SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG TO UPDATE, I'M SUPER BUSY. HERE'S THE NEXT CHAPTER THOUGH – ENJOY AND PLEASE R/R!
Chapter Two
Eli opened his eyes after he felt Clare move for the 10th time. She had been tossing and turning for the past fifteen minutes.
"Are you okay, babe?" he asked, turning to face her.
"I just can't get comfortable" Clare complained. "You know, I haven't gotten a good night's sleep in the past six months. I can't wait to be able to sleep on my stomach again." Eli smiled at his very pregnant girlfriend.
"It'll all be over soon" he assured her.
"Not soon enough for me" Clare said. "My due date is in 10 days, but the doctor said I could easily be a week late."
"Well, look on the bright side, it'll give us time to come up with a first name" Eli said. "Have you thought any more about that?"
"I've thought about it. I haven't come up with anything" Clare said. She looked over at the clock and it read 3:45am and she groaned. "This is ridiculous." She sat up and worked herself out of bed and Eli sat up as well.
"Where are you going?" he asked as she made her way to the hallway.
"First I'm going to pee and then I'm getting something to eat. I'm hungry, as always" Clare said.
"Okay, go to the bathroom and I'll fix you something to eat" Eli told her. "What do you feel like?"
"A cow" Clare joked and Eli smiled. "I don't know, surprise me."
"I can do that" Eli said and Clare went into the bathroom and shut the door. Eli went into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator to figure out what he was going to make. After looking around the fridge he opened the freezer. "What about some potato skins?" he called to her.
"Sounds perfect" she called back and he took a box of potato skins out of the freezer. He heard the toilet flush and Clare emerged from the bathroom a minute later. "Can you get me out a can of soda?"
"Of course" he said, getting a can of sprite out of the fridge and handing it to her. She took it and sat at the table while Eli prepared the food for the oven and put it in there. After setting the timer on the stove he joined Clare at the table. Clare had opened one of the baby name books and was looking through it.
"Why is this so hard?" she asked, partially to herself. "I mean, we're his parents, shouldn't naming him be easier than this?"
"You're thinking too hard about this" Eli said. "You're just stressing yourself out. Don't put so much pressure on yourself, the perfect name will come to us."
"But what if it doesn't? What if he's just nameless forever" Clare said and Eli smiled and took Clare's hand.
"I promise you he won't be nameless" Eli said.
"Well, have you thought of any names?" Clare asked. "I shouldn't be the only one naming him."
"To be honest I haven't really thought about it" Eli said and Clare glared at him.
"Are you serious?!" she said. "I'm sitting here stressing out about it and you haven't even thought about it?"
"Clare, relax. Things will be fine. We'll have our son and he'll have a name, don't worry" Eli told her. "Maybe it'll be easier when we actually see him and what he looks like." Clare sighed and put down the book and rubbed her eyes. Eli stood up and stood behind her, rubbing her shoulders and neck. Clare leaned back, resting the back of her head against Eli and closed her eyes.
"I just want everything to be perfect" Clare said. "I want this little guy to have the best life possible. I don't ever want him to want for anything or ever get hurt or sad." Eli smiled at her.
"Well that's not really possible. Clare, we're gonna give him the best life we can and love him unconditionally, but he's gonna fall down and scrape his knee, he might put something up his nose, he might even break a bone or have to get stitches, but that doesn't mean we're bad parents or that we failed him in any way" Eli assured her. Clare sighed. "And if he's anything like me, he's gonna be a bit of a handful."
"Just a bit?" Clare teased, smiling at him. He smiled back and took her hand, pulling her into a kiss as the timer on the oven beeped. "Yay, food's done. I'm starving." Eli smiled again and got up to get the food out of the oven and sat the hot cookie sheet on top of the stove.
"Your 4am snack is served" he said, bringing over two plates of potato skins and sitting back at the table with Clare.
Then sun had been up for hours now, but Clare continued to snore in bed. Eli had been up since 8, but it was now almost noon and Clare was still asleep. As the clock struck twelve, Eli walked into the bedroom to wake Clare. He hated doing it, she had had trouble sleeping for months and she looked so peaceful, but they had a baby doctor appointment at 1:30 and he didn't want to be late.
"Clare? Sweetie, wake up" Eli said, gently shaking her and she groaned, opening her eyes slightly to look at him. "Our appointment is in an hour and a half. I thought you'd like to get up and eat something before we go. You know how you get nauseas when you don't eat for too long." He was right. Ever since she became pregnant any empty stomach wasn't her friend. Reluctantly she sat up, swinging her feet over the side of the bed and placing them on the floor. It always took her a while to get up from a sitting or lying position. With Eli's help she slowly stood up, cradling her back with her hand as she did so. She made her way to their closet to get dressed.
"I hope he tells me I'm dilated at least a little" Clare said, looking through her closet for something comfy to wear.
"I guess we'll find out" Eli said. After Clare got dressed she and Eli went into the kitchen and Clare sat down at the kitchen table and Eli went to the fridge. "So, mother of my child and love of my life, what'll it be?"
"Just a sandwich for now" Clare said. "Ham and cheese?"
"You got it" Eli said, getting the stuff out of the fridge and the bread to make her sandwich. "So, what if the doctor tells you that you haven't dilated yet?"
