Pregnant?! - Steve Rogers x Reader

Labor

      It was the first morning of your 38th week of pregnancy and you were sitting at the kitchen counter eating  pancakes with your husband. You had felt like you were starving almost every minute of the past few weeks and pancakes seemed like your only lifeline at the moment. The room was completely silent as you watched the sun rising over the tops of the skyscrapers though the kitchen window.

     All of a sudden, you felt a sharp pain in your stomach and you squeezed your eyes shut, dropping your fork back onto your plate, while drawing in a sharp breath.

     Steve quickly looked up at you, a concerned expression on his face. "Are you okay?"

     The pain continued for another thirty seconds or so, but you answered through it. "I think I might be going into labor." Steve's eyes widened for a second, but then he composed himself and placed a reassuring hand on your shoulder.

     "Okay, we're ready for this. Remember, the doctor said to come to the hospital once your contractions are five minutes apart so we still have a little bit of waiting to do."

     You groaned and continued eating, "We were supposed to have two more weeks, why right now?!"

     "Hey, she's just eager to get out into the world."

     The next contraction didn't hit you until about fifteen minutes later, while you were helping Steve clean up the dishes. To start out the contractions weren't that bad, you could talk through them and they just felt like a stomach ache. Then, as time went on, they got worse. After an hour they were twelve minutes apart. Then, at two and a half hours into labor, they had lessened to nine minutes apart. The pain was still bearable, but you had to find things to distract yourself.

     "Can we do something?" you asked Steve, when you could no longer sit comfortably. "I need something else to focus on."

     "Of course, what do you want to do? I have a deck of cards around here somewhere if you want to play a game."

     You laughed, "You're such a dork sometimes, but sure. I'll do anything at this point."  

     Since you and Steve had gotten together he had taught you many of the card games that he used to play with Bucky back in the 40's. One of your of your personal favorites was a game called "gin rummy", which was what the two of you decided to play as you settled yourselves on the couch. Normally you would play at a table, but your back was starting to ache and the couch seemed much more comfortable. You were intensely focused on playing the game and time seemed to go by a little faster. The two of you played so many hands that you lost count and neither of you knew who was in the lead anymore. The whole time, Steve continued to time your contractions.  

     After another two hours you were growing impatient and threw you cards down onto the couch cushion, "What time am I at?"

     Steve looked at you sympathetically, "The last one was about five minutes and thirty seconds apart." 

     You whined and threw your head back, "I just want her out already, the contractions keep getting worse."

     "We could probably go now. By the time we get everything in the car and actually drive to the hospital you'll be at five minutes."

     You were content with that, so you pushed yourself up off the couch and couch and waited by the door while Steve grabbed your things. You had packed a bag for the hospital a couple of weeks prior with clothes and other things that the baby would need while you were there. Tony had also let you set up a car seat in one of the cars that Happy drove so that it would be there when you brought the baby home. Once Steve had everything, the two of you took the elevator down to the lobby where Happy was waiting with the car.

     "Here we go." Steve said while helping you into the back seat. He put the bags in the trunk and then climbed in after you.

     You could feel the anticipation in the car on the way to the hospital. Steve  was trying not to show it, but he was possibly even more nervous than you. You both knew that there were so many things that could go wrong during childbirth. All that you could do was hope that somehow both you and the baby were healthy in the end. The contractions were coming even faster than before and you had to rock back and forth to keep from crying out. 

     Before you knew it you had arrived at the hospital and you could feel the anxiety building up in your chest. Nothing in the world could have truly prepared you for this moment; everything happened so quickly. You were in the lobby, and then you were in the maternity ward, then you were led to a room, and then lying down in a bed waiting until you were told that it was time to push. You were nearing three minutes apart and in excruciating pain. Steve held your hand through each contraction and you were thankful for his enhanced healing abilities because you were almost certain that you would have broken his hand without them.

     You had no idea how much time passed, but eventually a doctor came in and told you that you were ten centimeters dilated. She called in a couple of nurses and instructed you to push when each one of your next contraction hit. Every time she gave the word you pushed as hard as you could. The process didn't go nearly as fast as you had hoped, but soon enough the sound of crying filled the room. You breathed a sigh of relief and fell back against the bed's pillows. The doctor called Steve over to cut the umbilical cord and then quickly wrapped your daughter in a blanket and handed her to you.

     In that moment it was like nothing in the entire universe had ever mattered or ever would matter, except for the baby that was lying against your chest. Steve sat down in a chair next to you and brushed his hand over her cheek, tears in his eyes. You could feel tears beginning to pool in your own eyes as well. 

     "She's beautiful," you whispered. 

     Steve nodded, "You are both so amazing."

     "Do you have a name for her?" asked one of the nurses, who had brought the birth certificate to be filled out. You and Steve had agreed on names for the baby very early on in your pregnancy, so there was no doubt in your mind about what it was going to be. You had decided to give her a first name that was meaningful, after Steve's mother, and a middle name that you both liked. 

     You looked down at your baby as she stared up at you with her big blue eyes, "Her name is Sarah Avery Rogers."