Normal //Ryan Metzger

34.5: lauren?

"Cmon," Emily said, pleading with me. "I wanna buy my nephew some cute clothes, let's go shopping."
   "Emily, I'm in bed rest," I said, waving my hands at me in bed with the covers over my bump. "Doctor's orders."
   "Screw doctors orders," she said jokingly. "I'm kidding, but cmon. You're about to have your hands full with a baby, Lo. You need a day out before the mess. What do you think Ryan is out doing with the guys now?"
   "I know they're out for his pre baby party, but I can't shop New York City on my feet all day."
   "Not all day," she said pleading. "We just go for a few hours, pick out a bunch of baby clothes, then come home and watch Grey's Anatomy until the guys come back."
    I gave her a look and let out a sigh, flipping off the covers. I struggled to get out of bed and planted my feet on the hardwood surface.
   "Yes!" She said, clapping her hand and jumping up and down. "Oh my gosh, I've been window shopping and all of the little outfits are so cute and-"
   "Em," I said, making her quiet. "Does he even need more clothes?"
    "I'm not just talking about clothes," she said crossing her arms. "I just want an excuse to get a shirt that says 'I have me coolest aunt and uncle' to match me and Adam's 'I have the coolest nephew' that I got us."
   "You did not," I said laughing, slipping on my sandals since I couldn't reach my feet.
    "Adam saw them online and I just had to buy them," She said laughing, grabbing her purse off of the ground.
   I laughed and held my back as we walked out of the apartment, turning off the lights and locking the door behind us.
   "You're driving, right?" I asked her, hitting the parking garage level button on the elevator. After I hit the button, I doused my hands in hand sanitizer, rubbing it it vigorously. Emily gave me a concerned look. "What? I'm not risking getting sick."
    "A) Yes, I am driving. I'm not going to make a bed ridden pregnant lady walked 10 blocks. And B), okay mother Mary." She laughed, pulling out her keys.
   "I'm just looking out," I said, placing the hand sanitizer back in my purse. "Ryan had a cold last week and I made him sleep on the couch, out of love of course."
   "I can't believe you two," She laughed. "If you would've told me two years ago you guys would be giving birth to your first baby? I'd think you're crazy."
    "Trust me," I said, feeling pressure in my abdomen but I brushed it off, knowing it was just the Braxton Hicks contractions. "I feel the same way. But I'm so glad it's with Ryan, he has been so supportive."
   "Aww," She said as the elevator doors opened to the December cold air that was circulating in the concrete parking garage.
   "I mean I told him I was having the Braxton contractions and you wanna know what this bitch said?" I said laughing, opening the passenger side door. "He goes 'oh my gosh, we need to call the doctor, get you to the hospital-' I had to calm him down because he said we 'weren't ready'."
   "Well, are you guys?" Emily said starting the car and backing up.
   "I mean, now we are because they scared him. He packed our hospital bags and everything that night so now they're just sitting in the baby's room until we are ready."
   "I can't believe y'all are having a Christmas baby," she said smiling. "Well, probably Hanukkah baby since it's mid December."
   "I don't know," I said holding onto my abdomen. "This little dude is a day over due so who knows how long he's gonna stay in there. And Hanukkah ends tomorrow so wouldn't that be a treat."
    She laughed and drove to the shops downtown, taking in the snow flurries as they gradually fell from the clouds above.
***
    "Lauren," Emily said, holding up a little onesie that said exactly what Emily was talking about. "I'm buying it, too late."
   I laughed as I filled the cart with diapers, outfits, etc. I wanted to buy everything in the store, but had to hold myself back.
   "Hey, you got a man?" I familiar voice said from behind me. When I turned around, confused, Ryan stood behind me. He hugged me from the back and kissed my cheek. I could smell the alcohol on his breath, which made me laugh.
   "Having fun?" I asked him, laughing as he swayed back and forth with me in his arms.
   "The best," he said, drawing out his words. "You're missing out."
    "Sorry I don't wanna give our baby fetal alcohol syndrome," I laughed, filing through the boy's onesies.
   "Almost did," he laughed, referring to the night I figured out I was pregnant.
   "Shut the fuck up," I laughed, slapping his slightly on the shoulder. He laughed and kissed my cheek again for his apology. "So what are you three doing now?"
   I pointed to Jack and Adam who were talking to Emily as she showed them the onesie she picked up.
   "Was going to the pub down the street to watch the hockey game," he said. "I'm the only one drinking so I'm telling you we will be safe."
   "Good," I said laughing, picking up a onesie. "You never know when this kid will pop out."
   "If this kid can get through your weak uterus while staying in overdue? Yeah he's a trooper and wants to torture you for a few more days."
   "Just like his dad, huh?" I laughed and leaned in for a kiss but Jack jumped up out of no where.
   "Pick a hand," Jack said with his hands behind his back. He scared the shit out of me, making me jump out of my skin.
   "Jesus, Jack," Ryan said, holding his hand over his heart. "The left."
    "Good choice," he smiled and held out a little baby trapper hat that matched his. "Look at this!"
    "Okay, that is pretty cute," I said smiling.
    "I have to get my influence on this kid somehow," he laughed and threw the hat into my basket like a basketball.
