Disclaimer: The only thing I own is Baby Wonka...etc., etc.!
A/n: Well, I hope I don't spoil too much here, but I think this is the moment most of you have been waiting for! :) I took a little longer than I had hoped to get this chapter out, but I personally think it was worth the wait, and hopefully you do, too! As always, a huge thank you goes out to my one reviewer for the last chapter, and I'd be one very happy lady if you kept 'em coming! :)
For Ronnie, Willy, and Nora, the first (and, she fervently hoped, only!) night of the female Wonka's labor proved to be a fairly uneventful one that passed quickly. But Sylvia Wells couldn't remember the last time morning had seemed so far away. While her daughter, son-in-law, and friend slept peacefully, she tossed and turned, her mind unwilling, unable, or perhaps a combination of the two, to submit to slumber. It seemed almost unreal, she thought, that the precious baby girl that she could have sworn she'd held in her arms for the first time only yesterday was now in the process of delivering her own child.
Sylvia's sentimental thoughts weren't the only things keep her awake, though. Her daughter being in labor was also bringing out her concerned, protective side. No matter how many times she assured herself that everything was all right and that Willy would obviously alert her and Nora if anything major was going on, she couldn't stop wondering how labor was treating her only child, and whether her body was allowing her to get the rest she needed. And just as she had whenever Ronnie was sick as a little girl, she found herself getting up to check on her several times.
Somewhere around her sixth trip (which revealed, just as the others had, that Ronnie and Willy were sleeping peacefully, curled up together pretty much the same way they had been when Sylvia had first peeked in on them), the baker decided she may as well give up on sleep for awhile. So instead of returning to her son-in-law's study, she tip-toed (so as not to wake Willy or Ronnie) into her grandchild's room. Being as quiet as she possibly could, she moved the rocker so that it was facing the window and sat in it. Then she looked out at the night sky and allowed herself to think about the one aspect of her grandson or daughter's extremely imminent arrival that was making her a bit sad.
"Oh, Henry, if only you could be here. I know you would be so proud and so happy about becoming a grandfather. And Mina...she would be elated beyond measure. The fact that you two never even got a chance to meet your children, let alone see them get married and have children of their own...I still don't understand why that had to be so, and I doubt I ever will," she sighed. At that moment, a shooting star streaked past the window. Sylvia smiled and blew a kiss towards the sky. "I love you, too," she whispered as her eyelids grew heavy.
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It seemed to Sylvia as though only a few minutes had gone by when she groggily blinked her eyes open. But the fact that sunlight (and not the newly-risen type, either!) was streaming through the window quickly told her otherwise. And a gentle, familiar voice alerted her to the fact that she was no longer the only person in the room. "You have great timing! I was just about to wake you up!" Nora Bucket observed. "Hey, Nora. How late it is it?" Sylvia asked, not wanting to beat around the bush. "Ten o'clock," Nora informed her. The baker's eyes widened. "I guess I must have been more tired than I thought!" she remarked.
"Hey, consider yourself lucky. Because you overslept, you got to skip stirrup duty," Nora quipped. "Let me guess. Sally returned while I was sleeping and checked Ronnie again," Sylvia chuckled. "Yes to both. From what I understand, Willy and Ronnie both woke up fairly early, Ronnie because her contractions had become more intense and Willy because her movements woke him. They called Sally pretty much right away, and she arrived around the same time I woke up," Nora explained. "So how is she holding up?" Sylvia asked (knowing that Nora would understand who she meant by "she") as she stood up and stretched.
"Pretty well considering. Sally determined that she dilated to four centimeters during the night, so she's pretty excited about that. Her contractions HAVE gotten stronger as I said, though. They're also coming closer together, around every five minutes. So she's finding labor a bit more difficult than yesterday," Nora told her friend. "At least she's got a loving husband to help her through it, though," Sylvia said wistfully as the two women left the nursery. "Indeed. When I left the room to go find you, they were doing breathing exercises to..." the scene that met Nora's eyes as she and Sylvia arrived at doorway to the confectionery couple's bedroom made her stop in mid-sentence (the last word of which, of course, was supposed to be "together").
