Chapter 21: Touko (I Can't Do It!)

A lot of time has passed. I am now about thirty-nine weeks pregnant, and boy am I huge. I keep wondering when the baby will come. I rub my large stomach, and coo. N walks into the room, and rubs my stomach.

"I wonder when she'll come. I'm sure she'll be as beautiful as her mother."

I sigh, and lie down in my bed, while N leaves to get me dinner. I flip from my side over to my back to get more comfortable and feel a small pop in my stomach. Soon after, I feel a gush of fluid, and assume it's just my bad bladder control. I moan, sit up, and hop out of bed. Still leaking, I toddle over to the bathroom. I pull down my pants, look at the dripping fluid, and shriek. N drops the dinner tray and comes rushing to my aid.

"Touko, what happened?" He asks, seriously alarmed by my outburst.

"N," I say breathing hard, "N, I think my water just broke. We need to get to the hospital."

N looks at my pants, grabs a towel, hands it to me, and grabs his Archeops. He drags me onto it, and we take off for Nimbassa City Hospital. Half way through the journey, I begin to have contractions. I begin to wordlessly scream, and N has to grab me to hold me on the Archeops. We arrive at the hospital as I have another contraction.

"We need help. Get Fennel!" N calls to a slacking hospital nurse.

The nurse looks at me, and runs inside. Fennel is out in a minute. She grabs a gurney, pulls me onto it, sweeps me inside, and calls Professor Juniper on her walkie-talkie. I don't see N, and I begin to scream.

"N. N! N!" I scream, and then I have another contraction. Fennel checks her watch.

"Yes, she's having regular contractions. Floor nine, come now!" Fennel yells before hanging up.

"N!" I scream again, and suddenly he's behind me.

"Shh. Shh. Honey, I'm right here. I've been here the whole time." He soothes me.

We arrive on the ninth floor, and Fennel pushes me into a ward with an already waiting Professor Juniper. Suddenly, the pain gets more intense, and I begin to scream louder.

"Fuck, she's approaching the second stage of labor. Fennel! Get the epidural. Now!" I hear Professor Juniper yell.

Fennel runs out of the room, and the contraction stops. I take a deep breath, and feel very winded.

"Touko, honey? How do you feel?" N asks, oblivious.

"Like someone is stabbing me in a million different places with a red hot poker-EAHHHH!" I scream, my contractions beginning again, and more rapidly.

Fennel must enter with the epidural, because I feel a pinch in my side, and the pain subsides.

. . .

It has been hours, or it feels like hours, of this intense pain. Suddenly, I didn't know this was possible, the pain gets even worse.

"AAAAH! AAAH! EIAAAH!" I scream, feeling pressure.

"I can't do this N. I CAN'T DO IT!" I scream.

I begin to shriek soundlessly again, and I start to cry, while breathing very deeply. Another contraction rocks me, and when it passes, I shout,

"Can I have more epidural?"

"That was the largest legal amount." Professor Juniper says.

I shriek again, and suddenly feel more of an urge to push. I start to have a second wind of strength, and I hear Professor Juniper telling me,

"Push!"

I obey, and push as hard as I can.

"Push!"

I push, and suddenly feel extreme pain in my back. I arch my back off the table, my spine curving upward, and let out one piercing scream.

"Push once more." Professor Juniper urges me.

"I can't. I can't!" I scream.

"Push!" She commands.

I push, with all my energy, Arceus help me, I just want my baby girl out of me. Suddenly I feel a great sense of relief, and the pain evaporates. I push for a few more minutes, and eject the placenta, and it's over. I did it! And I didn't die from pain! I am holding my girl in my arms, and I whisper one words into her ear.

"Vienna."
I pull down her hood and look at her scalp. Tiny green fuzz is growing on her head, and I cuddle her close.

"I want to keep her." I tell Fennel. "She's mine."

I coo to my baby Vienna and rock her back and forth to keep her from crying. Soon she opens her blue eyes. Blue eyes like mine. N leans over to me, and I kiss him, thinking about our new life.