A/N I promised you baby girl Thornton, so here she is :)
...
"Look at you." Abigail smiled when I walked through the door. "You look great."
"I don't feel it, but thank you."
"How much longer do you have before she's due?"
"Two and a half weeks, give or take." I took off my coat and helped Teddy into a chair.
"Oh, you're getting so close. That's exciting."
"Yeah." I smiled and nodded, touching my stomach. "I can't wait to meet her."
"And to have her out of you?"
I chuckled. "A little bit." I took a seat next to Teddy. "Although I know I'll miss feeling her little kicks and when she gets the hiccups."
She looked over my shoulder, her eyes unfocused as she was pulled back into a memory. "It is a special thing to be able to feel your baby inside you." She cleared her throat and returned her gaze to me. "Is, uh, is Jack coming?"
"Yes. Could you get a coffee for him, a tea for me, and some milk for Teddy?"
"Anything to eat?"
"I think I'll wait until Jack gets here. He should be here any minute."
"Okay. I'll go get those drinks for you."
Just after she disappeared through the door to the kitchen, Jack walked up.
"Hey, Beth." He kissed my cheek and slipped into the chair across from me.
"Dada!" Teddy climbed down from his chair and toddled over to Jack.
"Hey, little man." He lifted Teddy onto his lap. "I missed you today. Did you have fun at daycare?"
Teddy nodded, reaching around Jack and into his coat pockets. "Car?"
Jack rifled around the coat pocket and pulled out a little wooden car. He chuckled, handing it to Teddy. "How did that get in there, bud?"
"So, I guess we should start checking our pockets to see if Teddy left us presents." I laughed. "You're silly, Teddy Bear."
He had stopped paying attention to us, just focusing on the car he was rolling back and forth across the table in front of him.
"How was work, babe?"
"Good. Long. It was mostly full of paperwork, so nothing too exciting. What about you? How was your day?"
"A little crazy, but good. It's always that way right before a break." I brought my hand to my stomach when the baby started kicking. "It's strange to think I won't be back at work until after baby girl is born."
"It's strange to think she could come any day now."
"Any day." I shook my head. "This pregnancy has gone by so quickly. I can't believe we're so close to meeting her."
...
I turned away from the stove when I heard Jack enter the kitchen. I grinned at the sight of him with his hair sticking up, his eyes still sleepy.
"Good morning, sleepyhead."
"Morning. Is there coffee?"
"It's ready to go. You just have to turn it on."
"Thank you." He retrieved a mug from the cabinet and placed it beneath the coffee maker before turning it on.
"Jack, I feel kind of bad that your mom is coming here. She's come to town so many times the past few months. We could've gone to her place."
"She offered to come here." He slipped his arms around me, resting his hands on my stomach. "She said she didn't want you to be stuck in a car for that long so close to your due date."
"It's only two hours. It would've been fine."
"Two hours one way. Then another two hours coming back. Besides, you could go into labor at any time, and if we went to the city and you went into labor there, you could end up with a random doctor delivering Em instead of Faith."
"Well, I guess. But still, I feel bad."
"Hey." He kissed my temple. "She loves coming here. Don't worry about it."
I sighed. "Okay."
"If you really think about it, it's probably better for us to have Thanksgiving here anyway. If we went to mom's, she would feel obligated to cook, and we all know how that would turn out." He raised his eyebrows and chuckled, taking a sip from his now-full mug.
I laughed. "Good point."
"Speaking of cooking, it smells great in here."
"Thank you."
"Anything I can do to help?"
"Hm," I put a finger to my chin, pretending to think hard, "you could start by putting on an apron. It's been so long since I've seen you wear one."
He furrowed his brow. "I wore one three days ago."
"Exactly. That was so long ago."
He shook his head and smiled, reaching into the pantry to grab an apron. "You're adorable."
...
"Okay, and to end Teddy's first real Thanksgiving meal, here comes his first bite of gooey butter cake." Jack brought the fork up to Teddy's mouth.
Before he even swallowed, he was reaching for the fork again, wanting another bite. "Mm. More."
"Like father, like son." Charlotte laughed. "Jack has always had a sweet tooth."
"This gooey butter cake is half the reason I married Elizabeth." He winked at me, helping Teddy with another bite.
I shrugged. "Well, there is that cliché that says the way to a man's heart is through his stomach."
"In my case, that's true." He grinned and patted his stomach.
"Dada, more." Teddy reached out toward him again.
"You might as well just let him feed himself. He's going to need a bath tonight, anyway."
"Well, little man, have at it." Jack scraped the remainder of the piece of cake onto the high chair tray.
Within just a few minutes, Teddy was covered head to toe in crumbs, having completely devoured the entire piece of cake. "More."
"No more, Teddy."
He looked at me and stuck out his lower lip.
"I'm sorry, Teddy. It's all gone."
"Why don't I go get him in the bath?" Charlotte offered, trying to find something to take his mind off of food.
"That would be great. Thank you."
She rounded the table and lifted Teddy from the high chair. "Do you want some bubbles in your bath?"
"Yes!"
"Let's go, then!" She carried him up the stairs; he giggled all the way.
Jack started clearing the plates from the table. "I'll clean since you did most of the cooking."
"No, I can help." I felt a jolt in my belly and brought my hand to rest above the baby. "Oh."
"Elizabeth?" He set the plates back down and hurried to my side, putting his hand beside mine. "Are you okay? Is it the baby? Are you in labor?"
I chuckled. "Calm down, Jack. She just has the hiccups right now, and it surprised me. I promise I'll tell you when I'm in labor."
"As soon as it starts. Okay?"
