May 27th, 2024
Finally things were stating to come together. Lauren was just about prepared for David to arrive. Yes, they finally decided on a name. After all of the flip flopping, they decided on David William Puckerman. They had the crib all set up and the clothes all washed and folded.
"Momma, when I have a baby, I'm going to make sure it's in a room that's purple." Erica said, "I love the color purple."
"I know you do, Princess." Lauren groaned rubbing her stomach as she felt the familiar Braxton hicks contraction. They weren't painful, just annoying. They walked into the kitchen to see James and Noah placing breakfast on the table. "Well, look at that."
"Pancakes and scrambled eggs." James said giving Kiara some toast.
"I made the toast." Kiara said.
"Well, fantastic." Lauren eased herself down into the chair. She groaned again.
"You okay, babe?" Noah frowned as he put food in front of Erica.
"Yeah…" She said rubbing her stomach. "Just a contraction." Noah stood there staring at her, "Don't worry. I'm not in labor."
"All right…." He sat down at the kitchen table taking note of the time.
"Stop it." She laughed. "I'm due in twenty days. David isn't coming today." The Puckerman family sat at the kitchen table, eating their breakfast, laughing. Kiara was the queen at burping out full sentences.
"Erica is poop." She burped.
"Hey!" Erica laughed.
"Hey, that's not nice." Lauren couldn't help but to laugh. Her children were insane. She took in a deep breath and shifted in her chair. Another contraction, but this one was a little more uncomfortable. She got up from the table.
"Babe?" Noah stared at her.
"I just got to walk." Lauren took in another deep breath and left the kitchen. Noah sat there unsure what was going on. The last three times she had a baby, Noah didn't really remember it. Should he be freaking out? Or was this normal this late in a pregnancy?
"I'll be right back. Eat." Noah went into the kitchen. Lauren was leaning on the stairs in a very odd position. "Laurie?"
"I'm….fine…" She groaned.
"You're in labor." he said as the color drained from his face.
"My water hasn't broken." Lauren sat on the bottom step. She closed her eyes, "Just…time them."
"how?" Noah stared at her. Lauren opened her eyes with a smile.
"Look at the time the contraction starts and ends. Make a mental note of it. Then see how long it takes for the next one to come." Lauren told her petrified husband, "Can you call someone to come watch the kids just in case we have to go to the hospital soon?"
"How soon?" Noah started to hyperventilate.
"Relax." Lauren shook her head as a contraction began to over take her body. "Time." She moaned trying to not have the children hear her. But this one was the most painful one yet.
"Holy shit…" Noah looked at his watch. His heart was pounding in his chest. Is this how it went?
"Time?" Lauren looked at him.
"7:23am…" Noah said. She smiled as she pulled herself up. "Do we have to go to the hospital?"
"No." Lauren smiled trying to calm Noah down. James walked into the living room.
"Are you having the baby?" James asked. Lauren shrugged.
"Who knows. Maybe later tonight or tomorrow?" She said easing herself on to the couch.
"That's awesome. A little brother." James sat next to her, "Does it hurt a lot?"
"Right now its kind of just annoying." Lauren said, "Did you finish your breakfast?"
"Yeah. The girls are almost done." James looked at Noah, "You look like you're going to vomit…"
"I might." Noah said staring at his watch. Lauren rolled her eyes.
"Jimmy, can you go get the blue diaper bag from our room? Noah, call Tarrah to come over." She said rubbing her stomach, "Now please." The boys scattered. A tear finally slid down Lauren's face. The pain was ridiculous. She had forgotten how it was, but the memories were quickly flying back. She was done after this. She would have two of each and things would be perfect. Lauren's eyes flew open when she felt a warm liquid between her legs. "Oh shit…"
8:04 am
The car ride had been agony. The pain was just incredible. Noah was freaking out and crying every other minute. He helped her into the hospital and into the check in desk.
"My wife is in labor." He said.
"All right. How wonderful." The woman smiled, "There's a few papers I need you to fill out." Lauren moaned loudly grabbing the desk.
"Oh fuck…" Tears rolled down Lauren's face. The woman took back the paperwork.
"You can fill it out later." She said.
"Our Doctor is Dr. Breslin." Noah said rubbing Lauren's back. An orderly helped them into one of the room and helped Lauren get settled.
"You okay?" She asked her husband.
"Are you really in labor?" Noah whispered. :Lauren burst out laughing.
"You're ridiculous." She said.
"I'm scared." Noah said. Lauren extended her arms for Noah to come give her a hug. She could feel him shudder in her arms.
"Why are you so scared?" Lauren asked as she rubbed his back.
"I don't know…" Noah whispered.
"Everything will be fine. David will be here soon enough." Lauren said kissing his cheek, "You're an awesome dad."
"I know." Noah said pulling away as Dr. Breslin walked in.
"Well, hello there." Dr. Breslin said as she put some rubber gloves on, "How are you feeling?"
"Anxious." She said, "I had my last baby in like five hours last time. So I'm hoping for a quick one." Dr. Breslin chuckled as she put Lauren's legs in stirrups.
"Well, let's see what kind of luck you have." She said. Lauren took Noah's hand and squeezed it tightly. "What time did your water break about?"
"Um, 7:30ish." Noah told her.
"Well, you're six centimeters already. So Maybe you will have a quick labor." She said taking off the gloves. She patted Lauren's leg, "Relax if you can, all right?"
"Tell my husband that." Lauren chuckled.
"Relax, Noah." Dr. Breslin chuckled, "I'll be back soon to check on you." Noah watched the doctor leave and he turned back to his wife.
