Settling in Seattle

Chapter 17- I Can Do Anything

"Right, this is my last week here for two weeks, it better be good." Mike gave the briefing to his employees and strode back into his office. It was weird not having Rachel there, but it had been some weeks of her not being at work now, and she definitely was fit to burst at home. She had four more weeks left, and if the baby hadn't arrived by a week after then, they were going to induce Rachel.

They had already finished the decorations in the nursery and bought pretty much everything they needed to buy. Rachel was in desperate need for things to do, and in between helping Mike with law advice, she was packing bags and assembling furniture and baby gear. Mike thought back to his wife, guessing where she was, and what exactly she was doing to fill her time. He hadn't said hello to her that morning, he was up early, and she looked so peaceful. He decided he was going to ring her, just to see if she was okay, and if she needed anything. He hated to leave her on her own entire days, and sometimes nights if he couldn't help it.

"Hey, you okay?" Rachel answered the phone on the first ring.

"Yes, just checking in before it gets too busy this end. How did you sleep beautiful?" Mike smiled ear to ear.

"Oh... Not great, but I did get a long stretch from around one in the morning to like nine." She sighed.

"That's more than you got yesterday, at least I didn't wake you up when I left."

"At least." She was clinging on to her phone whilst laying casually on a pile of cushions on the sofa. It had taken her a while to get comfortable.

"What are you up to? Bored yet?" Mike teased whilst logging into his laptop.

"Nothing, literally nothing, I was just lying here planning what I was going to put into beanie's hospital bag, planning on doing that today. I figured since we're getting so close we're going to need it soon. This baby girl is getting too big for her home!"

Mike laughed at her, imagining what she was doing, he was exactly right. Rubbing her stomach, feeling how big it was, and confused on how this all happened. "That's a good idea. Not long now Rach... Listen," Mike suddenly popped his head up, and noticed someone approaching his office, "I've got to go, I'll see you tonight, yeah?"

"Yep. See you later!" Rachel hung up and placed her phone on the coffee table next to her as she hauled herself forward. She picked up the plate she'd used for toast, and took it into the kitchen, with the intention of placing it in the dishwasher. However, she couldn't quite bend down far enough to put it in, and her legs wouldn't let her squat. So, she just left it on the counter for Mike to put in with their dinner plates later.

She pulled the drawers out and searched for the perfect couple of outfits their baby girl could wear her first days. They needed a few set of clothes, because they're new-borns, obviously. She first went to the sleeper section, Rachel decided on five sleepers, that was all she was going to be wearing for a bit. She chose a reasonably cute one that said Daddy's Girl, and then a baby pink plain one. She also grabbed one with decorative pastel flowers, and two other daintily patterned ones. Rachel laid them out on the carpet, each on top of the other one.

Next was onesies, they needed quite a few of them. Once the child was born, they were only scheduled to stay at the hospital for three days, so Rachel calculated around five again, just to be sure. Rachel picked out some cute ones that caught her eye, some matched the sleepers, and some were just adorable. She pulled out two packs of diapers, and water wipes, along with two soft blankets that were easy to swaddle.

Rachel spent hours deciding what to pack, and whether it would fit in the bag she was taking. They needed a lot of stuff. Burping cloths, swaddling blankets, hats, mittens to protect them from scratches, changing equipment, spare clothes, cuddly toys, comforters, a hell of a lot of stuff.

Once she had completed everything on her list, and somehow packed it all into the medium sized bag she picked out, there was one more thing she had to put in there, then she was ready to set it up against the wall of the nursery, waiting for the arrival. Rachel walked over to the wooden cabinet and pulled out the little onesie that Donna (and Harvey as she gracefully reminded them) had gifted them. It was white and had the monogram of her initials on the front in baby pink calligraphy, embossed in a floral design. Yes, they had decided.

She couldn't quite believe this was actually happening.

Maybe she spoke or thought too soon.

"Shit. Oh my god. What the hell was that?" Rachel was in the middle of organising the bathroom cabinet when she clutched her stomach. There was a massive pain, a pain she had never felt before, yet felt so familiar, and she knew exactly what it was. It soon went away, but Rachel panicked and reached for her phone, sitting on the edge of the bathtub.

"Mike. Come on, come on, come on."

"Hi? Is everything okay?"

"Mike, thank god. I've think I've just had a contraction. And it was painful. Like properly painful. I'm a bit worried, shall I call the midwife?" She spoke scared and quickly. 

"Rachel, yes. Call her, I will come straight to you. Okay?"

"Yes, you don't have to though, it might be a false alarm."

"I'm not taking any risks." Mike hung up and packed his stuff up, swiftly leaving the office.

"Yep, ohhhh myy, that's another one. God."

"Okay, that sounds like middle stages of labour." The midwife informed down the phone, and Rachel's heart skipped a beat.

"Oh. Okay... What do I do?" Her voice was now shaking, riddled with nerves.

"Just get to the hospital when you can, no rush, but this baby is coming."

"Okay, thank you." Rachel tried to sound calm when the conversation ended.

It only took around ten minutes for Mike to get home, Rachel concluded that he must've sped at least once. She had already got the bags down by the front door, with everything they needed for now in.

"You ready to do this?" Mike hugged her briefly, they both knew this was happening, what from the seriousness of the midwife, or the seriousness of the wife.

"I don't know. But with you, I can do anything."