The Strypes Pregnancy Series

First Kick

Evan:

You slowly open your eyes, squinting into the morning sunrise. Next to you, Evan is already awake and is reading the paper. You roll over to greet him when you feel a flutter in your stomach.

You stop dead still and wait, tensed. It happens again! It's only a small feeling but something moved. The baby kicked!

"Ev! The baby kicked for the first time! It did it twice, just now!"

"What? Oh my god, can I feel it?"

"I don't know, it was only small. Put your hands on my stomach, maybe it will move again!"

You and Evan spend the next half an hour trying to feel the baby kick again, and eventually he feels it too. He starts crying and he immediately calls up everyone to tell them.

Josh:

"Hey Y/N, have you felt the baby kick yet?"

"No, I don't think so, though apparently the movements are really small at first so I'm not sure. I could have missed one."

"Do you think you could make her kick? I really want to feel it" Josh muses.

"Uh... I once read somewhere that loud noises can make a fetus move. We could try slamming a door or something?"

Josh leaps over to the door and smashes it into the wall with no warning. You jump and glare at him.

"Anything?" he asks timidly.

"Well, I wasn't able to tell over the sound of my own screaming."

"No need for sarcasm, baby. Let's try again." This time you make eye contact and he slowly closes the door. You're preparing yourself for disappointment when you suddenly feel something like a pin dropping in your womb.

You open your eyes in shock and Josh smiles at you questioningly.

"Yeah, it did! Oh my god, the baby kicked."

You sit down on the sofa as you cry. Josh sits next to you with one hand on your stomach and one hand stroking your hair.

Pete:

You've tried everything. Herbal remedies, loud noises, cold sugary drinks: nothing is working. You're nearly into your 24th week and you still haven't felt the baby kick. You haven't told Pete of the worries: he's been busy in the studio and hast noticed yet.

You've been trying to remain calm but the anxiety is taking over you. As you lie on the bed in the doctor's surgery, the worry forms a tight knot in your stomach.

It's an agonising 20 minutes whilst the nurse performs various uncomfortable tests on you. Eventually, she finishes and turns to you.

"You have low levels of amniotic fluid. I'm not sure yet what's causing it, but if you keep drinking water it could help. It's not yet severe enough to need a hospital stay, but I will be providing you with medication and you'll have to come in for regular checkups..."

You zone out as she continues talking. How could this have happened? You'd taken so much care: now you'd have to tell Pete that the baby was in danger.

"What does this mean?" you ask, your throat dry.

"The baby could be behind in development and could possibly be born with some defects. There's also a small risk of miscarriage or stillbirth and the baby is likely to have a difficult birth. Low amniotic fluid is not uncommon, many women..."

You begin to cry, only a few tears escaping at first until a torrent of them are flowing down your cheeks and onto the piece of paper with the test results in your lap. The nurse gets out of the chair and rests her hand on your shoulder and offers you a tissue.

"Would you like a minute to tell the father now?"

Ross:

You waddle in through the door, your bump already quite large with the twins. You place your shopping bags on the table and are about to start unpacking them when you feel something in your womb, then a similar feeling on the other side.

You'd thought that the first kick was supposed to be less obvious but there is no way way in hell that wasn't the babies moving. It's about time, too!

You scramble to dig your phone out of your pocket and dial Ross' number with shaking hands. It rings out. You smash in down on the counter in frustration. Where is Ross?

You try him again, then Pete, then Evan, then Josh. None of them pick up. Did you do something to offend them all?

You try and think back to where Ross said he'd be today. Not an interview, not in the studio, not gigging...

Oh, right. Ross is currently flying. You'd forgotten that he said he was going from Glasgow to London. Trust his stupid schedule to be conspiring against you.

Forgetting about the shopping, you collapse in an armchair. There must be some way to tell Ross right now, mustn't there? Eventually, you decide to tweet Josh so that they'll see it the second they step off the plane. You swear that guy spends more time on social media than actually sleeping.

You pass the brief period of time before the plane lands doing various household chores and constantly refreshing Twitter. Finally, after twenty minutes there's a small ping, then your phone starts vibrating.

You see Josh has favourited your tweet Hey @Josh_McClorey, can you tell Ross that the babies both just kicked? Xx. Several other people have already retweeted or favourited it and you smile to yourself as you accept Josh's call.

"Ohmygod Y/N, did they both actually kick? My phone's out of battery, I can't believe I missed this, oh my god, oh my god..."

"Ross, calm down. They'll kick loads over the next months and I'm sure I'll get sick of it. Don't stress. Enjoy your show tonight, yeah? It's the last one before you're home!"

Hey! I was thinking about creating a tumblr for my wattpad: not to publish stories, just so you could send me anons and I could do updates. Is it a good idea? Would anyone follow it? Thank you! Next up is insecurities :) Xx