The weeks flew by with the Song family practicing sign language and learning as much as possible before the baby arrived.
On the night of a school museum sleepover trip, Arthur had gotten picked up by Vastra so the Doctor and River could have (presumably) one last weekend alone before the imminent arrival of their fourth baby.
A weekend alone, however, didn't actually mean many outings. The parents were quite tired from taking care of the kids and the Doctor kept wanting to get ready for their new addition. He told his wife he felt the need to nest. So as it was, the first day of the weekend consisted of the Timelord cleaning the house, rearranging the nursery, and giving his wife foot rubs.
River had taken the task of cleaning the house quite seriously. In her late stage of pregnancy, her instincts were kicking into overdrive and she wanted every bit of the house spotless and perfect. With the two of them in such a state, it didn't actually take very long to get the house looking like they were expecting the Queen.
River was on her third round of reorganizing the nursery late on Saturday, unable to sleep. She was feeling restless and uncomfortable and in all honesty her back was killing her. Fussing with the nursery seemed to be the only suitable distraction.
Most of the cats had joined her, except Samantha who was keeping River's spot on the bed warm. They seemed to be quite amused by the strange going-abouts of the Timelady.
While River normally wouldn't have minded, the presences of the cats only frustrated her, making her want to vacuum the room yet again since they were getting fur all over her pristine nursery. Mr Thomas was particularly irritating as he wanted to climb on the shelves and jump in the cot.
After several unsuccessful attempts to remove the cats from the room, River huffed in frustration. She was tempted to call for the Doctor, though she didn't want to worry him. She suspected that he was already anxious since she had been carrying so low for the past few days.
Tiber jumped in the cot as well. Both the cats settled there and curled up, though it was really the one spot both parents wanted to keep particularly clean. River had had it after that, "Doctor!"
It was a good minute before her sleepy looking husband stumbled into the nursery with nothing on but his shirt and pants and sonic.
"They won't leave!" She crossed her arms, trying not to get so upset over such a trivial thing.
He squinted over at the cats and pulled himself over to the cot. He then unceremoniously scooped Tiber up, put him on the floor, then pointed to the door and muttered, "Out."
The cat didn't listen, running to the other side of the room to sit on the rocking chair. The Doctor sighed and tried the other cat, hoping he might be a bit more susceptible. Mr Thomas cat scooted away from his hands, nestling further away in the cot.
He straightened up and looked at River, wake enough now to ask questions. "Why are you up?"
"I couldn't sleep." She murmured.
He gave her a sympathetic look, before glancing back at the cats. "I don't know if I can get them out."
"But they're making a mess." She huffed, pinching the bridge of her nose.
Wanting to ease his wife's frustration, he tried again and picked up Mr Thomas. The cat squirmed and whined, not happy to be removed from his spot. The Doctor shushed him and deposited him in the hall. Tiber watched from his seat.
"The whole cot has to be rewashed." River said.
"I think a one of those sticky de-linter things would do the trick."
She nodded slowly, "You go back to bed, I'll do it."
He shook his head. "I want to help."
"Are you sure? You look tired."
"So do you." He smiled softly. "But, really, it's fine. I'm happy to."
"How about we go to bed after we clean up the cot and finish the rest in the morning?"
He nodded. "Sounds good."
They cleaned out the cot, making sure it was spotless before heading to bed.
"River?" The Doctor murmured as they settled in bed.
"Hmm?"
"Let's go out for breakfast tomorrow. I think we need to get out of the house. "
"Okay." She nodded, "I don't think Vastra had had us cleaning the house in mind when she offered to take Arthur for the weekend so we could have alone time."
He chuckled, "I suppose not."
She leaned in to kiss him. "I love you."
He smiled. "I love you, too."
River settled in for sleep, drifting off, though it was only two hours later when she woke again. Samantha was sitting nearly on her head, enjoying her warmth.
River had awoken due to an uncomfortable pang in her side, wincing and shifting in bed. The Doctor stirred slightly as the shift, but not as much as Samantha did, who woke completely.
River settled back down, trying to fall back asleep, only to feel another hardening pain some short while later.
Samantha stood and attempted to get to the other side of the bed walking across River's chest. River shooed the cat away, trying to silently breath through the what she hoped was only Braxton-Hicks.
The cat meowed and jumped over her, landing claws extended on the Doctor. He woke quickly. River shut her eyes, trying to even out her breathing, pretending to be asleep. She didn't want him to worry about her.
He sat up and rubbed the new scratches on him, scolding the cat. He looked at River, her illusion convincing him. He settled against her, arm finding its way around her as he tried to go back to sleep.
