Pretty Poison

(Chapter Seven: And Baby Makes Three)

Olivia moved uncomfortably around her apartment with one hand in the small of her back and the other under her now enormous baby belly. She felt miserable most of the time and was so ready for this pregnancy thing to be over. She looked at the clock on the DVD player.

"Two fifty three," she said to herself as she wrinkled her brow, "my appointment is at three fifteen. Where the hell are you Elliot?"

She walked over to the window to look out into the street to see if his car had arrived yet. Nothing! She exhaled deeply and sat down on the couch as her son kicked up under her ribs. He was doing a lot of this lately. Of course she was now two weeks past her due date and the kid was refusing to come out. He was probably pretty cramped in there.

She placed her hand over the area where she could feel the little bulge of the baby's head under her belly and rubbed little circles in an attempt to calm him. But it was no use, he was extremely active today. Olivia rubbed her hands over the tightly stretched skin of her belly. She stared down at it and imagined if this baby didn't come out soon it would burst.

Finally she heard the apartment door open as Elliot stepped inside.

"It's about time El, I'm gonna be late for my appointment."

"I'm sorry, I got out of there as soon as I could. Cragen had John and I doing an interrogation for hours."

"Ahh. And were you the good cop or the bad cop?"

He leaned down to kiss her lips as she smiled.

"Bad cop, it is always more fun to be the bad cop. And I do it so well."

"You do play the bad cop well. Can you help me up I have to pee before we leave?" She stretched her arms out in front of her and Elliot helped pull her to her feet.

"Why didn't you already pee if we are running so late?" He mumbled under his breath, knowing better than to say it aloud to her.

"Okay," she said as she returned a few minutes later.

Elliot helped her down the stairs. She actually was not nearly as big pregnant as she felt. She had a good sized baby bump, but it was nothing compared to the size Kathy got with any of the other Stabler children. Elliot smiled at her comments about being fat. It was funny to him to even imagine Olivia fat.

"You are not fat, Liv. You are ten months pregnant. And before long the majority of this weight will be gone and your body will return to normal."

"Thank God! I have not been able to even see my feet for the last two months. I can't sleep, I have to pee every five minutes and I have just started having morning sickness the last few months of the pregnancy. Until recently I had enjoyed being pregnant. Now I am just exhausted and ready for it to be over with. And I still have delivery to look forward to."

Elliot touched a strand of hair behind her hear and he pulled the seatbelt under her belly and buckled it for her. He kissed the tip of her nose and smiled as he closed the door and walked around the front of the car to the drivers side and climbed in.

"I don't mean to complain, Elliot."

"It's fine. I know your tired and just tired of being pregnant, but it will be over soon." He cupped his hand against the side of her face and kissed her lips.

"I am just ready for this part to be over so we can finally meet our son," she said with a tired smile.

"I know baby, me too."

At her appointment Olivia's doctor checked her and said that she had dilated to a two. But that if she didn't go into labor naturally within a couple of days they would have to induce her labor or possibly schedule a cesarean.

"I want to have the baby naturally, I don't want a cesarean," Olivia argued with her doctor.

The doctor turned and looked at Elliot.

"What? She should have a choice here. I agree with her. This my sixth baby and I don't think we should schedule a cesarean unless it is absolutely necessary."

"Okay," the doctor finally agreed. "But it we could schedule for tomorrow morning and you would have your son in your arms twenty minutes later. If we induce, you could lay in labor for hours and still end up getting a cesarean."

"Is there any medical reason she cannot deliver vaginally?" Elliot asked.

"No, the ultrasound shows the baby is in position and ready to go. Everything looks fine."

"Then when can you induce?"

The doctor looked at Olivia.

"I'm just ready to get this baby out of me," she exhaled.

"What about tomorrow morning?"

"Sounds good," she said softly.

"Be here around seven we'll get you checked in and induce around nine. Hopefully by three or so you will finally have your son."

Olivia smiled sarcastically.

"I will see you guys then."

"Thanks," she mumbled.

The doctor left the room so that she could get dressed once more.

"Where did they find this moron?" Elliot asked.

"My regular doctor is on vacation."

"So this guy is delivering our kid? I don't like him."

"Neither do I. He is pushy and doesn't seem to care what I think or want. But he knows what he is doing. I mean this is my first baby and he has delivered dozens. I guess he knows more about this than I do."

Olivia stepped out from behind the curtain and tossed the hospital gown across the examine table.

"I just want you to be comfortable. And that man makes us both nervous. And I don't like the way he talks to you. There has to be another doctor."

"Well, yeah I'm sure there is. But I don't know if there is really any point in changing doctors again if I am having the baby tomorrow."

"How much longer is your doctor going to be gone?"

"Probably a few more weeks, his wife just had a baby. He had saved up vacation time to stay home with her when she had their daughter."

"Well, what if we went to a different hospital?"

"I really want to have the baby here."

"Okay, but I don't want him talking to you like that in the delivery room."

Olivia smiled.

"It is cute that you get so defensive."

"You are going to be in pain and nervous about everything. You don't need someone like that making things worse for you."

Olivia hugged him and he kissed the top of her head.

"I am so glad that you have my back."

"Always," he said staring into her eyes.

"So, is there anything you want to do before you give birth tomorrow?"

She looked at him and smiled again.

"Well, there is one thing that I pretty much always want to do."

"Liv, the last time we had sex I hurt you."