Willy was standing near the bed, rubbing his wife's back as she leaned against him, her eyes closed and her arms wrapped securely around him. And rather than standing still, the couple were swaying gently back and forth. Then Ronnie's grip around her husband tightened and she began taking deep breaths. "That's it, sweetheart. Just breathe. Don't focus on the pain, just relax and breathe," the confectioner coached her, his voice gentle and encouraging. Almost without thinking about it, Sylvia reached into her pocket, pulled out her camera, and snapped a picture (making sure that the flash was turned off first so she wouldn't disturb Willy and Ronnie!).
"I see you finally got up, mom," Ronnie said teasingly as she turned her head towards the two women standing in the doorway. "So much for being discreet!" Sylvia thought as she slipped the camera back into her pocket. "That I did. And I hear that quite a bit happened while I was asleep," she told her daughter. Ronnie grinned. "That's for sure. As Nora's probably already told you, I'm finally in active labor!" she said happily. Sylvia had to stifle a giggle. "Why do I get the feeling that enthusiasm is going to be very short-lived?!" she thought. "It IS a bit more challenging than early labor, but so far it's not unbearable. Painful, but not unbearable," Ronnie said when she saw the expression on her mother's face.
"And she's managing and coping with that pain fantastically!" Willy spoke up. "You mean I'm being coached through it fantastically," Ronnie countered. "Thanks, but I'm not doing THAT much. Basically I'm just reminding you to breathe and stuff like that. You're the one who's doing all the work, and I stand by what I said," her husband insisted. "And I stand by what I said. I'll concede that I'm the one doing the work, but having a loving, supportive husband definitely makes it a lot easier," Ronnie playfully retorted. "Either way, I do believe there's another piece of good news that we haven't told your mother yet," Willy responded, tenderly pressing his lips to his wife's.
"Really? And what might that be?" Sylvia asked, sounding curious and eager. "Oh, nothing much. Just that after checking my progress earlier this morning and noting the rate things have been happening, Sally said she thinks that, at this point, it looks as though I'll deliver by this evening!" Ronnie exclaimed gleefully, her lips stretched in an ear-to-ear grin. "It's too bad you were asleep, Sylvia. You missed seeing two of the most excited people on the planet!" Nora put in. "What can we say? We've been waiting for our baby for eight very long months, and that's more than long enough!" Willy quipped.
"And that wait will be well worth it, believe me. When Charlie was born, James and I spent probably a good hour or two just staring at him, unable to believe that we'd actually created something so beautiful and perfect," Nora said. "I felt pretty much the same when you were born, Ronnie. I was a bit more extreme about how I expressed, it though, as I barely let you leave my arms for your first twenty-four hours of life! The nurses practically had to pry you away from me whenever they needed to do procedures or check-ups on you!" Sylvia chuckled.
"That's why I'm very glad Ronnie and I very clearly stipulated in our birth plan that one of us will be holding the baby or at least be right there with her during the newborn exams," Willy replied, a light, joking tone in his voice. "Oh, forget the newborn exams! I just want to meet our child already!" Ronnie burst out. "I know, buttercup. I want to meet her, too, and soon enough, we will. For now you need to keep focusing on breathing and staying relaxed. Getting anxious and tense will only make things worse, and we certainly don't want that," Willy said soothingly. "I suppose you're right. Watching the clock definitely isn't going to make evening come any faster," Ronnie conceded, just before her body was gripped by yet another contraction.
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Despite Ronnie's initial thoughts to the contrary, the remainder of the morning and afternoon passed relatively quickly. Ironically, however, that knowledge didn't make her happy. Instead, she was frustrated and barely keeping herself together. Not only had the baby proved Sally's prediction of him or her arriving by the evening wrong, but but yet another pelvic exam by the diminutive doctor had confirmed the expectant mother's worst fears: Her progress since that morning had been rather slow, and consequently she had only dilated two more centimeters.
Her pain, on the other hand, had increased much more dramatically...and not just because her contractions had become more intense. Much to Ronnie's dismay, the pain that had initially been only occurring in her abdominal area during contractions was now occurring in her back as well (the more than likely result, Sally had informed of her, of the baby descending further into her pelvis in preparation for being born). And unlike the intensifying but intermittent abdominal spasms, the agony in the female Wonka's back was pretty much constant (albeit slightly weaker between contractions!).
