I cant believe the next chapter is the last one! Its kinda sad! I'm not too happy with this chapter, but cant put my finger what It is that Im not keen on! But its more than twice the length of the last chapter, so I hope that makes up for iy!
Chapter 29: The unexpected
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Gretchen and Vince had been living together for a month and a half, and she was now seven and a half months pregnant and starting to get fed up of the pregnancy side effects, such as back ache and swollen feet. Thankfully, it was now the start of june, so Gretchen was able to wear flip-flops. Gretchen's wasn't sure what annoyed her the most, that her fingers were so swollen than she couldn't wear her engagement ring, or that her bump was so large that she could no longer see her feet and was begining to struggle to sit and fit in the school desks.
Spinelli had now completely settled onto her bipolar medication and although she of course could never forget about her disorder, she had truly come to terms with this, and had learnt to live with it very well. Although they continued to take things slowly, Spinelli and TJ's relationship continued to blossom as they grew closer and the bond between them stronger; this was greatly benefitted from 10 years of friendship.
Likewise the relationship between Mikey and Gus continued to blossom, and although both found it a little frustrating to keep their relationship quiet, both were very happy together.
Currently the gang were sat outside in the sunshine, eating their lunch. Gretchen took a sharp intake of breath, rubbing her stomach and shifting her position a little, the gang glanced at her, but were now used to the fact she had braxton hicks so longer felt worried about this.
"Thank god that was only a short one" said Gretchen as she returned to sipping her milkshake "I've had a few of these today, I hope they don't carry on for the next month and a half! My back is killing me today too"
Vince watched Gretchen continue to shift her weight to try and get comfortable, and kissed her lightly on the lips; unsure of what to say.
"Isn't that the fourth one you've had today?" asked Spinelli "Man, being a woman sucks, you guys should be the ones that have to be pregnant instead!"
"Well if we were, we wouldn't make so much of a fuss about it" replied Gus without really thinking, realised what he said, he tried to cover, but only dug himself deeper "Uuh, what I meant was, is that uuh... you guys are just loud when you give birth. No, wait, what I meant was, erm..."
"I'd offer you a shovel, but you seem to be doing a pretty good job yourself" said Spinelli, TJ, Vince and Gretchen laughed at this, Gus and Mikey however, merely stared blankly, not understanding her humorous reference.
"Could I have that shovel instead?" asked Gretchen standing up –with a bit of a struggle- and glairing down at Gus
"Why?" asked Spinelli with a grin "Will you need to bury the body?"
"Precisely" said Gretchen, taking a step toward Gus, and suddenly freezing to the spot, clutching her stomach in shock "Oh my god"
"What? Another one of those braxton hick things?" asked Spinelli
"No, I think I've wet myself" said Gretchen in horror.
Hearing this, Spinelli quickly stood up, and hurried to the toilets with Gretchen. The wet path on her jeans however, didn't go unnoticed by the people they hurried past. Gretchen didn't say anything until she shut herself in the toilet cubicle.
"I just don't understand it, I didn't even need to..." said Gretchen, gasping and falling silent "Oh god!"
"What is it Gretch?" asked Spinelli
"Spinelli" said Gretchen, opening the toilet door and looking pale "My waters have just broke, I'm in labour"
"Are you sure, but you're only-"
"-seven and a half months" finished Gretchen "and yes, I'm sure..."
"I'll go get Vince" said Spinelli, sensing that Gretchen was about to go into meltdown.
Spinelli sprinted from the toilets and back outside to where the gang were sat.
"She's... in... labour..." panted Spinelli, bending down and resting her hands on her thighs, and trying to catch her breath.
"What?" asked Vince blankly "Are you sure?"
"Positive! That was her waters breaking" replied Spinelli.
By the time Spinelli, Vince and the rest of the gang had gotten to Gretchen, she had really begun to panic; leading her into the nearest empty classroom, they tried to calm her down. However once in the classroom, Gretchen started pacing the room.
"This can't be happening yet! It can't, I'm not ready!" she said, looking rather erratic "we've not packed a bag for the hospital, and I've not get everything prepared properly for the baby"
"Gretchen, please try to calm down" said Vince, who himself looked rather anxious "You know the breathing exercises, don't worry about the bag for now, and we've got everything we need for the baby"
"But I was supposed to organise everything, put it into order!" cried Gretchen, who continued to pace.
"Ok, we'll get you to the hospital" said Vince gently.
"No, you don't go in right away; they send you home because labour takes hours! But maybe I should go in because it's so early? No, because I'm not far enough into the labour!" replied Gretchen, toeing and throwing between her two possibilities.
"Maybe we could call the midwife? She'll know what to do" suggested Vince.
"Good idea" said Gretchen, taking out her phone, she was on the phone for several minutes before hanging up "The midwife said that it's ok to go straight in if your less than 37 weeks pregnant"
"Well you're just coming up for 32 weeks right? So we'll go in now!" said Vince "Let's go explain to the school nurse"
Forty five minutes later and Vince and Gretchen were in the hospital, both Gretchen and Vince's parents had been called and were making their way. Gretchen had been seen by the doctor on her arrival, and they had explained that they were unable to stop the labour.
