Overboard: Somebody to Love #4

18

Madelyn’s POV

            After our little girls day out, I could feel that I had overdone it. I had been having little, painful contractions all day, but I didn’t want the baby to stop us from having fun. The whole point was to have fun before the baby came, but I spent the rest of the day paying for it.

            “Bath time?” Aniston asked me at eight. I had been on the couch since we got done eating dinner, trying to take it easy. Bath time was a whole lot of bending over and lifting kids, and I didn’t necessarily feel up to it tonight. I walked out to the guest house, but Justin was gone. I knew I could’ve called Pattie or Paige for help, but I instead decided that one night without a bath wouldn’t kill them.

            “Hold me! Hold me!” Kingston and Stella were crying simultaneously as I tried to put them to bed. Without bath time, their entire nightly routine had been wrecked, leaving me with grouchy, tired kids. Luckily, Aniston had went into her bed and fallen right to sleep.

            “I can’t hold you, babies.” I tried to calm them down without picking them up. I still had four days until my due date. I didn’t want the baby to come early. Heavy lifting would definitely result in this baby coming really soon, but I wanted four more days to make memories as a family of five, or four not counting Justin.

            But they didn’t stop. When they got tired, all they wanted to do was be held. So I gave in. I couldn’t bend down far enough to pick them up, but I could reach them when they were standing on the couch. I picked them both up, even though there was just barely room for them with my huge stomach, and headed into the new baby’s nursery, where the rocking couch was. At this point, I didn’t think that the three of us, four counting the baby, would fit in a normal rocking chair.

            They both fell asleep within ten minutes of rocking. I carefully put them both in their rooms and went to bed myself. It wasn’t until later that night, around eleven, when the contractions turned into the real thing. I bit my lip as I moaned with the pain. I couldn’t find a comfortable position, so I got up and tried to walk through the pain.

            “Mommy! You are hurt!” Aniston screamed, appearing in the doorway. I must’ve been too loud and woken her up. She had a look of terror in her eyes.

            “Shh. No,” I tried to speak through the pain, taking deep breaths and trying to calm her down. “I’m fine. See?” I smiled as the contraction eased. I sat back onto the bed and curled up on my side. A few seconds later I felt a little hand rubbing my back. “What are you doing, silly girl?”

            “You rub my back when I’m sick.” She smiled at me and ran her hands over my back.

            “You’re such a sweet girl.” I smiled. I desperately wanted to yell for Justin. I knew he was asleep on the couch downstairs, even though he had tried to hide it from me. He was so good with me through Aniston’s labor, I knew he would be just as good this time around, even if we weren’t technically together. I wanted him to be rubbing my back, not our three year old. I still couldn’t believe I was in this situation; Justin and I were separated, yet I was about to give birth to our fourth child. How had my life gotten so messed up in just nine short months?

            Aniston had only been with me for a few minutes before Stella came in, wanting in on the action. I helped her up onto the bed where she immediately went to try to help Aniston in rubbing my back.

            “No! She’s mine!” Aniston slapped her and Stella screamed.

            “If you fight, you are both going back to bed.” I scolded. The bickering stopped instantly. “Stella, come snuggle with Mommy.” She hesitantly crawled over me and laid down next to me.