Lauren's POV

The baby could really come at any time now and I'm getting extremely uncomfortable. Things are going much better with Nora so I've started talking to Jesse a little bit again. Things are far from perfect but it really does help having someone to talk to.

Since our fight, he educated himself a lot on how childbirth really works and he is being much more supportive but I still don't think that we should be more than friends for the time being. I have another doctor appointment today and I'm hoping that she'll tell me that this will be over soon.

"This is such a personal procedure, are you sure that you want me in the room with you, Lauren?" Nora asked

"I already said you could. You'll be up here by my head, and absolutely no pictures." I said

"No definitely not. And are you going to want your mom or dad there?" Nora asked

"I don't know about that. There's not a lot of room by my head, but I think they would want to be close by just in case anything goes wrong, just to know that I'm ok." I said

"I think it's time you started coming to our young mothers' group. It's teens who are pregnant, some have already given birth. It's a terrific support group, and there are some girls in the group who also decided to have their babies adopted." Dr. Pierce said

"I don't know if I want to hear about it. I feel like it's kind of special. I don't want to feel like I've joined some weird club." I said

"If you ever want or need to talk you know you can call me at any time." Nora said

"And you can call me if you have any questions or if you're nervous, leave me a message and I will always return those calls." Dr. Pierce said

"It's like everyone thinks I'm going to freak out or something. I'm not. I want you to have this baby. I know you're going to be a good mom, Nora. I'm not going to try to grab him and run." I said

"It is a very emotional moment when the adoptive parents walk out the door, so whatever we can do to help you prepare for that." Dr. Pierce said

I don't want to make this into something more emotional than it needs to be. I know that it won't be easy giving the baby up, but thinking about it so much and putting all this pressure on it stresses me out about it so much more. I'm ready to just get it all over with so everyone can move on with their lives.

4 weeks later

I'm over a week late and very uncomfortable all the time. The baby was supposed to be here by now.

I haven't left the house all week but Jesse came over to surprise me and take me out for a little bit to this old toy store downtown called Hedy's to meet up with Amy, Ricky, John, Adrian, Mercy, Ben, Madison, Meadow, Willow, Ashley, Toby, Kaitlin, Grace, Jack, Elijah, and Andrew. I've been feeling especially uncomfortable today, so I hope I can still have fun.

"I think I need to leave now." I said

"Yeah we better get you home to your parents." Jesse said

"We need to get me to a hospital." I said

It turns out, the uncomfortable feeling I've been experiencing was contractions. Jesse is trying to get an ambulance out here, but it's taking a really long time. I'm glad that at least Amy, Grace, Ashley, Madison, and Adrian are here so there are at least some people who know what to do, because I most definitely don't.

"How far apart are the contractions?" I asked

"They are many, many minutes apart." Amy said

"Yes, many." Adrian agreed

"How many?" Jesse asked

"Was there an ambulance or not?" I asked

"They're working on it." Madison said

"I can't have a baby in here. I'm going to be in so much trouble with my parents. And his mom." I said

The ambulance got here just in time because by the time I got to the hospital, I was already seven centimeters dilated. The nurses rushed me into the delivery room. The pain kept getting worse. After only two more hours, it was time to push. I called Nora as soon as I got there, but since she lives so far away, she didn't make it in time to see her son being born like she wanted.

"Meet your mom, baby boy. I'm sorry things didn't go quite how we planned and you didn't get to see him." I said

"That's quite alright. You did a good job. Hello, my beautiful son. I promise I'll be a good mother to him." Nora said

"I know you'll be a good parent." I said

"So, have I told you what I'm going to name him?" Nora asked

I shook my head 'no'.

"I had a son as a teenager many years ago, named Richard, but I gave him up for adoption. I'm going to name him Chance, as he is my second chance." Nora said