OMG it's been like ages since I've updated this story i've got all the ideas down upto the birth but I just haven't been in the mood to write this story maybe it's because I know it's still got so much to go even though this is chapter 20, plus I have been writing 4 years in May which really is a stupid amount of time it's really frustrating if I'm honest and the other stories have interested me, but anywayy enough of my rambling haha. Enjoy!
Baby on the Way
On the first day of term after the Christmas holidays an owl knocking on the window woke the trio early, it took a few moments for them to realise where the noise was coming from but eventually groaning Blaise got out of bed and walked over to the window and opened it allowing the owl to fly into the room. He took the note attached to the owl; once the letter was released the owl flew back in the direction from where it came from.
"It's addressed to you Hermione," he said as he crawled back into bed not wanting to get up for classes just yet.
She opened the letter and scanned the words in front of her before she broke out into a smile. "Angelina is pregnant," she said smiling up at the boys who just nodded not really too bothered. She had yet to inform them of her pregnancy but she knew it would be wiser to do it before the first lesson but when she got the nerve to tell them she quickly lost it again and would bring up something very different.
"I'm not surprised, Weasleys have never had problems conceiving." Draco said still tired.
"Draco please be nice," Hermione said, "If you were to have a baby what sex would you want?"
"Boy," they both said simultaneously.
"Hermione what would you like first?"
"I think I'd like a girl first," but her mind was wondering to what the sex of the growing baby in her stomach would turn out. She sat and listened to Draco and Blaise discus children but she wasn't really paying attention she was trying to build up the confidence to tell them that in about 8 months there would be having their very own baby.
"Hermione, Hermione are you listening?" Blaise asked touching her shoulder.
"Sorry what did you say?"
"What's a matter you've been zoning off quite a lot recently? Is everything okay?"
She looked at them both and closed her eyes, her hands shaking under the covers.
"Okay I've been trying to tell you something since my birthday but have never been able to do so; I would build up the confidence and then lose confidence and say something completely different. I guess you can tell I'm rambling here. But on my birthday I discovered that I'm three weeks pregnant," she closed her eyes tightly not wanting to see their reaction.
"Pregnant!" Blaise cried looking at Hermione in shock "are you being serious?" Hermione opened her eyes and nodded and before she could say anything else she was engulfed in Blaise's arms a soft kiss placed on her temple.
"I take it your happy then?" she giggled watching the Italian nod his head the largest grin spread across his face.
She then turned to Draco whose face was filled with shock; his eyes were wide mouth slightly a gape. She softly touched his cheek with her hand slightly worried about his reaction.
"A real baby," he whispered and she nodded taking his hand in her free one. Suddenly the opened mouth closed and spread into a large grin and she was once again wrapped in the arms of her husband.
"I'm glad you're happy about this, I'll be honest I wasn't when I first found out I was nervous and worried, but now I've seen your reaction I don't feel so bad," she said grinning at them both.
"Good, so who else knows?" Draco asked who was shifting around quite a bit.
"Just Ginny and Bellatrix, Ginny saw the pregnancy test and Bellatrix saw my reaction when I got the dress off your parents, I knew I wouldn't be able to wear it in the summer because I'd be so fat," she explained to them both.
"Love how my Aunt Bella noticed straight away," Draco chuckled, "We'll have to tell out parents soon but I think we should first get up and get ready for class," Blaise and Hermione nodded and stepped out of bed, Blaise offering his arm to her helping her get out of bed.
"I'm perfectly capable of getting out of bed on my own for the time being," she smiling softly at him.
Walking down the road heading towards Hogwarts Blaise addressed Hermione about the idea of wanting to teach the child Italian as that was his first tongue he felt it would be important for the child to learn, Hermione agreed and the conversation was dropped as they entered Hogwarts, into the busy corridors. They reached the Great Hall and walked in taking their seat waiting for the lesson to begin, in the corner they could see Fred and Angelina beaming with happiness on the front row Ginny was equally happy. Behind them they noticed Professor Snape looking fed up before the lesson had even started.
The 10 professors walked through the doors, todays lesson was to be taught by Ivy Parkinson and Andromeda Tonks.
