Hustle. (Book 2)

Chapter 22: Conclusions

Lauryn P.O.V.

"Chris," I moaned in agony and tapped on his shoulder. He rolled over on his side and began his light snoring again.

"Chris," I called again, this time a little louder. He was a heavy sleeper, that I knew, but I needed him to wake up right now.

"Chris!" I screamed out as loudly as I could, a sharp pain piercing me in the stomach.

He shot up quickly. "What? What happened baby?" Drool stained the side of his mouth and he looked extremely tired. I had been waking him up every night for the past two weeks with sharp pains in my back and therefore, he wasn't getting much sleep. I was two weeks overdue and I was really ready to get this baby out.

"Baby," I said, panting heavily. My breathing was becoming labored. "I can't breathe very well...and my...my stomach," I said, pointing down at my baby. "The pain is in my stomach, not my back."

He sprang out of bed as if police were at the door looking for him. "I'm calling Dr. Marco!" he exclaimed, placing a kiss on my cheek before reaching for his phone. "Don't move," he instructed.

After I listened to him talk on the phone for what felt like forever and answered the doctors questions, Chris told me what to do. "It's time, Lauryn. We're gonna have a baby." I wiped the sweat beads forming on my head and smiled.

"We're gonna have a baby!" Tears began to well up in my eyes as he hugged me tightly. He looked so excited and I knew he was just as ready as I was. We were finally about I be parents.

Chris lugged my suitcase into the new white Chevrolet Tahoe RTS he'd purchased for me. With our child on the way and our other daughter, Melody, already born, we needed a bigger car than what Chris had.

I wobbled into the passenger seat and Chris buckled me in. When he started the car, he reached over and entwined his hand with mine. "You can do this baby," he reassured.

"Please just fucking drive Christopher!" I yelled at him and he began speeding away.

In less than five minutes we had arrived at Mount Sinai St. Luke's Hospital, where I was greeted by a nurse immediately and put into a suite on the maternity level.

The smell of the hospital, the bright lights, the same colored green walls reminded me of my visit here just seven weeks before.

I felt butterflies flutter in my stomach and chills strike throughout my body. Just seven weeks ago, my baby could've been gone. Just seven weeks ago, I could've been gone. I was carrying life inside of me and now it was finally time for me to give birth. I couldn't do this, I wasn't ready. I was only 18. I couldn't bring another life into this world when I hadn't even begun my own life.

"Baby, what's wrong?" Chris questioned as I continued to stare into space.

"Chris, I...I...I just can't do this." I began sobbing and couldn't form any words.

"Lauryn," he replied softly. He wrapped me up in his husky arms and began smoothing my hair back. "I believe in you. Even if no one else in this world believes in you, I believe in you. There's no one else I'd rather want to spend my life with. You are strong, you are beautiful, you are such a radiant person and this child is blessed to have you as a mother. You've made it this far and today, this is it. This is everything we've waited for. You're about to push that baby out and we're gonna shower it with love. Just like we planned to do. Everything gonna go as planned. You got this Lauryn."

"You know Chris. You're really gonna make a wonderful father...and a great sports coach with pep talks like that," I said, giggling as I wiped my tears away.

He flashed a quick smile of his pearly white teeth before enveloping our lips in a deep, passionate kiss.

Suddenly, we heard a knock at the door and answered for whomever it was to come in.
"Hello, Lauryn. You look amazing for someone who's about to give birth," Dr. Marco enthused. "It's time."