finn joked.
Rachel smiled and relaxed deeper into the couch. "Is that why you sent CK to Lima this weekend?" she inquired about their son, Christopher Kurt, affectionately known as CK, who was enjoying a visit with both sets of grandparents.
Finn chuckled. "Not really. Mom has been asking for a visit from him before the baby came and since Kurt and Blaine were taking the twins for a visit, I figured he could tag along. Plus I wanted some alone time with you before this one shows his or her little face," he smiled, resting his hand on Rachel's swollen abdomen. "But if it works out that the baby arrives while CK is already in Lima, I'm going to be seen as a genius."
Rachel adjusted her position. None were really comfortable at 39 weeks, especially with a Finn Hudson baby. "I can't wait to meet this baby. Seeing pictures of Jonah make me anxious," she stated, referencing Puck and Quinn's newest addition, Jonah Michael, who was only 7 weeks old. The newest Puckerman had came out sporting a head full of thick black hair, unlike his blond sisters, Beth and Addison, and his hair seemed inclined to spike itself into a baby Mohawk, much to Quinn's chagrin and Puck's delight.
"It's my payback," Quinn admitted to Rachel over the phone when Jonah was born. "Back when I was pregnant with Beth, before BabyGate, I told Puck I didn't care if the baby came out with a Mohawk like his, I'd claim it was Finn's. And now..." Quinn had laughed. "And now there's another Mohawk in my life."
"I'm excited too," Finn admitted. "It seems CK was a baby so long ago, it will be nice to have a one around again."
"And I will remind us that we had this conversation some night at 3am in a few weeks," Rachel laughed.
Their conversation tapered off, Rachel enjoying the foot massage and drifting off into a much-deserved nap. Finn laid his head back and started thinking about new babies and sleepless nights. Soon he was sleeping as well.
Finn slowly raised his head with a groan and a massive stiff neck. It was late and Rachel was still out, lightly snoring as she was prone to do when expecting. He draped a light blanket over her, knowing from experience to let his pregnant wife sleep where she may, and made his way to bed, dropping on top of the covers without even changing clothes.
Rachel awoke with a wince. The tightening in her abdomen felt familiar, a memory from the beginnings of labor with Christopher 5 years ago. 20 minutes later, another one came. Knowing she still had time if this was truly it, Rachel got up and shuffled about the kitchen, drinking a glass of water. "Well," she addressed the baby, "you realize your father is never going to let anyone forget this if you come now, right?" Another contraction gripped her in response. She took that as an apology and headed for the shower. It was going to be a long day.
"Finn. Finn, you need to get up." Rachel shook her husband's shoulders. She has been in labor for several hours and her contractions where now steadily 10 minutes apart, which for Rachel was close enough to warrant leaving for the hospital. She had let Finn sleep until the last possible minute, because she knew once she woke him up, he would be hyper-attentive and, well, he needed the rest in preparation.
With a startled snort, Finn sat up. "Wha-? Are you ok? Is it the baby? I'll get hot towels!"
Rachel sighed. "We don't need hot towels. What is with you Lima boys and hot towels?! I already called a cab, the bags are by the door, and...,"she paused to breathe through another pain, "We need to go."
"St. Mary's!" Finn yelped to the driver as he helped Rachel in the cab. "$100 extra if you get us there in 10 minutes."
"Finn!"
"Rachel!" He answered back. " Look," Finn turned to address the driver. "You have a lovely cab, sir, but no offense, I don't want my baby born in it."
The cabbie shrugged as he pulled into traffic and accelerated. "No offense buddy, I don't want your baby born in my cab either."
Finn's phone buzzed on the bedside table. He squinted down at the screen.
"How she doing?" it read from Puck.
"Ok. Got the epidural an hour or so ago, resting now. Several more centimeters to go before she will be ready to push. It's going faster than with CK." Finn texted back.
"The Puckermans can't wait to meet our newest buddy. Stay strong. Give Rach our love." Puck replied.
"Will do!"
Another text from a different number popped up.
"Tell her I'm coming! No baby without me!"
Finn smiled at the screen as he typed in a reply. "You've got a little while. She's at 6 to 7 still."
"I'm here now. Tell her to keep her legs crossed!"