With Ronnie more desperate for relief than she had thought possible, she and Willy had tried every pain relief technique and exercise from their books and videos that they could remember. This included various breathing exercises, sitting, lying, and standing (and sometimes some combination of the three!) in several different positions, taking a trip to the nursery to rock in the rocking chair, and Willy performing various types of massages (firm pressure, light pressure, off to each side of Ronnie's back, in the middle, and just about anything else you could think of!). But none of those things did much more than offer a couple minutes worth of relief.
This, as you can probably imagine, left the laboring mother tired, crabby, and just about at the end of her rope. Frustrated and about ready to give up and just let the pain do what it wanted, she was straddling a chair, her chin resting on top of the back. In order to make the environment as calm and soothing to the mother of his child as possible, Willy had dimmed the lights (it was funny, he thought, how one could suddenly be so grateful for something as simple as a dimmer switch!) and popped a special relaxation CD (which the couple had purchased upon realizing that listening to calming music or "white noise" type sounds was one of the coping techniques most often suggested by their books and videos) into the stereo.
The chocolatier had also prepared a cold compress for his wife's forehead and encouraged her to try to think about something other than the back pain, preferably something relaxing and positive. Unfortunately, however, this was quickly proving to be the least effective of the pain relief strategies the couple had tried. "It's hopeless! It's absolutely hopeless! Relaxing doesn't work when you have the world's worst back ache, and this darn cold pack isn't doing anything except keep me from breaking into a sweat! At this rate, it's going to be a miracle if I have any energy or strength left to actually push this kid out!" Ronnie declared, her voice laced with anxiety and exasperation.
"You're going to do just fine, dear. No matter how exhausted, physically or otherwise, you are when it finally comes time to deliver, your body will do what it has to do," Sylvia assured her daughter. "Considering my body hasn't exactly been super cooperative thus far, I have a hard time believing that," Ronnie sighed. Willy felt awful for his wife. As strong as she'd appeared until now, he had a sneaking suspicion that the pain was wearing on her a lot more than she was letting on. "I just wish there was something I could do that would actually take the edge off the pain for more than two minutes! I mean, there's got to be SOMETHING we haven't tried yet!" he silently lamented.
Though he thought it was pretty pointless (especially considering that he and Ronnie had already quite literally tried just about every trick in the book!), the confectioner proceeded to go through a mental list of all the labor management techniques he knew. Then, just as he was deciding that he was right about it being a waste of time, he remembered one he'd previously overlooked. "Bonbon, how would you feel about about trying a little hydrotherapy?" he asked his beloved. "Hydrotherapy?" Ronnie repeated, sounding confused. "Yeah, you know, using water for pain relief," Willy explained. "Oh, right, that. I suppose it can't hurt," Ronnie replied (feeling rather embarrassed that she'd actually had to have her husband define the word for her!). "Then let's head for the bathroom," Willy said, leading the way to the aforementioned room.
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Although she had tried to appear enthusiastic for his sake, Ronnie hadn't been at all optimistic that her husband's plan was going to work. After all, if even his "magical" (as she liked to refer to them) massages couldn't relieve the intense ache in her back, what hope was there that something as simple as water would? "Why am I even bothering?" she thought as her husband fiddled with the water temperature, sticking his wrist into the flow to test it after each adjustment. "Okay, ready?" the candy maker asked once he was satisfied. "I guess so," Ronnie said as they stepped into the shower.
To the female Wonka's absolute shock and amazement, the warm water began soothing her troubled back almost instantly. "Finally, sweet relief!" she sighed happily. "I could tell. You're smiling for the first time since this afternoon," Willy said, gazing tenderly at his wife. Rather than say anything, Ronnie gave another contented sigh and leaned against her husband (partly so that she would have adequate support during contractions, and partly because she just plain wanted to!), resting her head on his chest (being a good four inches shorter than him, she couldn't quite reach his shoulder).
