Chapter 19

3 weeks had passed since the apology, and dinner had still been tense.

"So, have you two thought of any names yet?" Linda asked?

"Not really. We're kinda behind on a lot of stuff." Jamie admitted.

"You're 37 weeks, right?" Erin asked.

Eddie simply nodded.

"Well, if the baby's a boy, you can have some of Sean's old clothes. We kept some of them."

"And if the baby's a girl, you can have some of Nicky's old clothes."

"We appreciate the offer, but I think we already have plenty of clothes." Jamie told everyone.

"How? What color did you buy them in?" Sean asked.

"Gender neutral colors. Yellows and grays mostly."

"Oh."

The conversation lulled for awhile after that. No one said anything. The only sound that was heard was the scraping of plates by forks and knives.

Dinner ended promptly, and everyone went into their usual areas. As Jamie and Eddie we're watching some game on tv, Eddie started rubbing her stomach.

"Are you ok?" Jamie whispered into her ear.

"Just Braxton Hicks I think."

She slowly rubbed the pain away. About 10 minutes later, it came again. And 10 minutes after that. And 10 minutes after that.

"Do you wanna go home?" Jamie whispered to her again.

Eddie simply nodded her head.

"I think we're gonna head home, guys." Jamie told the other people in the room.

As Eddie stood up, Linda's eyes went right to her stomach.

"Eddie, I think you've dropped."

"Oh, uh, yeah, maybe."

"Are you feeling ok? You look a little pale."

"Uh, yeah. I'm fine. Just tried."

"Ok."

Jamie and Eddie retrieved Josie from the backyard where she, Sean, Jack, and Nicky were.

"Why are we leaving so soon?" Josie asked, as they started their drive.

"Because your mom's not feeling that well." Jamie answered.

"Is the baby ok?"

"Yeah, the baby's fine, sweetheart. I think you'll get to meet your brother or sister soon, though." Eddie answered.

"Really?"

"I mean, it might awhile, but hopefully sometime within the next couple days." Eddie really hoped it didn't take too long. They always say second babies come faster than the first baby. Eddie really hoped that would be true.

"I think it's gonna be girl. What do you think, mom?"

"I'm not really sure. I think it might be a girl, but a boy would be cool."

"I think it's gonna be a boy." Jamie butted in.

"What would we name a boy?" Eddie asked her husband.

"I want to honor Joe in some way. Not necessarily name the baby Jospeh, but maybe as a middle name, or we could use Connor." Connor was Joe's middle name.

"I like Connor. What would his middle name be?"

"I don't know. What were you thinking?"

"Connor Jameson. What do you think?"

"I love it. Now we've picked both names. I can't wait for baby to get here."

"Me either. Hopefully this baby doesn't take their sweet time."

Now they had two potential names for their baby. In reality, they'd already talked about the girl name. They didn't say it in the car because it was a surprise for Josie.

The small family made their way back to their house, and Eddie did some last minute things in preparation for the baby.

"Have your contractions gotten any closer together?" Jamie asked, as Eddie sat down next to him on the couch.

"They've gone from every 10 minutes, then 9, and now they're about every 8." Eddie answered.

"Do you want to go to the hospital yet?"

"Not yet. My doctor told me to go in when my water broke, or when the contractions are 5 minutes apart, lasting 1 minute each, for at least an hour. That could be awhile. I think I'm gonna go try to get some sleep. You should too."

Jamie glanced at the clock and saw that it was around 9:30. He turned off the tv, made sure the front door was locked, and then followed Eddie into the bedroom.

"Are you nervous?" Jamie asked, as they changed into their pajamas. For Eddie, that meant one of Jamie's old Harvard t-shirts and some shorts. For Jamie, that meant taking off his pants and shirt, and stripping down to just his boxers.

"I don't know. I am, but not as much as I was with Josie. I can't really explain it. What about you?"

"Yeah, I am. I wasn't there the first time around. I'm nervous to see you in so much pain and knowing there's nothing I can do to help you."

"The pain will be worth it, in the end. We'll have a beautiful baby."