    "Y'all ready?" Adam laughed, walking over to us. Ryan gave me a kiss before he and his brothers ran out of the baby store, making us laugh as they left the store.
   "Oh gosh," I said at the boys running out of the store.
    We went store after store, buying way to many clothes and toys for the baby. I picked up a onesie that looked like a tux and showed it to Emily.
   "Look," I said smiling. "For your guys' wedding."
    "Too cute," she smiled and looked at the tux onesie. "Maybe he will be able to walk by the time we get married."
   "Oh don't say that," I said, rubbing her arm with my hand in comfort. "Adam is a very reserved person and honestly you guys will probably end up getting married at the courthouse. That's what I wanted."
    "I know," she said, setting an outfit back on the rack. "I just- Lauren?" She stopped, looking at me.
    "What?" I asked, giving her a concerned look. I followed her gaze and saw the puddle of water on the floor. "What the hell?"
    "Are you okay? Your water just broke," she said with a happy laugh. The laugh turned concerning really quick.
    "What do we do?" I asked her, freaking out. "I don't feel anything and I-ow, ow, ow, okay that was a strong pain down there."
   "Holy shit," she said, freaking out herself. "I'll call Adam to pick up your guys' stuff."
    We left the store in a hurry and she called Adam, who we just saw just an hour prior, to tell him the news. She laid out Adam's sweater she had in her car on the front seat to catch the water.
   "Hey Adam," She said through the car's speakers, speeding down the road. "Go to their apartment and get there bags. Her water just broke."
   "Her what?" I heard Ryan say in the background. I heard him taking the phone from Adam. "Emily put her on the phone."
    "I can hear you babe," I said, letting out a breath. "Before you say anything, I'm fine. It's not even that ba-"
    My speech was stopped by another pain in my lower abdomen. Ryan freaked out on the other side.
   "Ryan, calm down and tell them to get you to the hospital on the maternity side, okay?" Emily said, getting closer to the hospital.
    I could hear Ryan give the phone back to Adam but not before telling me he loved me. Adam laughed and said they were on their way and that they would try to sober Ryan up before the hospital.
   We pulled up and Emily came back out to the car with a nurse and a wheelchair for me. They came up to the passenger side door.
    While the nurse helped me into the wheelchair, Emily started to take a video.
   "Baby Metzger on the way!" She said into the camera, smiling on the other side. The nurse and I gave her a look. "What? You'll wanna watch this in a few years!"
    We laughed and went out of the freezing temperatures into the warm hospital. They gave me a hospital band and got admitted just a few minutes after.
   With the contractions getting more and more uncomfortable and Ryan still not here with the guys, I started to get worried.
   "Em, what if-?"
    "They're fine," She said wiping back my hair for me. "Adam just sent me a photo of Ryan bustling through the apartment, making sure everything was baby proofed."
   She showed me the photo and I laughed, but holding it back with the pain of the contraction flowing through me.
   "So I heard my best friend was having my nephew today," I heard a familiar voice say from the door of my hospital room. When I looked up, Jess stood there with a huge smile on my face.
   "How was your thanksgiving trip?" I asked her, her bending down to hug me.
   "The family is doing good," she said smiling. "I'm excited to see Jack. Speaking of which, where are the guys?"
   "On their way," Emily said. "Just turning onto Pike and should be here in the next few minutes."
   "Okay, Mrs. Metzger," my doctor said coming into the room and doing her exam. "How are we doing? Ready to have a baby?"
   "Let's wait until my husband gets here, then we can," I laughed as she checked me.
    "Well, tell him to hurry," she laughed, putting  on her gloves. "Baby could be here any minute with the-"
   She stopped while examining me, the air in the room shifting.
   "Can you give me just one minute?" She asked me and left the room in a hurry.
   "Well that doesn't sound good," I said, squeezing onto the sides of the hospital bed as sharp shooting pains rain up and down my spine.
   Emily places her hand on mine, rubbing her thumb in a circle as my heart rate started to rise. The machine I was connected to proved it with the heartbeat spiraling.
    The doctor came back in with a team of nurses and doctors.
    "Okay Mrs. Metzger," She said letting out a sigh. "We have to get that baby out and we have to get him out now."
    "What? But Ryan, I-"
     "Mrs. Metzger, you are hemorrhaging in your uterus at the moment. The baby's life and your life are being compromised with every passing minute."
    "But-" I said, growing anxious by the second.
    "Mrs. Metzger, as much as I would love for you husband to be here, we need to move quickly and efficiently so you can see your husband again."
    Emily covered her mouth with her hand in shock at the news. Jess cowered in the corner, making sure to be out of everyone's way.
    The doctors and nurses put me on oxygen as they wheeled me out of the room, quickly down the hall.
    "Lauren?" I heard Ryan say behind me. "Lauren!"
    "Sir, you need to-" the doctor said, but Ryan cut her off.
    "Lauren, what's going on? What-what's happening?" He brushes back my hair, his face in pure terror at the sight of me in the oxygen mask.
   "Love, go sit in the room, I'll be back before you know it, okay?"
    "Sir, please-" the doctor said, pushing him to the side. His hand was still interlocked with mine and before we went through the doors to the emergency OR, he squeezed my hand three times.
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-oof