AN..Yeah
17. Premonitions and pelvic floors
She stood at the altar dressed in white, next to the man of her dreams, Tom Clarkson. He father kissed her on the cheek before taking his seat in the front row next to her mother who was wearing a large hat which had feathers coming off it in all directions so that people around her were wary of being poked in the eye whenever she moved. Her sister was stood next to her, holding her bouquet, Nikki had picked a modest baby pink dress for Rachel to wear, nothing too flashy, she did not want Rachel out shining her on her wedding day. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Josh standing behind Tom, he was beaming and in his hands he held the rings that would bind Tom and Nikki for eternity. And lastly she looked at Tom, he too was beaming he had promised himself he would 'be cool' yet she saw the tears forming in his eyes as he looked at her. She smiled back at him and brushed his hand with hers.
'Does anyone know of any lawful impediment as to why this man and this woman may not be joined in holy matrimony?'. There was silence. But the vision suddenly turned red, and a blinding pain as her family and friends disappeared before her eyes.
She awoke, gasping for air, clutching her stomach and gritting her teeth against he pain in her lower back. She knew exactly what was happening. 'god, oh god, not now, not yet, shit' she thought between breaths until the pain subsided. She put her hand out to wake Tom but stopped herself, let him sleep until she absolutely had to wake him up. He just looked so peaceful, she could imagine his panic if he woke up to her like this, so she left him in his blissful slumber. Instead she paced along the landing waiting for the next ripple of pain to overtake her body. When it came she gripped the banister and put her fist in her mouth to stop herself letting out a cry. Eventually she made her way to the bathroom and tried to find a position that would help her deal with the contractions, she settled on all fours on the bathroom rug (you know the one you step out of the bath onto) rocking back and forth, and at this critical stage there was a tiny voice in the back of her mind almost mocking her in her agony 'you should have gone to ante natal' shit.
After about half hour of deep breaths she drew herself back into a kneeling position only to feel the gush of fluid from between her legs which spread all over the bath mat and was not contained there but also spread on to the bathroom tiles as well. It scared her. This time her cry was audible, she moaned and yelled to Tom, probably waking josh and their neighbours in the process. She heard the sound of a sleepy yet panicking and Tom clumsily throw himself out of bed only half aware of what was going on.
'Nik, what's going on?, what's happening?, you alright? Nik? Oh god Nikki' he bent down to her and put a hand on her lower back, rubbing mall circles, he wasn't too sure whether it was helping or not but he carried on regardless, trying to soothe her tears in anyway possible. 'its ok love, I'm here' he said quietly into her ear.
'Tom, I think we need to go now' she whimpered.
'Ok love, I'll just go and put your stuff in the car' he was referring to Nikki's hospital bag which had been packed for weeks for this exact moment.
'ok love', he tried to speak as calmly as he could, he didn't want to worry her any more but when he left her in the bathroom and stepped out into the cold night air to bundle her things into the car he genuinely thought he might have vomited.