"I know. I'm really excited, as well as nervous."

The couple slowly drifted off to sleep. For Jamie, it was a fairly restful sleep. He dreamt of their child and what he or she would look like. For Eddie, the sleep had been uncomfortable. Her contractions were mild enough that they didn't hurt, but severe enough that they disturbed her sleep. Finally by around 5am, Eddie decided she wasn't going to be able to get much more sleep. Her contractions had gone from 8 minutes apart to 5 minutes over night.

Jamie woke up when he felt Eddie her up out of bed.

"What's wrong?" Jamie asked, sleep still prevalent in his voice.

"I think we might need to leave soon. My contractions are 5 minutes apart but I don't know how long it's been." Eddie explained, rubbing her swollen bump.

"Ok. When do you want to leave?"

Eddie glanced over at the clock on her bedside table. 5:23am.

"Maybe around 6. I want to give it enough time to be sure. I don't want to get there and be sent home."

"Do you want to send Josie to school today?"

Eddie was about to answer when another contraction came. She breathed slow, deep breaths, and slowly the contraction started to go away.

"That was about a minute long."

Eddie simply nodded, breathing out slowly.

"To answer your question, yes. I want to send Josie to school. It could be awhile. I don't want her to miss school when the baby might not even come until after she gets out."

"Ok, I'll call Sammy."

Jamie quickly found Sammy's number in his phone, and thankfully she picked up. Jamie told her that he needed her there immediately, and she said she'd be there within 15-20 minutes.

"Sammy's on her way. Do you need me to do anything?"

"No, everything's packed and in the car."

"Ok. Do you wanna try laying back down and trying to get some more sleep?"

"No. I have this strange urge to just walk around."

"Ok. Well, I'm gonna get a shower."

Jamie went into the bathroom, and started the shower. Eddie went into the bathroom with him, and decided she wanted to take a shower with him. They ended up leaving around 6:30 because they spent a little extra time in the shower.

"So, how long have you been having contractions?" The triage nurses asked. Eddie was laying in the bed, and Jamie was sitting in a chair next to the bed.

"Since around 7:30 last night."

"Do you know if your water's broken?"

"It hasn't."

"Is this your first baby?"

"It's my second, but my first is 9 so it's been awhile."

"Have you had any bleeding?"

"No."

"How far along are you?"

"37 weeks."

"Do you know what you're having?"

"No, we wanted to wait."

"Ok. I'll have the doctor come in soon and check your progression. Sit tight." The nurse patted Eddie's legs gently, in an effort to comfort her, and then left the room.

A doctor came in, checked Eddie's progression, and discovered she was completely effaced, and 7 centimeters dilated. They quickly moved her up to a delivery suite, and started her on IV fluids.

"I know it's been awhile since I first started having contractions, but it feels kinda fast. I mean I expected to come here and them tell me I was only like a 4 or 5. 7 is crazy." Eddie said, shocked at how far she was.

"Well, hopefully we'll meet the baby soon."

And soon it was. After only 30 minutes in the room, Eddie went from 7 to 10. Within and hour of them arriving to the hospital, Eddie was pushing. 4 pushes was all it took to bring their beautiful baby girl into the world.

The first few hours were kind of a blur. The baby was weighed and measured. 8 pounds, 2 ounces, and 19 inches long. She then had her first meal. She latched on like a pro. She then had her first bath, given by a nurse and Jamie in the nursery.

By around noon, things had seemed to calm down. Eddie and Jamie had decided they wanted to pull Josie out of school early. Sammy picked her up and dropped her off at the hospital.

"Oh, mom, she's beautiful." Josie said, as she entered the room and saw the tiny bundle of pink.

"She looks a little bit like you. Do you wanna hold her?" Eddie asked.

Josie simply nodded. She sat down in a chair next to the bed, and Jamie carefully handed her the baby.

"What's her name?" Josie asked, not looking up from her baby sister.

"We took your name suggestion into consideration. We decided to name her Aurora Marie Reagan." Eddie announced proudly.

"Hi little Aurora. I'm your big sister."