More Than Us (Ianthony)

Chapter 22: Trypanophobia

It has been five hours since Ian has gone into labor and to say that he is miserable is putting it VERY lightly. His contractions are now five to six minutes apart and are so strong that he barely even has the strength to talk anymore. The only thing he can really do is groan loudly, hold onto Anthony's hand, and beat the side of the bed rails while his body tortures him from the inside out. Anthony had tried to help Ian by using the breathing and distracting techniques they learned in Lamaze class, but they didn't really help him much. Instead of focusing on his breathing and the stuffed dragon-lizard, he just envied the stuffed Charizard for his lack of pain receptors. Anthony then tried back massages, but Ian kept complaining that he wasn't doing it right and told him to stop. Now, Anthony felt helpless as he held onto Ian's hand and fed him ice chips in between his intense contractions. He wished he could take Ian's place so he could endure the pain for him, but he knew that it wasn't possible. To make things worse, Ian was having a slow labor. Within the five hours that he has been enduring the strong contractions, he was only dilated to a three out of ten centimeters. Dr. Wilson- the doctor that was on call at the time Ian came in- was keeping a close eye on him, but he was not progressing very much at all. He recommended the epidural for Ian which would numb his contractions and make his elongating labor MUCH more comfortable, but Ian dismissed it when Dr. Wilson told him that the needle went into his lower back and was as long as his hand. However, now he was starting to regret his decision and wanted relief from his crippling pain. One stick from a needle wasn't nearly as bad as hours of almost nonstop excruciating pain.

"Shh, shh." Anthony cooed, running a cool rag over Ian's forehead that the nurse had given them in an attempt to help bring down Ian's low-grade fever. The news that Ian was running a fever worried Anthony, but the nurse assured him that low-grade fevers were normal during labor.

"I'm dying." Ian groaned, his voice broken and barely audible from groaning so loud. Anthony shook his head.

"No, you're not. You're having a baby and are having an extremely difficult time getting him out." Ian scoffed.

"That's putting it lightly." Anthony ran the rag over Ian's forehead a couple more times.

"Don't talk. Just rest." Ian nodded, pulling the blanket up closer to his chest and sighed a bit as Anthony fed him a few ice chips from a styrofoam cup.

"You'd have to be at least four centimeters now." Ian nodded slightly in acknowledgment but didn't audibly answer. "Dr. Wilson should be in at any moment to check your progress. Let's hope there's some good news." After another thirty minutes of intense and seemingly endless contractions, Dr. Wilson came in with a big smile on his face but his perky mood was not enough to make Ian smile.

"How are we doing, Mr. Padilla?" He asked, putting on a pair of rubber gloves.

Ian groaned lightly and ran his hand over his face. "I'm dying," Ian stated bluntly and quietly, earning a chuckle from the upbeat doctor.

"Well, that response is normal from a person in labor, but rest assured, Ian. You and your baby are being well taken care of. It'll all be over soon."

"Not soon enough." Ian snapped, still keeping his voice low. Ian's grumpy response didn't affect Dr. Wilson's mood.

"I'm going to examine you to see how much progress we've made, okay?" Ian nodded, keeping his eyes closed and his voice silent. Anthony kissed Ian's hand that was laying in his and gently ran the damp cloth over Ian's forehead again as Dr. Wilson proceeded to examine Ian, taking his time to make sure that he was thorough.

"Alright, Ian. You're four centimeters dilated now, but just barely. Your labor is still progressing very slowly and it will take quite some time before you get to ten centimeters." Ian whined slightly as his already closed eyes tightly squinted. His grip on Anthony's hand was so tight that his muscles began to shake. Anthony caressed his stubbly cheek and wiped a small tear of pain away from his eyes.

"Anthony..." He strained his voice barely a whisper.

"Shh, don't talk. Just breathe, baby." Dr. Wilson understood what Ian was going through and waited for his contraction to end to continue with his prognosis. Once his contraction was over with, Anthony ran the damp cloth over his forehead as Dr. Wilson began to speak again.

