Try to sleep? Doesn't Addison know how impossible that is when your baby is going to be four weeks premature? Or when every fifteen minutes you experience a stabbing pain? Of course she doesn't, she's never been in preterm labor, or any labor at all for that matter. She'd been gone almost thirty minutes and I hadn't gotten a single wink of sleep yet. Cooper came in.
"Hey Charlotte. You okay?" He asked taking my hand. I nodded.
"For now." I told him. He nodded.
"This is so unexpected." He said. I could tell he was scared out of his mind.
"Yeah, I hope he is going to be okay." I said.
"I'm sure he will. It's only a few weeks early." Cooper assured me. I nodded.
"Right." I said. Cooper smiled and stroked the top of my hand. "Where's Mason and Trenton?" I asked.
"I dropped them off at Amelia and Sheldon's." Cooper said.
"Oh, did you tell them why?" I asked. Cooper nodded.
"Trenton wanted to come with me. Mason wanted to hang out with Riley." Cooper said.
"Is that the little girl they adopted last week?" I asked. Cooper nodded.
"I think Mason has a crush on her." Cooper said. I smiled. Addison came in.
"So, it appears despite the medication the labor is slowly progressing so, I'm going to give you something to try and mature Anthony's lungs a bit faster." Addison said. I nodded and an intern pushed something into my IV. "I'll be back to check on you in a little bit." Addison said and left the room.
"This is it Char." Cooper said.
"It could be hours more Coop. My water hasn't broken yet." I said. Cooper nodded.
"I know, but it'll be sometime soon." Cooper said.
"I'm not ready. I don't think I can do this." I said. Cooper smiled at me encouragingly.
"You are ready and you can do this." He told me. I nodded.
"Okay." I replied shakily. "If you say so."
"I know so." He said. I smiled and closed my eyes. I actually managed to fall asleep. I think it was because Cooper was there with me. The sleep didn't last near long enough before I woke up to a particularly hard contraction. "Char?" Cooper asked and pushed some hair out of my face.
"I'm okay." I said brushing him off. He nodded and reclined back in his chair. Addison came in.
"Hey, you're awake." She commented.
"How long have I been asleep?" I asked.
"Three hours." She told me. "Now, I'm just going to check your dilation." Addison said and pulled on some gloves.
"This is awkward." Cooper said. Addison smiled.
"Looks like you're about five centimeters and your water hasn't broken yet. It should progress rather quickly after it does. But you never
know." Addison explained. I nodded.
"Okay." I said. A particularly hard contraction hit and I let out a small groan.
"Are you sure you don't want any pain medication?" Addison asked.
"No." I told her firmly. Addison nodded.
"Okay then. I'll be back to check on you shortly." Addison said and left the room.
"Charlotte if it's too much, I won't let you go off the deep end." Cooper said. I nodded.
"Okay. I love you." I told him. Cooper smiled.
"I love you too Charlotte. I can't wait to hold Anthony." He whispered and kissed me on the cheek. "Now try and get some rest and remember if it gets to be too much to handle. It's okay. I'll catch you." Cooper said. I nodded and closed my eyes. I woke up on the next contraction six minutes later. I gripped Cooper's hand.
"I can't do it." I told him. Cooper whipped a tear from my eye.
"Do you want an epidural?" Cooper asked.
"I can't." I told him.
"You can, I won't let you go too far." Cooper assured me. I sighed and nodded. "I'll page Addison okay?" Cooper asked and pulled out his Blackberry. I nodded.
Two hours later
My water had broken an hour ago and I was eight centimeters now. The epidural was helping some but not completely killing the pain. We had been at this for five hours and I was more than ready to be done. Cooper was passed out in a chair near my bed. He'd been trying his best not to fall asleep but it was nine at night and he had been up until Midnight the night before. I felt a rippling pain and I cried out. Cooper woke with a start.
"Charlotte what's wrong?" He asked.
"It hurts, it hurts really bad and it's not going away." I gasped.
"I'll page Addison." Cooper said. I nodded.
"Please." I begged. Addison ran in a few minutes later.
"Charlotte the placenta is tearing we need to get up to an OR now, he's in distress." She told me. I nodded.
"Okay. Oh my God it hurts. Addison." I begged.
"Trey call and tell them we're coming now." Addison ordered. Trey nodded and ran out. Addison started pushing me out to the elevator. Trey jumped into the elevator at the last second.
"They've been notified. OR 3 is the only OR open." Trey told her.
"Okay." She said. The doors opened and they pushed me into OR 3.
Cliffhanger! (:
I'm doing a poll for Addison's kids names! I can't decide. Either Braxton Marcus, Nathan Alexander, or Jacob Samuel for the boy and Kimberly Addison, Tess Alexandria, or Whitney Nicole for the girl. Obviously I'll make the final decision but I want your opinions! (: Thanks.