Author's Note: I am not Stephanie Meyer, therfore I don't own any of the characters, except for Ana, Jade, and Elijah. I'm sorry that it has taken me so long to update, but to say that I have had a lot of drama in my life is a HUGE understatement. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this chapter. As always, READ/ENJOY/REVIEW!
Chapter 49: Eleven Weeks Too Soon
" If love doesn't shatter you, then you don't know love."-Unknown
I roll over slowly, the ache in my back screaming at me. I rub furiously at the source of my pain, trying to breathe. I stare at the clock which, with it's glowing neon number informs me that its only two in the morning. I sigh, sitting up. The last week has been fine. Entering my twenty-ninth week of pregnancy I have grown comfortable with the changes that my body has been going through. I get to my feet, wanting to make my way to the bathroom when the shock of pain courses from my womb, causing me to double over and cry out. I clutch my nightstand, my hand searching for the light switch. I finally click it on when another sharp pain courses through my body, humming through me. I pant, gasping for air as I search my room for the phone. I take a step forward, and that s when I realize the feeling of fluid leaking down my legs. I slide my hand up my inner thigh, pulling my hand back I see blood smeared on my fingers. Panic threatens to take hold but I clamp down on it as I dial Jade's number. I lay down on the bed, turning onto my left side, trying to breath through the pain.
" Hello," Jade's hollow and sleep filled voice comes through the phone.
" Jade, Jade, you have to come, the babies coming," I say, my voice shaking as another contraction courses through my body.
" Ana, just breathe, relax, its probably just Braxton-Hicks contractions, remember the doctor said that most women get those," she says, her voice catching on a yawn. I groan loudly, fear filling my body.
" You don't understand, I think my water broke, and there's blood. Please, Jade," I plead, my voice trailing off as another contraction hits harder than the first few.
" Blood. Shit. Don't move okay. Call Elijah, have him come sit with you. Be there soon," and with that the phone clicks off. I dial Elijah next, praying that he didn't turn his phone off, like he usually does when he is going to bed for the night.
" Hey, what are you doing still awake. Don't you know pregnant women need their rest to make beautiful babies," Elijah's voice comes through the phone. I want to laugh, oh how I wish that I can, but the pain and the fear wont let me.
" Elijah you need to come upstairs, please. I'm in labor," I say, and I hear his apartment door slamming open and shut. I hang up the phone, my hand flexing and gripping the closest pillow to me. I shut my eyes, wishing that now, more than ever Jasper was here. To use his little something extra to take away this fear. I rub my hand over my stomach.
" Come on little girl, you just have to hold on okay," I say out loud, talking to my unborn child. I hear a knocking on my door and realize that I had locked my door before coming to bed. I groan and start crying. I cant get up to get the door, the pain is too intense.
" I, I cant get up," I call out, trying my damnedest to clamp down on the tears that are threatening to spill out. I flinch only slightly when I hear the door slam open, knowing full well that Elijah had used his height and weight to open the door, the hard way.
" Ana," Elijah calls out, and all I can do is whimper, as it seems that the contractions are coming faster, and harder, one right on top of the other. " Oh God, Ana." I feel the bed give a little as Elijah positions himself right next to me. He take my hand, rubbing his other wide hand over my forehead wiping the perspiration from my brow. " I'm going to call an ambulance."
" No. Jade, and," I stop mid sentence, squeezing his hand as the next pain sets in. " Everyone's coming. No ambulances. Just sit with me."
" Ana, there's a lot of blood, and something could be wrong with the baby. Your only twenty nine weeks along," he says, trying to convince me to let him call the paramedics. Before I can say anything the sound of rushing footsteps up the stairs courses through the apartment.
" Here comes the cavalry," I whisper, my heart thrumming sluggishly against my ribs. My eyes flutter closed and for a second it feels as if I'm floating on water, until the pain comes searing back like a white hot flame. I open my eyes to the sound of murmuring voices, Jade's being the loudest as she barks out orders.
" You need to call an ambulance," Elijah says, his voice firm and absolute.
" No, we need to get her into the car. An ambulance will take too long to get here, by then it might be too late," Jade says, and as if to end the argument, I feel the strong and familiar arms of Emmett scooping me up.
" Just hold on half-pint. I'm not going to let anything happen to you, or my beautiful niece," Emmett says, and I smile half-heartedly.
" Emmett, you have to, you have to call Jasper for me, okay, promise me you'll call him," I say, fighting against my own body to keep my eyes open.
" I promise Ana, I promise," he says, sliding me gently into the back seat of the car, pillowing my head on Elijah's lap. I close my eyes, praying that everything will be okay.
