The history book on the shelf is always repeating itself

It's Time

Frida woke up with a start. The pain was so strong that she had to curl up in a ball, she could barely breath and finally it stopped. Here we go again, she thought to herself girthing her teeth struggling through the pain. She stood up and paced the length of the bedroom hoping to relive some of the pain. She was feeling quite uncomfortable by now, the little one was ready to come. Frida on the other hand not so much. She was afraid that something will go wrong. The storm was still going strong, in fact it was still getting worse, and it was just her, Benny, Björn and Agnetha with the children there. She'll have to give birth at home and only with Agnetha's help. No doubt that Benny will help where he could, but it still scared her. Agnetha being pregnant herself certainly didn't make the situation any easier. She could go into labour at any moment and then they'd both be in the same position. She really didn't know what to do. She looked at the clock, it was barely past 2.00 AM, she signed, it was way too early to wake anyone up just yet. Slowly she made her way downstairs to get a glass of water, her mouth was dry, and she was already beginning to have a headache.

Agnetha slowly stirred awake and tried to get comfortable on the bed. It was hard now, in just a couple of days, she will have her new baby. She smiled to herself, even though she was scared to death of a homebirth, she couldn't be happier. A couple months prior both Frida and she decided to wait until birth to find out the gender of their youngest. They practically burned the result papers. It just seemed right this time. She could hear someone downstairs but that was unusual. It was still extremely early. She read the time: 2.37 AM. She frowned, and then she realised. It must be Frida. Dammit! Today the weather was even worse than before. She went downstairs to find Frida at last. She found her pacing in front of the couch in the living room, the waterglass still in her hand. Agnetha smiled to herself, it was rare to see Frida like that, she was always so well put together, perhaps this is going to change now though. With the family growing again, everyone was bound to change a bit. Suddenly Frida stopped pacing and the waterglass fell from her hand Agnetha could see Frida struggling and rushed to her. Frida's water just broke, and she needed to stay calm now. Frida told her to stay still, she didn't want her to cut herself on the glass. She went to fetch some towels and laid them on the couch, then she helped Frida sit down and put her legs up, she could see she was exhausted. When she was done picking up the remains of the glass and making sure that the floor wasn't slippery, she returned to Frida. Frida tried desperately to regain her breath, but it was hard. Her contractions were coming strong and were now close together. She started counting them a while ago and now they were only 4 minutes apart. An hour past and Frida was feeling more exhausted by the minute. The contractions have remained like that for the past hour, and she felt ready to push. Luckily, she was already dilated enough. Agnetha prepared everything they'll need and got Frida ready as well as prepared what the little one will need. She returned to Frida's side. Frida wanted Benny there, this was their first child together after all. Agnetha was ready to go up to get Benny but as soon as she started walking, she almost collapsed in pain. She hadn't said anything before, but she had started feeling contractions soon after she came downstairs. She turned to Frida apologetically, there was simply no way either of them could manage the walk to the bedroom. Screaming for them was out of question, there were too many kids in the house and the chaos would certainly make everything even harder. Unless the men miraculously decided to wonder downstairs in the middle of the night, they 'll sadly miss the birth. It was not even 4.00 AM. She didn't waste time now that her water broke too, and so they needed to hurry a bit if they were going to be of any help to each other.

Frida began to push, with every push she felt weaker and weaker, but she had to pull through. What she'll have at the end will be more than worth it. After what seemed like hours, but it only was 30 minutes she gave one last big push and started to cry.

Her little baby was here. Tears of joy ran down her face. Agnetha cleaned the little one a bit before giving her to her mother at last. A little girl she could hardly believe she had another daughter. But then she felt the pain. Something was wrong. She looked at Agnetha and she was right back there to check her. Agnetha gasped she certainly hadn't expected this. Twins. She tried to keep Frida calm and still. Pushing a baby out of you while holding another in your arms wasn't as easy as it seemed. Nonetheless, the little one was a perfect angel and kept quiet while her mother delivered her younger brother. Agnetha smiled to herself while she took some baby clothes from the bag she brought down before. A picture of Frida holding and nursing her twins was a picture of pure happiness. She wished Benny could be there too, but the stairs were just too great of an obstacle at the time. She winced. She looked at Frida and they both knew the positions will now be in reverse. Agnetha puled Frida up helping her stand. Frida tried desperately not to cry out it was notoriously hard to even stand so soon after the birth, of twins, might I add. She changed the towels struggling to contain the giggles. The couch was still new but will have to be replaced immediately. Agnetha's delivery went smooth and soon she was holding a little boy in her arms. Frida smiled. They were sure going to be a handful. To put her own worries aside, she checked Agnetha over once again. Right then Agnetha gasped and gripped Frida's wrist. Since she couldn't scream this was the best alternative. Frida looked up to her apologetically, this was beginning to be ridiculous, how on earth did they both managed to get pregnant with twins. She went back to her knees, helping Agnetha with the second baby. Finally, after a good while a little girl came into this world. A couple seconds passed, and Agnetha was beginning to worry. There was no crying, no screaming, but she could see Frida smiling down at the babe. She cleaned her and passed her to Agnetha. The little one was awake and just content examining the new world around her.

Agnetha stood up after a couple of minutes and together they put the babies in the crib that was there in the middle of the room already ready for the little ones. They threw the towels in the bathroom and did their best making the couch look presentable. There was obvious evidence of blood, but it was at least better than before. They could barely stand ton their own legs by the time they were done. They wouldn't be able to do the stairs now, so they settled on the couch regaining their strength and soon both fell asleep. Frida gave birth to a healthy baby girl at 4.09 AM and soon after her, her little brother was born at 4.17 AM. Agnetha gave birth to her son at 4.37 and her littlest daughter came to this world at 4.49 AM. It was 5.30 AM and the whole house was quiet once again.

Benny began to stir. It was barely past 5.00 AM but something seemed odd. The house was too cold. Throughout the storm it got colder and colder but today even now in these early hours of the morning it was already quite warm. She turned on his side, looking for Frida. She wasn't there but then he heard something. No, he thought, he missed the birth of their first baby together. He practically ran downstairs, halting at the end of the stairs, only hearing small cries, he carefully entered the living room. There on the couch he Frida and Agnetha closely snuggled together, searching for comfort. The couch was full of blood, and it will surely have to be replaced. There beside the couch in the crib laid four small new-born babies. He could quickly see Frida's features in their twins and unmistakable blond hair in the other two was sure enough Agnetha's contribution. He leaned down to hold his little ones' hands, he was immensely grateful they were all ok. He didn't see Björn anywhere near and he could hardly imagine how the girls managed it on their own and without waking the whole house up. It was pure luck none of the older kids woke up. He looked over them all once again before going back upstairs to check on the rest of the children and waking Björn, he needed to know too. Björn rushed down, closely followed by Benny. He was ecstatic. He couldn't believe Benny but now he truly understood just how powerful these two women are.