Broken

Holidays

Regina

I awoke to a strong and painful kick to the abdomen, the strong rising sun hurting my eyes as I blinked to get the sleep out of them, groaning as an elbow found its way to my spleen. Two weeks had passed since Alena's birthday and my due date was staring me in the eyes and passing, causing extra sleep deprivation along with the large baby girl cocooned in my womb.

I attempted to toss to my other side but my large middle prevented me from making the graceful turn to face my husband. My head ached from my constant lack of sleep and stress that the past nine months had caused, and all I desperately wanted was a long, child free nap without interruptions. My eyes began to drift shut and my overwhelming exhaustion took over, inducing my slumber when a painful kick jolted me awake, followed by several more, causing me to groan and slap Robin's chest to wake him.

"Baby coming!" He snorted, jumping up nervously as I slowly began to scoot against the headboard, I shook my head and clicked the lamp on, wincing as she continued to flip and jab inside of me.

"She's kicking really hard again, and I want to sleep." I whined, nearly in tears, he nodded and slid behind me, rubbing my large stomach carefully in repetitive motions, humming softly as our daughter moved with his hands with less aggressive motions.

"Go to sleep my baby girl." Robin hummed, the lack of movement almost immediately knocking me out.

The slumber didn't last as I awoke to a sickening pain in my gut, wrapping from my abdomen to my back, knocking the air out of me. I struggled to sit up but the stabbing pain only increased with each movement, making me shove my husband in an attempt to wake him, but he only continued to sleep.

"Robin." I groaned, trying to remain quiet for the kids, but the pain grew unbearable. "ROBIN!" I groaned much louder, smacking his chest hard enough to wake him. "What's going on?!" He cried, I arched my neck back and felt my tears building as the pain increased. "It hurts Robin." I wept, feeling him slide behind me like before, resting his chin on my shoulder.

"Breathe Regina, you know that stress makes this worse." He reminded, but I could barely think with the stabbing agony in my stomach, finally causing me to cry.

"Match my breathing." He instructed, gently rocking us back and forth while massaging my stomach to relax my muscles, but they all remained tense until Roland came rushing in, startled from my noises.

"What's wrong mama?" He asked, thankfully back to his healthy self, I tried to answer, but if I opened my mouth, there was a chance that a profanity would be yelled at the little boy. "Remember the baby in her tummy?" My patient husband reminded as the toddler crawled next to us, only stressing me further. "Yes papa." He answered after a moment of thinking, smiling up at the both of us. "Well mama is having some pain in her tummy because of the baby." He explained, making my son's face drop at the realization that I was in pain.

"I want to help mama!" He cried, I slowly leaned my head back onto my husband's shoulder and waited for his answer to the toddler. "Why don't you rub mama's leg like this." He offered, demonstrating the soft rub on my thigh, his large calloused hand being replaced by a tiny one.

"Alright Roland, we're all going to breathe like papa, so remind mama to breathe like mama." He instructed, the whole image making me want to chuckle, except for the excruciating pain.

I could feel my husband inhaling so I mimicked  it and took in a deep breath, listening to my son's encouragements, my muscles finally relaxing and leaving me like putty in his arms. "Better?" He whispered into my ear, kissing my temple gently, rubbing the sides of my stomach. "Yeah, thank you." I moaned, my exhaustion making me lethargic in his arms.