The gang had not been allowed out of school to go to Gretchen and Vince to the hospital, so made their way straight to the hospital when the school day had ended. Vince met them outside the hospital and they filtered into the room Gretchen was in. Both Mrs and Mrs LaSalle and Mr and Mrs Grundler were already there with Gretchen, the atmosphere between the two sets of parents was rather tense.
"Hey Gretch, how's it going?" asked Spinelli approaching her friend, who was clutching a gas and air mask.
"Painful, they said I'm about three centimetres dilated. The books I've read estimate the one centimetre of dilation takes approximately one hour. Then, once ten centimetres the final stage of labour takes approximately two hours" recited Gretchen, as though she had a text book in front of her "So I should be giving birth at around 1am"
"That's Gross" shuddered Gus.
The gang sat around talking for around 15 minutes, Vince clutching Gretchen's hand when she had a contraction. The midwife entered the room, looking at the five new faces.
"Look, I'm very sorry, but everyone can't be in here, there's too many people" sated the midwife apologetically.
"Well I have to get back to work" said Mr Grundler "I'll come back later tonight, there's no need for me to be here in the meantime"
"I'll come with you darling" said Mrs Grundler standing up "I'll see you later Gretchen"
"Bye Mum, bye Dad" said Gretchen, Vince glared and Mr and Mrs Grundler leave.
"We'll all wait outside" said TJ, the gang made their way into the waiting room, settling down to read magazines and watch Beenie McChip episodes. All the gang had insisted on staying until the baby was born, Vince and Gretchen explained they didn't expect them to, but all of the gang wanted to stay, saying they didn't mind if they were there for hours. Each had called their parents and explained the situation, and surprisingly, all the sets of parents had been fine. Mrs Spinelli had been slightly worried, but relaxed when TJ insisted that he'd ensure Spinelli got home safely.
Hours had passed, and the gang were sat around sleepily, drinking coffee and playing games such as 20 questions, and truth or dare. It had just gone midnight when they head Gretchen's screaming voice from the room next to them.
"YOU DID THIS TO ME VINCE!" they heard her scream.
They didn't hear his response, but obviously he'd replied, because soon came Gretchen's voice again.
"YOU KNOW IT HURTS? YOU DON'T HAVE A CLUE WHAT THIS FEELS LIKE! I'M IN AGONY!"
...more silence and Vince replied
"DON'T EVER TOUCH ME AGAIN!" screamed Gretchen "I MEAN IT VINCE! I'M CHOPPING THAT THING OFF WHEN WE GET HOME!"
The gang couldn't help but laugh at this, they listened as Gretchen continued to scream at Vince for another hour, insulting him, and threatening to chop off his manhood.
At 2am, they head Gretchen's continuous scream, then moments later, the sound of a baby crying.
"Wow..." said Spinelli
"What a miracle!" cried Mikey, flinging his arms around Gus as he began to cry.
Fifteen minutes later Vince entered the waiting room, the gang looked up, waiting for him to speak.
"It's a little boy, Alex LaSalle, 4lb 1oz" said Vince with a smile "They're busy checking him over, he's obviously early, they've said he'll need to be in an incubator and he's had a few tubes in, but they've said that everything seems like it should be fine, and that babies born at this stage have a very high survival rate"
The gang all offered their congratulations, and in pairs, filed in to see baby Alex.
"He's beautiful Gretchen" said Spinelli smiling, sure enough Alex was tiny, and had a tube going up his nose and some stickers on his chest with wires that were monitoring his heart.
"From you Spinelli, someone that's never been interested in babies, and says they all look the same, that means a lot" said Gretchen, hugging Spinelli.
"We'll let you get some sleep, you must be shattered" said Spinelli "We'll come in and see you tomorrow."
The gang all called taxis to go home, TJ and Spinelli sharing one, Mikey and Gus staring the other. Both couples got to their own homes, and fell asleep almost instantly. Consequently, the next day at school, the four of them could barely keep their eyes open, Vince of course had stayed off of school with Gretchen.
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I hope you guys liked the little amusing bits I slipped in, as well as the drama! Thanks for reading!
recessfanatic2011: Thank you! I'm glad your still reading! I cant wait to read more of your fic!
Burton's Disney Princess: Yeah, its good Gretchen is getting some form of support bless her! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Rose-Aki: Woo, this was my 100th review :p I'm glad you liked chapter 27, I really wanted to have a chapter full of fluff and cuteness since this story has lacked that a bit! TJ was sweet to Spinelli bless him, he really thought about what he wanted to do! I'm also glad you liked the conversation between Gretchen and Vince's mum, I thought it'd be nice to show she'd have a lot of support, and show the bonding between them! I hope you liked this update!
Sonni: Thanks :) It was nice of the LaSalle's to offer their bedroom! And I'm glad you enjoyed the family moment in the chapter! I've still not seen eastenders or waterloo road, i need to catch up!
sexehbunneh: Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed the cuteness, and glad it made you giggle!
Please read and review! Constructive criticism welcome!
Big Cliffy Meanie x