"I'm gonna go crazy" Clare said in jest. "This baby is taking his good old time getting out of me." Eli brought Clare the sandwich and a glass of iced tea and sat them in front of her. "Thanks."
"You're welcome" Eli said and kissed her on top of the head. "While you eat I'm gonna check my email and do a couple things online."
"Okay" Clare said and Eli went into the living room where his laptop was. Clare began to eat and started to feel a dull cramp in her belly. She ignored it at first, thinking it would go away, that maybe it was just because she was hungry, but the cramping got worse. Before long it was almost unbearable. Could this be it? Was she finally in labor? "Eli" she called.
"Yeah" Eli called back from the living room and Clare cringed at another cramp.
"Uh…I think it's time" she said, trying to breathe like her birthing classes thought her to do.
"No, our appointment isn't until 1:30, we still have 40 minutes" Eli told her, coming into the kitchen and seeing her in distress. "Oh…OH, time. Are you sure?"
"Pretty sure" Clare said.
"Oh god, okay" Eli said, looking around and trying not to panic. "Uh, let's go." He helped her up and into the living room. "I got your bag, the baby's bag…and the car seat." Grabbing everything and still trying to help Clare, he hurried her out of the house and to the car.
"Slow down, I'm huge, I can't walk that fast" Clare told him. "Don't freak out, just calm down and get me to the hospital." Eli helped her into the car and got into the driver's side, starting the car and driving toward the hospital.
"Are you okay?" he asked Clare, glancing at her and trying to keep his eyes on the road at the same time.
"Just in labor" Clare said, holding her stomach with her right hand and gripping Eli's hand with the other. Eli smiled and kissed her hand.
"We're gonna be parents, I can't believe we're gonna meet our son" Eli said, nervously excited.
"I know, I can't wait" Clare said, squeezing Eli's hand as another cramp hit her. "Drive faster please."
"I'm going as fast as I can without endangering the woman I love and my unborn child" Eli told her. As they got closer they began to see hospital signs. "We're almost there, babe."
A few minutes later Eli pulled into the hospital parking lot, parked and help Clare out of the car. They proceeded into the hospital and to the labor and delivery floor.
"Hi, can I help you?" the nurse behind the desk asked.
"Yeah, I'm kinda…having a baby here" Clare said
"Name?"
"Clare…Clare Edwards" Clare cringed in pain.
"How far along are you?" the nurse asked.
"Almost 39 weeks" Clare told her. The nurse typed some stuff into the computer and then printed out a hospital bracelet and put it on Clare's wrist.
"Have a seat and we'll be with you shortly" the nurse said.
"Excuse me?" Clare said, raising an eyebrow. "I'm having a baby, I don't have a cold or a cough."
"I know, we don't have any rooms at the moment, but will shortly. I'm going to page your doctor and I'll be with you as soon as I can" the nurse told her. Clare rolled her eyes in annoyance and Eli took her hand.
"Come on, babe" he said, directing her to a couple empty chairs and they sat down.
"I can't believe this. I'm in labor and they're making me wait in the waiting room?" Clare complained, cringing at yet another cramp.
"Just breathe, honey" Eli said, trying to calm her down.
"You breathe, I want a room where I can lay down, not to sit in these horribly uncomfortable chairs while it feels like I'm being ripped in half" Clare hissed. Her hormones were in over drive and she was beyond annoyed.
"Clare Edwards?" a nurse called and Eli stood up, helping up his girlfriend.
"That's me" Clare said.
"This way, I'll take you to your room now" the nurse said and Eli and Clare followed her down the hallway and into a birthing room. "The doctor is on his way up, he'll be here shortly."
"Thank you" Clare said as the nurse helped her into bed.
"You're welcome" the nurse smiled and left the room. Clare sighed deeply, trying to relax a little now that she was in a room and laying down.
"Are you nervous?" Eli asked, sitting next to her bed and grabbed her hand.
"A little, but more excited" Clare told him. Just then there was a knock at the door and Clare's doctor entered.
"Well, hello, Clare. Looks like we're having our appointment here instead of in my office, huh?" the doctor joked. "Let's see…" He put on a pair of latex gloves and examined Clare, frowning a bit.
"Is everything okay?" Clare asked. The doctor's look made her nervous.
"Well, you're not going to like to hear this, but it looks like what you're experiencing are Braxton Hick's contractions. It's the body's way of practicing for labor, which unfortunately you're not in yet." He removed the gloves and pulled the sheet back up over Clare's belly.
"Are you freakin kidding me? False labor?" Clare asked, a little angrily.
"Afraid so" the doctor said. "But I'll tell you what, your due date is in nine days. If you haven't gone into labor by your due date I'll induce you. You won't have to wait past your due date, okay?"
"Sure" Clare said. That didn't really make her feel better. She would still have to wait nine days and she wasn't happy about that. The doctor smiled at her and excused himself before leaving the room. Clare sighed, frustrated and got up to get dressed. "Braxton Hicks? Really?"
"It's gonna be okay, Clare. Either way we'll have a baby before the new month starts" Eli said, trying to look on the bright side, but that didn't change Clare's mood.
"Just take me home please" she said with a sigh. Eli kissed her forehead and they walked out of the hospital together to go back home.