Chapter 5
Levy's POV
Days at school were not the same anymore, some days were a lot better and then some were a lot harder. Gajeel's mom had transferred him to a private school across town, so I didn't have to be escorted around school by a teacher. But most people had figured it was his baby since I was so far along in the pregnancy and Rogue and I had only just started dating.
We didn't really tell a lot of people about us dating, we just kinda let them figure out. We always held hands and we sat with each other in class, so it was pretty obvious, but we didn't want to make a big deal out of it. Of course, Juvia made a big deal when she found out, she asked me why I hadn't told her I was talking to him and why she was finding out after Lucy did. I just apologized and left it at that, she was a bit too loud for my taste.
The week of the baby shower Lucy, Juvia, and one of Lucy's friends Erza sat with us at lunch everyday to talk about what we were going to do at the baby shower. Rogue wasn't very fond of them talking his ear off about it because he wasn't sure if he even wanted to go because he was going to be the only guy there. But I asked him to come so I didn't have to go through it on my own, and he had told me he was going to step up to be Willows dad, so he had to be there. Lucy was so excited, I honestly think she was more excited then me, Willow's mom.
We were having the baby shower Saturday and it was Thursday, but I was having to go shopping with my mom after school to get things for the party. "Hey Rogue, do you want to go shopping for the baby shower with me and Mom after school?" I was already texting mom and asking if he could come but I wanted to make sure he actually wanted to before I just assumed. "Sure, how do you feel about actually having one?" I shook my head and said, "The more I think about it the more I regret agreeing to it." He laughed at me and then it was time for the last class of the day to start.
After class Mom picked us up and then we drove to the store, I was happy to have some time with Rogue, but I just wanted to get this all over. We got to the party store and we all got out and went in, and I could immediately tell from looking around I was not going to like their selection. It was mostly all pink and blue, I had told everyone that was invited I did not want a lot of pink I wanted lavender and light blues. I did not want to dress Willow in all pink at the beginning of her life. "Mom its almost all pink, I'm not sure we are going to find much here." She waved her hand and started walking through the store looking for things.
We found a few things that fit the color I wanted but not as much as Mom wanted, we were able to find plates and things of the sort, but she still wanted to go to a couple more stores to look for stuff. When we left that one, we went to the grocery store to get snacks and order a cake to pick up Saturday morning. We walked around the store for a while and got almost everything we needed which was a relief. After we left, we went to one more store to get the last of the things we needed and then we drove back to the house.
When we got everything in the house I walked to the couch and slowly sat down, I was six and a half months pregnant or 27 weeks now and everything was getting harder to do. Willow was doing everything in her power to make me miserable, my back was always hurting, and sleep was almost impossible now. I was ready for her to be born because I knew giving birth would be painful but that would be the last of it. Rogue sat down beside me and asked how I was feeling, "Well Ryos if you want me to be honest, I feel like crap, my back is killing me and I'm exhausted because she is making it impossible to sleep. I'm so ready for her to be born because it will be the end of this, and I will have her in my arms.
Rogue left after dinner I laid down on the couch because that was the one place I could lay comfortably; Mom came over and asked if I was sleeping on the couch or in my room. "I think I'm going to sleep here; she is in a good position with how I'm laying now, and it doesn't hurt too much." My mom brought me a blanket and then turned the lights off and went to her room.
The day of the baby shower was here, and I wasn't sure if I was excited or just ready to get it over with. Rogue and Lucy were at the house a couple hours early to help my mom set up because I wasn't much use. After a while they had everything set up and it looked really good, now we were just waiting for everyone to show up. We hadn't invited many people, just my close friends and some of Moms friends, I was hoping it wouldn't be too bad.
People slowly started showing up and everyone hugged me when they got here, I hated that, but I had to be nice and I had Rogue at my side so I knew I could get through it. I was in a lot of pain, Willow was giving me a hard time, my back was about to kill me and every little bit I had some pain that was almost unbearable. I pushed through it though and greeted everyone that came in, Rogue stayed by my side and the people who didn't know us personally asked if he was the dad. Thankfully we had talked about this before hand and we decided that since he was going to step in as her dad, we would just tell them yes. I wanted to avoid any unnecessary confusion at the party, I was having a hard time concentrating though.