Finn grinned as he set down his phone.
"Who was that?" Rachel was flipping through the channels on the television, settling on The Golden Girls since she wasn't really a Bonanza type person.
"Puck first. They are all thinking of you and wishing us luck. The second one was Santana. She said, and I quote, keep your legs crossed." Rachel snorted at Finn's words and focused back on the TV.
Who'd have thought that his wife's best friend would turn out to be Santana!? Finn grinned down at his phone. True, Rachel and Quinn were close, but Santana was, well, Santana. She hadn't got any less abrasive over the years; she just used "Auntie Snixx" for the good of her clients now, as she was a very successful PR agent. Being required to keep overzealous young musicians in line and also build their images gave plenty of outlets to her snark. Sure, she still called him obnoxious pet names, and Rachel too, but she had proven to them just how much they meant to her over the years. She loved visiting them when she was in the city and never passed up an opportunity to tell people she was the one who ultimately reunited Finchel. It had nearly broken her heart when CK arrived late and she had to be gone when he was born. Santana had threatened to move in with them before she'd miss this baby's birth when they had announced the pregnancy.
A soft peck at the door, and the lady herself peeked in.
"Hey," Finn gestured for her to come in.
"I am here. I'm putting this kid on notice. He or she, since you stubbornly refuse to convenience anyone by finding out which, has 48 hours to be born before I have to leave again. So let's hustle."
Finn gave Santana's shoulders a squeeze. "You should consider motivational speaking." Santana gave him her best "Whatever" face as he moved past her over to Rachel. "You ok, babe?"
Rachel smiled up at him. "If I'm not, I'm sure Santana will take care of it. Go get yourself some fresh air, maybe call Kurt and update him so he can tell, well, everyone else, since he thrives on that sort of thing."
He kissed the top of her head, and nodding to Santana, exited the room.
"So," Santana looked at Rachel with much more seriousness than before. "Are you nervous?"
Rachel shrugged. "I'm not looking forward to the pain again. And I know things can go wrong fast. But I'm ready to NOT be pregnant anymore and to be holding this baby in my arms. And that's kind of trumping everything else, to be honest." She adjusted herself in the bed.
"I'm just glad I managed to make it this time!" Santana pushed a cup of ice chips into Rachel's hands. "No more sneaking babies in on me when I'm not here! Although I'm not sure how you would actually sneak a Hudson baby in on anyone. They come out full grown. I'm surprised they don't skip breast milk and eat eat burgers right out of the chute."
Rachel smiled and reaching over, took Santana's hand. "It would be easier on me if they did! By the way, I'm glad you made it here in time too. CK loves his Aunt Tanny, and I'm sure this baby will too."
"I have no idea how you two managed to make a child like Christopher, because you and Finn procreating is the equivalent of breeding a Chihuahua with a Great Dane, and yet it works. He is of proper size and surprisingly normal," Santana mused.
Rachel laid back, spooning some ice chips in her mouth. "Well, he does have you in his life," she teased. "Finn and I were set in our ways by the time we were under your influence. You could only do so much."
"That's true." Santana agreed, and she and Rachel shared a soft laugh.
As they grew quiet, Rachel stirred around in the bed. Her back was aching, and she was wondering how much longer it would be. She figured she had been in labor for going on 7 hours, now, not a record by an means, with CK it had been almost 12 hour, but she was getting increasingly uncomfortable. She found herself hoping Finn came back sooner than later.
A busy nurse entered the room, making notes of the baby's readouts as she logged into her computer.
"How are we feeling?" the nurse asked, typing as she asked.
"I think my epidural is wearing off and I'm feeling a lot of pressure with the contractions." Rachel admitted, while Santana hastily sent Finn a text sharing this info.
The nurse observed the monitor, glancing at the paper strip printing out. "Everything looks good, nice and strong heartbeat from the baby, the contractions are about a minute apart; I'm going to check you, and we will go from there. If you still aren't fully dilated and have a ways to go, they can adjust the epidural for you."
One quick assessment and the nurse smiled as she rolled up her gloves and tossed them in the trash.
"I'll page the midwife and we will get set up. I do believe it's time to have this baby!"
Finn came back into the room in time to hear the last few of the nurses' words. He paled, but smiled nervously at Rachel.
