I'll Stay Me

Chapter Fourteen

Luke's POV

Carter drives Hank and I to the funeral, which is about an hour drive from Hank's house. When we get there I help Hank out of the car and we walk inside.
   As soon as we walk in, people are rushing around Hank.
    "Oh, Hank." Some lady comes up and hugs Hank as she cries. She pulls Hank's head into her neck and holds him close to her. I just stand there awkwardly. She pulls away from him and wipes his eyes.
    "Lycrecia, this is Luke." Hank tries to say.
    "Hi, I'm Hank's half sister, but he's always just been my little brother." She says. I go to shake her hand but she pulls me into a hug.
    "I'm sorry for your loss." I tell her.
      "I need to sit." Hank says. I nod and help him up to the front pew of the church. He lets go of me for a second and walks up to the casket. I watch as he holds onto the side of the casket and bows his head.
"Mama..." He whimpers as he begins crying. I slowly walk up behind him and rub his back.
"I know, honey." I try to comfort him. Hank turns around and lays his head against my chest crying. I rub his back and just let him cry it all out. I begin to walk back over to the pew and sit down. Hank follows me and sits down beside me laying his head on my chest. I wipe the tears from Hank's eyes as he beings to calm down some.
"Baby, it'll all be okay." I assure him as I rub his head. I continue to softly rub his back, head and neck until the funeral starts.
    After the funeral is over, Hank and I stay for a while, just sitting there. He is no longer crying, just sitting there, staring ahead at the casket.
    "Let's go." Hank finally says.  I stand up and help him up. We go to the car and start our journey back to Georgia.
"I think I'm gonna ride in the back with him." I tell carter as I help Hank in the back seat. I slide in beside him.
"Are we just going straight to Georgia?" Carter asks.
"Yeah." I tell him. After just a few minutes on the road Hank lays his head on my shoulder and begins falling asleep.
"How are you feeling, Luke? Carter asks.
        " Okay, I guess. During the funeral I was having random pains in my stomach." I tell Carter
      "Your not in labor, are you?" He asks, looking back at me through the rear view mirror.
            "I don't know." I honestly say.
         "Do you have an appointment with your doctor soon?." Carter asks.
"No, do you think I should?" I ask, with worry all throughout my body.
"Um, yes I do." Carter says like it's the most obvious thing in the world. I decide to call Mama and get her to schedule an appointment.
"Hey Mama, can you make me an appointment with my doctor?" I ask as she picks up the phone.
"Sure, honey. Is something wrong?" She asks me.
"I think I might be in labor." I say quietly.
      "Go to your doctor immediately when you get here." Mama tells me. I agree and hang up.
     "Hey, when we get to Georgia she said to go straight to my doctor." I tell Carter. He nods and continues to drive. I watch as Hank begins to move around.
"Hank?" I ask, trying to see if he's awake. As soon as I say that his head shoots up.
        "Baby, we aren't going to Mama's when we get to Gerogia. " I tell Hank holding his hand.
           " What? Where are we going then?" Hank asks me, putting his hand on my stomach.
       "Baby, I think....... I think I'm in labor." I tell Hank, once I realize what I said my whole body beings to shake from my nerves.  Hank starts to rub my stomach.
           "Carter can you stop at the next gas station, I gotta pee." I tell Carter. He nods. After a few minutes he pulls off on an exit and to a gas station. I jump out and run to the bathroom. As I use the restroom I notice there is a little bit of blood in my underwear. Once I finish I go back out to the car. As I get to the car I get a cramp in my stomach. I hold my stomach, suddenly feeling a lot of pressure near my vagina. I notice my stomach feels a lot lower and looks slightly bigger. 
           " Hank I think something is wrong." I tell him as I get in seat next to him.
          " Where is Carter?" Hank asks me.
                "He ran inside real quick to grab some food." I tell Hank as I grab my phone from my pocket and dial Mama's number, it rings a few times then she answers.
              "Hello?" She says.
           "Mama, I'm scared." I tell her as I start to cry.
        "Luke, sweetheart how far away are you guys?" Mama asks.
                "We're about two hours away." I tell her, with tears streaming down my cheeks.
              "Son, just take a deep breath and breathe. Now tell me what's going on." Mama tells me, as Carter gets in the car. Hank tells him everything and we are back on the road.
           "When I went to the bathroom, I looked down and there was blood." I tell her as I start to hyperventilate. Hank starts to rub my stomach.
                 "Luke, how much?" She asks me.
           "Not a lot just a little, and then when I got to the car I had a really sharp pain and it felt like there was more pressure on my vagina." I tell her.
                  "Okay, first off you need to calm down. Second I don't think your having a miscarriage. Is anything else bothering you?" She asks me.
"I think I'm having contractions. I'm getting really bad pains every 7 minutes or so." I tell her.
"Honey, you're not gonna make it back here before you have those babies." Mama tells me. I begin crying harder and hold my belly.
"Let me talk to Hank." She says. I hand the phone to him and lay my head on his shoulder. I see him nodding his head as he responds to Mama as best he can.
"Baby I'm gonna talk to your doctor and figure out what I need to do if you have these babies before we get there." Hank writes. I just nod, feeling a contraction.
"Luke do I need to stop at the nearest hospital?" Carter asks.
"No. I want to get home if possible." I say. Hank rubs his hands over my belly.
"You're so huge, Baby." Hank says as he leans down and kisses my stomach twice.
"I need to lay down." I tell him. He tries moving into the floorboard as best he can. I lay across the back seat and prop my legs open. Hank sits there, rubbing my thigh and stomach.
"Hank" I cry as I feel my water break.
