The first time she felt it wasat 1.07am. She knew because she woke up all of a sudden and watched at their alarm clock. At first she thought she had just dreamed it but the pain in her lower abdomen was still there when she opened her eyes. She immediately brought her hand on her belly, thinking about the possibility that the baby was just kicking, but nothing changed. Alison used to kick in the middle of the night but Emily's touch usually calmed her down.
When she understood that nothing was gonna change the pain started to slightly disappeared. She knew it was the moment, she understood it right away when she felt that pain, she had already felt that, it was a contraction. One of her biggest fears was now reality, going into labor in the middle of the night. She had only slept two hours and she was already tired, how was she supposed to stay awake for the next even 24h? She remembered being so tired after Flynn was born and she had an entire night sleep. There was no time to think about it now, they had to be ready to go to the hospital, at least the traffic wouldn't be a problem.
"Cal" she whispered shaking him a bit.
He let out a groan and looked at her, seeing her awake and in a sitting position with her hands on her belly.
"Emily what's wrong?" he asked immediately getting up.
"It's time, baby is coming" she looked at him and he immediately got up, putting on a t-shirt and the first pair of jeans he found.
"Ok, I'm taking your stuff and we're gonna go to the hospital, can you walk?" he asked panicking.
"Cal I'm ok, my water didn't break yet so we have time, plus I just had my first contraction" she explained.
"Ok, ok so I'm gonna go put your stuff in the car and then we're gonna go to the hospital. Are you 100% sure it was a contraction? It's a bit early" he asked, her due was around September 17th and it was September 8th.
"I'm pretty sure it was but we can wait for the next one before leaving. You can still put everything in the car just in case and yes, I can walk" she tried to calm him down, he looked so nervous and she didn't want him to panic.
Cal nodded, taking the bag they had prepared the previous week just in case, thank God they did. He went straight to their garage to take the car, they kept his old one because in that moment they just couldn't afford a new one, but they will. He parked it just outside of the building and went straight back to Emily, jumping as fast as he could on the few stairs he had to take.
"Is everything ok?" he asked while going back into the apartment.
"Yes, no contractions for now, you were pretty quick" she chuckled, still laying in bed.
"I'm sorry, I'm just so nervous, tell me if you have another contraction and we go straight to the hospital ok?" he said running a hand on his face.
"Come here" she patted the mattress next to her and he climbed on the bed, taking off his shoes.
"It's ok, everything is fine. The hard part will come later, we have to wait and hope the baby won't be positioned wrong, otherwise I need to get a c-section" she explained, caressing his hair.
"Ok, did you think about whether getting anesthesia or not?" he asked, she had been thinking about it for a couple weeks now because she was unsure.
"It depends, you can ask for it whenever you want so I'll see how much it will take. If it's too harmful I will ask for it" she explained and he nodded.
The second time she felt it Cal's head was laying on her shoulder, they were just relaxing a bit to see what happened, and this time, she felt it fully. She brought both her hands on her belly and Cal got up immediately.
"You felt it again?" he asked.
"I did" she answered in pain, it actually was pretty short but she felt it more than the previous one.
"Ok, I'm gonna bring you to the hospital, I don't care" he said putting his shoes back on and helping her out of the bed.
She helped her wearing her shoes and they headed to the car. The ride was quiet, Emily already looked tired and she started to doze off a bit. He didn't want to wake her up so he drove as slow and smooth as he could. She had to relax and sleep as much as she could now, because later it would be impossible for her. He woke her up once they arrived to the hospital, taking the bag and helping her out of the car. The nurse who welcomed them immediately helped Emily to sat on a wheelchair, leading the way for her room. She felt another contraction on the way and she took some long breaths to help the pain.
"Ok, this is your room. I'm gonna call the doctor to visit you in a few minutes, it could take a while for your water to break tho. Once your water breaks you might have to wait a bit more before delivering your baby" the nurse explained.
"I know, thank you. It's my second pregnancy but thank you for explaining it again" she smiled at the nurse, who gave her a warm smile back.
"If you need anything just push that button or you can tell your husband to call one of the nurses on the floor ok?" the nurse explained.
"Thank you, we will" Cal answered, taking Emily's hand, and with that the nurse nodded and left.
"Would you like to lay down a bit and maybe sleep while you can?" Cal asked her.
"Yes please, can you help me?" she asked back.
Cal helped her getting up from the wheelchair and into the bed. She soon fell asleep again, waking up just when the pain started spreading all over her body. The doctor made an ultrasound and told them the baby was in the right position for now but they had to make another ultrasound when her water broke, just in case. Cal sat on the uncomfortable chair beside her bed for the whole time. Helping her up when she had to go to the bathroom and eat something when she was hungry. Soon the morning came and she had slept a little before the contractions became more frequent and painful.
"How are you feeling?" he asked, caressing her hair while she opened her eyes.
"Tired already. I don't know how I will be able to do this" she breathed out, getting herself into a sitting position.
