Tale of Something

Part 15

Note: Just a heads up, if you are relatively squeamish this may be a little iffy for you, but I'm going to try and keep "gross" to a minimum. My mom delivers babies for a living (she's a nurse) so even though I've not had my own children I know way more about childbirth and postpartum stuff than is normal. This scene is inspired by an article I read a couple weeks ago and I thought it was hilarious and it was too good not to use! I'll have it posted on my Tumblr (that is linked in my profile if you don't already follow me there).

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It was the afternoon of Tuesday, July 13th and there was a heatwave that had enveloped the area. Normally, this would have been just fine for a girl who was used to warm summers, but when you are 38 weeks pregnant and have begun feeling contractions every couple of days it's not fun. These 'practice' contractions as her doctor had been calling them were normal. There was only about a week and a half left before her due date at this point and Jackie was beginning to worry these were the real thing.

"Darling are you doing okay?" John came into their bedroom to find her sitting on the edge of the bed with a fan directly in front of her.

"I just can't take this heat!" she huffed as she adjusted the fan a bit, desperate to find some relief. She grimaced as a contraction hit her and closed her eyes breathing deeply. "Did you call Graham and ask him?" she looked over at John after the contraction subsided.

John felt helpless, he didn't like seeing her so uncomfortable, "yes, he said for us to start noting down when you're having pains and keep in contact with the hospital."

"Will he come by?" she turned and looked at him with a look of desperation.

He felt just as scared as she looked, "he said he'll pop in sometime tomorrow if he doesn't hear from us before then."

She had hoped he'd come by that evening, but she didn't have the strength to argue. Her focus was on trying to get through the pain she was feeling. Jackie had decided about halfway through her pregnancy to research something called hypnobirthing. It turned out really to be just some meditation and relaxation techniques, but if it helped her get through this birth and without some crazy medications it worked for her.

John watched her close her eyes and practice one of the techniques they'd read about and sat tentatively on the other side of the bed. When she opened her eyes he grabbed her hand, "alright then?"

"Yeah," she sighed, "alright. I'm just going to rest here for a bit."

"Okay love," he wasn't really sure what to do or where to go. After a moment, he decided to busy himself making sure that her and the baby's things were ready when it was time to go to the hospital. He then grabbed a notebook and pencil, remembering Grae's advice about noting down her contractions.

Later on into the evening, the couple continued to note down the contractions and how strong they were. They had even called the hospital and were told that they were doing just fine and could wait a little longer before coming in. John did the best he could encouraging and comforting Jackie as she breathed through the pains; he was impressed with how calmly she was handling it so far.

Another hour or so went by after the first call to the hospital, when John heard a soul scraping moan come out of his wife's mouth. After, the pain had passed she looked just as shocked as he did not realizing the sound had come from her own mouth.

"Love are you alright? Should I call the hospital again?"

"I'm fine," she breathed and began pacing their living room.

John was a bit nervous and was having a hard time keeping up with her contractions. So, they decided upon the code word 'parrot' each time she began to have a contraction, then he would write it down.