"The epidural is still an option for you if you would like, but I would consider it getting it done as quickly as possible. It'll fail to work once you get so far into your labor." Ian thought about it for a moment. He wanted the pain relief more than anything on the planet earth, but the needle still sounded pretty intimidating to him. He didn't really know what to do and he was in no condition to make a decision. He now regrets not talking to Anthony about birthing methods. It seemed they had everything done and planned, but somehow they had both forgot the part about actually getting the kid out.

"Is there something else I can do?" Ian rasped. Dr. Wilson clicked his tongue in thought.

"The only other option you have at this point is to soak in a hot bath," Ian replied to the doctor immediately, almost interrupting him.

"L-Let's try that." He spoke, grabbing around for Anthony's hand as he felt another contraction start to rial up. "I-If that doesn't work then I'll get the epidural." Doctor Wilson nodded.

"Just try not to wait too long to make a decision. I'd hate to see you endure this kind of pain much longer." About fifteen minutes later, Ian was in a very lose fitted t-shirt and naked from the waist down as Anthony helped him sit down in a tub filled with hot water.

"Nice and easy, babe." He whispered. Ian groaned at the warmth of the water, feeling his achy abdomen relax a bit with the almost scalding temperature. He laid his head back onto a pillow Anthony had propped up and breathed deeply, finally feeling some kind of relief from his excruciating pain.

"He's putting up one hell of a fight, isn't he?" Anthony asked, stroking Ian's hand with his thumb. Ian nodded.

"I hate Mari so much. She was such a lucky bitch to be in labor for only 45 minutes." Anthony laughed at his husband and placed a kiss on Ian's forehead. At first, the bath seemed to be working for him. He had several contractions and they were still quite painful, but not nearly as bad as they were. He was able to semi-relax for about a full hour before his body grew used to the hot water and the painful contractions returned. Ian had a white-knuckle grip on Anthony's hand as sweat rolled down from his hair and onto the pillow he was laying on.

"FUCK!" He exclaimed, hitting the side of the metal tub with his left fist. Anthony jumped at the sudden burst of noise, but he didn't say anything. After Ian's contraction passed, Anthony went to run the washcloth over Ian's forehead like he has been doing for the past three hours, but Ian stopped him. "Get the Goddamned doctor." Ian panted. "I can-I can't handle this anymore. Needle or not I need SOMETHING!" Anthony nodded and placed a kiss on Ian's cheek.

"I'll be back as soon as I can." Anthony kept his word returning back to Ian's side in under a minute with the unusual perky doctor.

"So, Mr. Padilla. We've decided on the epidural?" Ian nodded weakly from the tub. "Excellent. I'll give you a quick examination to make sure everything is good and call the anesthesiologist. While they make their way up, we'll get you back to your bed and insert an IV line and then it should be smooth sailing from then on out." Dr. Wilson checked Ian quickly and gave him the green light to head back to his room. Anthony helped Ian out of the tub and discarded his wet t-shirt, drying off his body for him and putting him back in the dry and very ugly hospital gown. Once Ian was back in his bed, a nurse came in and injected an IV line into his left hand followed almost immediately by the anesthesiologist. The kind man was fast and didn't really talk much as he injected the epidural into Ian's back. Ian was gripping tightly onto Anthony's hands and grunting in pain the whole time, but it honestly didn't hurt nearly as bad as he thought it was going to. Once the anesthesiologist was finished, he placed on a band-aid on the entry point and laid Ian back down onto his back. As the minutes passed, Ian's contractions began to diminish one by one until he no longer felt them at all. Ian leaned back into his pillows and sighed quietly, feeling so much more relaxed as Anthony ran his free hand through Ian's hair. Ian dozed off to the feeling of Anthony's hand in his hair and the distant sound of Mason's heart on the heart monitor, not even waking up when Dr. Wilson came in to check on him about an hour after he received the epidural. Anthony felt a little lonely after Ian fell asleep, but he didn't really care. He was just happy to see that Ian was resting and no longer in pain. Now, all they had to do was wait for Ian to dilate so they could finally meet and hold their long-awaited child.