"Good morning class, today's topic is quite important; Pregnancy and childbirth it will affect all of you in this room mainly the ladies but the men will also suffer as there is nothing as wondrous but unpleasant as childbirth." Andromeda informed.
"Unlike a wedding where there is a Magical and Muggle variation childbirth is the same, you will all suffer from the cramping of a contraction the burn of actually having to push your child out and the soreness that you feel after having the baby and that is all that is in labour, ladies for you that are pregnant don't expect 9 months of pure bliss in your first trimester nearly all of you will go through morning sickness now don't let the name fool you as the sickness doesn't just occur in the morning you can have it all day or throughout the day at any period of time, this usually lessens when the first trimester ends. In your second trimester you are likely to gain the weight as the morning sickness has subsided, this is where your stomach will begin to grow and you may even be able to feel your baby kick. The third and final trimester is the one where you truly begin to see a difference you'll see the most gain weight and with this the pain that comes with it, you'll suffer from back ache, swollen ankles, pain in the shoulders, needing the toilet more frequently and depending if the baby is moving around near your rib cage it can also create pain this is the stage where a baby changes how it is laid turning so their head is facing down towards the vagina. If a baby's head isn't facing down then this is called breach in the Wizarding world we'd use magic to change the baby around but this can harm the baby as it is still vulnerable in the belly, the Muggles have a different way and this is called a caesarean." Ivy looked over at Andromeda as she placed up a picture of how a baby should be laid to be safely delivered naturally and how a baby is laid when it's classed as breach.
"A caesarean or a C-section is a procedure that is undertaken in the Muggle world to safely remove a child from the mother's womb it doesn't just have to be used if the baby is breached in the stages of labour if the baby begins to become stressed it can cause damage so a C-section is handy, again if you are to have a multiple like twins a C-section is favoured as it can be done very quickly. Another reason is because you chose to have this it is not compulsory for you to push your baby out however this is still the most common and overall the most pain free. The technique of a C-section is under taken in a hygienic room as it contains surgery. "Jane can I borrow you a moment?" Jane Granger walks towards the table and lies down lifting her top to show her stomach. "The doctors would make an incision across your abdomen this would be where you'd take out the child it is safe the baby will not be hurt, they will remove the baby by putting their hands in to your stomach to remove it, once the baby is out the doctors will simply stitch you back up. This can be done consciously under general anaesthetic or unconscious many choose to be conscious when having a C–section,"
"I've a quick question, you said under general anaesthetic which is basically a pain relief but you are going to be cut open it's going to have to be a strong anaesthetic to not make you feel the pain but not make you pass out or fall asleep so what would you use?" Professor McGonagall asked she knew at her age that it would be safe for her to have this C-section that to physically push out a baby.
"The most effective way is an epidural an epidural can continuously give out pain relief, a numbing injection is put in to your back and then the epidural is injected into the membrane surrounding your spine it sounds painful but it really is not. This will stop you from feeling pain in you lower body which allows you to stay awake in the operation, this method can also be used in a natural birth plus with a few other pain relief to help." The ladies noticed the terrified look on the majority of pupils faces with the idea of an epidural.
"Listen to me," said Jane addressing them all, "when I was in labour with Hermione I had an epidural the only bit that hurt was the injection numbing my back, once your back is numb you don't feel any pain, and I'll tell you this that epidural was a blessing because the pain I felt for having it was nothing compared to the pain I was suffering with the contractions."
"If in a C-section you have an epidural how can it be more painful than actually having a natural birth?" Pansy asked Harry was about to explain it to her but decided it would be better for them to actually do it.
"A woman is designed to have a baby pushed through her vagina it's nature so the body re-heals itself very quickly after going through this, a woman is not designed to have her stomach ripped open. Having the C-section is less painful but after the C-section it is very painful because you've ripped all of your abdominal muscles so doing the slightest of tasks like sitting up stretching bending hurts, but after a week or so your lower end is no longer sore because it has healed. In the Muggle world they usually inform someone not to lift their baby for a few weeks so it allows them to heal their body." Jane explained before sitting back in her seat.