"Rogue I'm in a lot of pain, and not like my normal pain, I'm not sure what it is. I'm going to try to push through it though." Rogue gave me a really concerned look and asked if I was sure, I told him I was and then went to talk to Lucy for a little bit. She was with Erza, I had a feeling Erza didn't like me very much and I think it was because I got pregnant in high school. This pain was getting worst, I wasn't sure how much longer I could take it, why wasn't it getting any better? I decided to go find my mom and ask her what she thought.
"Hey Mom, can we talk for a minute?" She turned around and asked what was wrong, "Well I'm in a lot of pain, and not like how I feel every day, my back is killing me and every few minutes my stomach feels really tight." Her face turned white and called for Rogue to come over from where he was getting me a drink. "You two are about to become parents a lot sooner then we thought. Your going into labor Levy, we need to get you to the hospital immediately, go with Rogue and pack a bag of stuff to take with you, make sure you bring an outfit for her and the things we got you for delivery." She turned away from us and then raised her voice, "I hate to do this guy but I'm going to have to ask you to leave, Willow has decided to make her appearance early."
Rogue and I got a bag packed quickly and then we got in the car for Mom to take us to the hospital, Rogue called his dad on the way. "Dad I'm going to the hospital with Levy, she went into labor at the party, we aren't sure what's going on, but we have already left the houseā¦. Okay I will let you know if we need anything." When he got off the phone, he grabbed my hand and said, "Dad said to let him now if we forgot anything that we needed and he would get for us, how are you doing Lev?" I squeezed his hand and said, "This really hurts, and I'm scared because it's too early, way too early. She is coming two and a half months early."
When we got to the hospital, we let them know what was going on and they immediately took us to a room but before they let Rogue in, they asked "Ms. McGarden, do you want him with you?" I nodded and said "Yes, he is the dad, well at least he is going to be her dad even if it isn't biological." They nodded and then let Rogue in the room, I hadn't expected that, why would I bring him with me if I didn't want him in the room with me? They got me changed into a hospital gown and started hooking machines up to monitor me and Willow.
It was ten minutes before the doctor came in to do an exam to see if I was actually in labor because the nurse said she thought it was false labor. "You are in labor Levy, it is early, so we are going to have to monitor everything really carefully. We are going to try to go for a natural birth but if she starts showing signs of stress, we will have to do a c-section. I hope you are ready; this could be a long labor." My heart sank when he said that I was in labor, she wasn't ready to be born yet, she still had growing to do she was still so tiny.
The doctor was right, this was taking forever, and it hurt so bad. After about two hours my water broke, and they had to make me get out of the bed so that they could clean everything and then they had me change into a different gown since the one I had on was wet. "Mom, I need something to drink, can I have some water please?" I asked after I got back in the bed, another contraction hit and all I could do was grit my teeth and try not to cry. "Lev have you decided what your going to do about her last name?" Rogue was sitting beside me holding my hand when he asked that.
"I haven't really thought about it, I don't even know what my options are. I wish there was someone I could ask about it." He frowned and rubbed my hand and told me he would be right back (This part is all fiction because I could not find information to help me make this as accurate as possible). My mom came back with water before Rogue got back but didn't question where he was.
Rogue walked back in after a few minutes with a lady following him, I gave him a confused look as he came to sit beside me, and the lady pulled a chair up to the bed and placed her folder on the edge of the bed. "Hey Levy, I heard you are having a hard time making a decision about your baby's name because you are in a bit of a weird situation. Is there any way I can help you? I take care of the birth certificates for this hospital." I breathed a sigh of relief when she finished and then started explaining everything to her.