I nodded. "As soon as it starts. I promise."
...
Just over two weeks after Thanksgiving, I woke in the middle of the night, feeling like something was off. I lay still, trying to shake the feeling. A few minutes later, a contraction rolled through me, stronger and more painful than the few that I had experienced in the previous days.
A little while later, another one hit. Then another.
"Jack." I nudged him gently.
"Hm?" His eyes stayed closed. "What time is it?"
"3:15."
"a.m.?" He groaned. "Why did you wake me up?"
"I think I'm in labor."
He sat up quickly, all thoughts of sleep clearly leaving his mind. "What can I do?"
I rubbed my stomach. "I think for now, just help me keep track of how frequent my contractions are. And we need to call Faith so she can get ready to meet us at the hospital."
"Have you had any contractions yet?"
I nodded. "One just before I woke you. I had a couple before that, too."
"Did your water break?"
"Not yet."
He brushed the hair back from my forehead, a smile playing on his lips. "We're going to meet our daughter today."
...
A couple of hours later, I paced the room, feeling restless. Jack came to my side when I leaned against the wall, another contraction taking hold.
"That one was six minutes after the last one. We should head to the hospital now."
"Mm, not yet."
"Beth, we really should go, unless you want to have this one in the bathtub, too." He put his hand on my back, helping me over to the bed. "I'm going to call Faith so she can head to the hospital, and then I'll wake your parents and let them know we're going. You just sit tight."
He grabbed his phone and returned to my side, rubbing my back as he called Faith.
"Hey, Faith, sorry to call so early, but we're about to head to the hospital." He paused as she responded. "Six minutes apart. I don't think her water has broken yet." He looked to me for confirmation; I shook my head. "She says it hasn't." Another pause. "Okay, we'll see you soon." He hung up and kissed my forehead. "She'll meet us there. I'll go update your parents."
Within forty-five minutes, we were checking into the hospital, one step closer to meeting our baby girl.
Faith arrived just a few minutes after I got settled in my room.
"Good morning. Happy baby day."
I smiled weakly, already exhausted from the contractions and my shortened night of sleep. "Please tell me this isn't going to take long."
"Let me just get washed up, and I'll take a look."
Jack held my hand while Faith checked my progress, his thumb moving in slow circles on my palm.
"Good news."
"I'm ready to push?"
"Not quite, but you're close. You're at eight centimeters, and your water just broke. She should be ready to come out soon." She took off her gloves. "Until then, just try to relax, which I know is better said than done." She chuckled. "I'll find the doctor who's on shift and send him by to meet you."
"Wait, I thought you were delivering the baby." A look of worry crossed Jack's face.
"I am. We like you guys to meet the doctor just in case—God forbid—an emergency happens and the baby ends up needing to be delivered by C-section." She put her hand on his arm. "Don't worry, Jack. Everything looks really good so far, and I don't foresee any emergencies arising. It's just a precaution. I promise."
"Oh." He let out a breath. "Okay."
He grasped my hand tightly once she left the room.
"Hey, it's okay, babe."
"I know, I just… I didn't think about the possibility of emergencies."
"I'll be fine. Baby girl will be fine." I squeezed his hand and gave him a smile. "We're in good hands, no matter what happens. I delivered Teddy in a bathtub during a tornado, so it's highly unlikely that anything that happens today will be scarier than that."
"You make a good point." He kissed the top of my head. "I love you, Beth."
...
An hour later, Jack sat behind me on the bed, rubbing my back as I worked through another contraction.
"I can't take this anymore. I need to push." I dropped back against his chest, breathing heavily. "Faith, please tell me I can push now."
"Lie back, and I'll check."
Jack rubbed my arm while Faith checked how far along I was. "We're getting so close, Beth."
"Not just close," Faith stood up, "Ten centimeters. You're ready to push."
"Oh, thank goodness."
It was less than half an hour before Faith announced that it would only take one more push before the baby would be fully born. Jack moved to the end of the bed, ready to see our daughter the moment she entered the world.
"And she's here." Faith held up the screaming baby.
She let Jack cut the cord before placing the baby on my chest and covering her with a towel.
"Hi, sweet girl. I love you so much." I struggled to see her through the tears in my eyes. "You have no idea how happy your daddy and I are that you're here."
Jack leaned down and kissed me as the baby's screams softened into whimpers. "You did great, Beth. I love you."
"I love you, too." I touched the baby's cheek. "Look at her, Jack. She's beautiful."
"She's perfect." He rubbed her back. "Hi, Em. I'm your daddy."
I looked up at him. "You can say her name now."
"I think it's just a habit to call her Em now." He chuckled. "It fits her. Baby Em."
...
A couple of hours later, I woke to find Jack sitting in the chair by the window, our daughter nestled in his arms. She looked so tiny against his chest, so delicate. He was singing softly to her, a smile playing on his lips.
"'I simply remember my favorite things, and then I don't feel so bad.'"
"The Sound of Music." I gave him a sleepy smile. "Glad you're starting her young."
"Hey," he whispered, meeting my eyes. "I didn't know you were awake."
"I just woke up." I held out my arms. "I should probably try nursing her again."
When he lowered her into my arms, she squirmed against my chest and started to whimper. It took a few tries, but soon, she was nursing happily, her tiny fingers flexing on my chest.
Jack grinned from ear to ear as he watched our daughter. He brushed his fingers across the top of her head, through her little wisps of dark hair. "I just can't believe she's finally here."
I nodded. "It feels like we waited so long for her."
"Our little peach. Thank you for her." He kissed me gently.
"You're welcome."
"So perfect. Emilia Elizabeth Thornton."