4 Minutes
Work hard for what you want because it won't come to you without a fight, you have to be strong and courageous and know that you can do anything you put your mind to.
"This is Mrs Evans admitted just a minute ago with contractions every 4 minutes" the midwife looked at the nurse "Do the usual checks and come find me when you're done"
"Sure" the nurse set about her tasks
"Shouldn't you have checked the baby by now?" Sam asked tapping his foot impatiently "And shouldn't that water be cold instead of tepid?" he looked at Cedes pained face "Don't you think a blanket might be better than a sheet?" he asked the nurse who was ignoring his conversation and getting on with her job
"Evans, will you please just shut the fuck up" Cedes shouted at him before letting out another scream, it wasn't always like this, they were in love really
"Time 14:16" the nurse looked up telling him before writing the time down "And you're nine centimetres, not long"
He smiled watching the nurse do her work, thinking about the first time Cedes had said those words to him at the beginning of all this, it wasn't quite in that tone, but it was the exact same words
Flashback
It was one of the best summers he could remember, he'd finally filled all the vacancies at his firm, Cedes had starting to smile again because he wasn't doing the job of five men, and on top of that he'd managed to get rid of some dead wood. Their two week holiday was a well-earned one and they relished the time together, life was getting back to the life they'd dreamed of when they got married five years ago.
"Babe what's up?" he walked into the house with Santana and Finn in tow shocked at seeing her curled up on the couch crying
"Nothing" she quickly wiped her wet face and jumped up to greet his business associates, she'd completely forgotten they were entertaining tonight "I'm sorry I had some news and I'm totally running behind time on this" she shook Santana's hand
"We can order in" Sam suggested, his face worried at what was going on
"We can leave this till another time if you two need some time" Finn told Sam
"No" Cedes quickly jumped into the conversation "Please, I'll order something and go freshen up"
She perked up as the night went on Santana was a laugh and Finn was easily embarrassed so that was a joy to watch, they made an odd couple, but they weren't ever bored, that was for sure. Sam had this art of making business sound like pleasure, she could sit and listen to the sound of his voice all day, so she played the perfect host while he won them over with his business negotiation skills and the deal was in the bag before midnight. They thanks each other for the hospitality and business and parted company, the door had barely shut before he was on her back
"So, what was all that about earlier, what's wrong?"
"This couldn't have come at a worse time, I'm really sorry, I didn't plan this, I mean we didn't plan this but now…" she pulled the stick out of her pocket and handed it to him
"What does this mean?" he stood looking at the two lines on the stick "Are we…" his eyes widened
"Yes Evans, we're about to be a damn family" she nodded "Are you happy?" she looked up at him
He noticed she wasn't in the same mood and frowned "Are you?"
"I don't know, I just never figured on having children so early, I mean we're just hitting 30, to have kids already"
"We were 24 when we had a whole apple business to deal with, and we haven't done that bad have we?"
"So, what, you think we should?"
"I'm all for it, but I guess it's totally up to you"
"Okay" she smiled up at him
"Alright" he pulled her to him "I can't imagine you as big as a house" he laughed
"Oh, trust you to flatten the mood" she nudged him "Just shut the fuck up" she giggled at him, tapping his chest in jest, they were about to have fun that night and by god did being pregnant change everything for them
End of Flashback
Cedes was rolling around the bed with the pain screaming at what seemed like every niggle, an almighty scream frightened him back into the room, he thought she was about to take her last breath, he jumped out the chair trying to keep out of her way
"What can I do?" he shouted over her screaming
"What part of shut the fuck up do you not understaaaaa" she let out another scream, even the midwife could see he was having a hard time of it, she stepped forward to help
"Use your gas Mrs Evans" she rubbed her arm, Sam sat in the chair again, it was the safest place to be right now "14:17" she frowned "This one's going to be fast" she looked at him smiling
Everything that was ever going to happen in this pregnancy was always going to be down to him and secretly somewhere deep inside, take away the shouting, swearing, illnesses, and silences he was enjoying seeing his wife change as she nested, and excited to see the little person they'd made together
He smiled at the face Cedes pulled at the nurse touching her, that wasn't going to last long, she didn't even like people in her space except him, and god could she get sour when she was ready, he knew he was in for a bumpy ride, so this midwife better watch out. Space wasn't the only thing she wanted while she was carrying their child, he smiled remembering some of the things she'd want at the most inconvenient of times
Flashback
The announcement might have been the happiest part of the pregnancy so far, but somewhere around month two they woke up one morning and their lives had changed "Should I stay home today?" Sam sat up in bed, Cedes was rolling around the bed moaning about a migraine she hadn't been able to shift for nearly 24 hours
"Maybe I should just stay in a dark room" she whined
"You can't just stay in here with no food or anything to drink all day, I'll call in" that day turned into a week as the migraines waved in and out which of course brought on the insomnia and if she wasn't sleeping neither was he, that initial smile they'd had on their faces started to fade away
"Babe, go to bed" Cedes ordered way past midnight on evening in month three, knowing he had an important meeting the next morning
"I feel so guilty leaving you here alone, we both brought into this, and I feel hopeless"
"You're not hopeless, you're keeping us together"
"It doesn't feel like it" he sat up next to her
"Well can you get me some plums and sweetcorn please" she smiled "Does that feel useful enough?"
