Chapter 50
*3 weeks later*
Alex woke with a start and felt a faint pain in her abdomen. Ryan was fast asleep next to her snoring softly. She dismissed the pain and thought she might have imagined it. She glanced over at the clock 23:30PM. She stayed awake for a little while longer before falling asleep again since the pain subsided. An hour later the pain hit her again but this time a little stronger. Alex sat up a little and breathed until it was over, but it returned again soon. She decided to move around the room. She got up slowly and made her way into the bathroom. She closed the lid on the toilet and sat down, elbows propped on her knees , hands in her head as the pain grew stronger and then eventually disappeared again. She lingered in the bathroom a while. The thought of going into the shower and turn on some hot water to ease the pain entered her mind. She'd seen it on TV and figured since her contractions seems to come in threes , it might not be such a bad idea. She opened the tap and made sure the water was nice and warm, she got in fully clothed and hunched over when the next one hit stronger than the other two. She tried to concentrate on her breathing to get through it, she figured she doesn't have to wake Ryan up just yet, she can still deal with these. Ryan was startled awake by the shower running at 00:45AM in the morning with the faint light from the bathroom escaping under the door, and his wife missing from the bed.
He went into the bathroom, steam blurred the glass of the shower door, but he could still see Alex, standing fully clothed under the water leaning against the wall, hands clutching her stomach as the water poured down on her belly. "Alex? What's wrong?" He asked walking towards her. Seriously, what's wrong? Alex thought but didn't have the strength to say it to him right now. "The baby." She said as another contraction hit and she tried to stifle a moan. "Come on, let's get you to hospital." Ryan said turning off the water, helping her out and getting her into dry clothes. "How long has this been going on?" He asked once they were back in the room and Alex was seated on the edge of the bed breathing heavily. "About an hour ago, but the contractions seems to be a bit more frequent and stronger now." She answered. Ryan dressed himself in some sweats, grabbing the baby's bag that was packed a few weeks ago and a packed one for Alex before helping her out towards the car. Ryan backed out of the driveway like a maniac and Alex looked over at him putting a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, I'm okay now, the contractions subsided for now." She said honestly looking at him, fear and worry evident in his eyes. He didn't say anything he just nodded his head and slacked down a bit.
They entered the hospital and were settled into a room quickly, waiting for Dr Roberts to come see her. A friendly nurse asked her some questions to assess how far apart her contractions are, hooking her up to a machine so they could monitor her blood pressure and heartrate as well as the strength of her contractions and how the baby is doing. Dr Roberts entered a few minutes later and the nurse showed her the cart and updated her on her vital signs as well as the baby's. Dr Roberts looked weird now that her hair wasn't hanging loose, but were in a high ponytail on her head dressed in her scrubs. "All right, it looks good." She told the nurse and moved over towards the bed where Alex was in. "All right Alex I'm just going to check how far you are dilated." Dr Roberts said. "Okay, you're at five centimeters once you're between eight and ten we can start. On a scale of one to ten how much pain are you in right now? Ten being the worst." Dr Roberts questioned looking at her patient. "I'd say about six." Alex said and the doctor wrote something down in the file. "Okay, I cannot give you something for the pain right now, but at a later stage I will. I just need you to keep breathing through it. But if the pain becomes worse press the button and we'll see to it." The doctor said and Alex nodded her head.
About half an hour later the contractions seems to be more frequent and stronger than they were the last two hours. Alex couldn't help herself anymore and the tears started rolling down the sides of her face as she laid on her back legs bent at the knees. Ryan tried to help her deal with it but he had no idea what to do, so he just sat next to the bed holding her hand and stroking some of the strands of hair out of her face. "I'm sorry." He whispered as she held her hand in front of her mouth to try and suppress a cry of pain as another gulf of contractions flooded through her. For Ryan here was nothing worse than seeing his wife in this much pain and there was nothing he could do to help her. Alex pressed the call button on the remote and a nurse came to her side to check on her. The nurse went back outside and called the doctor who came rushing back looking at the long sheet of paper that trailed on the floor that monitored her contractions. "You're eight centimeters now Alex, and based on this your contractions aren't getting any stronger at this stage." Dr Roberts explained looking at her sympathetically. "For you and the baby's safety we have to wait until you're fully dilated before you can start pushing." The doctor explained. "How long will that be?" Alex asked breathless ready to get this over with now. "To be honest it can be anytime between one and five hours." She explained looking at her chart once again, squeezing her shoulder before leaving the room.
