Finish
"How long has it been now?" Sam moaned, trying to steady her breathing as she unclenched her husband's hand.
"About ten hours, baby," Freddie said gently, making no complaint about the throbbing pain in his own hand.
Sam moaned and leaned back against the pillows of her hospital bed. "Why's this kid taking so long to get here?"
Freddie gave her a sympathetic smile as he wiped her sweat-covered brow. "Why don't you try to get some sleep? It's two in the morning. Carly and your mom and everybody else will be back at eight so you should take advantage of this time and rest up."
"How do you expect me to sleep? I have a person coming out of me!" Sam snapped. "God…this hurts so much. That last contraction was the worst one yet. Think that means I'm getting close?"
"Your contractions are still pretty far apart," Freddie replied. "The doctor said he thinks it's still going to be awhile."
Sam let out another moan, and Freddie soothingly rubbed her shoulder. "You need anything? More ice chips? Pillows? I can try to find something on T.V. or-"
"No," Sam said, shaking her head, still catching her breath from the last contraction.
Freddie kissed her temple. "I wish I could do something more. But you're doing so great."
"You could tell your kid to hurry it up," Sam mumbled.
Just then the hospital room door opened and Freddie's mom stepped in, dressed in her nurse scrubs.
"Mom? You're not assigned to Sam," Freddie frowned.
"Her nurse had to run off to an emergency C-section," Marissa explained. "So I'm going to cover for awhile. Won't that be fun?"
Freddie glanced nervously down at his wife, anticipating her protests at this arrangement. But before she could object, she grabbed Freddie's hand and let out a loud grunt of pain as another contraction rippled through her body.
Marissa quickly took her other hand and let her daughter-in-law squeeze tightly.
"You're doing amazing, Sam," Freddie said as Sam continued to cry out. "You can do this."
"This is the worst," Sam gasped once the contraction was finally done, releasing Freddie and Marissa's hands. "This is the most painful thing ever!"
"It's okay, Sam," Freddie said. "It's-"
"Oh shut up, Freddie!" Sam said. "You wouldn't be saying it was okay if you were the one dealing with this!"
"She's quite right, Freddie," Marissa nodded, pulling out her clipboard. "You should really try to be more sensitive."
"But I-I-" Freddie stuttered.
"How far apart are her contractions now?" Marissa asked, looking at Sam's chart.
"Um…four minutes," Freddie replied, checking his phone.
"Why's this taking so long?" Sam asked as Freddie helped her take some ice chips into her mouth.
"Some deliveries take longer than others, I'm afraid," Marissa said, giving Sam a rare, warm smile. "Do you want me to get you some more pillows, dear? They might make you a little more comfortable."
"Yeah…Yeah that'd be great," Sam nodded.
"I offered to get you more pillows five minutes ago!" Freddie pointed out.
"You're the reason I'm in all this pain right now!" Sam snapped. "You've done enough!"
Freddie resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He turned to his mom. "Do you have any idea how much longer she has until she can start pushing?"
"I can't say for sure, but from looking at her chart, I'd say at least another six hours," Marissa replied.
"Six hours?" Sam repeated, her eyes widening. "No! That-That's an eternity!"
"I'm sorry, honey," Marissa said. "But just remember, at the end of all of this, you're going to get the best gift…a brand new baby."
Sam nodded slowly. "Okay…thanks, Marissa."
"I'll be back with your pillows in a little bit," Marissa smiled. "Freddie, you really need to work on your bedside manner. Your wife is having your child right now."
"But I'm not-" Freddie defended, but his mother had already turned and headed out of the room.
"That's one thing I'm really gonna miss," Sam sighed. "Your mom has been ten times nicer to me since I became pregnant."
"Well, maybe once she's officially a grandmother she'll be just as pleasant," Freddie pointed out.
Sam reached over and took his hand again.
"You having another contraction?" Freddie asked.
"No…I just wanted to hold you hand," Sam said. She gave him a weak smile. "Sorry for yelling at you earlier…you've been so supportive during this."
"Well like my mom said, you're having our child right now," Freddie chuckled. "You're allowed to yell at me as much as you want."
Sam let out another long breath. "I don't think I can do this for another six hours…"
"I know it's hard, Sam," Freddie said. "But if anybody can do it, it's you. You're so strong."
….
"Ow!" Sam yelled several hours later as she gripped Freddie's hand. "Ow, ow, ow, ow!"
"She's really been in labor for twenty-one hours now?" Carly said, shocked, as Sam caught her breath from her latest contraction.
"Twenty-one hours and forty-six minutes," Freddie nodded, massaging his own hand.
"This kid's goal is to break me," Sam said, her face glistening with sweat.
"Your contractions are only two minutes apart now," Freddie said. "You've got to be close…"
"So it really hurts as much as they say?" Carly asked Sam.
"Carly…imagine trying to squeeze a watermelon out of a hole the size of bagel," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "And then multiply that pain by about a million."
"Ouch…" Carly winced.
"I'm so tired," Sam moaned. "But there's no possible way to sleep through all of this. All I've had to eat is ice chips and everything hurts! Where's the stupid doctor? I've got to be ten centimeters dilated by now."
"He'll be back in an hour," Freddie assured her.
"No! Get him in here now!" Sam snapped.
Carly stood up. "I'll go find him, Sam. Don't worry."
"Thank you," Freddie said gratefully to Carly.
"My mom…" Sam said slowly, shaking her head. "Gave birth to twins on a bus in less than twenty minutes. I've been here for over twenty hours and haven't even had one kid yet. What gives?"
