Surrera Advent Calendar 2022

Day 14

Today's story is by Anna (Wattpad: surreralove_19    Twitter: surrera_love)

In the Sullivan household they had already began counting down for christmas.

Tonight they sat in their living room setting up the Christmas tree and decorating the entire house. Well actually Andy sat on the couch telling Robert where to put everything. As Robert wouldn't let Andy pick up anything heavy, since her due date was coming up in a couple days.

It is safe to say they are both nervous, but very excited to welcome their first child to the world. Preparing for months the arrival. As they continued to decorate for Christmas Andy began to feel pains in her lower abdomen, but refused to tell Robert until after all the decorating was done, knowing it probably wouldn't get done after the babies arrival.

Finally 2 hours later the house was completely decorated and Andy's contractions were getting closer. "I think it's time to go to the hospital, I can't stand this any longer." Andy said, as the contraction stopped. "Okay, it's happening. Let's get you out to the vehicle. Wait the bags. Where are the bags?" Robert said panicking. "Robert relax, I put the bags in the vehicle yesterday. Remember?" Andy said breathing through another contraction. "Oh ya, sorry babe. Okay let's go have a baby." Robert said, helping Andy out to the vehicle.

As Robert drove as quickly and safely to the hospital something in his brain clicked. "Wait you said you couldn't stand the contractions any longer. How long had you been having them before you told me?" Robert asked. "A couple hours." Andy said, grunting as another contraction came. "Andrea Herrera," Robert said, trying his best not to freak out on her, "Why didn't you tell me sooner?" "We had to make sure all the decorations are up for when she comes home and I knew if I told you we would be heading for the hospital with a bunch of decorations everywhere, so I waited." Andy said, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Do you want me to go get a wheelchair?" Robert asked, as he opened Andy's door. Andy didn't even say any words, only a glare and he knew exactly what her answer was. "Right. I'm sorry, I'm just worried." Robert said grabbing the bags from the back of the vehicle before they headed inside. When they got to the labor and delivery floor they were given a room, and waited to see a doctor.

"Hello, are you ready to have a baby?" Dr. Wilson asked, as she came in having known the Sullivan's since she was Andy's doctor throughout the entire pregnancy.

"You are 4 centimetres dilated, so you are definitely in active labor. Now I know we talked about this, but I just want to make sure you haven't changed your mind. Do you want an epidural?" Dr. Wilson asked. "No I'm sure on my decision." Andy said, stubbornly. Robert and her had talked about how the birth process would go for quite a while and Robert never really agreed with her decision. He hated seeing her in pain, especially when there was nothing he could do to stop it and this time would be no different. Meanwhile Andy had heard to many stories of things going wrong and decided she would rather not have the epidural, no matter how many times people told her that the risks were rare, she wasn't willing to risk it.

"Ok I will be back in about an hour to check on your progress, if you need anything call the nurse by hitting this button and don't feel afraid to walk around." Dr. Wilson said before heading out to go check on other laboring mothers.

After walking around the labor and delivery floor for a bit, and just trying to relax as much as possible Dr. Wilson came back in to check on how much progress had been made. "Okay so your 5 centimetres dilated which is great progress. How are you feeling?" "I just want this baby out of me." Andy says, breathing through another contraction.  "Hopefully only a few more hours." Dr. Wilson says, checking the monitors for both Andy and the baby before leaving. After trying to fall asleep for a little bit Andy is able to fall asleep in between contractions, which Robert is grateful for. He hated seeing Andy in pain and he was finally able to breathe knowing she wasn't in pain at the moment.

9 hours later Andy laid in bed holding their little girl, while Robert sat on the edge of her bed. After 2 hours of pushing they had welcomed Aria Marie Sullivan to the world born on December 14, 2022.

As they walked in the door, they noticed a huge sign saying "Welcome home, Aria" in the living room. They smiled at the thought everyone at the station had made, as they looked around the room at all the gifts under the tree all for Aria. Throughout Andy's pregnancy the whole team had stepped up and taken more control at the station and in their personal life's, which both Andy and Robert were grateful for.

Christmas Day

Awakened at 4:30 by a little baby crying, they decided they might as well get up for the day. As Andy fed Aria, Robert put the finishing touches in all the gifts, before starting breakfast.

"So how should we do this?" Robert asked as they sat down on the floor, beside the Christmas tree. "How about I hold aria, while you open half of her presents, and then you can hold her while I open the other half." Andy suggested. "Okay." Robert said, picking up the first gift before opening it and showing it to Aria.

For dinner, they FaceTimed the team who unfortunately had to work today. Wishing they could be there, but not wanting to risk Aria getting sick. They FaceTimed for a few minutes before the team got called out to a house fire.

Andy fed Aria again before putting her in her crib and heading back to the living room where her and Robert watched Christmas movies for the rest of the day, each taking turns calming Aria down when she would wake up.

Later that night as they laid next to each other, Andy whispered, "Thank you." "For what?" Robert asked confused. "For being on this journey through life with me." Andy said, drawing invisible shapes on his chest with her finger as she dosed off, falling into a deep sleep.

Merry Christmas!
I hope everyone has a happy and healthy holiday season.