The Timeline

17.

July 22nd, 2014:

Anna gave birth to the twins on July 15th, 2014, at around 6PM, at St. Bartholomew's Hospital.

Her waters had broken at around 3AM that morning, and Anna had woken up to wet sheets and suffocating pains not so long after. She had been gearing up for that moment for 8 months at that point; her instincts kicked in, also thanks to the various pre-partum classes both her and Richard (and Claire, sometimes) had attended, and she had started doing all the breathing exercises she had learned.

Richard, who had a sixth sense one could've easily defined as the 'Anna sense' had woken up immediately, sensing that there was something out of the ordinary with his wife; him, too, had been counting down the days until the moment would've come, so his instincts had kicked in as well, and before he knew it, he had grabbed Anna's hand and was helping her breathe through what was, most likely, a contraction. Once the moment had passed, Anna had told him, quite breathless, to go and fetch the bag they had both prepared at the beginning of the month, so they could've left for the hospital.

The contractions were still pretty far off from each other; Anna knew that she would've had some time before the real labour would've start, but it was best to get to the hospital as soon as possible. She hadn't gotten dressed, not bothering with choosing clothes, for she knew she would've had to don them in favor of a hospital gown once she would've been accepted into a room. It was a 40 minutes drive, at best, and despite it being quite early in the morning - it wasn't even 5AM, after all - there was still traffic. They had both decided they would've called Claire only when they had a more certain idea of when the actual childbirth would've happened.

After going over all the acceptance procedures, Anna was finally ushered into a room in the gynecology department, and her obstetrician was alerted; she currently wasn't on call, but in the meantime, Anna would've been visited by one of the midwives on duty to determine just how much her cervix had dilated, and how far off the contractions were from each other. What really mattered, however, was for Anna to find out how she would've given birth: if it would've been a vaginal birth or a C-section.

Claire was called into the hospital around 6AM, once the tubes were starting to open and Anna and Richard had more certain informations: Anna would've been having a vaginal birth, as the twins' positions were optimal for it; her contractions were still pretty far-off, but she would've been checked onto every 30 minutes, as things usually progressed very fast at a certain point.

Claire had specifically asked to be there while Anna would've been giving birth, for she had been deeply involved in every other aspect of the pregnancy; it would've been her first time witnessing something like that, and she was a bit anxious about it all. Her stomach was in her throat, as she met Richard outside the hospital, where he had been waiting for her, after her 55 minutes journey with buses and tubes and her speed-walking.

Fortunately, Claire was allowed to stay in the hospital room with Anna and Richard; their obstetrician also told her that she was allowed to enter the delivery room if she wanted, but Claire felt a bit uncertain about it, not knowing if she would've fainted during such a delicate time. Perhaps it would've been best for her to keep outside the room, and leave that moment for Anna and Richard alone, since they had been waiting their whole life for it.

The time came sooner than expected, and around 5PM, Anna was taken to the delivery room, Richard in tow; he changed into one of those hospital slip-on gowns, he covered his shoes with those paper-thin things and a cuff was placed over his big head.

Maybe it was because they had both been wanting it more than ever, maybe it had been because the babies wanted it more than anyone else in the world, maybe it had been something else. Point is that, in every retelling of the hour Anna spent in the labour room, she would've said that the time had flown by and she hadn't felt an ounce of pain, even as she sweated profusely, her hair struck to her skin, and she had to push as hard as she could, crushing Richard's hand to bits.