Little House on the Prairie Prequel Story: "Laura Elizabeth Ingalls."

Chapter Five

Laura narrates: "Two more months pass and the day finally arrives for me to make my appearance into the world and it was an unexpected one at that."

One cold winter night, Charles and Caroline are sound asleep in their bed when Caroline is jolted awake by a sharp pain. She gasps and quickly sits herself up. She then says softly. "Oh, no." She quickly goes to wake up Charles next to her as she tries to stay calm. "Charles." She shakes him. "Charles." He stirs a little and mutters. "Hmm? What is it, Caroline?" "I need you to get up now." She says. "Oh?" He yawns. "And why's that?" "Because I really don't want to have this baby alone." She tells him. He opens his eyes and turns his head around to face her. "What?" She then tells him. "It's time, Charles." He then asks. "Ar..are you sure?" She nods. "I'm positive. This baby is coming now...mmm." She winces as she is hit with a contraction. Charles then says.
"I'll go fetch the doctor."

He quickly gets up out of bed and Caroline then shouts out. "No!! There's no time. It's the middle of the night. You'll never make it in time." "Caroline, I have to, you need a doctor." He tells her. She shakes her head as she tries to control her breathing. "No. This baby's coming too fast. You'll have to do it, Charles." Charles looks at her in disbelief as he says. "What? Caroline, I can't." "You have to." She says. He then explains to her. "Caroline, I'm not a doctor, what if something were to go wrong? What are we supposed to do then?" "It won't." She tells him.
"Caroline, you can't be sure of that." He says. She then tells him. "Well, I am. You can do this, Charles. I trust you. Now, we're wasting time. Please." She takes his hand. "Help me bring our child into this world." He knows he can't convince her otherwise so he responds. "Alright."

Charles lights the lamp and then gathers blankets and fills a bowl up with lukewarm water while Caroline is hit with another contraction and yelps in pain. Charles stops what he's doing and runs over to her. He takes her hand and sits down on the edge of the bed to help her through it. "Easy now, breathe." She tries to steady her breathing. "That's it, deep breaths." She starts to relax again as the contraction passes. "I think it's almost time now." She says.

Little Mary then comes through the blanket dividing the room. "Mama?" They both turn around and see her and Caroline looks at Charles as she says. "Charles." Charles then tells her. "I'll get her." He gets up from the bed and goes to her and picks her up. He turns to Caroline and says. "I'll make sure she stays back." Mary reaches her arms out to Caroline who smiles at her and tells her. "Mama's fine, darling, it's alright." Charles takes her back behind the blanket and sits her down on her bed and says to her. "Mary, honey, I'm gonna need you to stay out here for a little while. I'll come and get you when it's okay for you to come back, but for now, I want you to stay right here and be a good girl, alright?" She nods her little head. Charles smiles and strokes her head as he says to her. "That's my girl. And don't you worry about your Ma, she's gonna be just fine." He gives her a kiss when Caroline then screams out his name.

He quickly goes back through the blanket and back over to Caroline. "Caroline, what's wrong?" She then says to him in distress. "They're really coming close together now. I think it's time, I can feel it." "Alright. Come on." He says and then helps prop her up on the bed. He takes her hand and tells her. "Okay, I need you to slowly start to bear down now." She starts to push. "That's it." She whimpers and then stops and cries out in exhaustion. He then tells her. "Alright, alright. That's good, you're doing great. Let's go again."

A few minutes go by as Charles helps Caroline through the labor and delivery while encouraging and comforting her along the way. She is heavily breathing in and out as he says to her. "Good, now just bear down a little more. That's it. You're doing so great." She stops and lets out an exhausted yell and then says through labored breaths. "How much..more?" "You're almost there." He says. He then decides to lighten the mood. "Hey. Wouldn't it be something if this baby came out looking like your Aunt Tess?" She groans and tries to hold back laughter as she says. "That's not funny, Charles." He smirks and then tells her. "Alright, come on, just one more." She starts pushing again with all her might until finally the baby is out. Charles turns the baby over and lightly slaps its bottom and it starts to cry. He turns the baby back over again and smiles. Caroline then asks in exhaustion. "Is the baby alright?" He nods. "Yeah." He looks up at her and then says with a smile. "She's fine." A big smile spreads across Caroline's face as she says. "She?" "Yeah." His eyes begin to fill with tears as he says. "We have another girl, Ma." Caroline's eyes start to fill with tears as well as she asks. "Can I see her?" "I..I have to clean her off first, Caroline." He says as they both laugh and cry at the same time.