" Excuse me, you cant park here, this is the ambulance bay," a gruff voice calls out, and I squint through the dark car into the bright lights of the hospital.
" You don't understand, my best friend is in preterm labor. She's 29 weeks pregnant, and losing a lot of blood," Jade's voice calls out, angry. Everything begins happening so fast. Even as Emmett's strong arms wrap under my body, cold, unfamiliar hands grab me away, placing me on a bed. The voices buzz around me as we bang through doors, the doctor and nurses calling out orders, and vitals.
" Ana, Ana, my name is Dr. Carver, we are going to have to perform an emergency c-section, your child is in distress," a low voice murmurs to me even as I feel my eyes rolling into the back of my head. A mask is placed over my face, and I tear it away quickly, fighting the urge to just sleep. I grab the white jacket of the doctor.
" Jasper. They have to call Jasper," I manage to choke out before the mask is put back in place, and then everything goes quiet and still.
EMMETT'S POV
I stand in the emergency room of the hospital, Ana's blood drying on my shirt and hands. I turn around at the sound of someone calling my name, and catch Rosalie as she lunges into my arms.
" Where is she?" Rose asks, pulling away, her beautiful eyes searching my face for answers.
" They took her to the operating room. They said something about an emergency c-section," I say, immediately cursing the fact that I have to be the one to tell her any of this.
" Is she going to be okay? What about the baby?" she asks, pressing me for information I didn't have.
" I don't know Rose. All we can do is pray," I say, leading her to a seat. " I will be right back."
" Where are you going?" she asks, her voice breaking.
" I have a promise to keep," I say, bending down to brush a kiss to her forehead before making my way outside.
I slide down against the wall outside, pulling my phone from my pocket. Three-thirty in the morning. I dial Jasper's number, praying that he is awake for the day. The phone rings for what seems like an eternity when finally an exhausted Jasper answer's the phone.
" Hello," Jasper says, his voice thick with sleep.
" Jazz. Man its bad," I whisper out, wishing to hell that I hadn't made the promise to Ana that I would be the one to call him.
" What are you talking about Emmett? Look I was at the office late, I have to be back in at two, I'm trying to sleep here," he says, and if I could I would reach through the phone to strangle him, I would.
" Fuck the job Jasper. Your wife is in an operating room having a c-section because she went into early labor. Your daughter is being born eleven weeks early. So get your ass on a plane and get here, I don't give a flying fuck what excuses you have. If you are not here in the next twenty four hours I will personally come to drag your ass back, got it?" I ask, all of the pent up rage towards him flowing through me, turning my blood icy cold. I snap my phone shut, looking down at my hands, at the evidence of Ana's body turning against her. I Lay my head between my knee's trying so hard not to cry.
'Please God, don't take Ana, or the baby away from us, please.'
Ana's POV
I come to quickly, and look around, everything flooding back to me. I touch my stomach, knowing that my daughter is no longer inside of me. I whimper loudly looking around.
" Ana?" Jade's voice calls to me and I look up in the door way to see my best friend standing before me.
" Please, just tell me that she's alive," I say, fear coursing through my body as hot tears spill down my cheeks.
" Yes, she's alive. She is in the NICU," Jade says, sitting at the corner of my bed. I cover my face with my hands, weeping uncontrollably.
" How big was she?" I ask, looking up at Jade, finally composing myself enough to ask the questions.
" Two pounds, fifteen inches," she whispers, and I take a deep breath.
" When can I see her?" I ask, and as if on cue the doctor walks into the room.
" Hello Ana, I'm Dr. Carver, I delivered your baby," he says, smiling down at me.
" When can I see her?" I ask, sitting up in the bed.
" As soon as you want too. I have to warn you though. It can often times be, daunting or even intimidating for a parent to see their child in this state," he says, and I look at him seriously.
" I don't care. I want to see my daughter," I say, and he nods.
" I will have a nurse bring you a gown and a wheel chair," he says, walking from the room. It seems like its an eternity before the nurse comes in carrying a gown. I shift uncomfortably in my wheel chair as I am pushed down the long halls of the hospital. I see the sign for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and my heart begins hammering against my chest. Jade kneels down before me helping me slide on the gown and mask required to be worn around the small infants.
" Are you coming with me?" I ask, looking into Jade's shocked eyes.
" Do you want me to?" she asks, and I nod. I watch as she straightens herself and slides into a gown and mask. The doors open slowly and I am wheeled to an incubator in the far corner. I lean forward in my chair and then I see her. My daughter. My Lilliana. Tubes cover most of her tiny body, and I swallow the first hot tears that threaten to spill over.
" Can I touch her?" I ask the nurse.