"Well you remember what my mom said earlier," Freddie said. "Every delivery is different."
"Why's mine got to take forever?" Sam asked heavily. "This is-ah! Ugh, that's another contraction!"
"Okay, okay, take my hand," Freddie said quickly, thinking to himself that he was going to need an x-ray once this was all over.
"Ah!" Sam yelled. "Dear God this hurts like a-"
"I was told I was needed in here?" Sam's doctor suddenly said, walking into the room.
"When's this baby gonna get here?" Sam yelled, her face bright red.
"She-She's experiencing some discomfort with these contractions," Freddie said quickly. "But they're close together now! About two minutes apart."
"That's good, she's making progress," the doctor nodded, looking at her chart. "But we can't bring her into the delivery room until they're even closer. About thirty seconds apart. I'd say you've got another hour. Things usually start moving a little quicker now."
"That's good, Sam!" Freddie said brightly, looking at his wife. "You hear that? You're almost there!"
Sam nodded. "So…So I'm almost done? The baby's almost here?"
"That's right," the doctor smiled. "I'll be in to check on you again soon. You're doing great, Mrs. Benson."
"Well there you go!" Freddie said happily as the doctor left. "You're so close Sam! Isn't that-Sam?"
Sam was looking down at her lap, lost in thought.
Freddie frowned. He knew his wife, and something was bothering her. And it wasn't the pain from the contractions.
"What is it?" he asked softly, putting an arm around her.
"It-It's almost here," Sam said slowly. "The baby…"
"Yeah," Freddie said. "See? I told you that you could get through this."
"I-I'm almost a mom," Sam went on, still staring off. "Oh my God…"
"Sam?" Freddie said. "Sam, are you okay?"
"I-no!" Sam said, shaking her head. She looked up at Freddie and he could see that she looked almost panicked. "No, Freddie, I-I can't do this!"
"What? Sam, you've made it this far!" Freddie said. "Twenty one hours…I know you can handle another-"
"No, I-I'm not talking about giving birth," Sam said. "I'm talking about…I'm talking about being a mom! Oh my God, Freddie, I can't do it! I can't, I can't, I-ah!"
Another contraction course through her body and Freddie dutifully took her hand yet again and let her squeeze throughout the pain. When the contraction finally ended, Freddie gently tilted her chin up so she was looking directly at him.
"Sam…Sam what are you talking about?" he asked. "Of course you can be a mom."
"No, I can't!" Sam retorted. "I-I'm not qualified!"
"Not qualified?" Freddie repeated.
"I'm not responsible!" Sam said, tears beginning to form in her eyes. "I-I'm lazy and sloppy and mean! Mom's are supposed to be the opposite of all of that!"
"Sam," Freddie frowned. "Sam, you-you're not any of those things. You're going to be a wonderful mom."
"You have to say that," Sam said, wiping her eyes. "You're my husband; it's your job. But come on, I-I'm not the mothering type. I'm not good with kids! This poor baby is going to be born to a mom who-who's a complete moron! Freddie, I-I can't do this! I'm going to be a terrible mom and-and-ah!"
She squeezed tightly onto Freddie's hand, going through her lengthiest contraction yet.
"Sam, listen to me," Freddie said once the contraction was done. He wiped his wife's sweat-covered forehead. "You are going to be a great mom."
"But I-"
"Sam, these past nine months you've done everything possible to prepare for this baby," Freddie said. "You've read every book, you've gone to parenting classes, you spent hours getting the nursery ready. You even spent a bunch of afternoons with my mom letting her give you childcare advice!"
"Just because I did all that doesn't mean I can be a good mom," Sam sniffed.
"But Sam, why did you do all of that?" Freddie asked. "I mean those parenting classes were at eight in the morning for six weekends straight, those books were longer than any textbook we had in school, the nursery took forever to get done, and I know getting any advice at all from my mom is pure torment."
"Well yeah," Sam nodded. "But-But I love this baby and I just want-"
"Exactly," Freddie smiled. "You love our baby so much already. You have from the second you found out you were pregnant. That's what's going to make you a good mom; just your willingness to love our baby and give him or her whatever it needs."
"But what if I mess up?" Sam whispered.
Freddie kissed her softly. "You won't. I know you better than anyone, Sam. And I know when you're committed to something, you're unstoppable. And you're already so committed to this child…you've been in labor for over twenty hours!"
Sam didn't reply.
"This baby is already the luckiest kid on the planet, and it's not even here yet," Freddie continued. "Because it's going to have you as its mother."
…..
A few hours later, Sam sat in her hospital bed, still very sore, though feeling much better from not having contractions course through her body.
Giving birth was definitely the most painful thing she had ever done, but…she would do it all again if she had to.
The end result was definitely worth it.
A small whimper sounded from the plastic crib next to her bed, and she quickly turned and saw her newborn son begin to stir.
"Oh come here," she whispered, gently picking the infant up. "I've got you, sweetie. Come to mommy."
Once in Sam's arms, the infant's cries subsided at once, and Sam couldn't help but smile. She glanced over at Freddie, who was fast asleep in the chair next to her bed.
He had been so supportive…He never left her side once during the entire birthing process.
"Hi," Sam said softly, gently stroking her child's head. "Man…you really took forever to get here, didn't you? But that's okay. You were worth the wait, weren't you?"
She kissed the top of his blonde head.
"I love you so much," Sam continued. "Just remember that, okay? I might not be the perfect mom, but…I'm gonna do my best. Plus you've got a really awesome daddy too, so between the two of us…you're gonna be just fine. I promise."