"You're gonna be great, I'm gonna be by your side till the end, I'm here" he actually didn't know what to tell her, he couldn't imagine the pain she was going through or the pain that she will feel in the next hours. But he wanted her to know he was there for her.
"Thank you" she smiled, raising her head to leave a soft kiss on her mouth.
"I think I need to go to the bathroom again, can you help me?" she asked him.
"Sure, here" he helped her getting on her feet but as soon as she stood up she froze.
"Em what's wrong?" his eyes widened as she saw her touching her lower abdomen.
"I think my water just broke" she said, a hard pain spreading all over her body.
"Ok, ok lay back down I'm calling the nurse" Cal panicked and she took his hand that he was moving way too fast.
"Just push the button, everything is fine" she was supposed to be the anxious one but at this point she thought he would pass out in any moment.
"Sure, I'm sorry. I'm just nervous and I just want the both of you to be ok" he run a hand through his hair while reaching for the button.
Soon a doctor came in and made another ultrasound. The baby was in the right position so they didn't have to worry. The next three hours were hell. Pure hell for Emily who at some point asked for an anesthesia because she just couldn't take it anymore. She just wanted the baby to be born and have some good sleep.
"Ok Emily, it looks like your baby is ready to meet you. I'm gonna ask you to push in a few" the doctor told her during one of the huge amount of checking she had been through in the last hours.
"Ok" she simply answered.
She was tired, she couldn't deny it. But those words just made something click inside of her that gave her back more energy than she had ever thought to have. The same thing happened when Flynn was born but in that moment she did sleep a lot, not just a few hours. So she thought it was normal.
"Do you want to wait outside?" the doctor asked Cal.
"No I don't. I'm staying here, I'm not leaving her alone" he had tried to calm down in the last hours and succeeded into looking calm from the outside, but inside he was just panicking.
He knew a lot of men didn't want to be there so that's why the doctor asked, but he wouldn't miss that moment for anything in life. Firstly, it was too important for him to witness it, it was something unique in his life, probably one of the best days of his life. Secondly, he knew it was something risky, even though there were a lot of doctors in the room and in the whole hospital he was still scared. He wouldn't leave her alone.
The next thing he knew was that he never, ever heard Emily scream that much. He saw her getting hurt with bad injuries but her grunts of pain weren't even similar to those she was letting out now. The room soon became full of her screams of pain an swear words. She used them in her normal every day life so it was legit for her to use them now. The most hilarious moment was when she just couldn't take it anymore and if there was some way to just teleport the baby outside, he let out a chuckle and she gave him a deadly look, telling him that she just wanted to cut his dick off since that was the thing that put the baby in there in the first place. He chuckled even more, kissing her head while holding her hand, he never left it since it all started. The doctor smiled too, she had seen multiple cases like theirs and it wasn't that rare that a woman would swear like this during her labor and the fact that he was just smiling and making her feel comfortable made her smile too.
"You're doing amazing love, just a few more pushes" Cal said, once the doctor told them it was almost done.
She let out some painful cries and finally the doctor told them the baby was there. They asked Cal if he wanted to cut the cord and he agreed, cutting it with shaking hands as he saw their baby daughter for the first time. She was beautiful. Emily let herself go on the bed, closing her eyes exhausted. They brought the baby near her, to make her see the baby before washing her.
"She is beautiful. You did a great job" he said taking som hair away from her sweaty forehead and kissing her lips softly.
"Is she ok?" it was her first thought.
She did saw her but she wanted to be sure everything was fine.
"She is an healthy baby girl. How are you gonna name her?" the doctor asked with their baby cleaned in her arms.
"Alison, her name is Alison" Emily answered.
"It's a beautiful name" the doctor answered as the nurses left the room to get the name registered.
A nurse stayed to help Emily into a more comfortable position before leaving. The doctor slowly placed Alison in Emily's arms before leaving the room too and giving the three of them some alone time. The three of them. Finally they could say it. They were finally a family.
"You're right, she is so beautiful" Emily said looking at her, tears starting to fill her eyes.
She looked up at him, finding his eyes watery too. It definitely was the best day of his life.
"Emily I think we have a problem" he said, his voice cracking from emotion.
"What?" she looked up at him with wide eyes.
"Do you remember when I told you you were the only woman I love? I was so damn wrong" he said and she chuckled, kissing his lips in a soft peck.
She hold her for a while, also feeding her and cuddling for a while. The adrenaline slowly started to flow down and she started feeling a lot more tired.
"Can you hold her? I just need to take some sleep" she asked Cal, who actually froze.
He had never hold a baby before, how do you even hold a baby? Was he supposed to sit down and lay Alison on his chest? Was he supposed to just hold her in her arms?
"Here, like this" she said, understanding his struggle and showing him.
He took Alison in his arms and she made a little cute noise that made him chuckle. He sat on a rocking chair the nurse brought in for them and he started rocking slowly, making Alison fall asleep. Emily was asleep on the bed and his little girl was asleep in his arms, he totally could get used to this. It was something new and definitely scary, that little human in his arms would change his life forever, but it was worth it. She definitely was worth everything.