"So, I got pregnant with my ex-boyfriend and when we broke up, he didn't know I was pregnant he found out about a month or so ago. He made threats of violence towards me if I didn't abort the baby, so we got a restraining order on him. Well this is my boyfriend Rogue and we want to raise the baby together and I just need to know what my options are for her last name." She listened intently to me while I explained everything and then opened her folder.
"So you have a couple options, we could make up paperwork and have someone take it to your ex to sign over paternity to Rogue, and then you can give the baby his last name and he can sign the birth certificate, or you can give the baby your last name and then go through an adoption process later when she is older." I knew what I wanted but I had to talk to Rogue about it, "Rogue what do you think?" I turned to look at him while I waited to hear his answer.
"I'm okay with what ever you want Lev, we can do whichever option you want, we can get my dad to take the paperwork to Gajeel since he works with the sheriff's department and he doesn't really know my dad. If that's what you want to do that is." I nodded and said, "I was hoping you would be okay with that option; we want to get him to sign over paternity."
She went to get the paperwork and Rogue called his dad and I called Lucy to see if she could find out where Gajeel was, she texted me a few minutes after I got off the phone with her and she said he was at his house and that she would send me the address to give to Rogue's dad, and that he told her he would gladly sign away any parental responsibilities he had. That was a relief and I was just glad that I wouldn't be there for it. The lady came back with the paperwork and had Rogue sign it and then when his dad got there, he took it to get Gajeel to sign it.
But he didn't make it back before Willow came into the world, he was about ten minutes away when I started pushing and then she was here after eight minutes of pushing. That was the most pain I had ever felt, they didn't even bring her to me when she was born, they let Rogue cut her umbilical cord and then they took her to weigh her and check her vital signs. I watched Rogue walk over to where they had her surrounded so that I couldn't see her, I just wanted to have her in my arms, and I needed to know if she was okay.
Rogue walked back over and handed me his phone before he started rubbing my hair, I looked at it to see he had taken pictures of her for me to see until they brought her to me. She was so tiny, they said she only weighed two pounds and four ounces, and that she was only fifteen inches long. She had soft brown hair and a little button nose; she was absolutely beautiful. "She is amazing Lev, you did a great job, and she is going to be okay, the nurse said she is surprisingly doing a good job breathing on her own."
Finally they brought her to me and let me hold her for a minute before they took her to be put in the incubator, I kissed her forehead and smiled at my mom for a picture with Willow and Rogue and then the nurse took her away from me. I cried but tried to stop when the lady from earlier came back and said Rogues dad had brought back the paperwork signed and that we could put Rogue on the birth certificate.
Willow Makenzie Cheney was born two and a half months early, but they said she was doing good for how tiny she was. Rogue and I both signed the birth certificate, I felt relieved that I was given a solution that worked perfectly for our situation. After about an hour a doctor came in and told me that they had Willow stable and that she was breathing on her own despite what they had expected. Even a little bit of good news was a relief, I asked them when I could see her, and they said that the doctor would need to come check on me one more time before I could.
It was about twenty minutes before the doctor came back to clear me to go see Willow and I was getting restless. They said that other then the fact that I was going to be really sore that I was doing good and could go see Willow in the nicu now. Before I left, I grabbed my phone to take a few pictures of her and looked to see that Lucy had texted me about twenty times. The most recent one said, "I hope you're okay, please let me know when she is born." I texted her back and said I would send her a picture in a few minutes.
When we got to the nicu a nurse led us to the crib she was in, it was hard to believe how tiny she was. There was a piece of paper at the front of her crib that had Willow Makenzie Cheney written on it with what she weighed at birth and the day and time she was born. I took a picture of it and then walked over to see Willow with tubes attached to her, it broke my heart, but I was just glad that she was stable.
A nurse told us that they were waiting for a doctor to come check her to assess everything and then determine what goals she had to reach before we could take her home. I took several pictures of her; it broke my heart that I couldn't hold her, but I hoped it wouldn't be too long before I could. We left after about twenty minutes and I sent a picture to Lucy and then we walked back to my room.
