Labor
"Go get Ian!" I beg. Now that I realized what was going on the contractions were kicking in and I was in a lot of pain.
"Let me take you to Doc first and then I will," says Mel calmly before wrapping her arm around my waist and slinging my arm around her shoulders. It didn't take long for us to get down the south tunnel to the hospital wing, but when we got there Doc wasn't there. Melanie helps me get on a cot before running out of the cave with a quick "I'll be right back! Stay here!"
Like I was going anywhere? I sigh heavily and scoot my whole body onto the cot before removing my wet pants and underwear. As promised Melanie had come right back, but she wasn't alone. Jared, Ian, Doc, Jeb, and Jamie had followed her. They all surround me, but give doc space to examine me.
"You aren't ready quite yet, Wanda. It may be a little while, but you'll need to stay in here all the same," says Doc.
"Are you okay Wanda? Does it hurt?" asks Jamie practically jumping onto the cot with me.
"Not—" with that a contraction hits and I cry out in pain. Ian was there taking my hand in his and kissing my forehead.
"You'll be alright Wanda. Everything's going to be fine," says Ian reassuringly. Just as quickly as the contractions started they stopped and I felt better again.
"Do you want anything?" asks Jamie. "Jared could go get it for you."
"Me?!" demands Jared.
"I'm fine Jamie, thanks," I say.
"This is real exciting," says Jeb with a smile. "I bet you never saw someone give birth Jamie, it's a real treat."
"Who said Jamie could watch?" demands Melanie glaring at Jeb.
"The boy needs to learn how it's done! It's one of life's valuable lessons," says Jeb nodding his head in agreement with himself. The man was definitely crazy.
"I wanna watch!" argues Jamie insistently.
"What do you think Wanda? Do you want an audience?" asks Jared.
"If Jamie wants to watch he can. Any of you can watch I guess," I say.
"Now see? Wanda understands that Jamie needs an education," says Jeb approvingly.
"How is it important that Jamie watch Wanda have twins?" demands Ian. He obviously didn't like the idea.
"It's one of life's miracles. What if Jamie gets a girl pregnant? He'll need to see how it's done so he won't be surprised," says Jeb.
"I don't like your logic Jeb," says Ian dryly.
"Never said you had to Ian, but this is my house and you'll follow my rules," says Jeb with a grin just as another contraction hits me causing me to wince in pain.
A few hours pass and everyone around me except for Doc and Ian had fallen asleep. I think everyone in the cave had come at least once to check on me. I was tired, but my contractions were coming so often that sleep was impossible. Doc examines me again and looks up at me with a meaningful expression.
"You're finally dilated enough so I'm going to give you some No Pain and we can start," says doc.
"Why didn't you do that sooner?" asks Ian.
"I'm not even sure that it's going to work," says Doc. He walks away and comes back with a cylinder of No Pain and gives me a dose of it before going to the end of the cot. "Now I'm going to ask you to push. Do you remember what I told you?"
"Uh-huh," I say as the No pain takes effect.
"Good, then when I say begin to push," says Doc. Soon another contraction begins and Doc tells me to push. While I'm pushing the others wake up and watch with various levels of concern and excitement of their faces. "You're doing a great job Wanda, keep going."
He didn't seem to realize how hard this was for me. Ian continues to hold my hand and whisper words of encouragement to me. "I'm so proud of you Wanda," says Ian as I push. All the while I was thinking that Ian was never touching me again.
"Here it comes Wanda I can see it!" declares Doc. I give another push and feel my body relax a little as the baby is pushed out of me and into Docs waiting hands. Then I hear cries and realize I was holding my breath when I let out a sigh of relief.
"It's a boy," says Doc proudly. Ian removes his shirt and hands it to Doc. "Thank you Ian." Doc wraps the baby in the shirt and hands him to me. He was so beautiful and definitely worth the pain, but Ian still couldn't touch me.
"He's perfect," whispers Ian in awe at the sight of our child. I nod in agreement just as another contraction hits and I remembered baby number two. Handing our son off to Ian I begin to push again. The second baby didn't take nearly as long, but left me worn out when I finally heard its cries.
"It's a girl," says Doc using Jared's shirt to wrap her in. He hands her to me and I was awed by how beautiful both of my babies were. To think I had ever had doubts about their births. They were perfect.
"She's beautiful," says Ian looking down at our daughter.
"What will you name them?" asks Melanie.
"I'm not really sure. I don't know any human names," I admit.
"I always liked the name Aiden for a boy," says Ian. I liked that name too so I nod.
"Aiden Jamie O'Shea," I say causing Jamie's face to light up.
"Really?!" asks Jamie excitedly. I nod and Jamie practically does a victory dance.
"And the girl?" asks Melanie. I look down at the girl in my arms and remember a name I had once read in a book.
"Alice Melanie O'Shea," I say looking down at my little girl.
"Aiden and Alice," says Ian thoughtfully.
"Is Alice okay?" I ask worried that he wouldn't like the name.
"It's great," says Ian with a grin before kissing me.
"Would you all like to hold them?" I ask.
"Spray Clean on your hands first," commands Doc walking over with a container of Clean. They all hold out their hands for Doc to spray and I hand Alice to Melanie while Ian hands Aiden to Jamie.
"Wow, Wanda, you did it!" crows Jamie excitedly. All I could do was nod; I was so tired. I just wanted to go to sleep.
"We should let her rest," says Doc.
"Okay," says Jamie as he hands Aiden to Jared. Then one of them begins to cry followed by the other one and I groan.
"Jared, go get some of that formula and some water bottles out of the storage area," says Jeb. Jared nods and hands Aiden to me before running out.
"Why water bottles?" I ask.
"It's cleaner than the water in the caves. We don't need your babies getting sick now do we?" asks Jeb with a grin as he looks down at Alice who was now in his arms.
"Doc, thank you for delivering my babies. I don't think a healer could've done better," I say looking down at Aiden who was still crying.
"It was my pleasure. Thank you for allowing me the honor," says Doc.
End Chapter
A/N: Thanks for reading. I just wrote this today while multitasking. I like to think I'm a good multitasker. I've been surfing the web while I typed this…so enjoy and I'll work on my other stories. I hope you like the names I chose…the whole boy girl thing will work out in the sequel whenever that happens…Sayonara1 =]
