Foolish one

Chapter 64

The summer was extremely hard for me. Mostly it came down to the fact that the sun was constantly shining and that it was incredibly hot.

We spent all our time by the beach, and I spent most of the time in the water. It was the only way I could survive in the heat.

When practice started, I stayed inside with the air-conditioning on. There were windows so that I could watch the team play and sometimes I even had a friend to join me. It felt weird to have such a big stomach, and it felt even weirder that our daughter was inside.

Everything became worse as the team was travelling to the United States for a small tournament. It was supposed to happen in August, which was conveniently when I was very pregnant. Still, I wanted Alexia to go, so I decided to stay with Eli for the time of the tournament.

I had heard that with your first baby it would probably arrive after your due date, so I wasn't too worried about giving birth without Alexia there. I was due on the ninth of September and Alexia would return home on the twenty-fourth of August. It was over two weeks until my due date, so I happily let her travel.

That was one of the worst ideas in my life. I was blissfully unaware about what was going to happen that week.

On the nineteenth of August I went into labour. The contractions started in the middle of the night, and I was slow to tell both Eli and Alexia. I needed to call Alexia to inform her about that, and she decided that she needed to head back. I was sure that my contractions were just Braxton hicks, because I had them before. But as the contractions increased in pain, lasted longer, and the time between them grew smaller, I told Eli. She drove me to the hospital, and I texted Alexia on the way there.

Me
Hello Love! Just wanted to inform you that I'm probably in labour. Wishing you good luck on the game today now as I will probably not be on the phone more.

Alexia
I'm on the first flight back. On my way to the airport now. Don't even think that I'll play a game when you are in labour.

Me
I'm doing alright here with Eli. Go and smash it on the pitch love!

Alexia
I am not playing. Already halfway to the airport. Tickets are booked and I'll be home in fifteen hours.

Me
I love you, Alexia!

My contractions only grew stronger, and I could feel myself getting weaker. I was quickly admitted and got my own room. Here, I did some breathing exercises and waited until I would be ready to give birth. It was gruelling. I was in pain and Eli did her best to comfort me. Everything would be better when Alexia arrived. I wanted her here with me. Screw that, I needed her here.

Me
Just got admitted, barely dilated so we will be here a while.

Me
Four centimetres dilated, just one more than when I arrived.

Me
Managed to sleep for a while, six centimetres now. Might be a few more hours until she is born.

It had been fourteen hours since we arrived, and I was still not ready to push. I saw on flight radar that her flight had landed thirty minutes ago, which meant she was on her way here. It wouldn't be long until I was fully dilated, and I was ready to push.

My contractions were almost constant, and the pain was intense. I had gotten an epidural, but it had been placed wrong and did not help at all, so they had removed it. After that it was too late to reinsert it, so I was doing this without any medication.