The Seventh Sense is Love

Labor and Lessons

"It's time."

Derek sat up straight - his wife's words jolting him wide awake more effectively than a shot of espresso. He took a close look at Meredith's face and immediately noted that she was slightly pale and tired. He reached out to caress her cheek and asked, "How far apart are your contractions?"

"Every ten minutes for the past hour," Meredith answered with a sigh and leaned into his hand. "Every fifteen minutes the hour before that. And the rest of the night they were all over the place - very erratic."

"Okay," he said calmly and nodded. "Did you sleep at all?"

"Not really. I dozed here and there but nothing deep. There was a small amount of blood when I went to the bathroom."

Derek hugged Meredith and then nudged her back onto the bed. "Rest while I call Dr. Chu and Kathleen."

"Kathleen?"

"Yes," Derek said softly but with determination. "You're tired and you're in labor. No way are you driving."

"Oh," she said with a yawn and then smiled. "You're right - having Kathleen drive us is a great idea. But Derek?"

"Yes?"

"I'm surprised we haven't discussed this but when it comes time to actually have Ian - I just want you and I in the room. Okay?"

"Of course," he smiled back at her and then winced when she did. Immediately he was at her side, holding her hand. "Are you having a contraction now?"

Meredith nodded her head as she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Then she looked at the clock and told Derek, "It's been ten minutes since the last one."

"How are they on a one to ten scale?"

"They aren't really painful," Meredith said, leaning her head on his shoulder. "They're just uncomfortable but enough to say about a one-and-a-half."

Derek kissed her on the forehead and said, "I'm going to make the calls. I'll be back in less than ten minutes."

Meredith lay on her side, rubbing her belly as she took a couple of deep breaths and cleared her mind. She knew she wasn't going to sleep, but she did need as much rest as possible. At least, that seemed like a logical course of action to her. True to his word, Derek was back in their room less than ten minutes later. He handed her a banana and a slice of lightly buttered toast. "Kathleen's on her way and Dr. Chu says to get to the hospital. She thinks it'll still be a while before Ian is born but considering that your contractions are ten minutes apart -" he trailed off with a smile and a shrug.

She giggled and said, "Yeah, and since we live in the boonies - we're better off getting to the hospital now."

"Pretty much," he stated and sat down beside her. "You should eat."

"I'm not supposed to."

"Mer," he reasoned, "once we get to the hospital, you're going to be living on ice chips and other forms of liquid until Ian is born. Since we agree that it's going to be a while before he actually arrives - I think you're safe to eat something."

Two hours later they were at the hospital, checked in and still in labor. Meredith was hooked up to an IV and two stretchy belts were wrapped around her belly. One of the belts was monitoring Ian's heartbeat and both Meredith and Derek were paying close attention to that one. Everything was fine - they were just extra tuned-in to their son today. Dr. Chu had just left, and Meredith was only dilated to two centimeters. Her contractions were every eight to ten minutes and her pain level was about a three now.

"Derek?"

"Yes?" He was sitting next to her bed, holding her hand and stroking her belly with his other.