"Plums and sweetcorn coming up" he smiled jumping up to grab them
"And another couple of those useless paracetamols"
"Got it" he called waving acknowledgement as he went
And for the entire second trimester that seemed to be the theme for Cedes as one ailment left another presented itself so she'd gone through an itching phase, filling the room with back scratchers, random spots that took up home all over her body to the point she refused to go out some days and of course the growing baby bump that she could never quite cover it was growing so fast
End of Flashback
"Is the pain getting stronger Mrs Evans?" the midwife asked
"Is that a fucking trick question?" Cedes snapped at her, Sam could see it coming he wanted to jump in, but he knew whatever she was going to give to this woman he would get it ten times worse, so he left it
"No" she smiled obviously used to the abuse "It's just that we can better estimate baby's arrival by the strength of the pain"
"Well, say she was in a fight with Tyson right now" Cedes looked at her "She'd be winning"
"That's good, just breathe" the midwife stroked her arm again
"Do I look like your fucking dog?" she hissed at the woman "Stop stroking me, I'm not your damn pet" she snapped pushing the woman's hand off her arm, the midwife shared a look with Sam, it was telling him she wasn't standing in for him anymore, he got up ready to take even more abuse "14:18" she snapped walking away
"Sorry" he looked at the midwife "This really isn't her"
"Sad to say, but not everyone has the perfect delivery, it might get uglier before we get to the end result" she warned
"Stop talking about me as if I'm not in the damn room" Cedes hissed at Sam
"That's not what's happening babe" he smiled at her hand begging him to hold it "What can I do?"
"You're doing it babe, you're here" she smiled at him "Sorry" she gasped "This pain is a bitch" her voice squeaked at the next contraction. He stood holding her hand thinking about another day she'd needed his help
Flashback
This little girl hadn't conformed from day one, so they'd sort of built themselves up for a rocky road and the third trimester didn't disappoint, Cedes had been building nursery furniture against Sam's instructions, she just couldn't wait for him to get in to start. By the time he got home she was sat in the nursery surrounded by bits of about five pieces of nursery furniture with not a clue as to what went where.
"Babe" Sam walked in laughing "What happened to doing this together?
"I wanted to see the finished article and I thought I'd surprise you" she smiled
"I'm definitely surprised" he laughed leaning down to kiss her "Come on let's get something to eat and get back to this" he looked around the room as he pulled her up, her wince bringing instant concern to his face "What's up?" he stopped, to touch their baby bump
"It's my feet" she pushed her right leg out in front of her as she spoke "I've been sat on them for… shit" she looked down at her foot in horror "What the fucks happened to my feet?" she stood scared to walk in case her feet split they'd swollen so much "Do you think we should go to the hospital?"
"It's more than likely oedema babe, remember we read about it?"
"Why is everything happening to me" she cried
"Babe" he hugged her, he wasn't sure what to do just then, except hold her and let her get it out, this was happening to her body, and just then, it felt like it was all his fault.
From that night everything had happened so subtly he hadn't even notice that she'd moved out of her social scene, even neglected family, until Christmas came around. Cedes couldn't travel so everyone had decided to go to them as a surprise for her. He'd planned everything their parents were travelling down from Boston and Tennessee, and he'd booked a couple of things for them to do, because she'd been held up in bed most the time trying to keep the stress off her feet, while he'd been working. They'd got someone in to do the meals and clean, he'd got a routine going, so they'd managed to keep a happy home.