Within minutes, the delivery room was abuzz with the nurse and midwife, setting up the station for checking the baby and prepping Rachel. The midwife confirmed the nurse's verdict. "Alright Mrs. Hudson, let's have a baby!"
Rachel gave Finn's hand a squeeze as he positioned himself on one side of the bed and Santana took a place on the other.
"Alright Berry. Let's get this spawn of Hudson's out of you!"
The nurse looked shocked, but Rachel actually managed a giggle.
"You're hateful when you're nervous, you know that?" Finn pointed out.
"Shut it Frankenteacher, and help your wife."
30 minutes later, Rachel gave one last, exhausting push and fell back, spent. Within a few seconds a small gurgle as the midwife suctioned the baby's mouth and then a loud cry filled the little room. Grinning behind the mask, she turned the baby to reveal it was a girl. Rachel smiled excitedly up at Finn, her eyes filled with happy tears. The midwife passed the baby up and laid her on Rachel's chest, covering them both with the top of the hospital gown Rachel was wearing.
"Hi baby girl," Rachel cooed, kissing the damp dark hair, as the nurse affixed hospital bands to the threesome. Santana smiled down at them with tears on her face.
"My god Rachel, she's beautiful. She's perfect. Who knew?"
"She's daddy's girl," Finn whispered, leaning over and kissing the baby as well, before tenderly pressing his lips to Rachel's forehead.
"Hey buddy! Want to see your sister?" Finn talked to his son on the screen of his phone.
"Yes!" Christopher yelled, wiggling on Rachel's dad's lap. All the grandparents, as well as Uncle Kurt, were crowded around the monitor at the Hudson-Hummel's house, waiting.
Finn turned the phone slowly to reveal a smiling Rachel holding the baby.
"Aww!" "What a doll!" "She looks like Rachel." A sea of comments washed through the speakers, as they took in the sight of the new baby. LeRoy frantically dabbed at his eyes. Burt's face wreathed in a proud grin.
"What's her name?" Carole asked, her eyes also suspiciously wet.
Finn looked to Rachel as she answered. "Stella. Stella means star, and well, you know I have a thing for stars." Rachel grinned. The adults on the video screen all smiled.
Kurt laughed. "I'm already seeing her coming home outfit. Blaine!" Kurt yelled over his shoulder to where his husband had returned to playing a game with their daughter and son. "We need to go shopping!"
"She's absolutely gorgeous." "I can't wait to see her in person." "We will all be there when you get home. Love you!" The family in Lima declared. CK pressed his face closest to the camera. "I love you Mommy!"
Blowing kisses to the screen, Rachel gave it back to Finn, who said his goodbyes before disconnecting.
Santana entered the room. "Alright, Hudsons, I'm going to head out to my hotel and leave you to some quiet time."
She turned to Finn, surprising him with a big hug. "You did well, Finn. I never thought you two would get it together like this, but I'm glad you all did. Now there are years of entertainment for me to come."
He chuckled. "Thanks."
Rachel caught his eye and tilted her head towards Santana. "Umm, can you hold on? We have something to ask you." Finn stopped her.
Santana turned, her brows raised. "Sure, what's up?"
"We wanted you to be the first to know her WHOLE name. We are going to call her...," Finn cleared his throat nervously. "Um, we are going to call her Stella Santana."
Santana started, looking from one friend to the other. "What?"
"Look, I'd never in a million years thought you'd be my best friend, but you are. You kept me grounded, and sometimes furious, in the early years, and knocked some sense into me when I was acting crazy before I got back with Finn, and then you actually were the one that got us back together. You're a strong, talented woman, and there is no one else we'd rather have as our daughter's godmother. So will you? Be Stella's godmother, I mean? And allow her to share your name?" Rachel inquired.
Santana looked shocked.
"Holy cow. She's speechless. Where's my phone? I need a picture of this." Finn fumbled in his pocket, half in jest.
Santana reached out and gently took the baby from Rachel's proffering arms and smiled down at the chubby cheeked infant sleeping in the pink blanket. All the snark was gone now. Rachel and Finn shared a satisfied smile.
"I'd be honored." Santana choked out, tears thick in her voice as she kissed Stella's head.