I'll Always Be There
Chapter 8: The Most Beautiful Baby in the World
Serena was jolted awake by a sudden gush of wetness. She at first thought she wet the bed, but then realized it was her water that had broken. She was two weeks shy of her due date, tonight was not the night to go into labor now. But nonetheless she shook Nate awake "Nate-it's time. The baby's coming. We need to-ouch!- hurry and get to the hospital!" Nate was groggy and disoriented at first, but soon snapped out of it as realization hit-he had to get Serena to the hospital now.
"Ok, S, I have to get the suitcase and the car seat, and then were out of here."
He quickly glanced at the clock- 2:30 am. It was way too early for this. But he grabbed the suitcase and car seat, and they headed into the lobby of the apartment building.
"We need to hail a-arg-cab since we don't have a car."
Great, he forgot about not having a car. He sure hoped there would be a cab at this time of night. Then he remembered they lived in New York City-the city that never sleeps. Of course there would be a cab. He was way too tired to function properly right now. "Ok, you watch the suitcase and car seat and stay inside by the lobby doors. I'll hail a cab and come back to carry the stuff."
Sure enough, it took less than five minutes to get the cab. He saw Serena walking out and quickly ran up to her. "S, you know you shouldn't be carrying this stuff, especially not in your condition now. Come on, get into the cab, I'll take this stuff."
He quickly shoved the car seat and suitcase into the trunk and hopped into the cab and gave the driver directions to take them to the nearest hospital.
It ended up taking them a good forty-five minutes to arrive at a hospital that was only twenty minutes away because of traffic, even at this time of night. But they were finally there. Nate shoved a fifty at the cab driver, telling him to keep the change, and got the car seat and suit case out of the trunk as both he and Serena fast-walked to the Emergency Room doors. He put both the car seat and suitcase down by a chair and instructed Serena to sit there until someone escorted them elsewhere. He walked up to the counter. The lady behind it gave one look, and before Nate could say anything said "I'll send for a guy with a wheelchair to wheel you up to the maternity ward. Here are some papers to sign out. It doesn't have to be done right now, but needs to be done before you leave the hospital. Someone will escort you and your…wife shortly. Please take a seat until then." After handing him the paper, she gave him a look that said 'I gave you all the information you need, you can go now.' He went to sit by Serena, and started filling out the paperwork to the best of his ability, but before he could even get halfway done, a man cleared his throat to alert them that he was there. "Man, everyone is so impatient in this hospital," Nate couldn't help but think. He helped Serena get into the wheelchair, grabbed their things, and followed Serena to the maternity ward.
Ten minutes later they had gotten a room, and Serena was hooked up to a few monitors and was administered an I.V. Nate had finished the paperwork and handed it to the assistant working at the counter in the maternity ward. Luckily, the people on this floor were much more pleasant. He went back into the room to find a nurse talking to Serena.
"A doctor will be in shortly to check where at in your labor you are, and depending on your status-if you'd like-to give you an epidural for the pain. If you need anything, press this button here and one of the nurses will come in immediately to help."
A groggy Serena answered back, "Thank You, Jane, for your help. Is there any way I could get some food to eat while I wait, and maybe an extra pillow?"
Jane gave Serena a sort of sad look and replied, "Unfortunately, until we know the status of your labor and how far along you are, I can't give you any food. The doctor should be in in about ten to fifteen minutes and then go from there. I can, however, get you an extra pillow. Be back in a jiffy!" And with that she was off. Nate was getting irritated; he wanted to know the status of the labor and he could see Serena getting more and more uncomfortable.
"Jeeze, how many babies can possibly be popping out right now? Fifteen minutes? Ridiculous!" Nate retorted.
Serena gave a small giggle and said, "You'd be surprised how many babies are born a day-at any time! But seriously, don't get all crabby. This is how labor goes. Although, I do hope I pop this kid out soon. I'm very much done being pregnant," she sighed. She winced again as another contraction hit and then replied, "you need to call Blair, my mother, and your mother. Blair would be pissed if she missed this, and I'm sure my mom and your mom would be disappointed as well. So get on that."
Nate grunted, "at this time of night? No way! Can we at least wait until we see where you are at in your labor and go from there. I don't know if I want to deal with waking up Blair at three in the morning."
"What if I'm only a half hour away from pushing? It took us at least forty-five minutes to here. We need to call them as soon as possible. Please Nate?"