"Do you think you can nap?" Noah asked.
"I don't think so." Lauren said, "Do you think you could rub my back?"
"Anytime." Lauren turned onto her side and noah began to massage her back, "Can you believe we're going to have three May babies?"
"That's insane." She said, "We must never have sex in September again." Noah nodded thinking about the prospects of a fifth baby. No. They were done. Four would be plenty for them to handle. If a surprise happened in ten years, then fine. But no more babies after this.
"Do you remember like an hour ago you insisted that you weren't in labor?" Noah asked her.
"Shut up." She said enjoying the massage.
"What? Are you saying that you were wrong?" He asked her.
"I was wrong and I'm in labor." Lauren said. If she wasn't so uncomfortable, she probably could have fallen asleep right there. She loved when Noah gave her a back massage. It usually lulled her asleep.
9:28 am
Noah stood at the window staring at the warm spring day. If they weren't here, he'd be at work making sure the five houses that were supposed to have landscaped in Lima were being landscaped. Then he'd probably have a meeting with his Cincinnati crew.
"Noah…" Lauren moaned, "Two hours is a fast labor right?"
"Um…yeah." Noah turned and looked at her, "I've heard of people having babies in like twenty minutes though so….Why?" Lauren shifted in her bed.
"I'm going to start pushing okay?" She looked at him. Noah's eyes grew large. He shook his head.
"No you can't," Noah said going by her bedside. "David wants to relax inside of you."
"No. he wants to come out." Lauren wanted to throw up. The pain had increased and it was nothing she had expected. She thought she'd have enough time for an epidural. "Oh my god…"
"Okay. Um…" Noah started to panic. "Stay there. Well, of course you're staying there….you're in labor….okay….I'll be back." Noah bolted to the nurses station, "Um, it's been two hours and she wants to start pushing."
"She wants to start pushing?" Amy stood up, "Okay, let me go check her out." Noah followed Amy into the room, "How are you doing, Lauren?"
"I'm going to kill my husband." She said. Amy couldn't help but to laugh.
"When I had my fifth, I broke my husband's hand. I knew what I was doing." She said putting some gloves on.
"That sounds like something I should do." Lauren said. Noah shook his head.
"I don't think that's such a good idea." He said.
"Oh god. Please. I have to push this god damn boy out of me!" Lauren moaned. Amy nodded.
"All right. All right. You can push. Dr. Breslin is on the way." Amy said as another nurse put a towel beneath Lauren. "Noah, I need you to support Lauren's right leg. Pull back and help her bear down."
"Uh…." Noah looked at Amy. She chuckled.
"Grab her behind her knee. You're not going to break her." She said.
"Son of a bitch." Lauren moaned, wanting to push her husband away. She grabbed her knees and began to push. "Fuck you."
"I love you…" Noah swallowed as he watched his wife's face grow red. "Just push." Lauren exhaled and shot him a look.
"You're an asshole." She told him.
"I'm aware of that." He said.
"Now Lauren, you're a fantastic pusher. This baby is going to be out in a couple of pushes before Dr. Breslin even gets here." Amy laughed, "You have a name picked out?"
"David." Lauren moaned, "Get him out of me!"
"Push!" Amy commanded. Lauren mustered up all she could and began to push again, "That'a girl."
"Awesome, Baby! Awesome!" Noah began to get excited. Tears filled his eyes. He wiped them with the back of his hand.
"Oh Jesus Christ." Lauren exhaled. "You're crying."
"I'm happy." Noah smiled as he kissed her forehead, "I'm so excited."
"Good." Lauren said licking her lips.
"You can do this, baby." Noah said to her, "You're almost done and our family is going to be complete."
"We're almost done…" Lauren whispered.
"Lauren, his head is out and he's beautiful." Amy smiled.
"He's mine. He's beautiful. "Lauren smiled weakly.
"I'm so proud of you." Noah said.
"Oh fuck…" Lauren moaned as she began to push.
"That's it. That's it, Lauren." Amy smiled, "Almost!"
"Out. Out." Lauren moaned as she pushed even harder. She focused all her energy and it was worth it, because she felt the relief when her child was pulled from her.
"He's here!" Noah gasped. Amy looked at them and smiled.
"No quite." She said holding the screaming baby up.
"Oh my god…" Lauren whispered. "He's so beautiful." Noah couldn't help but to start bawling.
"Uh, guys." Amy giggled, "It's a girl." Noah looked at Lauren and then looked at the baby. Amy cleaned the baby up after the cord was cut. "Meet your mommy." She laid the baby girl on Lauren's chest.
"It's a girl?" Lauren whispered.
"How?" Noah asked, "I mean, how?"
"We have a girl." Lauren looked down at her, "And no name again…"
"She's beautiful." Noah leaned down and kissed his daughter's head. "We have a lot of returns to do…"
2:37 pm
James held onto his sister's hands as they walked into their mother's hospital room. Erica squealed running over to the bed.
"Hi baby!" She squealed. Noah grabbed her before she attacked the baby.
"Come meet your new sister." Lauren said cuddling the baby.
"So, no brother?" James asked.
"No brother, Buddy." Noah said ruffling his hair. James shrugged.
"That's okay. She's pretty cute." He said helping Kiara up onto a chair to see the baby better.
"Did you name her David?" Kiara asked with a giggle.
"No." Lauren shook her head, "Her name is Willow Kristine."
"That's cool. "James said approving of his new sister's name. Noah smiled as he watched the five of them. He was beyond happy. This was his dream…To have a wonderful and to be sober. He had the most beautiful family. Noah's life couldn't get any better at this moment.