Chapter 37

A few weeks later…

Sabrina woke up in the middle of the night to pain in her abdomen similar to the night she gave birth to Gabriel. With only a little more than a week before her due date, Sabrina had a pretty good feeling that she and Patrick were going to welcome their little girl into the world soon. Knowing they still had a long way to go, Sabrina eased out of bed, being careful not to wake Patrick and headed downstairs hoping walking around for a bit would relieve some of the pressure.

Shortly after Sabrina got out of bed, without his arms wrapped around her, Patrick woke up. Noticing her absence, Patrick got out of bed to go find her. "Sabrina?" Patrick called out as he headed downstairs seeing the light on.

"Down here," Sabrina called back.

"I missed you by my side," Patrick said as he walked over to Sabrina and wrapped his arms around her. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, I couldn't sleep and didn't want to wake you up, so I came down here."

"You should know I can't sleep without my arms around you. Why don't you come back to bed?" Patrick said kissing her neck.

"I don't think that's a good idea…" Sabrina said.

"I don't care if you keep me up, I just want…." Patrick started to say.

"No, it's not that," Sabrina said stepping out of Patrick's arms to turn to face him.

"Well then what is it?"

"I think my water just broke," Sabrina said with a small smile.

"Are you serious?" Patrick asked.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure," Sabrina said as Patrick pulled her close to him while placing a hand on the baby.

"Wait, you couldn't sleep because you were having contractions? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well I wasn't sure and figured if I was in labor, we would have a long night ahead of us and you could use some more sleep."

"I can't believe we're going to meet our little girl," Patrick said before kissing Sabrina's forehead. "Should we go to the hospital?"

"Umm… Yeah…" Sabrina said as she breathed through another contraction.

….

Patrick was a mess. Fortunately for him, Sabrina found humor in it rather than thinking he was completely incompetent. He was so nervous about Sabrina having the baby he seemed to have lost his ability to think logically. Holding Sabrina's hand, Patrick looked at her with a small smile, and they stepped off the elevator.

"Elizabeth?" Patrick asked as they approached the Nurse's Station.

"Patrick? Sabrina?" Elizabeth asked looking up.

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm working labor and delivery tonight. Looks like you two are about to become parents," Elizabeth said looking at Sabrina who was obviously having another contraction. "Why don't we get you a wheelchair?"

"That'd be great," Sabrina said holding onto Patrick for balance as the contraction passed.

…

After getting settled into her room, Sabrina's labor started progressing quickly. Patrick finally calmed down and was able to support Sabrina in whatever way she needed.

"How are you guys doing in here?" Elizabeth asked entering the room.

"Hanging in there," Sabrina said.

"Well everything looks great. The baby's heart rate is perfect and your labor is progressing nicely. How's the pain? Looks like now would be the time for an epidural if you want one."

Sabrina looked over at Patrick. "It's completely up to you, there's no shame in getting help," he said.

"I don't think…" Sabrina started to say when another contraction hit. Closing her eyes, Sabrina squeezed Patrick's hand and focused on her breathing. It had been the most difficult one yet and lasted the longest. After it passed, Sabrina looked back at Elizabeth, "On second thought, I think an epidural might be a good idea."

"Okay, I'll get the doctor and we'll get you that epidural."

"Thanks," Sabrina said enjoying the momentary peace between contractions.

"I'm really happy for you guys," Elizabeth said.

"Thanks Elizabeth. We're lucky you happened to be on duty tonight. Now one of our best friends will be here as we welcome our little girl into the world," Patrick said.

"I am honored to be here. Now, let me go get you that epidural," Elizabeth said squeezing her friend's hand.

….

After the epidural, Sabrina felt much better and was able to continue through labor with relatively little pain.

"All right, let's see how far you've progressed," Elizabeth said coming back into the room. "Good news, it looks like you're ready to push," Elizabeth said, excited for her friends.

"Really?" Sabrina asked.

"Yeah. I'll give you two a minute alone while I go get Dr. Chu. Then it will be time to meet your little girl."

"I can't believe this is really happening," Sabrina said looking at Patrick as Elizabeth left.

"I know what you mean. I can't believe that we are going to get to meet our little girl today. I love you," Patrick said standing up to kiss Sabrina's forehead.

"I love you more," Sabrina said with a smile, squeezing Patrick's hand.

"Sabrina," Dr. Chu said entering the room with Elizabeth coming in behind her. "Are you ready to meet your little girl?"

"Absolutely," Sabrina said with a smile as she looked at Patrick.

"All right, well then let's get you in position to push."

….

After pushing for more than an hour, Sabrina was exhausted. She had only gotten a few hours of sleep before the contractions woke her up and hadn't been able to sleep since she arrived at the hospital.

"Sabrina, you're doing great. I need you to give me a big push with this next contraction, okay?" Dr. Chu asked.

"I can't," Sabrina said closing her eyes. "I can't do this."

"Sabrina, hey look at me," Patrick said. "You are doing an amazing job. I know you can do this. I love you so much," Patrick said when Sabrina looked over at him.

"I love you, too," Sabrina said.

"Okay, the next contraction is coming, I need you to push Sabrina!" Dr. Chu said encouraging her.

With Patrick on one side and Elizabeth supporting her on the other, Sabrina pushed with everything she had in her.

"Great job, Sabrina. A couple more pushes like that and you'll get to meet your little girl."

"I knew you had it in you. Just a couple more pushes and you'll be holding our little girl," Patrick said.

Patrick's encouragement and the closeness of meeting their daughter was just what Sabrina needed to get through the last bit of pushing.

"Okay, Sabrina. I need one more push from you and you'll get to meet your daughter. Are you ready?"

Sabrina only nodded as she held on tightly to Patrick's hand. "Okay, here we go. Give me one last big push," Dr. Chu said.

After one last push, Sabrina leaned backwards with tears streaming down her face as she heard the sound of her daughter crying. "Congratulations, Sabrina. Would you like to hold your daughter?" Dr. Chu asked.

Sabrina nodded as Dr. Chu placed her daughter on her chest while Elizabeth covered her with a blanket. Patrick stood and kissed Sabrina on the forehead and then leaned down to kiss his daughter. "You are so amazing. I love you so much," Patrick said sitting down on the bed wrapping one arm around the love of his life and placing his other hand on his daughter as his own tears came down his face.