Hello lovely readers. Thank you all so much for the reviews you are leaving on these prompts, I absolutely love reading them :)
This prompt was requested by Olivia25. I definitely feel like I got a little carried away here but I really hope this is what you were after. Thank you so much for requesting.
On a completely separate note, I uploaded a little epilogue for The Break Up Baby so if you were into that go and give it a read and let me know your thoughts.
Hope you all enjoy! xx
Driving home was often when Sheldon reflected on his life; a loving moment he had shared with Amy that had tugged at his heartstrings all day or an argument they had had that he now felt guilty over. Sometimes, Amy didn't consume his mind at all on the way home and his thoughts were taken over by work; why hadn't a theory come together the way he had wanted it to, what was missing? Or often it was a 'how the hell did I do that moment'. However, it was Amy on his mind on his drive home tonight.
She gave him a purpose. A reason to actually want to leave his work at Caltech and head home. He wanted to make sure she was okay and hear about her day. That purpose was and would continue to become even greater now that Amy was expecting their first child together, a little girl due in just over three weeks time. He thought about how different life would be coming home to Amy and a newborn baby, rushing home when they were a toddler because he didn't want to miss a single new thing she did. A huge milestone. Although the prospect of fatherhood excited him it also terrified him in equal measure.
He wanted to be a good father, more than anything he wanted to excel in that area like he did in all other areas in his life. Amy falling pregnant hadn't been the easiest of journeys and now that they were finally here, just weeks off welcoming their daughter he wanted to do the best job possible. However, he had zero clue of how to take care of a baby, he had no idea what to do. To his knowledge, babies cried all the time, how did you know what they needed? How did you soothe them? And most importantly how did you make them stop?
He knew they would be okay though because they had Amy. She would be the most incredible mother he had no doubt about that. No doubt at all. He often found himself thinking about how great she would be on his drive home. She was so gentle and kind and caring, she possessed may qualities that Sheldon knew would make her wonderful. Impending motherhood was something that she had instantly taken to, like it was always supposed to be, like the ability was there just waiting to be ignited. Her confidence and relaxed approach to anything baby related was something Sheldon wished he had.
—
"Hello" Sheldon voiced as he arrived home after a longer than normal drive that had left him tired and just about ready for bed. His mood didn't lift when he saw Amy stood in the kitchen, looking lovingly at whatever it was she was stirring on the stove. It was now that the aroma hit him, the strong, pungent smell that he was sure was already starting to make his eyes water. "Amy, what are you doing?" he asked.
"Well, I thought I would build a time machine so we could travel into the future" she looked up from the stove and flashed him a smile, a smile that he loved so much. Sheldon knew Amy well enough now to know that she was being sarcastic, a trait that had become a regular occurrence since she had reached the latter stage of her pregnancy.
"You know what I mean" Sheldon didn't seem very impressed. Ever since they had been told at their last appointment that now Amy was 36 weeks pregnant, baby could arrive any day, Sheldon had well and truly been on high alert.
"I'm cooking" she laughed. "Come here, I need your opinion on this sauce" she held up the wooden spoon beckoning him over to taste whatever it was that was causing his eyes to sting.
"Why are you cooking? You should be taking it easy" lecturing her like a child, he had placed her under strict instructions to not lift a finger. If he had it his way, she would simply remain on bed rest until it was time for the baby to make her appearance. Deep down, he knew he was being very overprotective but they were both just too precious to him.
"I needed to do something, I was getting bored" ever since going on maternity leave, Amy had found it difficult to fill her days. She wasn't a relaxing kind of person, she had to be doing something, no matter how much it caused Sheldon's heart to race. "Besides, I've intvied Penny and Leonard over for dinner" she flashed him that smile again, the one he couldn't say no to.
"Why?" he asked.
"Because they had us over for dinner last week so I thought it was our turn to offer. Plus, this could also be one of our last get togethers for a while" she smiled placing her hand upon her stomach. Although they were expecting their lives to change, they really didn't have a clue just how much a baby would impact upon their usual routine.
"But we could have just ordered take out. You don't need to cook" he reasoned, she didn't need the extra pressure or stress, none of that was good for the baby.
"Well, I wanted to" Amy was adamant with her answer, letting Sheldon know he couldn't tell her what to do. "Anyway, sauce. What do you think?" she pushed the spoon towards him, watching carefully as he took a mouthful.