Much to her delight, the confectioner responded by rubbing her back, quickly turning her feelings of relief into sheer ecstasy. "This is heavenly!" she moaned. Willy grinned. "I knew you were going to love this," he said. "Where did you learn this technique, anyway? I don't remember seeing it in any of our books or videos," Ronnie inquired. "In an informational and instructional video for expectantcc fathers who plan to coach their wives through childbirth. I watched it when you were having tea at your mom's one afternoon," Willy replied, his grin growing even bigger.
"Your daddy is even more dedicated to helping me bring you into the world than I thought!" Ronnie gushed to her belly, addressing it for the first time since she'd gone into labor. "I told you I was going to do whatever I could to make the delivery of our child as easy on you as possible, and I meant every word," the chocolatier said firmly, emphasizing his point by gently cupping his wife's chin in his hand and guiding her lips toward his until they met in a passionate kiss. "You make me feel like the luckiest woman alive," Ronnie murmured, tenderly stroking her husband's cheek.
"And you make me feel like the luckiest man alive," Willy murmured back, his voice soft and loving. As if on cue, his wife's grip on him tightened, and he could feel her abdomen tense up in an all-too familiar way. Smiling at the fact that his words apparently had the littlest Wonka's seal of approval, he wrapped his arms securely around his beloved and began slowly rocking back and forth until (just as they had been that morning) they were effectively slow dancing. "Of all the things I imagined labor could be, romantic wasn't among them. I'm glad I was wrong," Ronnie sighed happily once the contraction had subsided. "Me, too," her husband said, leaning his head down and kissing her once again.
Neither Wonka felt like saying much after that, so they lapsed into silence for the next several minutes. Occasionally one would kiss or caress the other, but mostly they just held each other and "slow danced", with Willy almost continuously massaging his wife's back. All too soon, however, the water began to get cold and they reluctantly turned it off, got out of the shower, and began drying off. Or, more accurately, Willy did. Ronnie, on the other hand, found her body seized by another contraction just as she was reaching for a towel. And unlike her other contractions, this one was accompanied by something hadn't been anticipating: a leak of fluid from within her.
Thinking she had wet herself, the mortified mother-to-be reached over to grab some toilet paper to mop up the mess...only to have the movement trigger the release of even MORE fluid, this time in a huge gush. Ronnie's eyes went wide as she realized that the warm liquid had come not from her bladder, but from her womb. "My water just broke!" she excitedly told her husband, feeling like an absolute idiot the second the words were out of her mouth. "Like he hadn't already figured that out for himself! What do I think he is, blind?!" she mentally scolded herself. Luckily, Willy didn't seem to mind his wife stating the obvious. "So it has. I suppose we'd better head back into the bedroom so we can report it to Sally," he said sounding just as excited as Ronnie had.
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Considering what had happened the night before when they'd been out of the room (and even after they'd returned, for that matter!), Willy and Ronnie fully anticipated to be greeted by Nora, Sylvia, and Sally trading humorous labor stories upon their emergence from the bathroom. Instead, they were greeted by Nora, Sylvia, and Sally wearing rather amused expressions and clearly trying not to laugh. "What is so funny?" Ronnie asked. "Nothing much, just that we didn't realize you were going to be so enthusiastic about your water breaking," Sylvia replied, snorting from the laughter that was coming dangerously close to exploding out of her.
Ronnie blushed. "I guess I was louder about announcing that to Willy than I thought," she said sheepishly. "Yes, you were. But don't worry, we rather enjoyed it. It was nice to hear you so happy after all your frustration with your back pain," Nora told her. "It's not just that we're getting a kick out of, though. I don't mean to embarrass you, Mr. Wonka, but I think you forgot something," Sally said, appearing to be trying hard not to look at the chocolatier's chest. Puzzled by Sally's rather odd behavior, Willy looked down at his upper torso. Only then did he realize that, in all the excitement of his wife's labor making very visible progress, he'd neglected to put his shirt back on!
