is this what love feels like?

chapter 23

Annie's P.O.V-

It's been three weeks since we had the baby shower. I woke up at 1 am and I felt weird. I look down and the bed is wet. I didn't pee though. I feel it coming out of me and i'm not peeing. then it hits me.

"HAYDEN!" I scream.

he bolts up and looks at me.

"What's wrong?!" he asks.

"MY WATER JUST BROKE!" I panic.

"shhh it's gonna be ok i'll call the hospital and let them know we're on our way" hayden says as he jumps out of bed and puts sweats and a shirt on. I get out of bed and put on leggings and a sweatshirt and my uggs. we quickly grab the bag we packed and we get into the car. I'm pretty sure hayden broke the speed limit by a few, but it was 1:30 am. we finally get to the hospital. they immediately take us into a birthing room which is basically a bigger room with a bed and a couch and a chair and a tv and a mini fridge because you're going to be in there for a while.

we set all our stuff down.

"oh and by the way, my name is helena and I'm basically your midwife. we have a fridge in here with a few cokes and waters and I think we have a yogurt or two, and in this closet, we have a yoga ball if you want to sit on that when you're having contractions. The bed has remotes for the bed to recline. what else......here's the tv remote if you decide to watch tv, and that's pretty much it. oh! and this button over here by the door, is for you to push if you need me or another doctor or nurse to come. do you guys need anything?" the nurse says politely.

"no thank you, I think we're good. thank you!" I say.

she leaves us alone. Hayden helps me get comfortable in the bed and turns on the tv for me. we flip to a channel that is playing keeping up with the kardashians. I decide to watch that because all of the stupid drama will distract me for a while.

We watch about 4 episodes, and then I feel a really bad contraction. I breathe heavily and close my eyes.

"annie? are you ok?" Hayden asks, standing up to come next to me.

"yeah...just a contraction. I'm ok" I say as I let out a sigh as the contraction fades. then the exhaustion hits me. I fall asleep in the bed for about an hour until I feel another contraction. we go through the same process again. this time, I ask him to get the yoga ball. he brings it out from the closet and hands it to me. I sit on it and lightly bounce. surprisingly it makes me feel a lot better.

We have this process for the next 6 hours, and then my family comes. I text syd and she comes immediately.

"hey syd. you ready to prepare yourself for the worst hours of your life?" I ask, jokingly.

"yep. i bet it'll be a lot better when you see those beautiful babies though." she laughs.

"you're right" I smile.

about 3 more hours pass, and then the doctor comes in and measures how far i'm dilated.

"you're about 1cm, so it's time to start!" the doctor cheers.

"yes i'm ready for the contractions to be over" I say.

the doctor calls in more doctors and they all rush in. They pull out these big metal bars for my feet to rest on while my legs are spread. thankfully they put a blanket across my legs so as long as everyone is above my knees, they won't see anything gross. hayden takes the side of the bed and kneels down.

"you ready princess?" he whispers.

"as ready as i'll ever be!" i whisper back.

the doctors get everything ready and then the doctor tells me to push.

"1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10" the doctor soothingly counts as i push. when she reaches ten, I stop and breathe.

we repeat that multiple times. I can feel the baby coming and oh my god this is the worst pain i've ever felt in my entire life.

"ok last time, I see a little bit of hair, 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-" and then I hear a baby cry.

I let out a sigh of relief.

"It's the girl!" the doctor says. the nurse takes her over to the table to be cleaned up and her umbilical cord to be cut.

we do the same thing for the boy coming, but this baby is bigger. I start to cry in pain.

"come on annie. you can do this, a few more pushes and you'll be all done and you can see our baby boy." hayden says to me. after that, I push really hard and I hear a baby cry.

"oh my god" I sigh in relief. the doctors take off the metal things and I can close my legs. they place the baby girl in my arms and I'm a sweaty crying mess. Hayden strokes my hair and looks down at the baby.

"what is the girls name?" the nurse asks.

"Gracie Claire Summerall." Hayden says.

"and the boy?" she adds.

"Logan James Summerall." he says.

the boy gets cleaned up and is handed to hayden.

"they're beautiful." hayden whispers in amazement. I laugh/cry.

after we hold each baby, we let family hold the babies.

"look at our happy family baby girl" Hayden whispers into my hair.

I pull him into a hug and he leans down and gives me a hug. this is how i've always dreamed my life would end up.