"For those in the Muggle world you'll understand the next section but for those who have only knowledge on the Wizarding World you'll not know about an ultra-scan. For those who know what an ultra-scan is would you like to explain it to everyone else," Hermione's hand flung into the air she saw her mother smile but roll her eyes. Ivy chuckled but inclined her head for Hermione to speak.
"An ultra sound is where you use a machine to look inside a pregnant womb, a gel is placed on the skin of a woman's stomach with a device that is moved over her stomach this allows the parents and the doctor to see the baby, it's helpful to diagnose any problems, how many children you are carrying and as the pregnancy progresses it allows you to see the sex of the baby, you'll have multiple ultra sounds throughout your pregnancy to make sure that everything is running smoothly, if there is a problem then they will usually announce that the baby will be delivered by C-section so they can rush it off for immediate medical attention."
"Precisely because some of you are Muggleborns who are competing in this the Ministry has instructed that St Mungos will be fitted with Ultra sounds and you'll be able to see inside your stomachs and be able to see your baby before it's in your arms." The hall suddenly was filled the voices whispering about the new information.
"Quieten down now please, so we can continue on with the lesson," called Ivy. The class continued for another 2 hours the 3 hour lesson was long but relevant, they had learnt how the baby would develop in the womb over the 9 month pregnancy, the males especially where surprised with the changes never actually knowing the heartbeat didn't start straight away. They learnt about some of the instruments that was used in labour to help the baby out if it had gotten stuck, it then went on to the after birth, nearly everyone was surprised that after the baby had left the womb there was still more to go, they would then have to have the placenta removed and if in labour the vagina had ripped then stiches would be implied. They spoke about a water birth where the woman gives birth in a large paddling pool sort of thing with water. Labour varying in times was spoken about, how one person could be in labour for a couple of hours where some could be in it for a few days. Water breaking and remembering to not panic when actually in labour was mentioned. Nearly everything that they could to do with pregnancy was covered, child birth and labour was also covered in depth, the group were dismissed and as everyone piled out of the Great Hall Hermione took hold of Blaise's arm.
"You mentioned wanting to teach the baby Italian when it's born well I was thinking seeing as I'm stuck with you and I'm sure we'll venture to Italy one day how about you teach me it, I'd love to learn it," Blaise grinned and nodded.
"We'll do it back at home where it's quieter, I'll start with the basics and then move on to other stuff later," Hermione nodded and the trio walked back towards the fourth floor corridor where they entered the village, they waked down the roads back to their house stopping when they saw Molly Weasley squealing with delight, they assumed that Fred had just informed her of the baby that they were expecting.
Back in the peace of their kitchen Blaise had started to teach Hermione certain words in Italian.
"So Bella means beautiful, Ciao means hello, how are you is come stai, I love you is ti amo, and goodbye is addio. Right so I want you to say them back to me and tell me what they mean," Hermione nodded.
"Okay so Bella was first and that meant beautiful, after that was hello which was ciao I think how are you was come stai and I love you was ti amo and then to end it with goodbye being addio?" Blaise smiled nodding pulling out a piece of parchment and a quill with some ink.
"I want you to write the words down after I've written them and then I'll teach you another 5 words. If you like I'll teach you 10 words a day?" Hermione nodded and waited for him to write the words out on the parchment and then give it to her to copy them, they sat for an hour learning the words that Blaise had chosen.
"Guys I've been thinking and when shall we tell our parents about the pregnancy?" Draco asked sitting down at the table looking at the words Blaise had chosen for Hermione to learn.
"We can do it this weekend if you want to, we can send them all a letter telling them and then they can come here to see us if we go to them we'll never get home again, laughed Hermione, Draco and Blaise smirked because it was so very true. "Or we could tell them on your birthday Blaise it is only next week and it saves us owling them then?"
"That'd be easier actually it's only in 7 days' time, so if we tell them on my birthday we can just say we decided to wait till we were all together again,"
"You are such a Slytherin Blaise Zabini but I like it,"
Draco chuckled, "It's a plan then."
I've never had a baby nor have I been pregnant so all the information on the pregnancy has come from the internet and my own knowledge of the topic which actually isn't too bad, some stuff isn't perfect with the topic I know that and I know that every woman is differnet so please don't go on about it unless i've got something completly wrong. Let me know what you think!