Scott sat down heavily on a bar stool at Doyle's pub. He wasn't a drinking man, not at all, but sometimes, he needed to escape.
Boston was seeing the hottest most humid summer it had seen in over a decade. Temperatures were reaching into the hundreds and the humidity was complicating things even more. For his wife, who was now extremely pregnant, the temperatures and the heat were unbearable. She tried her best to deal with the heat, staying inside most of the time, and adding three extra air conditioning units to his apartment all ready equipped with central air. He lived in the only apartment in Boston where you had to wear flannel pajamas to bed to ward off the chill. Scott knew she was tired and uncomfortable so he coped with the chilly conditions in his house. What he couldn't cope with were her craving and her mood swings.
One minute it was "GO out and have a drink with Steven," the next it was "How can you leave me, don't you love me anymore. DO you find me fat and disgusting?" He couldn't win. So on nights like this one, he needed to escape.
The baby was only a month away, due on the 24th of August. Lauren had decided to have the baby naturally without any drugs or unnecessary medical assistance. Scott hated the idea. He was afraid something would happen to her or the baby and then he would lose one or both of them. He couldn't live with that. Lauren had bought this natural child birth video, which she made him watch with her over and over again. On Tuesday and Thursday nights, they went to lamaz class. The classes taught him how to encourage her, how to help her push, and breathe, and they somewhat helped put his fears to rest, although he could not shake the feeling in his stomach that told him this was a very dangerous undertaking.
Scott took another sip of his Scotch, then he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Steven asked.
"I'm not sure they're worth that much."
"Mind if I ask you why you're the one who looks like he's been eating pickles and ice cream."
"Lauren has decided to have the baby entirely unassisted so we have to watch this tape she bought over and over, and it's um, very graphic."
"It makes you uncomfortable?"
"Not really. It is about the miracle of child birth, but sometimes I wish we could just knock her upside the head and cut the baby out. No breathing, no pushing, no risks."
"You're scared."
"Of course I'm scared. This is my first baby, Lauren is my only true love, and so many things can happen, Steven. I could lose everything."
"Have you shared these fears with Lauren?"
"No, she senses something though. I think she thinks I'm against natural child birth so I don't have to go through it with her."
"She thinks that."
"She's not herself, Steven, she's..."
"Emotional, unpredictable, and moody."
Scott nodded and sat in silence until he finished his drink. He didn't want to stay out long, so he paid for his drink and bid Steven goodnight.
By the time Scott got home that night, Lauren was sound asleep. She was lying on her side, a pillow between her legs, air conditioning turned up to max level. Scott undressed and laid down next to her, pulling her into his embrace. Instinctively, she curled next to him, breathing in his familiar scent.
During that night, like all other nights, Lauren woke her husband, only this time she was not having a craving, she was having a contraction.
Scott, his nerves driving him, sprang into action. He grabbed Lauren's bag from the nightstand, and settled her in the living room while he left to get the car. A few minutes late he came back looking frazzled and nervous.
"What is it? "Lauren asked, breathing like she'd learned in class.
"I, uh, accidentally lock your bag and the keys in the trunk of the car."
"What?"
Next, Scott was on the phone, calling relatives for a quick midnight ride to the hospital.
Lauren's contractions were strong, but short and not very close together and she knew her husband was panicing.
"Whose brother did you call?"
"Both, "he said pacing, "We'll go with whoever gets here first."
George arrived first and sprinted them to the hospital. He sat in the waiting room with Scott while Lauren was being examined. Ten minutes later, instead of a nurse telling him to put on some scrubs, Lauren emerged from the door.
"Honey?"
"I'm sorry, Scott, false alarm."
"Thank God," he breathed, "I was afraid the baby would be born too early. Don't worry, darling, we'll be back in a month of so."
They weren't however. Lauren's due date of August 24th came and went without any other incidences of false labor. A visit to the doctor a few days later convinced Scott that the baby was at least another week away, although he still felt himself watching Lauren as if she were a time bomb, waiting to explode. Every night before he went to sleep, he'd lay out his clothes like a fire fighter, ready to jump at the first alarm. Their entire house was covered in plastic incase her water broke on the sofa or in bed.
While her pregnancy continued, Scott tried his best not to upset her although he always seemed to, and to keep her comfortable. He read her books, massaged her back and ate any odd dish she would make for dinner.
One day, Scott got up to go to work, the last day before the new school year. Lauren was up and dressed by the time he woke and insisted on going to work with him. He couldn't tell her no and face a flood of tears, so he accommodated her.
And by the end of that day, he would see what a drastic error that was.
