her remedy

24

"Fight me, Simon." I say through gritted teeth. His instantly stops complaining about his hand hurting from me holding onto it so tightly. "That's what I thought." I tell him with a hard stare.

Just then, the doctor comes in for what seems like the hundredth time. She checks me and informs me of the same dreadful news I've received for the past five hours. "You're not at 10 centimeters yet."

I let out a disappointed sigh. "How far am I?"

"You're at  7. I'll come back in half an hour and we'll go from there, alright?"

It takes all of me to not punch her square in the face. "Fine."

He leaves, and Simon asks, "Can I get you anything, babe?"

"Play a song for me." I say, pointing to my phone on the cheap hospital chair next to the bed.

"What song?" He says, scrolling through my music.

"Surprise me." I say, playing with the monitor on my stomach.

A familiar sound fills the room, followed by a voice I'd recognize anywhere. Single Ladies blasts and I instantly forget that I'm in labor.

Standing, the monitors and wires come with me and I dance around the bed, my range of movement quite limited.

I attempt to squat down but give up before my knees even bend. I instead just improvise and mimic what I can from the dance in the video. Simon only watches in amusement.

Halfway through, he pulls out his own phone and starts filming, which only makes me want to put on an even more dramatic show.

Just when I thought I was going to make it through a whole song while deep into labor, the most painful contraction shoots through my body. I tightly grasp onto the bed, closing my eyes and trying to breathe through it the way I was taught. Through the pain I say, "Bad idea, bad idea, remind me to never do that again."

Stifling his laugh, Simon stops the song and jumps from the chair to help me through the contraction. When it passes, after what feels like an eternity, he helps me lay back down in the bed, covering my legs again and planting a kiss on my forehead.

"Is he almost here?" I ask him, as if he knows any more than I do.

"He'll be here real soon, baby." Simon says in his amazingly deep comforting voice.

My mum makes her arrival shortly after, looking nothing but excited. She hugs me and says, "You've got this."

"I'm sorry for what I did to you when you gave birth to me, mum. I'm really, really sorry." I hold onto her hand.

She laughs and supportively squeezes my hand. "You made it so worth it and I promise that he will too."

I smile, growing more and more elated to meet my son.

Laura traipses in carrying a blue balloon and a bottle of wine. "We'll split this after you pop him out, alright?"

"Easier said than done, babe, but I'll be ready." I say to her, laughing because she was the only one who would think to bring me a bottle of wine after giving birth.

I fight through three more intense contractions, nearly breaking Laura and Simon's hands.

The doctor then finally comes in and checks me. She smiles and confirms that I am at 10 centimeters and ready to push. At this point, the pain has become unbearable.

"I love you, Simon, but it might not seem like it in the next few minutes." I warn him. He only smiles and grips my hand while my mum takes my other one.

Laura sits at the foot of the bed, watching the events unfold with what looks like disgust yet also fascination. "That's horrifying!" She says, her jaw dropped open.

I try to lift a leg to kick her. "That's the last thing I need to hear right now!" I yell before more pain radiates throughout my already sore body.

"Ok Adele, push." The doctor says.

"Don't tell me how to live my life." I say with an intense stare, exhaling as the contraction diffuses.

She ignores me and starts counting down.

I push as hard as I can, wondering why I ever thought I was ready for this amount of pain. It seems to do nothing.

Laura makes causal comments to herself, ignoring the fact that I am in agony. "Did you even know you could expand that far?" "A baby is actually going to come out of there?" "That's gross but really beautiful." "Is this even safe?" "Does it shrink back when the baby is out?"

"Laura!" I yell through my second push.

She snaps her head up. "What? I'm just trying to distract you from the pain."

"Maybe try distracting me by saying happy things instead of how far I've expanded!" I say through heavy breaths.

"Sorry love."

Simon runs his cool hand across my sweaty forehead. "You're doing great." He says.

"Obviously not great enough or this child would be out!" I reply.

"It takes time, Adele." My mum says, smoothing away hair from my face.

I take a deep breath and try to convince myself that everyone supporting me in the room is right. I can do this. It's painful but I can do it.

"3, 2, 1, push!" The doctor says again.

I do as I'm told, wondering how so many women have done this and survived.

"Look, he's crowning!" Laura says, finally something positive coming from her.

"Keep going!" The doctor tells me.

"I'll go at my own pace, you're not the one pushing, are you?" I say to her, really not fond of her at the moment.

The only thing getting me through the pain was the fact that I did have three of the biggest loves of my life around me and at the end of it all, I would finally get to meet my baby.