Familiarity ||| Jacaerys Velaryon

forty-six

The midwife and Alyssa's ladies arrived swiftly. They came with everything they would need to assist in her labour. Water, many cloths, buckets for the dirty cloths and for the afterbirth.

As soon as the midwife arrived, Alyssa felt much calmer. She was calm because the midwife was calm. Soft, reassuring.

"How are we?" She asked, setting her things to the side and settling herself in front of Alyssa on the bed.

"In pain," Alyssa said shortly, humming low in her chest to try and mitigate said pain.

"As expected, I'm afraid," she said, taking Alyssa's wrist to feel her pulse. The midwife asked Alyssa how long she'd been in labour and if her water had broken.

Alyssa explained that she thought, now that she felt the real pains, it started before she went to bed. And yes, her water had broken in the bathroom, which was why she was in so much pain.

"Very good, princess," the midwife encouraged, backing away to wet a cloth. "It seems you're progressing nicely."

She handed the cloth to Jace and he wiped Alyssa's face of the sweat beginning to accumulate, placing the cloth on the back of her neck.

"You're doing so well already," he whispered, holding her face.

Alyssa thought that when the midwife said she was progressing nicely, it meant that she would be done sometime soon. If she was progressing, it would go fast, right?

***

Wrong. Alyssa was very wrong.

The midwife assured her it was normal for it to take that long to progress. Especially for a first-time mother. But Alyssa wasn't quite sure of that when the pain she thought was bad only got worse.

It got worse and they got closer together. Alyssa was sure she was going to wear her voice out, groaning and yelling when the pain got bad enough.

Alyssa was very thankful, however, because even as the hours dragged on, no one in that room was judging her. The midwife and her ladies encouraged her to keep breathing, to keep groaning low and loud to let the pain out.

And Jace. Her sweet, doting husband.

Helping Alyssa stand when she needed to, letting her squeeze his hand as hard as she needed to, rubbing her back, massaging her shoulders, holding her belly from behind, and whispering in her ear as she heaved.

She progressed from the night into the morning. When natural light filtered into the room and Alyssa was reminded how many hours she'd been at it.

From morning to afternoon.

But she was doing it. She was, they confirmed she was progressing, and that her body was getting closer to the time to push. Alyssa was somewhat confident in herself.

Then it got so much worse. So much worse so fast. And that was when the tears started, when groaning became yelling. When the fear and the doubt crept in.

It was almost unbearable. How much pain she was in, and how close together her labour pains were. She didn't get a break, they didn't stop for a few minutes like the other ones. Alyssa was sure something was wrong.