Beautiful Bellies Contest
Title: Two
Penname: vbfb1
Beta: storypainter1
Prompt and picture used: Prompt 3 Picture 7
Characters/pairing: Bella & Edward
Genre: Childbirth
Word Count: 1713
Rating: M
Summary: Bella never expected in less than a year she would be in labour again. Damn Edward's super sperm.
"Hmmmmm," I groan, as another contraction hits.
I seem to remember telling myself last time that I wasn't going to do this again anytime soon. Guess the universe had other plans, though, because here I am, barely eleven months later, in labour with child number two.
Probably should have known, after Edward's super sperm got me pregnant with child number one while I was on the pill, that unprotected sex the same day I got my six weeks clearance wasn't a good idea. No matter how many people tell you 'you can't get pregnant while breastfeeding.'
Yep, that totally doesn't apply to me. Twice, yep you read right, that is how many times we had sex between the birth of our daughter and me falling pregnant with the little mystery which was currently making its way into the world.
Now, don't get me wrong, when Edward and I got married we knew we wanted kids, and a lot of them. Having two babies under the age of one before our twenty-fourth birthdays, however, was not exactly what we had planned.
I remember clear as a bell the look on Edward's face when we discovered I was pregnant the first time. It was our first summer after graduating college. I'd had what I thought was a persistent bout of the flu; turned out it was morning sickness. I hadn't really thought much was out of the ordinary until I started craving milk. Now, normal non-pregnant me, hates cow's milk - absolutely cannot stand it.
One day in late July, we were having lunch at the local diner when I saw this waitress walk by with this giant glass of what looked like a strawberry milkshake and instantly had to have one. Edward looked at me like I had grown a second head when I stopped the waitress and asked for a milkshake.
"What?" I asked, looking at Edward.
"You don't drink milk," he stated.
"Yeah I do," I rebuffed.
"No you don't," he reiterated, cocking his eyebrow at me as if to say, I know you better than you think I do.
"Fine. You're right, I don't drink milk. But I saw the one the waitress brought out and it looked yummy and I just had a craving."
"You had a craving? Jesus, Bella, anybody would think you were pregnant talking like that."
It was right about then the penny dropped. I started mentally counting back and realised it had been way more than four weeks since my last period.
"Fuck!" I cursed under my breath.
"Bella, what's wrong, you've just turned white as a ghost?"
"I think I'm pregnant," I said.
"You can't be, you're on the pill," he said, sounding just a little horrified at the prospect.
"Well, all I know is that my last period was at the beginning of June, I've had this persistent stomach flu for the last few weeks and now I have a craving for milk."
Edward looked at me, shock written all over his face. He called for the check and not more than five minutes later we were headed to the nearest drug-store.
When all five of the pregnancy tests we purchased came up positive, we figured they couldn't all be wrong.
That was kind of when the world as we knew it came to an end.
Other than the few weeks' worth of morning sickness, I had a dream pregnancy. That was until it was time for the delivery.
Like all young parents-to-be we had it all planned out - the hospital, the drugs, everything. Like all good plans, though, it somehow went awry.
I blamed the hospital, but I guess it wasn't their fault that my little girl was in a hurry to come into the world.
I woke up on the morning of March seventeenth, that's right our little girl is a St Patrick's Day baby, with what I thought was another round of Braxton hicks contractions. When my water broke while I was taking my morning shower, however, I figured they were the real thing. After I woke Edward up, and calmed his panic attack, we got all our stuff packed up and headed to the hospital.
Now, this is where our plans started to go off course. We live in a fairly small country town and although we have a hospital, it isn't huge. You can imagine my surprise, though, when we arrived at the hospital, and they told us all of the birthing rooms were in use. So, after checking to see how far along I was, and determining that I wasn't likely to deliver any time soon, they sent us back home.
We only live thirty minutes from the hospital, but by the time we got home, I had already noticed a marked increase in both the frequency and intensity of my contractions.
