"Hey Claudia. How's the baby?" Claudia Stilinski's boss, Erica asked as she passed by Claudia's desk, looking at the noticeable baby bump under her shirt.
"He'll be here in two months. You're still OK with me taking maternity leave next week, right?" Claudia asked, as she felt her son kick her stomach.
"Absolutely. Tell Noah I said congratulations." Erica smiled, leading Claudia to nod before turning back to her work as her phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Hey sweetheart. How're you doing?" Noah Stilinski, her husband, asked with general concern in his voice.
"Noah, I'm fine. I promise. You know I'm taking maternity leave next week, but I'm gonna have to ask if you could stop calling me every hour to make sure our son and I are OK."
"How's every half hour?"
"Noah!" Claudia exclaimed with a chuckle.
"I'm sorry, I'm just nervous about him." Noah admitted.
"It's alright, baby. I'm-" Claudia paused as a sharp pain hit her back and her stomach at the same time, making her hiss slightly.
"Claudia? Are you OK?"
Claudia breathed in deeply as she felt another sharp pain in her back again.
"I think Mieczyslaw is coming now."
"Do you want me to pick you up?" Noah asked, as she heard him shuffling out of the police station and to his car.
"No, I'll get Laura to drive me. Just grab mine and Mieczyslaw's stuff and head to Beacon Hills Memorial, OK?"
"Alright, just be safe. I love you so much." Noah told her before hanging up as Claudia stood up, feeling another contraction as she walked into Erica's office.
"Is something wrong, Claudia?"
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm in labor and I was wondering if you could let Laura off and ask her if she can drive." Claudia replied, her hands around her baby bump as Erica nodded, as she explained everything to Laura.
"How bad is the pain?" Laura asked as she gently held Claudia's arm and led her out of the office building.
"From what I've heard about childbirth, it's not bad yet."
"Kay, we're at the car." Laura told her as she helped Claudia in before climbing into the driver's seat, starting the car. "Did you call Noah yet?"
"Yeah, I did." Claudia smiled slightly before wrapping her arm around her baby bump.
When they had gotten to the hospital, Laura was full on supporting Claudia to get her in the building, while helping her breathe through the contractions just as Noah pulled up, helping Laura bring her in.
"Excuse me, ma'am." Noah asked the receptionist, who turned around. "I'm Noah Stilinski, and this is my wife Claudia and her co-worker, Laura. Can you bring us a wheelchair and is Dr. Adams here?"
"Sure, and yes, he is. I'll let him know you're here." She smiled before walking away.
"Claudia, I'm gonna head home. Let me know when Mieczyslaw gets here. Congratulations again."
"Thank you, and we will." Noah smiled as Laura left just as a nurse, her name tag reading "Melissa" as she helped Claudia sit down before taking her to labor and delivery, Noah following behind as his wife let out the first of many screams.
"Alright, Claudia. Nancy is gonna take you from here to get you ready." Melissa smiled before helping Claudia out of the wheelchair as Nancy lead her back into a room while Melissa walked away with the wheelchair.
That's when it hit Noah. He was gonna have a son. He was gonna be a father. His and Claudia's lives were gonna change forever in a matter of hours.
"Alright, Noah. You can come see your wife now." Nancy smiled, emerging from the door a few minutes later.
Noah stood up immediately, walking into the room where his wife was now in a light blue gown with a blanket covering her legs as he sat down beside her, gently grasping her hand as she squeezed tightly, sucking in a deep breath, before exhaling a few seconds later.
"Sorry."
"Hey, you're the one bringing our son into the world, I'd gladly take that with you doing the work." Noah smiled as Dr. Adams came in.
"So Baby Stilinski is on the way, huh?"
Claudia nodded as Dr. Adams ordered a ultrasound while checking her dilation.
"Well, you're at a 5, so halfway there. You are able to have a epidural whenever you want unless the head is crowning, which, it isn't."
"Can we please do that as soon as possible?" Claudia begged as Dr. Adams nodded before leaving to go get the anesthesiologist.
...
"Are you feeling better now that the epidural is in, Claudia?" Noah asked as he looked at the IV in and the monitors on his wife's body.
"So much better." She nodded with a slightly drunken like smile before her face turned serious again. "They are gonna try and see if I can deliver him since he is breech naturally as well as try to flip him or if we're gonna have a c-section."
"No matter what, we'll have our Mieczyslaw." Noah smiled, running his thumb over Claudia's knuckles as Dr. Adams came back to try and flip him over.
"So if we end up having him breech and he doesn't turn, what would the conditions have to be so we wouldn't have to have a c-section?" Claudia asked.
"Well, he doesn't have any medical complications, and the placenta is a fairly good size, not to mention the only other thing that would matter is size, but since he's premature, that shouldn't be a problem. We'll try to flip him, but he could be born breech if it comes down to it."
Claudia nodded as Dr. Adams and a few of the nurses started to try and flip the baby.
...
"It didn't work, Claudia." Dr. Adams announced as he checked her dilation. "You're at a ten and he's still gonna come out feet first, but Dr. Johnson has experience delivering breech babies, so she will be in here in a minute to explain everything while the nurses get you set up."
"Thank you for everything, Dr. Adams."
"My pleasure." He smiled as Dr. Johnson walked in while a few nurses were getting her ready.
"You must be Claudia and Noah Stilinski. Dr. Adams told me your son is breech, correct?"
Claudia and Noah both nodded as the doctor continued.
"Now, when you're pushing, you have to push really hard, but you also need to be gentle, since his head and neck will come out last and it's the most delicate." She then sat down in front of Claudia's parted legs. "Push whenever you're ready."
Claudia gripped onto Noah's hand and barred down, screaming as she did so.
"Good job, Claudia." Nancy, the nurse from earlier congratulated as Claudia continued to push, only stopping to breathe.
Half a hour later, they got the news from Dr. Johnson that they could see his legs as she continued to push.
"Alright Claudia. One more push and he'll be here."
Claudia nodded, gripping onto Noah's hand as hard as possible, taking a deep breath and pushed down with all her strength until she felt something be expelled and no more pain, with a loud scream filling the room a split second lager, leading Claudia to burst into tears while Nancy laid the pale skinned, red faced, dark haired baby on her chest, Noah reaching over to look his son in the eyes.
"Welcome to the world, Mieczyslaw."
They took Mieczyslaw a few minutes later to get him checked out while Noah kissed Claudia.
"I love you so much."
"I love you more, but go be with your son, Noah. I'll be fine." Claudia insisted as Noah nodded, squeezing her hand one last time before following the nurses to where Mieczyslaw was being wiped off and not enjoying it.
Noah gently wrapped his now gloved hand around his son's, a large smile on his face as he stopped crying while he whispered.
"I'll never let anyone hurt you, Mieczyslaw Daniel Stilinski, even if it means you lose me."