River spent the next few hours trying to breathe through her contractions in silence, thinking she could manage on her own and let her husband get some more sleep. Finally, after three hours, she decided to wake her husband. "Doctor..."
"Hmm?" He hummed, not truly awake.
"Doctor, the baby's coming." She whispered, shaking him a bit harder.
He shot up, eyes wide open. "What?"
She didn't answer, pausing to deal with another contraction. He was suddenly scrambling out of bed so he could get to her other side and offer a hand.
She clutched his hand, giving him a weak smile, "Awake now?"
He nodded quickly. "Has your water broke?"
She shook her head, "Not yet."
He let out a breath. "Alright. Okay. Um, how long have you been having contractions?"
"A few hours." She whispered, "I lost track on exactly how many."
"Why didn't you wake me?"
"I figured I could handle it for at least a few hours."
"I have no doubt in your ability to handle things, but you don't have to do it alone." He murmured. "Let's get you up. Can you walk?"
She nodded, "Of course, I haven't progressed that much." She slowly sat up getting out of bed.
He helped her stand and started to lead her from the room. "So, is there a certain way you want to do this?"
"I'd rather not be in the medbay." She whispered, hesitating in front of the TARDIS.
He stopped with her. "Why not?"
"I just… I don't want to be in there." She whispered.
"Okay." He murmured. "Do you have a thought to somewhere else you'd want to be?"
"In a real bed, not on a cot. Actually, in our room."
He nodded and they started towards their TARDIS bedroom. The walk was slow, but they soon made it.
River lay down, breathing heavily, "Can you check everything?"
"I'll start with your dilation." He said, moving to the end of the bed. She nodded, closing her eyes. He tried to be quick.
"Just over two centimeters. This is going to be a while." He reported. "How are you feeling."
"Tired." She murmured, "I could have used a few more hours of sleep."
"I'm afraid I can't do anything about that, but if the contractions are far enough apart you might be able to rest some." He rose and looked around for things to check her vitals with.
"I know." She murmured, "Can you check the baby's position?"
He nodded, finding the materials he needed and returning to her side to do as she asked. She grabbed his arm just as he touched her, feeling another contraction. He waited, holding her hand again. "Breathe."
"I am."
He quieted himself. Her muscles relaxed as the pain subsided. He moved to check the baby's position, prodding gently at her belly.
"Is everything okay?" She asked softly. He didn't answer, still feeling around. "Doctor?" She frowned slightly.
"Huh? Oh, um... no." He frowned. "It think.. Well, their head is at your ribs."
She swallowed, paling a bit, "Can you do anything to fix it?"
"Not sure yet. You're still in very early stages and the baby might turn on their own if you walk around and what not. If they're still breach when it's time to push I could try manually turning them, or you could try delivering breach."
"I want to walk around first and try and get the baby to move." She murmured, already starting to sit up. He offered his support in helping her up.
She accepted his help and the two slowly paced the room.
"You know, I think Baby has a good sense of timing." He said.
"Why do you think that?"
"Well, of all the days, they decide it's time to come out on the weekend we seem most prepared on. I mean, they could've chosen to come in the middle of a trip to Dundenbar for all convenience." He paused. "I think I had a dream about that..."
She froze, a pained look coming in her eyes, though it was different from when we was having contractions, "I think I did too..."
"That's odd." He watched her. "What's wrong?"
"I don't know..." She admitted.
He tucked a curl behind her ear. "I'm here if you figure it out."
"I know." She whispered.
He gave her a quick kiss. "Well my point is that I'm glad we're pretty prepared for the moment."
She nodded slowly, "Me too."
He helped her get back to pacing, trying to talk about something else to keep her distracted. She submitted to his distractions and the two paced circles around their bedroom.
This went on for some number of hours and got from the topics of gardening to Felix Yusopov. Eventually River had to sit again, at which point they decided to recheck the baby's position.
"They've turned a bit, but not enough." He sighed. She bit her lip, nodding slowly. "There's still time." He tried to assure.
"Yes, but not much." She had slowly begun to feel pressure build in the past half hour, which meant that her water was going to break soon.
He didn't want to suggest walking again since he knew she was getting tired. "Why don't you try a few different positions and see if it helps."
"Okay." She nodded, "What do you suggest would be best?"
"Maybe kneeling and leaning on the bed? Or just being on all fours; that can help with the pain a bit, too."
She moved so she was on all fours on the floor, breathing deeply. "I don't know what I'd do without you."
"Well, you wouldn't be in labor with our fourth child for one thing." He teased, moving next to her so he could rub her back.