At first it just tasted like a tangy tomato sauce, still a little too warm he was worried it would burn his tongue. Then a completely different taste took over and set his tastebuds alight, the heat was a slow burner but once it hit, it was pretty powerful. He could feel his lips tingling and his eyes watering as the overwhelming flavour of chilli hit the back of this throat.
"Oh god, have I over done it" Amy worried as she clocked Sheldon's facial expression.
"No, no" he shook his head, trying to find his breath. He reached for the glass of water on the side and took a few huge gulps.
"It didn't taste that hot when I tried it earlier so I added a few more tablespoons of chilli powder than the recipe suggested" she explained. Sheldon could see she was getting a little bit flustered over things not quite being perfect, now was the time where he had to be reassuring. Learning when to enforce this throughout their relationship was something he still struggled with, it was even worse now that she was pregnant and most of the time would simply just cry.
"It's fine" he told her, gently placing his hand upon her shoulder. "I've never been one for spicy food and Leonard and Penny love stuff like this so it'll be great" he flashed her a smile, hoping she would believe him as he continued to down the water. "Can I help with anything?" he wanted to change the subject, anything to lift the mood somewhat and bring her back from the verge of tears.
"Nope" she shook her head. "It's all under control"
—
Dinner with Leonard and Penny had been a success. Despite Amy burning the throats of her guests with the heat of her food and Sheldon constantly asking Penny to remind Amy to take it easy (as she simply wasn't listening to him) everything had been great.
"Sheldon" Amy called from where she stood at the sink, washing to dishes. With their guest now back home after a few too many glasses of wine, Amy had taken it upon herself to tidy up however, she was now realising that that could have been a step too far.
"Yeah" Sheldon poked his head around the doorway to their bedroom. He had disappeared soon after Penny and Leonard left, Amy had no idea what he was up to but she was slightly annoyed he hadn't offered to help out. Not that she probably would have accepted his offer but the thought would have been nice.
"Could you finish up here for me?" she asked, looking over her shoulder at him. Her dark hair floating down her back and her eyes heavy and tired. "I'm so tired" she sighed, "and really uncomfortable" she groaned pulling herself up straighter, she felt as if every bone in her back need to be clicked back into place and that every muscles needed to be massaged within a inch of its life. She knew pregnancy would be difficult but she never really knew it would be this hard.
"Of course" he was quickly by her side, taking her place at the sink. "It's also a good job there's a nice, warm bath waiting for you" he looked at her smiling proudly at his spontaneous, thoughtful gesture. Acts of service like this were rare for Sheldon so when they did happen, it just made Amy appreciate them all the more.
"A bath?" she asked.
"Yep, it's all ready and waiting for you" he told her as he started to wash a few of the plates that were stacked on the side.
"And there was me internally cursing you for letting me wash up" she laughed. "Thank you" she pushed herself up on to her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. Without warning, tears had started to fill her eyes, she had grown accustomed to this lately, although this time she felt it was completely justified. Without being asked or without asking, he had taken it upon himself to do what was possibly right now the best thing she could imagine. "I love you" she snuggled against his arm.
"I love you too. Now go before it starts going cold."
The reality was that Sheldon had been watching Amy closely all evening. Throughout her pregnancy, he had learnt to read her closely, trying to decipher what each facial expression meant and most importantly when she needed to rest. Tonight had been no different. He had seen her pinched expression on several occasions, watching her carefully as her hand rose to her bump or rested on her lower back, gently rubbing at the area like she was trying to rid herself of pain.
He only knew one thing that brought her comfort and that was a warm bath. Amy mentioned on several occasions how the water helped relax her so in that moment it was his go to and he felt rather proud of himself.
—
Amy watched the clocked as it changed from 23:59 to 00:00. She hadn't slept a wink and found watching the clock and the numbers changing surprisingly relaxing, it gave her something to focus on aside from the pain.
Now she had nothing else to do but think about it, she concluded that she had been feeling these pains since the early afternoon. It was a dull ache in her stomach, a tightening that would wrap around her body before moving to her hips and back, what had started as something just really uncomfortable had now become something she found quite painful.
When she felt them becoming stronger, she had taken it upon herself to time them. Throughout all of this, whatever this was, she wanted to be calm and knew timing them was a good and sensible thing to do. She had been awake for nearly two hours and in that time she had been carefully working out the gaps between what she could only assume were contractions. Once they had reached between 8-12 minutes apart, she decided to wake up Sheldon.