"You didn't hurt me, Elliot. I said it hurt. Well, it didn't really hurt as much as it was uncomfortable. But after tomorrow it will be six weeks before we can have sex. Uncomfortable or not, I would like to at least give it a try."

"I am all for it honey, as long as I'm not hurting you."

Olivia smiled, pleased that she had won that disagreement.

"What do you want for dinner?" He asked looking at her.

"Ooh, Chinese food."

"Chinese food it is."

Elliot called in take out and picked it up then stopped at the video store and rented a movie she had been wanting to see. The went back to her apartment and had dinner then curled up on the couch and watched the movie as Elliot massaged her feet for her. Elliot double checked her bag of things to take to the hospital the next morning and sat the camcorder on the top of the bag near the door.

They went to bed around early to spend a little quality time together before the baby arrived. Elliot kissed her gently and held her by the glow of the television then they made love, the best they could. It still was not completely comfortable for her, but she kept insisting she was okay and wanted him to continue. Shortly after she turned off the television they fell asleep together in the dark.

It was around nine o'clock in that night when Olivia awoke with a strange feeling and was unable to go back to sleep. Her back was achy and she tossed and turned to get comfortable, but it was no use. She rolled over to reach to the remote control when she felt a warm gush of fluid and had a sharp pain.

Olivia gasped for a moment with her hands on her belly. As the contraction weakened she looked at Elliot asleep beside her in the bed.

"Elliot," she groaned and hit his shoulder as she entered another contraction. "El, wake up!"

She hit his shoulder again and he turned his head and opened his eyes to look at her.

"Can't sleep, huh?"

"No! El, my water just broke!"

"What?"

Olivia pulled back the blankets to reveal the soaked bed sheets and nightgown.

"This is so gross!"

"Your water broke?"

"Yeah," she said then groaned again as another contraction set in. "I don't think I am going to make it until nine o'clock in the morning."

Elliot brought her clothes and helped her change and got her into the car. He drove quickly, but safely across town to the hospital. Then escorted Olivia in to the emergency room.

Before long she was admitted and in a small room on the maternity ward with little pink and blue baby foot prints on the wall paper. She groaned and breathed heavily through several more contractions, then a doctor came in.

"Olivia, I am doctor Davis. I am the on call physician here tonight. We can't seem to reach your doctor right now, so I am just going to check you to see how far dilated you are."

The doctor checked her and she was already at an eight. If they didn't reach her doctor and soon, this doctor would have to deliver her baby. At this point she was in so much pain and a little pissed off that they were unable to reach him, so it was probably better for his sake if he just stayed away.

Thirty minutes later the doctor checked her once more.

"Olivia, are you ready to start pushing?"

"I just want this baby out! Now!"

Elliot held her hand as she glared at him. She wasn't sure exactly how, but this was all his fault!

"Okay, on the next contraction, I want you to push. Ready? One….two….three…PUSH!"

She groaned and pushed as hard as she could, until she couldn't push anymore. This went on for almost an hour before Elliot finally heard the baby cry.

Olivia cried when the baby cried and she fell exhausted back into Elliot's arms as the doctor held the baby up for them to see.

"He's beautiful Olivia," the doctor said as he handed the crying baby boy off to a nurse to clean him up a bit. "Eleven fifty seven," the doctor said looking up at the clock.

The nurse weighed and measured the crying infant then wrapped him in a blanket and brought him to Olivia.

"Here's your son," she said handing the newborn to his mother.

Olivia looked down at the little bundle of swaddling that contained her son. She pushed the blanket away from his face as she and Elliot peered down onto him. The baby stretched out his little hands and wrapped one tight around Olivia's finger as he grunted and opened his eyes to look up at them.

Olivia laughed as she stared down into Elliot's blue eyes. The baby stirred a little and began to fuss.

"He is probably wanting to be fed. Some babies are ready to nurse right after they are born."

The nurse showed Olivia how to hold the newborn to nurse him. Elliot stood and watched her with their son and within a matter of moments it was all natural to her. She cradled him and rocked him and kissed his little head. Then she looked up at Elliot with exhausted eyes.

"Thank you," she mouthed almost breathlessly over the sleeping newborn.

Elliot smiled and kissed her lips tenderly and twirled his fingers in his sons dark hair. "Thank you," he mouthed back to her as he kissed the top of their sons head.

Olivia turned and handed him the baby as Elliot sat down on the edge of her hospital bed.

"He is so perfect, Liv."

"He aught to be," she laughed, "as long as he was in there."

Elliot watched her as a single tear fell from her cheek.

"I have never been so happy Elliot," she whispered softly.

"Me either," he said softly shifting his eyes to meet hers and leaning in to kiss her lips again.

The nurse came in with the baby's little bed and tapped the "It's A Boy!" card in the end of it. "Baby Boy Stabler," was printed in bold letters across the name line. Elliot traced his fingers over it and looked back at Olivia with a smile. He was so proud.

"He weighs eight pounds, seven and a half ounces and was twenty one inches long."

"That is a healthy baby boy," the doctor added as he walked back into the room to check on them. "How are you guys doing?"

"I think we are just fine," Olivia said softly.

"Does this little man have a name?"

"Noah," Elliot said looking at Olivia. "Noah Matthew Stabler."

"That is a wonderful name. I think it fits him well."

Olivia smiled and looked down at little Noah sleeping peacefully in her arms. She combed her fingers through his thin dark hair and kissed the top of his head.