He rolled his eyes but succumbed to her request. He could never say no to Serena, especially not now. "I'll be right outside the door and should be back in in five minutes."
He decided to deal with Lily first, since she would be the easiest to deal with out of the three. He waited while it rang on the other line, until finally a sleepy Rufus Humphrey answered the phone. "Nathaniel, why are you calling at this time? It's," a slight pause, "almost three-thirty in the morning."
"I'm sorry Rufus, I wouldn't call unless need be; and this happens to be one of those moments. Serena went in to labor. She asked me to call her mother. We haven't heard anything from the doc but he should be in any minute now. I'll keep you updated as soon as I know anything, but Serena wants her mom here just in case she could be pushing in the next half hour."
Nate could hear Rufus quietly whisper to Lily before he finally answered back, "thank you Nathaniel for keeping us informed I woke Lily up and-"
"Nathaniel? We'll be there as soon as possible. If I have in my way, in the next half hour. Tell Serena I'll be there soon."
Nate thanked Lilly, who had took the phone from Rufus mid conversation, and hung up the phone. He then called his mom to tell her the exact same. She also promised to be there as soon as possible. Then it was time to call Blair. He was not looking forward to it. She would probably be rude and cranky, or not answer at all, then find out about Serena being in the hospital some hours later and throw a bitch fit about not being in the loop. Her and Chuck has recently regained their "magic" she so desperately wanted, so Chuck might also be there giving him a hard time. He hoped this would go as smoothly as possible.
"What DO you want, Nate? I cannot believe you are calling me at this hour. Don't you know I am in desperate need of my beauty sleep? What are you calling about?"
Just as Nate was about to reply, he heard Chuck in the background taking the phone from Blair, grumbling things he couldn't make out. "This had better be good Archibald, you know how I hate being woken up before ten."
"I'm sorry man, but Serena went into labor and she begged me to tell Blair so she wouldn't bitch."
"Oh, uh, I guess it is best you tell her…so here you go."
"Tell me what, Nate?"
"Serena went into labor at two this morning. I just thought since you were the godmother you'd like to know-"
Blair gasped on the other end, told Chuck to get his ass up and moving, and replied back, "We'll have Chuck's driver illegally drive if we have to, I am not missing the birth of this baby! Especially since I got her the best gift ever! See you in no time!"
"Okay see you soo-" but before he could finish the conversation, she had hung up. Nate sighed once more. This was going to be a long day.
Five minutes after he had made the calls, the doctor finally arrived. It was a female and her name was Gail Moretz. She told Serena to separated her legs and began to check out the, uh, situation. Nate didn't really enjoy this part so he just held Serena's hands, waiting for some sort of answer. Finally, Dr. Moretz told Serena she could put her legs down, threw the rubber glove away, and sat down in a nearby chair.
"Well, the good news is you're five centimeters along-about halfway. The bad news is babies have a mind of their own and they'll come out on their terms. So it could be an hour from now or it could be seventeen hours. There's really no way of knowing for sure. We'll check you periodically throughout the day and go from there. Also, once you reach six or seven centimeters, we can give you an epidural if you'd like?"
"Yes, I'd love one whenever possible," Serena immediately replied.
"That's what I thought. Most women opt for the epidural. We will give you it when the time comes. I'll be in in about an hour to check up on you and see how far you have progressed. If you need anything, just call for a nurse," she gave a smile and walked out. Serena turned to Nate.
"Could be another seventeen hours? Nate, there's just no way. I really hope this baby is in the mind frame of 'get me outta here now!' because I cannot handle another seventeen hours of this, let alone another few. Oh, god, what did I get myself into? She's not even born and I'm already going through hell. And we have to deal with it for the next eighteen years? Yikes!"
Nate couldn't help but chuckle, "get some rest babe. You're going to need it in the hours to come. It's all we both can really do at this point."
She nodded and quickly drifted off to sleep. Nate stared at the heart monitor, monitoring the baby's heartbeat to make sure everything was okay. It was rhythmic and he couldn't help but get mesmerized by the constant 'boop boops' of her heart. In a mere few hours he would be a father. Regardless of whether Salem was his or not, he had chosen to stay in Serena's life and support them both; so he would care for Salem-probably for the rest of her life. Personally, he didn't mind if he had to wait seventeen hours…he didn't think he was ready for that commitment. He gently rubbed Serena's belly. He really hoped this baby was his.
