Forever Tied to you

55

Sophie

I have officially reached whale status.

This was the part of pregnancy that no one ever talks about. The swollen feet, the inability to get comfortable, and the everlasting feeling of needing to pee every time I moved.

It was kind of ironic that everyone always said the sleepless nights started when the baby was born, yet I hadn't had a good nights sleep in days. Every turn or movement was either uncomfortable or had me using the bathroom.

Our sex life? It now only consisted of missionary and even then, the void of space known as my protruding stomach had my focus on everything but reaching a climax.

We were now just a couple weeks away from our due date, and boy was I feeling it. We had decided to be surprised by the gender of the baby. After everything that had happened with Jaxon and the secrecy of the pregnancy it was better this way.

That also meant that we didn't have any names picked out yet. We had briefly discussed names one night, but nothing definitive had come from it, except that it would would have the last name Hughes.

"I want it to have our last name if that's okay?" Mason asked as he played with my hair.

"Why wouldn't it have your last name Mase? Your it's dad?"

"I don't know? I mean it's your decision, I just..." he sighed "I wanted you to know that I'm all in Soph. I want us, our family. I want us to watch our kid grow up together, give them some siblings, grow old together. I just, well, I wanted you to know that our kid, our family, it's all I need, and that you are the only woman I want to mother my children." He continued and I knew that even without him saying that, I would have given our child his last name. I wasn't planning on going back to my maiden name anyway.

So that's basically how our little nugget became referred to as Baby Hughes.

Every day since we had been so busy that we hadn't broached the topic of names again. I knew though, that whenever baby Hughes arrived we would figure it out.

Today we had one of my last check ups at the doctor. Mason had been to every appointment and ultrasound, but since this was just to make sure that the baby was head down and to see if my body was preparing for birth yet I had told him he could sit this one out. He still had some last minute things to go over with Steven to completely finalize the partnership, and that was more important, besides Hunter was going to drive me so if I needed something I could just ask him.

"Don't worry. I'll call you as soon as I'm done with the appointment and let you know what they say?" I looked up at him as he stood, holding onto the passenger door of Hunters Range Rover.

"You better. I love you." He smiled leaning in to kiss me gently.

"Love you too, now go and finish promoting your best friend so I can stop worrying about it." I smiled as he stepped away from the car.

Hunter pulled the car away from the house and began cruising down the little back roads towards the doctors office.

"So how is married-and-pregnant-in-hiding?" He smirked and I felt myself grin as I rolled my eyes.

Hunter was always playful and managed to make situations less tense and awkward.

"Not so bad, considering I can barely walk around anyway. I'm pretty sure I can identify as a duck with all the waddling I do these days!" I bantered with him as he chuckled.

"Well the good news is, you won't have to waddle much longer, but..."

"What's the bad news?" I asked slightly amused at whatever this conversation was.

"The bad news is, your going to turn from a duck to a cow and be getting milked regularly!" At that I found myself laughing with him, even though being compared to a cow was typically mean, the way he had said it was hilarious.

"You mean I have to start mooing at people instead of quacking?"

"Exactly." He chuckled "but maybe don't do it in public."

I shot him an amused smile as we pulled into the obgyn. "Thanks for bringing me Hunter, and we'll, for keeping me company while I've been hiding."

"Of course." He smiled as a small pink color worked its way to his cheeks. "You're family." He put the car in park and cut the engine off. "Do you need help going in?"

"Would you mind?" I asked, knowing my balance was all over the place. "I really do waddle now and I'd hate to fall down."

His eyes crinkled as he shook his head and smiled. Then he jumped out the car and came to my side, opening the door and helping me out. I held onto his arm as we walked into the office and nothing could make me more thankful for Hunter than the moment the doctor called me back.

An anxious fear had washed over me upon hearing my name and I wasn't sure why? Maybe it was because it finally felt real, finally felt final. This was the very last step before I would give birth and welcome baby Hughes into the world.

"Will you come with me?" I turned to Hunter who just shot me a sympathetic look and held out his arm for me to take.

We made our way back to the room and Hunter waited outside while I stripped off for my exam. I knew there would be a blanket covering me and as long as he stayed beside my head he wouldn't risk seeing anything other than my exposed stomach.

Thankfully that's where he placed himself, turning his head away while the doctor examined me. I couldn't help but smile when he seemed to focus on one of the posters showing the birthing process on the wall. His face had gone pale and he looked mortified.

"So I have good news." The doctor smiled as she pulled her hand away from my intimate parts and covered me with the blanket. "You're almost completely effaced and about 2 centimeters dilated."

"What does that mean?" I asked nervously.

"It means that your body is already preparing for birth, and that you should probably start getting ready. Have you had any Braxton hix yet?"

"Yeah, but my friend already showed me how to get rid of them."

"Great!" She smiled. "Just make sure that if they don't go away that you time the space in between contractions. Anything less than five minutes in between and you should probably go to the hospital."

"Thanks." I forced a smile, suddenly nervous about what was to come.

She left after that and Hunter soon after so I could redress. When I emerged I took his arm to help keep me balanced again as we began walking to the car.

"Don't ask questions, just tuck your face into my chest while we walk and don't look up." He suddenly muttered into my ear pulling me flush against him.

I could smell the spiced cologne he wore and while it was nice, the sudden request had me on high alert. Still, I did as he said until we got to the car and he put me in the back seat.

"Keep your head down until we leave, the tinted windows should help." He said as he closed the door and before I could ask why he was in the front seat turning on the car and slowly pulling out of the parking lot.

"Hunter what's going on?" I finally asked to once I realized we were away from the office.

"Sierra."