She smiled weakly, "That's certainly tru-gha!"
He murmured to her about breathing, hoping it would help. She breathed through the pain, though she was growing frustrated as the process seemed to be moving slower than she'd liked.
He applied pressure to her lower back, knowing it was a spot that needed it. She whimpered as the pain got worse, reaching for his hand. He clasped their hands together, wincing at her grip.
"The pressure's getting worse." She breathed, wanting to get up and walk again.
"It just means your water will break soon." He said.
"I know. In case you've forgotten I've done this several times."
"Yes, sorry, I'm aware. I was there, too. All four other times."
"Three."
"Huh?"
"Three other times. You said four."
"Oh."
"Can you go fetch some ice?" She asked, "We're going to need it later and I'd rather you get it now."
"Course." He nodded and left to go get it.
He hadn't been gone for more than a minute when her water broke, "Doctor!"
There were quite a bit of scrambling sound from down the hall before he rushed back in the room with a cup and a single ice cube. "What is it? Are you okay?"
"M-My water just broke." She breathed, leaning against the wall, clutching her stomach.
He put the cup down and hurried to her side to help her to the bed. "I'm going the check your dilation again." She nodded, though she kept his hand in a death grip, not wanting to let go.
He did his best to maneuver with just one hand, checking her cervix. "Only five and a half."
She groaned in frustration, "How is it only five and a half? It doesn't usually take this long. It's got to have been at least seven hours by now."
"You've never had a baby with this body, Riv." He said as soothingly as he could. "By biological terms, this is your first labour and first labours tend to be long."
She scowled, falling silent.
"So much for going out for breakfast." He murmured, shifting next to her.
"I'm afraid breakfast alone won't be happening for quite a while." She murmured.
"I guessed as much. Should I finished getting the ice?"
She nodded, "I can come too."
"Alright." He helped her stand.
She walked slowly with him to the kitchen, leaning against him. He kept his arm wrapped around her. The TARDIS made the kitchen close for them, only a few rooms down.
"Do you think we're having a boy or a girl?" River asked.
"Couldn't say." He shrugged, fetching a new cup and more ice cubes. "Doesn't matter to me."
She smiled, "Arthur says he thinks it's a puppy."
He laughed, crushing the ice into chips with a second cup. "That's certainly one guess."
"Yes, but something tells me he's going to be wrong on that one."
"I would have to agree with you on that." He nodded, handing her the cup of ice chips.
"Can we rest here for a bit?"
"Course." He nodded.
They ended up staying for over an hour, talking and resting. The Doctor periodically rose to make more ice chips when the other batches kept melting or being consumed.
Rivers contractions we're getting closer and closer together and it was clear she was getting more anxious. After a couple hours in the kitchen, they went slowly back to the bedroom, the Doctor holding his wife close.
She squeezed his hand a bit tighter now and forgot to breathe more often. He started reminding her to do so more, imagining this was all much more frustrating for her.
Her contractions were progressing much faster her than her dilation was and the baby still wasn't turned. The Doctor was growing concerned. River could tell that her husband was worried, which only caused her more anxiety, "What's wrong?" She asked for probably the third time.
He only told her as calmly as possible the same thing he'd told her before. "Just progressing a bit slowly."
"But what does that mean?" She knew there was more to what he was saying or else he wouldn't be acting the way he was.
"You're not as dilated as you ought to be for how close your contractions are."
"And so what's going to happen?"
"It could, um, cause some problems pushing..."
She swallowed, "Is there anything we can do?"
"Not really. Pushing early wouldn't be a problem if the baby was in the right position. Maybe you can talk to them?"
"I could try, but the baby doesn't understand much of what I say."
"It's all we can do for the moment." He encouraged.
She closed her eyes, trying to tell their baby to move. Dark grey was the only response. "Doctor, I don't think that baby understands..."
"May I try?" He asked, placing his hands on her middle. She nodded.
He started gentle pressing movements, trying to manually turn the child. River held her breath as the baby started to move. About halfway to the position they needed to be in, the baby decided it had had enough and kicked at the Doctor's touch in protest.
He frowned. "Come on, dearie..."
The baby settled into its new position, thinking it was done moving. He sighed. "How's the pressure?"
"Getting worse."
"How bad exactly?"
"Like I should be pushing soon, but I'm only seven centimeters."
He nodded his acknowledgment. "I think you should try to wait and get those extra centimeters. If you really can't wait that long then I'll try to internally turn them."
She nodded, gripping his hand. He squeezed back. "We ought to call Vastra, let her know you're having the baby."
"Can you get the phone?" She whispered.
He nodded, going over to fetch it.