As soon as we got inside the house, I was hit with a particularly strong contraction that brought me to my knees and seemed to last forever. Edward was right there by my side, worry etched all over his face. Somehow, I knew that we didn't have time to get back to the hospital. Instead, I asked Edward to help me into the kitchen (the floor was at least tiled in there so easier to clean). I then sent him to get some towels and pillows.
Before he came back, I discarded all my clothes, some weird primal urge told me that they weren't needed, and I squatted down, leaning on a dining room chair for support. Even in just the short amount of time he had been gone, my contractions had intensified again and I was fairly sure I was feeling the urge to push.
Everything that happened from there on out felt completely out of my control, it was as if my body was in the driver's seat and I was just along for the ride. I was in agony and absolutely petrified; this wasn't how it was supposed to happen. I was supposed to be in the hospital on pain medication.
With every push, I screamed my lungs out; it seemed to be the only method I had at my disposal to channel the pain and fear coursing through me. After a couple of pushes I finally found the most semi-comfortable position. In the end, I was squatted between Edward legs, him supporting my weight. Fifteen minutes of pushing was all it took to bring our beautiful little girl into the world. Catching her with my own two hands was an absolutely surreal experience, but it was frightening as well. I was so worried that I was going to do something to harm our baby.
As I sat on the floor between my husband's feet, looking upon the new life I had just brought into the world, I could have sworn I could hear Edward talking. I looked up to see Edward on his cell. Unbeknownst to me, Edward must have grabbed it when he was collecting the blankets, and was now on the phone to 911 asking for an ambulance. After getting instructions on how to tie off the umbilical cord, we just waited for the ambulance to arrive.
I delivered the placenta in the back of the ambulance en route to the hospital.
When we got to the hospital and were checked over, I was pleased to discover we were both healthy and that there were no complications.
Sitting in that hospital bed marvelling at the new life Edward and I had created, I made myself a couple of promises; one, next time I wasn't even going to worry about a hospital and two, I didn't want to do this again anytime soon.
That ,of course, brings me back to my current situation, cursing Edward's super sperm while finally, after twelve hours of labour, I am feeling the urge to push.
Even though we weren't expecting to be doing this again so soon, we wholeheartedly agreed on how we would do it.
After having delivered Maddy by ourselves, we knew we wanted to have a homebirth. We spent many months researching different techniques and in the end we decided on an
Unassisted Sensual Homebirth.
Basically, the word sensual means just a whole lot of touching, kissing and caressing during the labour process. This birth has been completely different from my first one. I don't think I have ever felt as loved as I do right now. Even now as my body is doing what comes naturally, Edward is not only supporting my weight, but he is using his hands to massage and stimulate my nipples helping to keep me relaxed.
This time around, I don't feel the need to scream, though a deep rumbling groan with each contraction does seem to make them less intense. I am not in pain; rather, with the heightened state of my body, I actually feel almost aroused, like I'm sitting on the precipice of the greatest pleasure I might ever experience.
"You're doing so well, beautiful, I love you so much," Edward says, as I bear down again.
I don't doubt his words for a minute. I do feel so beautiful. I am absolutely revelling in my body's ability to perform this amazing task of bringing another life into the world. I don't feel any panic or fear like I did the first time.
I reach down and feel the head start to crown. The burn I feel tells me that I am almost there. Two good hard pushes, and with an overwhelming sense of climactic relief, I welcome our newest family member into the world.
"It's a boy," I remark with glee as I cuddle him to my chest.
Edward leans down and kisses me on the top of my head telling me how proud he is of me and that I did such a wonderful job.
"Thank you," I say. "But, if you think you are coming anywhere near me without a condom any time in the near future, you are sadly mistaken."
We both laugh knowing that even though my tone is joking, I am deadly serious. As beautiful and rewarding as the birth was this time round, having Irish twins is enough; I am not willing to make it triplets.
Thanks for reading hope you enjoyed it. Please review and let me know what you thought
vbfb1