" Of course," she says, and I slide my hands through the holes in the plastic crib. I brush my fingers along her skin, and smile at the feel of her.
" Hi my baby. It's your momma," I say, tears thickening my voice. I lay my head against the wall of the incubator. She looks so much like Jasper, her head haloed with her father's hair. " You have to make it okay. You're a fighter Lilliana Grace Hale."
" She's beautiful," Jade says, and I nod in agreement.
" Just like her father," I say, looking at my child, wishing now more than ever, that Jasper was here.
" What exactly are her problems Dr. Carver. Please don't sugar coat it for me, I can handle it," I say, sitting in a chair in my hospital room.
" She has respiratory distress syndrome, that's why she is on the ventilator. With most babies born before thirty seven weeks, she cant coordinate sucking and swallowing, so for now, until she has had the chance to grow a little more, she will be fed intravenously, once she has gained enough weight, we will insert a feeding tube. Were you planning on breast feeding?" Dr. Carver asks, looking at me with sympathetic eyes.
" Yes. I read every book, studies, what have you. I know the importance of breast feeding. It will help with her immune system, not to mention that its just the healthiest choice. It helps with the bonding," I whisper, my eyes burning with tears. " I'm sorry."
" Don't apologize Ana, I understand. My son Braden was born at twenty nine weeks, I know what this is like. You just have to stay strong," he says, squeezing my hand lightly.
" When can I see her again?" I ask, looking at the clock.
" You can see her whenever you want. There will be times though, that you will have to leave for meals, and pumping. The sooner you begin to pump, the sooner we can store it and have it ready for when your daughter is ready for the feeding tube," he says, and I nod. With a final touch to my shoulder the doctor leaves the room, and I sigh sitting back in my chair closing my eyes tightly. This was never supposed to happen, but I guess everyone who goes through this, thinks the same exact thing. I look up at the sound of my door opening and see Rosalie and Emmett standing, looking at me.
" Hey," I whisper, and before I can stop it the sobs break out of me and I am wrapped in warm arms.
" It's going to be okay, Ana," Rosalie says and I nod pulling away from her embrace.
" I know, its just all," I break off, looking up at Emmett. " Did you call him?"
" Call who?" Rosalie asks, and I look in her eyes, filled with confusion. " Jasper," I say, and she sighs, closing her eyes.
" He should be on his way. I told him if he wasn't here in the next twenty four hours that I would personally fly to London and drag his ass back," he says, and I smile laughing slightly.
" That's my Emmy," I say, standing so that I can hug him. " Thank you," I whisper in his ear, holding onto the hope that Jasper would be here, soon.
I smile as I look down at my daughter, my Lilliana. Fighting so hard already. Dr. Carver was in disbelief when he woke me at noon, from a sleep I had desperatley fought against, to tell me that she was going to be taken off the ventilator all ready. That's my girl.
" Ana, do you want to hold her?" the shy, young nurse smiles at me as my heart thrums against my ribs.
" I can hold her?" I ask, looking at the nurse in disbelief.
" Yes. Skin on skin contact helps bond the child to their parent, in my opinion, its often times the babies that are held by their parents in these first critical days that make a greater recovery," she says, opening the incubator.
" Okay," I say, wiping suddenly sweaty palms against my gown.
" We like to do something called tummy time. You can remove your gown so that your baby can lay on you, and cover her right back up so that you exposed, and she wont get cold," she says. I look around, and slide my gown off, clutching it to me. I maneuver awkwardly as the nurse lays my daughter against my bare skin. Yet as soon as our skin connects its as if everything falls into place.
" Oh, oh wow," I whisper, tears falling down my cheeks as I stroke my daughters back.
" I'll just leave you two alone," the nurse says, walking away with a smile on her face. I rock back on forth in my chair, my daughters head resting against my heart. I can feel her heart beating steadily against my chest, a feeling so beautiful, there are no words in the English language to describe it.
It took a lot of urging on the nurses parts to get me out of the NICU, and it wasn't until they promised me that I could come back in forty-five minutes to be with Lilliana again, that I finally gave in. I walk slowly with Jade and Emmett at my side to the elevator.
" You need to eat Ana. Not only for you, but for Lily too," Jade says, pressing the button on the elevator.
" I know. I just don't have an appetite," I say, crossing my arms over my chest.
" Well half-pint your going to have to find one. I hear that this hospital makes a mean grilled cheese," Emmett says, and just the mention of one of my favorite foods has my mouth watering in protest against my rolling stomach. The elevator doors slide open and I step forward, freezing my movement as soon as I notice the occupant stepping towards us.
" Jasper," I whisper, and in those two seconds, my world is flipped upside down, again.