"Expecting someone?" she asked at the bell on the front door chiming
"Yeah" he smiled getting up to answer it "Surprise" he grinned as their parents appeared at the door
"Oh" she gasped happy for a second "My hair" she tapped her fresh home done braids "You should have told me" she looked at him "I'm not even dressed" she looked at herself splayed across the couch
"Babe it's our parents, they know us"
"Get me up babe" she waved at him holding her hand out for him to grab "You should have warned me" she whispered as he pulled her up
"And spoil the surprise?" he smiled at her
"The word is trouble" she hissed at him
"Your glowing" her mother walked towards them "Come on, let's get you fixed up" she suggested sensing there was something wrong
Of course, he didn't quite know what was said in the bedroom that afternoon but by the evening he'd been made aware she was scared and depressed, he was scared too, but for the health of the baby he was advised to push his feelings aside and make sure Cedes had a happy pregnancy. He forged ahead, concerned but happy this little might was changing their lived even before she'd made an appearance, he had nothing bad to say about that.
Christmas turned out to be a good one, they'd spent some quality time building baby furniture, finishing just in time for the women to dress the nursery. Before they all stood looking at the finished room as if they'd just won the best prize in the world and had been stunned into silence
"Our baby girl's going to live in here" Cedes held her hand out for him to grab
"She is" he pulled her into him, and they stood getting to grips with the pending change to their world.
It was early January, she was heavily pregnant, she'd forgotten what her feet actually looked like, even when she was seated, and there was this persistent swelling thing going on. It had been a while since she'd asked her husband the usual 'how do I look' question, not that she needed validation like that, but these subtle little things were slipping out of their lives as parenthood crept in, and in a relationship like theirs she noticed.
They'd got another two months of pregnancy left before the arrival of their baby girl and all they had left to buy was the stroller, they were torn between two for a while. Then with only three weeks left, directly after the final visit to the hospital they'd told themselves they were going to make the choice and bring one home no matter what.
"Are you ready?" Sam popped his head round the bathroom door
"Yes" she looked up at him, holding her hand out for the help, she loved her baths getting out was becoming a chore with the constant growth of their baby bump "It still feels like there's two in there"
"We already know she's going to be a big baby; she's always been bigger than they expected" he helped her out the bath "It's got to be that booty" he laughed
"Or those hands of yours" she laughed
"Definitely the lips" they both laughed
"Whatever she brings we're ready for it, I'm getting so excited now" she told him
"Me too, I need to meet her" he kissed her nose before helping her out, drying her back before he stood watching her do everything else.
"We're going to be parents" she held her hand out for him to grab
"We're going to have normal sex again" he thumped the air
"Come on, out" she shooed him out laughing "Let me get dressed, we're going to be late"
They got to the hospital with time to spare as always, excited to get another look at their new addition that was about to make them a family, giggling at their late Christmas present doing a full on performance for them, twisting, turning, punching, and kicking telling them it was nearing time for her to make an entrance. They discussed and finalised all the usual stuff, delivery methods, people present, chatted with the midwife everything was settled and in place
"The next time I see you two there should be a little one well on the way" the doctor smiled "Well, not so little" he laughed
"Just to warn everyone I have a low pain threshold" Cedes told him
"She has a low threshold for everything" Sam laughed with the doctor
"Good luck" the doctor waved them out, it wasn't so much what he said as how he said it that had brought that thought to Sam's mind right now
End Of Flashback
"Sam" Cedes gasped "I need to push" she squeezed his hand enough to inflict pain
She'd been hooked up to this drips, got the gas and air going in, and his hand "Already? he asked rolling his eyes at the stupid question her eyes said everything he was thinking "Sorry babe" he looked across the room watching the midwife come towards them, she examined Cedes and looked up at him smiling
"It looks like it was all go" she told him; he couldn't help the deep exhale of breath that escaped his mouth in relief
"Push when you're ready babe" was all that came out, inside he was literally screaming with excitement, exhaustion, and expectation all at the same time
"Fuck" she screamed sounding like she'd been demonised, the fright widened his eyes, panic slid in when he realised he was out of his depth, he looked at the midwife begging her to help, the instinct to run fading fast when the midwife got closer
"Hold your breath and push with the next contraction Mrs Evans" she looked up at the clock 14:18 she told her assistant walking into the room at that second all kitted up, looking like she was ready for surgery
"Is something wrong?" Cedes looked at the woman "Sam is something wrong?" she squeezed his hand tighter; he didn't have an answer, he barely remembered his name right now let alone anything else
"No" the midwife assured her "She has to be sterile for the baby"
"Okay, Okay, Okay" Cedes tried to calm herself down again "There's another one coming" she hissed squeezing Sam's hand again, he stood red faced, green at the gills, sweating for what reason he didn't know, he wasn't doing any of the work, and emotional
"Close your mouth and push babe" was all he could remember from all those classes they been to over the past eight months, he rolled his eyes at how pathetic he sounded
"Sam" she screamed pushing until she had no breath left
"Two maybe three more good pushes and baby will be here" the midwife encouraged
"Sam" she screamed again, absolute panic in her voice, she was scared, so was he, he really didn't know what to do, right now it felt like the panic scene out of that movie Titanic, where everything was in chaos, but the captain was sat inside the main hull looking out in silence at the sinking ship, only in this scenario he was bricking it
"Sing" his eyes smiled at the thought, that always calmed her down "Remember this?" he whispered in her ear
When I'm feeling blue, all I have to do is take a look at you, then I'm not so blue
When I'm in your arms, nothing seems to matter my whole world could shatter, I don't care
He sang that was all he could find to do, she stopped screaming, the whole place went quiet all the noise in the room was coming out his mouth, he hadn't sang since the day they'd met, not properly like this in front of anyone but her. He'd been out with a group of guys from college busking for beer money at the end of their last year, it was just for fun really they just felt like kicking up a storm. They were all parting company to make lives for themselves in the four corners of the country, with no hope of seeing each other again, to be fair he'd got this girl Penny he was holding onto for a reason he couldn't think of, she was standing watching.