Over the next eight hours, both mothers as well as Rufus and Blair (with a not so enthused Chuck in tow) had arrived, all coaxing Serena and helping her throughout her labor. She had finally gotten her epidural and wasn't in as much pain. After the eight hour mark, the doctor claimed the baby's head was crowning, and that it was time to push. Lilly was allowed to stay, and they asked if Nate's mother would like to stay too, but she declined. She still wasn't all that thrilled about her son possibly throwing away his future to care for a kid that might not even be his. So Blair, naturally, declared she would be the one to step in as the third (and only other person) to be allowed into the delivery room. Chuck, on the other hand, booked it out of there first chance he got. At first they told her no, because she wasn't related, but because she was Blair, and her manipulation skills were superb, she finally got to stay. Serena reached out anxiously for her mother and Nate's hands, squeezing hard. She was scared to death to push out this baby, but she was done with being pregnant and more than done being in labor, so when the doctor told her to push, she gladly did it full force.
It was a strange feeling-pushing out a baby. It hurt, oh boy did it hurt; but it surprisingly didn't hurt nearly as much as her contractions. She could slightly feel the doctor helping guide the baby's head out. Oh great, only the head was out. She was allowed a small break, but before long, she was furiously pushing again. With each push she could feel the baby slowly ease out of her. She was finally halfway out, and the doctor told her to look down to see her. Serena was so disoriented she couldn't really comprehend what she was seeing, so she just nodded, wanting to give the last few pushes that would get this child out of her. Finally, the baby would be out after one final push. Exhaustion hitting her, it took Serena all her energy to give one last final push, but then…
A big cry, a doctor with a huge smile plastered upon her face, a room full of family members crying, and a tiny little baby placed on Serena's chest. The baby calmed down after feeling the warmth of her mother's skin. Serena was overtaken with various emotions, all colliding into her. For the past nine months, she didn't feel like most mothers would. That saying "a mother becomes a mother when she gets pregnant, a father becomes a father when he holds his child" was opposite. Now that she was there, lying on her, skin to skin contact, she was overcome with joy; only a mother could feel this joy. She was attached to this little girl, in the minute she had came in contact with her. She was hers, and hers alone, and she was the most perfect creature she had ever laid eyes on.
Salem Natalie Archibald
Date of birth: September 4th, 2010
Weight: 5 pounds 6 Ounces
Height: 21 inches
Everybody wanted to hold her and they just looked in wonder at how adorable she was. She was the center of attention, just like her mother. Lilly cooed at her, promising wonderful times with 'gramma Lilly' and Rufus became so fond of her, he almost seemed to be protective of her. Nate's mother even came to when she saw the beauty that was her grandchild-technically. She almost didn't want to stop holding her; but Blair insisted on her turn and told Salem how she'll follow in her godmother's footsteps and be queen bee of the toddlers of upper east side, at least until her daughter came along (you didn't possibly think Blair would put Serena's daughter in front of her future daughter did you?), and even Chuck-who was not fond of kids or babies at all- even stared at her in amazement, and even mentioned to Blair about having a few baby basses of their own. He wasn't kidding either; Blair eventually told him he could go buy a puppy if he was that desperate, but she would not be having 'baby basses' anytime soon. Finally, waiting patiently, Nate got his turn to hold his daughter. He didn't study her features too in depth for fear he would see Tripp (she actually looked like her mother more than anything), but there was no denying she was one breathtaking child to look at. He really didn't want to put her down. However, she started to fuss so he handed her to Serena's waiting arms, but did not stop staring. He wasn't the only one. He thought everyone in the same room was thinking the same thing-she was the most beautiful baby in the entire world they had ever seen.
S/N: I am sooooooooo very sorry I've been M.I.A. for the past year or so. Right around when I was going to put up chapter 8 my computer crashed, and it wasn't until this recent Christmas I got a new one. Then I was so busy with my senior year of high school and graduating I didn't have time for much else. I know, I know, excuses excuses. However, I am back now and happy to be back. I've missed writing my stories. I'd say this is my favorite chapter so far. What do you think? I'm having a bit of trouble deciding where to take this story next so if you have any suggestions that would be appreciated. Also, for those who read my other story "What Chuck Left Behind" I'm hoping within the next few days I'll have a chapter or two put up on there. So check it out! I'm gunna try to be a writing machine, and not leave you guys, my faithful readers, hanging for that long again. So expect a chapter nine up either tomorrow or tuesday. Thanks for continuing to stick with this story even through the wait. I really appreciate it! :)
-B!