            "Baby it will be okay." Hank saids grabbing my hand.
        " Carter how far away our we?" I ask.
               "We should be there in about an hour with way I'm driving." Carter saids smiling.
          " Okay, but can you please be careful." I ask him. He nods his head.
               "Hank call Mama and give me the phone please." I tell Hank, he does what he's told. I take the phone from his hand and and immediately Mama answers.     
             "Hello?" Mama says.
          " Mama, were a little less than an hour out."
       "How are your contractions?" She asks me.
              " They're still the same, but my water broke." I tell her starting to cry.
           " Okay, that's good. Your contractions should start to pick up to every five minutes within the next few hours." She tells me.
             "Mama I'm scared, what if the babies aren't ready to come out yet?" I ask starting to hyperventilate.
          " Sweetheart, listen to me. Your water wouldn't have broken if the babies weren't ready to come out." Mama tells me.
"Oh God." I moan as I feel a contraction. I squeeze Hank's hand as hard as I can.
"Baby, you're gonna have to let go of my hand. I'm sorry but they ain't completely healed and you're killing me." Hank says, trying to get out of my grip. I quickly let go of his hand when the contraction stops.
"Honey, I'm not trying to scare you but if they get 2/3 minutes apart you're gonna have to have the babies no matter where you are." Mama says through the phone.
"Mama I can't have them without a doctor here." I tell her.
"Hank can deliver them. He's smart, and your body will do most of the work." She says. I look at Hank as he rubs my stomach
     "I'm gonna be sick." I say as I feel the urge to puke. Hank starts looking around for something for me to puke in but just ends up rolling down the window. I put my head out the window and throw up, more than I ever have before. Hank rubs my back and gets me to lay back down.
    "When I was coughing it felt like the baby came down a little more." I tell Mama when I see that she is still on the phone.
    "Sweetheart, I'm gonna be waiting at your doctors office when you get there." Mama says. "I love you baby boy, it'll all be okay." She says as she hangs up.
"Carter please tell me that we are almost there." Hank says.
"We are about five-ten minutes away depending on traffic." Carter says.
"Thank God." I say right before I get another contraction.
"Guys have you thought of any names?"
Carter asks.
"Not really, I kinda thought we would have more time to think about that" I practically yell at Carter.
"Dude, I get that your in labor and stuff, but calm down at little." Carter says to me.
" How much longer?" Hank asks.
" I'm pulling in now." Carter says. Hank gets up on the seat and I sit up. Carter parks the car beside Mama's. Hank and Carter help me out of the car and walk into the doctors office. As soon as we walk in Mama comes rushing over to me asking me a bunch of stuff but I'm not able to concentrate on that because another contraction comes.
    "The contractions are barely 2 minutes apart." Hank writes and hands it to Mama. My doctor comes rushing over and tells Hank to let go of me. The doctor and Carter help me back to a room and she tells me to undress. Hank helps me get my clothes off and holds my hand as I lay down on the doctor's bed.
     "Luke, sweetie, I need you to spread your legs." The doctor tells me. I comply and squeeze Mama's hand as I feel another contraction. "Oh wow." I hear the doctor say.
"What? Is everything okay?" I ask frantically.
"Luke, next time you get a contraction I want you to push." The doctor tells me.  "Carter can you hold one of his legs back toward him, my nurse will get the other."
    "What do you want me to do?" Hank asks.
       "Honey, just stay out of the way. I don't want you to get hurt." The doctor tells him. He comes up to my head and rubs my cheek.
"Oh God!!" I cry as I feel another contraction and push.  
              " Baby, you're doing good." Hank saids wiping the tears from my eyes.
          "Luke one baby is almost here, but I need you to push really hard."  The doctor tells me. I nod and start to smile but then another contraction comes and it goes away. I push really hard like the doctor said and I hear crying. That cry brings tears of joy to my eyes and a huge smile to my face.
      "One more push and your baby will be here."  My doctor says.  I feel another contraction and push the hardest I have yet.
            "Luke, Hank you guys have a baby girl." The doctor says, as she puts our baby girl on my chest. 
         I look at Hank and I see tears fill his eyes. After a few minutes the nurse takes her away to get her cleaned up and weighed.
     "Luke, next contraction you have, start pushing again." The doctor tells me. Hank cups his hand around my face and rubs my cheek.
     "I can't do this." I cry as I push.
     "Luke baby, you can do this. I'm right here. You have this." Hank encourages me. I push as hard as I can then relax. I exhale slowly.
"Why's he bleeding so much?" Carter asks, looking between my legs.
"His vagina isn't used to being this stretched. He's only had sex once then went straight to a baby coming out of him." The doctor says. 
    As I feel another contraction I push, feeling weaker every time I do.
"Shit." I hear Mama say as I push again.
"What? Is something wrong with the baby?" I ask frantically.
"He's breech, you are going to have to push a lot harder." The doctor tells me. I do as she says and after 6 pushes I hear my other baby cry.
    "Congratulations, y'all have a son." The doctor says as she places him on my chest. I smile when he stops crying as soon as he hears my voice.
"Here's your baby girl back, we're gonna take him and get him checked out okay?" The nurse says. I nod and watch as she takes my son then places my daughter on my chest again.
"Can I hold her?" Hank asks.
"No, you still don't have enough of your strength back. You may hurt her." Mama tells him. I see a tear roll down his cheek. I slide over and make him sit beside me. Once he is sitting beside me I place our daughter into his arms, I have never seen him smile so big.