"Just breathe, Jennifer." I said soothingly as she grits her teeth as another fit befalls her.
"RRAHHH!" She screams before falling to the bed again in a sweaty mess. "Dan, I want them out of me." She confides to me weakly.
"You have to wait until you're fully dilated." I sigh back, rubbing her hand with both of my own.
"How dilated am I now?" She pants softly, unknowingly causing me to blush.
"I-I don't know. Um, nurse?" I called desperately, grabbing the attention of some portly, gray haired woman. "Can you check to see how far along my friend is here?" I nod towards Jennifer since my hands are clasping her own.
"Sure dearie, but wouldn't you said you're a bit more than friends?" She asked before prompting Jennifer's legs up and open for her to check. We both looked at each other and laughed.
"No, no, no, I'm just a surrogate." She explains weakly while I'm wiping my eyes.
"Oh." The nurse nods understandingly, but all we see is the tip of her head bobbing up and down over Jennifer's belly. Jennifer takes in a sharp inhale of breathe which grabs my attention immediately.
"I'm fine," she assured me "she just has cold hands." She whispers nodding to the nurse down south. I stifle a mix between laughter and upchuck as the woman's head pops up and informs us.
"The good news is your contractions are getting shorter, the bad news is that you're only three centimeters dilated." She then turns to the sink to wash her hands.
"And how many does she need to give birth?" I ask hesitantly.
"Ten." The nurse states with no sympathy.
"Ten?!" We both gawk at the same time.
"Ten." She reiterates before leaving.
"Dan, I don't think I can wait until ten." Jennifer grunts out the last of her newest pains. I didn't know what to tell her. Too bad and buck up? Don't worry, it'll all work out in the end? It can't be that bad? All these 'words of comfort' were just cliques. And the last would definitely earn me another slap no doubt. A helpful mother in the next bed over suggested that Jennifer try to walk around to dull the pain.
"I would walk around myself." The mother continued as I helped Jennifer rise to her unsteady feet. "But I had the epidural already and I-" She stopped speaking and scrunched up her face in pain but never let a scream or yell escape her. "That was a sharp one." She noted to herself before turning back to us for conversation, but we were already halfway out the door. "See you two later!" She called after us then laid back in the bed, ready for the next wave to hit at any moment.
"What's an epidural?" I asked Jennifer in whisper as we shuffled down the hall.
"It's when they give you a shot through your spine to cut all feeling from your waist down so it's easier to give birth." She explains while waddling down the hall, clinging to my arm for support.
"Childbirth is so... Exhausting." I thought out loud to which Jennifer gave a false, humored laugh and nudged me in the ribcage. "I'm just saying!" I defend myself. "What with all the drugs and treatments and breathing evenly; and you haven't even got to the birth part yet! I am amazed by what an amazing job you've done thus far." I confess to her.
"Daniel James Howell, don't bull shit me." She grunts but I think I notice she has turned a slightly pinker shade of worn out.
"Jennifer, I would never bull shit you; especially not today. Not on my children's birthday." I inform her when a voice, I have loved forever but that which has been silent for months, pops in saying:
"You mean MY children's birthday." We both turn to see Phil and PJ staring at the two people they loved most in their lives, but whom also ran away: us. Jennifer and I look at PJ and Phil, respectively. All, for once, is quiet.