"Sheldon" she whispered, leaning over and placing her hand upon his bare shoulder. "Sheldon" she tried again, gently nudging him this time in an attempt to wake him, still nothing. "Sheldon" she tried again, this time a little harder but also getting the job done.
"What's wrong?" he groaned in response, keeping his eyes tightly closed.
"I think something is happening" she whispered again, even though he was now awake she still felt the need to whisper. He let out an inaudible groan and refused to move. "Sheldon, I think something is happening with the baby. I think I'm having contractions" all she needed to say was the word 'contractions' and Sheldon was up like a shot.
"What? What do you mean you're having contractions? Are you sure? It's really happening now?" the wild, frantic look in his eye told her he was panicking.
"Sheldon" she gently placed her hand on his arm, hoping it would calm him down. She couldn't have him freaking out too. If this was really labour then she definitely needed him to be calm. "Can you please stay calm" he saw the pleading look in her eyes, without really knowing how, he knew he had to pull himself together.
"Okay, sorry" he took a few deep breaths. "Are you really sure?"
"I don't know Sheldon, I've never been in labour before" her tone was a little sharper than she intended it to be, letting her nerves get the better of her. "I'm having pains that I think are getting stronger and I think they're fairly consistent" she explained. "Maybe we should just go to the hospital and get checked out."
"Okay" he nodded quickly. "If that's what you want to do, we can do that" he pulled back the duvet and rose to his feet. He needed to change, they couldn't arrive at the hospital in their pyjamas, he couldn't meet his child for the first time in his night clothes. "Are you okay getting ready?" he turned to ask Amy, aware of the fact she was yet to move. As he turned, he saw she had her eyes closed, her face slightly crumpled as she shuffled to get herself comfortable.
"Yeah, yeah" she held up her hand to silence, keeping her eyes closed. Right now, she couldn't quite figure out whether what she was feeling was painful or incredibly uncomfortable, either way, whatever it was hurt.
"You need to breathe. Are you breathing?" Sheldon asked hopping on one leg as he attempted to quickly put on his trousers. Amy opened her eyes to glare at him, she wanted to snap at him to yell at him for asking such a stupid question but she knew that would only make things worse. "Okay, sorry, just checking"
—
Once they arrived at the hospital, Amy was quickly seen by one the midwives on shift. Despite it being the early hours of the morning, Amy was surprised by how lovely and calming everyone was. Of course, she understood it was their job but the current midwife that had been assigned to her was making her feel so relaxed.
After checking over her vitals and asking her a few questions, Amy was eventually hooked up to a monitor that would measure her contractions and confirm whether or not she was in labour. Amy didn't want to voice this just yet but before she was even hooked up the machine, she was sure the contractions had stopped.
"She's moving around like crazy in there" Amy commented. Even with the tocodynamometer strapped across her stomach, they could see the outline of their daughter moving, whether it be a foot, an elbow or a knee the movement was obvious. Amy loved watching her daughter moving around, rolling from one side to the other, she actually found it amazing to witness however, although he could appreciate that it was something pretty special, Sheldon found the notion slightly creepy, he told Amy on several occasions that it looked like she was trying to escape. "I don't think she's going to escape today."
"No?"
"Nope" Amy shook her head. "I haven't felt anything since we got here. I think this is just a false alarm"
After an hour and twenty minutes, Amy's thoughts were finally confirmed when their midwife returned and began checking the graph for any signs of contractions.
"Okay, so from what I can see here, no contractions have been recorded" she explained as she examined her findings. "Unfortunately, I don't think baby is on her way tonight" she knew how sometimes parents got super excited at the prospect of labour starting and then were so disheartened when they had to be told that actually today wasn't the day.
"I did think so. They stopped not long after getting here" Amy explained. "I'm so sorry, I feel like I've wasted everyone's time" she felt guilty and a little embarrassed for panicking.
"Oh my goodness, do not apologise" the midwife told her, placing her hand upon her arm. "It's always good to come in and get checked over, you can never be too safe" she smiled as she began to remove the tocodynamometer from Amy's stomach. "I think what you've been experiencing are Braxton hicks, they're just practise contractions getting you ready for the real thing" she explained.