"I'll just go take care of that right now," the confectioner muttered, his face beet red as he practically flew back into the bathroom (thanking his lucky stars that he'd at least been dressed from the waist down before getting distracted by his wife turning into a geyser!). "I wish I could crawl into a hole and stay there!" he lamented to himself as he grabbed his shirt from the back of the door (nearly embarrassing himself even further in the process by tripping over the pile of towels he and Ronnie had hastily put down to soak up the giant puddle on the floor!) and put it on. "Now please, tell me they'll..."
The candy maker's latest thought was interrupted by a loud, painful moan coming from the other side of the door. His embarrassment over the shirt incident (and pretty much the entire incident itself) instantly forgotten, he hurried back into the bedroom to find that the mood had changed drastically. Instead of being practically in hysterics, Sylvia, Nora, and Sally looked concerned and sympathetic (with Sylvia even appearing to be holding back tears). Ronnie, meanwhile, was on the bed, rocking back and forth on her hands and knees. The smile that had been on her face when Willy had left the room was now gone, replaced by an expression of sheer frustration, pain, and something else that her husband couldn't quit identify.
Then, before the chocolatier had a chance to take so much as one step toward her, his wife gagged, leaned over the edge of the bed, and threw up all over the floor. "Just when I thought I couldn't humiliate myself any further," she moaned, sounding close to tears. "No need to be ashamed, dear. Vomiting is a perfectly normal part of transition, and it's certainly not like I've never seen it before," Sally soothed her. "She's absolutely right. And if it makes you feel any better, the exact same thing happened to me while I was in labor with you," Sylvia said reassuringly, going over to the bed and hugging her daughter.
As soon as she was done, Willy climbed onto the bed (careful to avoid accidentally stepping in the puddle of spew as he did so) and put his arm around his beloved. "It's okay, sweetheart, it's okay," he said soothingly. Hoping to offer even more comfort, he leaned into give his wife a kiss...only to have her angrily push him away. "This is all your fault!" she shouted. "What do you mean, my fault?" Willy asked, the female Wonka's actions leaving him utterly bewildered. "I mean that if you hadn't gone and gotten me pregnant, I wouldn't be going through this hell right now! I'm going to effin castrate you!" Ronnie yelled.
Not sure what to do, the confectioner looked at Sally and Sylvia (Nora, who had left briefly to get cleaning supplies, was busy taking care of the mess on the floor), silently asking them for help. "Don't take it personally, Mr. Wonka. As I said before, she's in transition right now, dilating those last three centimeters, which tends to be the most trying and difficult part of labor. And just like vomiting, yelling, unpleasant as it is, is a normal part of that," Sally told him. "Particularly, as James would tell you, yelling at husbands!" Nora added, chuckling a bit as she finished the rather disgusting task she'd assigned herself. "Okay, that explains why she's acting like a completely different person...but it doesn't tell me how to help her without getting my head bitten off!" Willy thought.
As it turned out, that was a dilemma the confectioner didn't have to solve. Ronnie, who had been pretty much oblivious to the conversation going on around her, was suddenly feeling a copious amount of pressure between her legs, pressure that demanded to be relieved in the only way possible. "I'm going to push!" she announced. "I hate to have to say this, but don't do it yet. I need to check you and make sure you're 'complete' before I can give the green light," Sally said. Ronnie was not amused. "I don't think you understand! This baby is coming out, NOW!" she yelled.
With that, the laboring mother grabbed the headboard of the bed, pulled herself into a half-squatting, half-kneeling position, and pushed with all her might. Much to her surprise, it barely hurt at all. In fact, it actually felt so good that she burst out laughing! No longer feeling nervous, she pushed a second time, and then a third. The baby's head emerged during the fourth, and with the fifth one, Ronnie felt her child's body leaving hers. Approximately two seconds later, the room was filled with what, to the new mother, was the most beautiful sound in the word: a tiny, yet loud, "WAAAAAAAAAH!"
A/n: Okay, that has got to be the most evil cliffhanger I've done yet! I'll try not to keep you guys waiting too long for the next chapter, I promise!
Chapter 22 Preview: We (along with Willy and Ronnie!) finally meet Baby Wonka, Dr. Wonka has a very emotional first meeting with his grandchild...and we discover something very touching about the factory family's newest member's birthday!