I woke up in shock. The pain in my stomach was excruciating, causing my breath to catch. I tried to sit up but it made the pain worse so I leaned forward and clutched my stomach. I gasped as the pain intensified and I clutched the quilt that was balled up tightly in my fist. I let out a groan, forgetting that Harry was fast asleep next to me. It was getting worse and worse. The glowing letters from the clock beside my bed told me the time and date. 6:15am, September 6th.
"Lilo, are you okay?" Harry voice was groggy as he spoke. I'd woken him up with my groan. His hand rested on my shoulder. "Are you?" He couldn't finish. I turned my head to look at him and saw the look of surprise on his face. All I could do was nod.
"I think so" I whispered. He jumped out of bed immediately. He hopped around as he pulled a pair of tracksuit bottoms on and rummaged around for a t-shirt whilst I sat on the bed breathing through the pain which was slowly beginning to pass. He disappeared into the wardrobe and came back seconds later holding clothes for me. He passed them to me and then left the room. Staying where I was I pulled on the t-shirt and then had to stand up to put my trousers on. The pain had died down to a dull ache so it wasn't too difficult. Once they were on I made my way to the bathroom to quickly clean my teeth before finding Harry in the living room.
"I've got you some stuff ready and grabbed the bag they told us to prepare for the baby." I noticed the car keys in his hand. "You ready to go?" He asked, picking up the two bags by his feet.
"Yeah" I nodded. I took the arm Harry offered me. We made our way to the hospital, the contractions crippling me every 20 minutes.
The woman at the desk looked up at us as we rushed through the doors. "Hi" she smiled. "How can I help?"
"She's in labour" Harry said for me. The woman sat up straighter and pulled the computer keyboard closer towards her, ready to type.
"Okay, what's your name and how many weeks along are you?" She smiled excitedly.
"Lilo Styles, 36 weeks." I gripped the edge of the desk tightly as another contraction gripped my stomach.
"Perfect. Follow me." The receptionist stepped out from behind the desk and pushed a wheelchair in front of her. She helped me sit down and then pushed me along the sterile, white corridors. Harry followed behind us, the bags swinging by his side. She took us into a room and parked me next to the bed. A nurse entered the room seconds later. Her hair was frizzy and puffy and she was smiling broadly as she regarded Harry and I.
"I'm Kathy, I'll be your midwife." She shook Harry's hand before heading over to me. "I'm going to need you to change into a hospital gown, give me a urine sample and then we'll get you onto the bed. Is that okay?" She wrote on a clipboard and then hooked it onto the end of my bed.
"Yeah" I smiled, trying to breathe through another contraction. She handed me a white hospital gown with the faint grey pattern on it and a small plastic tub before wheeling me towards the en suite bathroom.
"Shout if you need help. I'll just be in here" she smiled as she closed the door behind her. The contraction passed so I stood up and did as I needed to do before opening the door into my room.
Harry was pacing up and down the room, nervously looking out of the window as the already light morning got lighter. I handed the nurse the pot and folded my clothes up and put them on the side. He looked up at me and he rushed over to help me onto the bed. "Are you okay?" he asked softly.
"Just a little nervous" I admitted. I slid onto the bed and lay back as the nurse pottered around.
"It'll be okay." Harry nodded reassuringly. He held my hand tightly as he sat down in the large chair by the side of the bed.
"Right, I'm just going to examine you and see how far away we are from things getting interesting" she grinned. "It shouldn't hurt too much but there's some gas and air in the tube next to you. Use as much as you like. I strongly relied on it when I had my two. It's pretty fun" she laughed.
I took the tube in my hand and looked at it warily. "Wanna try some?" I asked Harry, causing him to laugh.
"Nah, I'll leave that to you." He chatted to me and kept my attention whilst the nurse busied her self 'down there' and told me stories from their tour to keep my mind off what was going on. It didn't take too long.
"Wow" the nurse said as she looked at the clipboard again. "You're very far along, it shouldn't be too long. You're very fortunate, is this your first child?"
"Yeah" Harry and I said at the same time. She smiled at us in away that said 'Yeah, that's actually quite obvious' before nodding and leaving the room.
"Oh god" I gasped. I grabbed the gas and air pipe and shoved it in my mouth as another contraction crippled me. I took great gasps of it and noticed with pleasure that the pain subsided slightly.
"I can't believe you did this to me!" I growled at Harry as he wiped my forehead with a damp cloth. The midwives were encouraging me and Harry was whispering support in my ear, even though the pain was making me stupidly angry. "This is your fault!" I groaned before taking another long inhalation of gas and air.
"Come on Lilo! You can do it! You're nearly there!" The midwife chanted. She was breathing with me. "Push!" She called loudly, filling the room.
"I refuse to have more children!" I howled as the pain ripped through me once again.
"Oh they all say that!" Kathy laughed "but you will dear. Now push!"
"One more push Lilo, you're nearly there." Harry whispered into my ear. I did as I was told. I was too tired to argue. I pushed until I couldn't anymore and then a new sound was added to the room. A baby's cry surrounded us all as Harry's hand tightened around mine. We both looked up at Kathy who was holding our baby in her arms.
"It's a boy" she smiled. She wiped him up a little before placing him on my chest. I gasped as his warm weight was placed on top of me.
"Oh my god." Harry whispered. "Oh my god Lilo, it's a boy." His face was stunned as he looked at the small person lying on my chest. He kissed me once, before using his other hand to slowly stroke a tanned finger across the forehead of our son. I smiled in a tired haze at the bundle on my chest and at the small curling fingers that rose up into the air, reaching toward the hand Harry was using to stroke a line down his face. "Patrick" Harry whispered. A tear rolled down his cheek and fell onto the tiny head of our son. I couldn't stop thinking "Our son!" over and over again. I reached a shaky hand up to wipe it off Patrick's head and my other hand gripped Harry's even tighter.
"Smile!" The other midwife called. We looked up as a camera flashed and the image of the both of us and our first child was captured. "We need to clean him up a bit if that's okay and weigh him, then you can have him straight back" She smiled kindly. She took him out of my arms and carried him away to the back of the room. I looked over to Harry who was watching her every step as she carried our son away.
"We have a son Lilo" he laughed softly. "Brilliant. You're brilliant!" He kissed me on the head before grabbing his phone and going to take a photo of our new born son.
"8 pounds and 7 ounces!" Kathy called excitedly. "He's a healthy little boy!"
Harry returned to my side with Patrick in his arms, swaddled up in a white blanket. His eyes were open now and looking around the room. His crystal green eyes were exactly like Harry's.
