Disclaimer: The usual
Seventh Month
If Lily thought the strange dreams she'd been getting were bad, they were nothing compared to the changes in her body during the seventh month of the pregnancy. As little Harry was getting bigger, she began to develop severe back pains as a result of the extra weight she was carrying, and her joints were beginning to loosen. At the last check up, in which the Healer told the proud parents that everything seemed to be normal, she also told them that the baby could now hear their voices properly, as well as sounds surrounding the mother.
Although it was not yet summer, Lily was already beginning to sweat and feel hot a lot of the time, even when it was cool. The healer had said this was because her metabolism was intensifying, but Lily wasn't sure she knew what that meant. All that she knew that she was breaking out in sweats; it never seemed cool enough anymore. As she was already now on maternity leave, Lily was home all day, and this did nothing to improve her mood. Luckily for her, James was able to return home from work relatively early each day, and Remus often popped by to keep her company, so Lily was never really alone.
The dreams that Lily was now having were all to do with little Harry or having childbirth. No matter how much she looking forward to finally see little Harry, childbirth was something Lily wasn't anticipating in excitement. She only hoped that he wouldn't give her too hard a time and drag out the process for too long. Often, the dreams were very vivid, including last night's, which involved painful contractions for twelve hours, and then another two hours to actually give birth. James, on the other hand, was starting to become slightly paranoid, as because of the dreams Lily told him, was half expecting her water to suddenly break, even though the due date wasn't for another two months.
Due to the ever growing belly, Lily felt that she was becoming more and more clumsy, as her centre of gravity had shifted to accommodate the weight of both her and Harry. She often found herself knocking things over by accident, and it was at times like this that Lily was very grateful that she was a witch. Whoever invented reparo was a genius, really. They didn't know how much money they were saving everyone, especially the clumsy, pregnant women of the world! In addition, the swelling stomach meant Lily couldn't see her feet anymore, and she was now prone to waddling instead of walking….
Lily wasn't sure when it happened, but when she got out bed and stood up one day, she realised something.
She could no longer see her feet.
Unsure if it was perhaps the angle she was standing at, Lily shifted so she was standing upright, and looked down.
Nope, still couldn't see her feet.
It was then that she realised just how big she was getting. For all her life, Lily had been petite. She had curves in all the right places, but she didn't have the baby fat that some of the girls did. So even though she knew she was gaining weight because of little Harry, she still couldn't help worry about the way she looked. Lily shook her head to clear her thoughts. She was a married woman for Merlin's sake! And James would love her, even if she turned out to be the size of Vernon Dursley. Okay, maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration; Vernon Dursley was one huge whale. Oops, did she say whale? She meant man.
--
Lily sighed and closed her eyes. The back aches were killing her. She knew there was some kind of potion that could be prepared to soothe these kind of pains, but, just as with the dreamless sleep potion, Lily refused to take them on the pretext that it could bring about harm to little Harry.
"Hey Lils," said James softly, "You awake?"
"Yeh, I am." Lily replied, and winced as she turned to her side in an attempt to relieve some of the pain in her back.
James noticed the pain in Lily's face and said to her, "Turn around."
"What?" said Lily in confusion.
"Turn around." James repeated. "So your back is facing me."
"Why?" Lily only seemed capable of short sentences today, James noticed.
"So I can give you a back massage, that's why!" said James half exasperatedly. A pregnant Lily was so difficult sometimes.
"Oh. Ok then." Lily replied, gingerly turning away from him.
"This would work better if you could lie on your belly, but since that's not the greatest thing to do now, this will have to do." Said James. He started by applying pressure to both sides of Lily's spine simultaneously, beginning at her lower back, and kneading gently up to her neck. He could feel her body relaxing already; there was a lot of tension that had being built up. He then slid his palms in opposite directions towards the sides of her back, up her back towards her shoulders. Kneading the fleshy area at the top of Lily's shoulders and mid-back, James could feel Lily's muscles beginning to loosen, and she sighed in contentment.
"Thanks James. You don't know how good that feels. I've been feeling like an old woman all day, with my back pains." Said Lily.
James grinned at her whilst using his thumbs to apply more pressure to the tighter areas in her back. "Anything for you love, I can't even imagine what you've been through these last few months. First all those months of morning sicknesses, then your mood swings and food cravings, and lately those dreams. And oh, who could forget the constant need to pee."
Lily laughed. "You know it's not my fault! Blame it on little Harry, if you must!"
James looked at Lily in what was supposedly a disapproving way. "Don't try and blame someone else, Mrs. Potter. It's your own fault you have such a weak bladder." He said to her teasingly.
Lily gave him her sternest look, and sat up again, to go to the toilet. Talk about bad timing. James started to laugh as soon as she stood up, realizing where she was heading for.
"What did I tell you Lily, what did I tell you."
A/N: Thank you once again to everyone who reviewed/ alerted this story! Might have to wait a little longer for the next chapter coz I'm flying out of the country tomorrow!
Thanks to tasha27 for beta-ing this for me!
Does the massage bit seem a bit too informative and less narrative? Coz I had no idea how to describe a massage properly, so I had to research it online XD
