You Outshine the Morning Sun

Lin

A/N: I need some more love to keep me going! Please vote and comment. 😃

I'd thought through this scenario, believe it or not. One of the other soccer families, the Davises, had agreed to take both girls if Pippa went into labor during a soccer game. I told them what was happening, and they assured me they'd take Cam and Molly to my parents' after the game. I kissed Molly goodbye. She was jumping up and down with excitement. I was suddenly terrified.

I raced home and found Pippa sitting calmly at the kitchen table.

"Lin, the kitchen-" she told me as I raced to her side. I quickly glanced over and saw the paper towels.

"Don't worry about that right now," I told her, taking her hand. "How are you doing?"

"Okay, I think," she said, turning towards me. Her face said otherwise. I realized she was just as terrified as me, and I wasn't the one that had to push babies out of my whatever. "The bags."

I'd almost forgotten. I raced to our bedroom and grabbed our two bags. I helped her stand and held her hand as we made our way to the elevator. We got to the street and I hailed a cab. The cabbie realized what was going on and asked what hospital to go to. I told him the name and he took off.

Pippa was quiet, breathing in deeply through her nose, out through her mouth. I held her hand the whole way, my heel going up and down nervously. A few minutes later, we were there. As I helped my wife out, a nurse appeared with a wheelchair. They already had all our insurance information, so we were taken straight to a room. Pippa was hooked up to machines and she changed into her hospital gown.

I pulled up a chair next to her bed and linked my hand with hers again. My hand was clammy. I was as nervous as a first-time father. It had been eleven years since I'd been through this. I'd loved Cam's mother at the time, but I'd never felt this way about her. Pippa was my world, and I was suddenly terrified that something might happen to her. In the U.S., dying during childbirth was rare, but it was a remote possibility. Twins brought more complications that singleton births.

Our nurse came in and started an exam on Pippa. She was two centimeters dilated, and her contractions were about twenty minutes apart. We still had a while. I'd forgotten how much waiting was involved. I hadn't thought to bring my laptop with me.

After Pippa had recovered from her latest contraction, I went into the hallway to call my dad. The soccer game was over now and Cam's team had won. He and my mom had already gone to our place and the Davises brought the girls back. The girls were in good hands with my parents. They had two very excited kids on their hands. I updated Dad on how Pippa was progressing and promised to keep him informed.

I didn't want to leave Pippa for long, so we kept the conversation brief. I returned the room, where Pippa was relaxing, her eyes closed. She had a lot of work to do. It was still a bit early for an epidural, so she was just having to push through the pain for now. She was a trooper. She was doing a number on my hand, but I was happy to help her out a little bit.

I sat down again and gently pulled some stray hair back into place. Her eyes fluttered open and she smiled at me a little.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey," I whispered back. "You comfortable?"

"As comfortable as I can be for now," she said. "Are the girls with your parents now?'

I nodded. "Cam's team won. They're gonna take the girls out to dinner and a movie."

"I bet Molly's losing her shit right now," she smiled. I nodded and kissed her temple. Another contraction came and I saw her face contort in pain. Even in pain, she was beautiful. I watched her face as she squeezed my hand hard.