After two hours nothing has changed and Alex was tired and still in a senseless amount of pain. Ryan sat there rubbing her lower back which she couldn't feel anymore but she kept telling him to keep rubbing. Another cry escaped her mouth and he went back over to the other side of the bed. "Why did I let you do this to me?!" She whispered looking up at him. "I can't do this anymore, Ryan. It hurts." She said hiding her face in the pillow so he won't see her tears. He didn't really know what to say on that so he once again just stuck to his safest bet this past few hours. "I'm sorry sweetheart. I wish there was something I could do to make it easier." He said honestly.
Dr Roberts entered again, seeing how tired Alex was at this stage. "Good, we're at nine centimeters now, can you try and sit up a bit?" the Dr asked and the nurses helped her into a comfortable position. "All right, when you feel another contraction coming I need you to push down as if you're having a bowel movement for as hard as you can." Dr Roberts explained and Alex was too tired to say anything so she just nodded her head and reached for her husband's hand. In less than two minutes it was time to push and it seemed like fresh tears were rolling from her eyes. Alex pushed as hard as she could but it felt as if nothing happened. "I can't do this. I can't." She cried as her head fell back against the stack of pillows. "Alex, you have to try. Come on let's give it one more try, if it's not working this time we're going to give you an epidural to ease the pain." Dr Roberts said and told Alex to push again. But once again nothing happened. The Dr looked up at the two nurses and nodded. They went ahead and prepped Alex giving her an epidural as she laid on her side with her legs curled up while they inserted the needle into her spine.
About half an hour later after the epidural set in, Alex thought she would feel less tired but in actual fact she was exhausted. The pain is not as much as it was before she received the medical intervention but it was still there just a lot less. More bearable than those four hours of excruciating pain. Before they gave her the epidural they've explained some of the side effects this might have on her and how her body may react to it but she agreed to have it any way. "All right, you may feel pressure now and a lot less pain than previously. I'll tell you when to push and when you do I need you to keep pushing for ten seconds as we count you down." Dr Roberts explained again and Ryan offered his hand. "Okay, push Alex." The Dr ordered. Alex took a deep breath in and started pushing as they counted to ten and allowed her to breathe. "Almost there, just a few more." Dr Roberts encouraged and the staff started counting again but Alex stopped halfway. "I'm really nauseous." She said looking at the doctor and one of the nurses handed her a paper bag as she started retching. "It's okay it normal. It due to the sudden drop in your blood pressure with the epidural and the pressure your body is feeling right now." The professional explained. After Alex rinsed her mouth she picked up where she left off and started pushing again. "One last big push Alex, come on. I know you're tired but you have to give it all you've got for this one." The Dr said and Alex give it everything she had with the little energy that was left in her. "Here she is." Dr Roberts announced as they heard their baby wailing. She placed the baby on Alex's chest and she locked eyes with her mother for the first time. Her tiny little body squirming and crying while kicking and stretching out her legs for the first time. "Hi Phoebe." Alex smiled teary eyed as she kissed her little forehead, she looked up at her husband who had tears in his eyes too. And he bent down to give Alex an awkward hug so he wouldn't hurt his daughter and kissed his daughter. "I love you so much, munchkin" He whispered to her.
The nurse handed Ryan a scissor as he cut the umbilical cord. There she was, an independent being. "If you can bring her over here so we can weigh her Daddy." Dr Roberts said smiling as Ryan took Phoebe over to the doctor. They took her away to clean her up and give the new parents a moment alone.
Ryan had honestly never loved his wife as much as he does now. He was in complete awe of her strength and perseverance to get through all of this and give him such an amazing gift. "Thank you so much for giving me this gift, sweetheart." He said sincerely as he bent down to kiss her. "You're welcome." Alex smiled sincerely. "It was all worth it, she is so perfect. And I am sorry for all those terrible things I said" Alex said looking at her daughters curious blue eyes scanning the room. Phoebe Grace Booth, had her father's blue eyes and her mother's medium rosy skin color and full lips, with a head full of blackish-brown straight hair. "The why did I let you do this to me part or the part where you told me how much you don't like me right now?" Ryan asked amused. "All of them." Alex laughed, stifling a yawn while stroking the hair on Phoebe's head lightly as he eyes fluttered closed.
Ryan sat there holding his wife who held their daughter, he wasn't sure how he was able to sit still because he was full of joy and excitement all at the same time. Alex fell asleep shortly after watching their baby and Ryan took her out of her mother's arms, looking forward to spending a few hours alone with their precious new arrival.
FINALLY! The little munchkin is born. I have no idea how child birth works I wrote this chapter based on all the things I saw on 16 and pregnant and other TV shows on TLC that deals with births. *blush*. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter let me know what y'all think about it. Lovies-S