He didn't know when or even how their eyes met but he knew he was singing the words to 'groovy kind of love' at the time and they smiled at each other, it wasn't long lasting, meaningful or anything like that, but he noticed she stopped talking to her group of friends and stood looking at him. He was trying not to stare but somehow that didn't work, and he found himself steeling the last verse from his friend, staring into her eyes as he sang every word to her.
It had lost him his present girlfriend, but it had gained him his future wife, they'd danced to it at their wedding, made love to it their first time, it was their go to song for happiness, sadness and pain in their life together, and now it was helping her relax at a time when she needed to the most.
Wouldn't you agree, baby you and me got a groovy kind of love
We got a groovy kind of love, we got a groovy kind of love, oh, we got a groovy kind of love 'Groovy Kind Of Love' by Phil Collins
"You're crowning Mrs Evans just one more push" the midwife smiled at Sam for his quick thinking, he was excited to see what was going on, still holding her hand he went to experience the miracle of childbirth "Can you see that?" she asked Sam
"Yes" he gasped there was no holding back his emotions anymore his daughter was on her way into the world, he was witnessing a freaking miracle "Babe, you can do this" he looked at Cedes tears rolling down his face "I can see her hair she's got dark hair" he smiled at her squeezing his hand again "Push babe" he didn't care how loud she was screaming he could see this was hurting "Her heads out" he watched the midwife doing her thing to make sure she was safe "She's beautiful" he looked back at Cedes looking totally exhausted
"I can do this, Arrhh" Cedes roared and their daughter was out
"Your baby girl is out and looking well" the midwife smiled at Cedes "14:20" she told the Paediatrician handing the baby over to her
"What's happening?" Cedes asked watching her baby move away from her
"We're just wiping her off, getting her initial checks done" the midwife smiled looking at Sam "Do you want to cut the cord?"
"Please" he grinned wiping his wet face
"Here you go" the nurse rested the baby on Cedes stomach
Sam stood watching the umbilical cord getting pegged before he was able to cut the cord and that was it, he wasn't interested in anything else but seeing his daughter "She's beautiful babe" Sam wiped his wet face to meet their daughter properly "A little princess" he gently put his finger under her hand "She grabbed it" he laughed
"That was a fast one" the midwife smiled as they walked around cleaning up "4 minutes from getting in that bed"
"Determined this little one is" Cedes laughed "Hasn't done anything by the book since conception"
"Can I just check her over, I'll bring her straight back?" the nurse interrupted their family time asking
"Straight back" Sam warned smiling "4 Minutes" he looked at Cedes surprised "It felt like hours"
"That was the longest 4 minutes of my life" Cedes gasped holding her hand out to take her baby "She's beautiful isn't she?" she looked at Sam stood crying again
"You both are, thank you" he kissed her forehead and stroked their new baby's cheek "She looks like you"
"Do you think, I thought I saw you"
"I guess that means she looks like us" he smiled "We're a family" he took their first picture together
"Do you have a name for her yet?" the midwife asked
"Reagan" they laughed
"Little ruler?" the midwife laughed
"Well, she's ruled everything so far" Sam confirmed
"And I don't think she's going to be anyone's little ruler for too long" Cedes laughed
"Now the new journey starts" they sat marvelling at their daughter "She's so perfect" he couldn't help touching her little fingers and toes
"She's so tiny" Cedes' voice trembling with emotion
"We can do anything we put our minds to" Sam assured her "Together"
"Together" She rested her head on his chest taking in the moment 'Mmmm all I have to do.."
"Is take a look a you, then I'm not so blue..." they both sang, it just had to be the first song their child heard