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While I was trying to reach for something without the step stool in the kitchen one morning, my water broke. At first, I thought I had wet myself. I was alone in the kitchen, and I thought, Great, another thing to add to the list of humiliations of pregnancy, but when I stepped away to assess the damage, the puddle was clear, almost pink, not yellow on the linoleum.

"Charlie!" I yelled, forgetting to call him 'Dad.' "Charlie, my water just broke!"

"Huh?" Charlie asked from the living room. He had been watching a game on TV. "Bells? Do you need me to call an ambulance?" He wasn't driving, yet. I heard him groan as he struggled to stand.

"No, Dad, I'll call one of my friends," I said.

Alice was alphabetically first on my phonebook, so I called her. "Hello?"

"Alice, it's me, Bella," I said.

"Bella, sit down," Charlie ordered, limping into the kitchen.

I sat down on one of the chairs. "Alice, I think my water just broke."

Alice audibly gasped. "Sit right there, I'm leaving the café, I'll come and get you!" she cried.

"Alice is coming to get us," I said. "Dad, I got to get the baby bag."

"I'll get it," Charlie said, shuffling off. "You stay there."

I stood up to get the mop out- I couldn't leave that puddle of water on the kitchen floor. It was dangerous- someone might slip on it. Charlie came back in with the bag I had had packed for the hospital. "Bells, what are you doing?" he cried.

"Somebody's got to clean this up!" I cried. At that moment, I had a contraction. I cried out in pain, dropping the mop. It felt like a hot knife raking my insides. I wasn't prepared for this. I hadn't taken Lamaze or anything in anticipation of this baby's birth. Whenever anybody tried to talk to me about it, I just sneered, I don't want to talk about it and that shut them up. At this very moment, I wish I knew the magic of Lamaze.

"Contraction?" Charlie asked.

No duh! I wanted to shout, but this was my father, I couldn't be this rude with him. "Yeah," I said, clutching my stomach.

"Sit down, Bells," he said. I followed his directions. "Do you want me to call the Cullens? The McCartys? Jake and Angie?"

"Yeah, if you would, please," I said, the contraction subsiding.

He got out his cell phone and started dialing, calling Renée first, then the Cullens and so on. Alice actually arrived with Mark Hetsler in his Police Cruiser, his siren on and his lights flashing.

Alice ran into the house. "Bella?" she called. "Oh, thank God! Are you ready to go?"

"Yes," I said. "Why is Mark here?"

"I got pulled over for speeding," Alice admitted, sheepishly. "He's going to be our police escort."

"Come on, Bella," Mark said.

Alice helped me into the car and Charlie hobbled out behind us. "Who's going to be in the delivery room with her?" Alice asked. "Me or you, Charlie?"

"I've done this a few times before," Charlie said. "When the blizzard came through in '99, Stella Collins gave birth, and I had to do it with Carlisle on my cell phone. I can handle the blood."

"Oh God," I muttered, mortified. My father would be watching me give birth.

"I won't look if you don't want me to," Charlie said. "I'll just hold your hand. I wish you had let people discuss this with you."

That irritated me. "This is no time for a lecture, Charlie," I snapped.

"Your personality's really changed since Mike died," Alice grumbled.

"I'm in labor!" I yelled.

"I'll give you that," Alice replied.

"I went through this with Renée," Charlie said. "She's going to be like this until after it's all over and she's had a chance to rest. This could go on for three days."

"Oh no," Alice groaned.

In the ER, I was checked in and wheeled into labor and delivery. To my mortification, Dr. Edward came into say hello once I was changed into my hospital gown.

"Your obstetrician is on the way," he said. "How far apart are her contractions?"

"Three minutes," Charlie said.

He looked at some of my read outs. "Are you going to do natural childbirth or epidural?"

"Epidural," I said.

"It looks like you're healthy enough for it," he said. "You should be alright for that, everything looks great."

"Good," Charlie said.

"She's progressing pretty quickly," he said. "Dr. Carter will be here soon to take over. I'll check back on you. Good luck, Bella."

"Thanks," I said, remembering my manners.

After a few contractions that were closer together, I swore I felt Mike's hand on mine. Hot tears rushed down my cheeks. "Dad," I said, softly. "Can you tell Alice I'm sorry for the way I acted on the ride over?"

"I'm sure she'll forgive you," Charlie said. "I'll go say hi." He limped off to the waiting room. For the first time since the funeral, I began to cry. More out of sadness than anything. Mike wasn't here for his son's birth. He wouldn't teach him how to play baseball, how to ride a bike, to take him camping, or to show him how to shave for the first time. He wouldn't be here to cut the cord, he wouldn't be here to press his face up to the nursery glass and point our baby out to all our friends, he wouldn't rush out to hold up our son and show him off to everybody. I couldn't take on the daunting task of mother and father. How was I going to do it?

Angela and Jacob came into the room.

"Hi, Bells," Jacob said, seeing me crying. He had engine grease all over his hands that he had wiped off hastily. He must have just left the shop.

"Hi," I said, my mouth thick with tears.

"Are you excited?" he asked.

"I'm scared," I said.

"Of course you are," Angela said, sitting on the bed. "It's very scary."

"It hurts," I said.

"I know," Angela whispered, patting my leg. She had gained weight, recently, I noticed. "It feels like somebody's twisting a knife if your stomach, doesn't it?"

"Yeah," I said.

"I can stay with you while you give birth," Jacob said. "It's weird having your dad be your coach, isn't it?"

"Yeah," I said. "You don't have to."

"You've got a whole waiting room full of people who love you and who are willing to do it for you," Angela offered. I had another contraction, Ang grabbed my hand. I squeezed until the pain subsided.

"Thank you," I muttered.

"This is one of the best experiences in your life," Angela said, stroking away the tears on my cheeks. "Just remember, you're never alone."

"I know," I said, softly.

The labor and delivery staff finally administered the epidural on me, which was a great relief. Charlie came into the room. "Alice just laughed when I told her you were sorry," he said. "It's water under the bridge, honey."

"Good," I said, relaxing. Dr. Carter came in to check on me. They took me into the delivery room a few pain-filled hours later, I was fully dilated.

Charlie came in with me. It was time for me to push, but even with the epidural, I could still feel it a little bit.

"I thought I wasn't supposed to be able to feel it!" I shouted.

"Every body is different," Dr. Carter told me. Charlie held my hand and I watched in the mirror as the baby came out. "It's a girl!"

"What?" I cried as Dr. Carter slapped her slightly on the butt. The baby screamed. "The ultrasound said it was a boy!"

"It's a girl," Charlie said.

"The umbilical cord can look like a penis on an ultrasound, sometimes," he said. "It's a definitely girl."

"But, I have a whole room full of blue waiting at home!" I cried. "And I was going to name him after his father- her father!"

A sense of disappointment and exhaustion washed over me. A girl? Mike and I had made all these plans for a son. Michael Eugene Newton Junior just couldn't be turned into a girl's name. I had no name for my baby. I hadn't put a bit of thought into naming my baby if she was a girl.

They handed her to me in a towel. She wouldn't stop screaming and she was covered in goo and was almost green. She had the face of an old man. On TV, babies were pretty and pink and chubby and cute. My baby was ugly.

"Come on, Bells, be happy," Charlie said. "She beautiful!"

I caught a reflection at my face in the mirror. I looked horrified, disgusted. A new mother shouldn't look horrified at her new child. What was wrong with me?