The word 'practise' was suddenly running round her head. To practise something meant to get better at it or in terms of contractions, something that gets stronger. Somewhat naively, she would have been happy to believe that what she had been feeling were the real thing, that those Braxton hicks had been real contractions. The thought of them getting worse for a longer period of time, well, it just terrified her.
"How will I know when they're not Braxton hicks?" Amy asked, trying to pull herself together. Trying to stop the worries that we're now swarming her mind.
"Okay so you're looking for pains that consistently get closer together, we usually say once they're five minutes apart for an hour, thats when you need to come in to the hospital. They'll also gradually get stronger in intensity" she explained watching Amy as she nodded along, trying to absorb all the information. Amy knew all of this, she knew how long you had to wait, she knew they would get stronger, she wished she hadn't panicked so much at home and insisted on coming to the hospital. "I know this might sound very cliche and really not at all helpful in answering your questions but when they really start, you'll just know"
—
Sheldon never really liked driving in the dark if anything he would often avoid it completely. Tonight, of course had been different and he found himself driving home at nearly 3am. He was never out at this time, let alone wide awake and in charge of a vehicle. That's why he appreciated the silence that filled the car, they had barely spoken a word since they had left the hospital. He was far too busy concentrating and he figured Amy was tired and trying to process everything. Sometimes, he had learnt they simply didn't need to talk.
Upon arriving home, they both made their way to the bedroom and it was there, once cosy in the comforts of her own bed and room that Amy began to cry. They weren't huge sobs, just tears trickling down her cheeks making her shoulders shake.
"I know you're disappointed she's not quite ready to come yet but she'll be here really soon" Sheldon tried to reassure her, assuming that the only reason she was crying was because she was desperate to meet her daughter and not be so uncomfortable anymore.
"It's not that" Amy replied, reaching up and wiping the tears from her cheeks. "Sheldon, what if I can't do it?" he looked at her, his eyes soft and pleading. He willed himself to know what it was she was taking about, he was desperate to help her. "I'm just feeling really nervous about actually having her" she admitted.
He really didn't know what to say or do. Throughout this pregnancy she had breezed her way through everything, never once letting on that she was nervous or unsure about anything. Yet here she was, crying over possibly the one job he couldn't help her with and it made him feel awful. It also made him realise that maybe she wasn't all as confident as she seemed.
"It will be okay" that was all he could offer right now.
"But those Braxton hicks today, some really hurt and they were just practise, what if I can't cope with the real thing."
"But there's things you can take. Pain medication or…" he shrugged not really sure what actually was on offer. "I know it's not really what you want but if it does get really bad, you could do that," it didn't really seem like his words were helping. He struggled in this department, being reassuring didn't come naturally to him, especially when he was freaking out too. "I'll be there" he told her.
"I know that" she spoke softly as she wiped her eyes again. "But you're going to be really nervous too and…"
"I'll try not to be" the last thing he wanted was for her to worry about him, for her to not lean on him the way she wanted to because she was conscious of his feelings. "If you think that will help you, I'll really, really try to keep calm."
She reached for his hand that was gently resting on top of the duvet. "Thank you" she gave him a small smile and squeezed his hand. "It's okay to be nervous but I think I'm going to need you a lot more than I thought."
"That's okay. That's why I'm here" he was never one for a comforting gesture but all he wanted to do was wrap Amy up in his arms and in that moment, that's exactly what he did. His long arms reached out and pulled her close to him, lolling her head against his chest she breathed in the comforting scent of baby powder, for some reason it always relaxed her, kept her calm. "You know maybe you should lay off the spicy food for a while" he finally spoke once he felt Amy had calmed down.
"What?" she laughed, looking up at him. He felt her shudder under his touch.
"Well, spicy food is supposed to induce labour. What if it had something to do with the Braxton hicks today."
"Sheldon" Amy sighed. "I really don't think it had anything to do with it."
"Well even so, I'm placing a ban on spicy foods" he stated, adamant with his decision.
"You're placing a ban?" Amy asked, amused.
"Yes" Amy knew it was coming from a good place, from the best place possible and so for now she was happy to let this one slide.
"Okay. Whatever you say" she smiled as she squeezed him a little tighter.
Thank you all so much for reading. As always reviews are always welcome and so appreciated. I love to know your thoughts!
Now that I am all caught up, I am opening up prompt request again so if you have any ideas that you would like me to write please let me know and I will try my best :)
Stay safe. Lots of love.