A Lifetime With You

Congrats Mommy & Daddy

Taylor's POV
I'm miserable. Being pregnant in the summertime sucks. My belly has dropped severely so our appointment today might be our last one before baby arrives. Getting comfortable at night takes about 2 hours and once I'm comfortable, I have to pee. I'm peeing every 20 minutes and my boobs have started leaking and are ginormous. Joe and I have our wedding anniversary in 2 weeks. I NEED her out ASAP. Joe and I head to the doctor and I get changed into a gown. She does an ultrasound and says baby looks perfect. Then she tells me she needs to check my cervix to see if I've dilated at all. "Ouch." Having someone's fingers so far up your vagina until they're in your cervix is awful. "You're 2 centimeters dilated and 70% effaced. This baby is coming soon. I'm gonna do a membrane sweep. It's not fun so I apologize in advance." I squeeze Joe's hand and try not to scream as she performs this procedure. It's over quickly, but it did hurt. "Have you been having any contractions?" I shake my head. "Not yet." I say. "Well, they're probably gonna start. Start timing them. Don't head to the hospital until they're unbearable and you can't talk through them because if you do, they're going to send you home. Just a heads up." I nod. Joe and I take the picture of our baby and head home. I lie in bed and watch TV.

Joe's POV
Taylor's napping so I grab the car seat and go practice installing it in the car. After a couple attempts, I finally get it. I keep doing it until I can't get it wrong again. I get back inside and she's sitting up in bed. "It hurts" she says. I rub her back. She gets up from the bed and when she does, her pants become soaked. "I think my water just broke" she says. "Ok. This is good. This is great. Our baby is coming. I'm gonna call Abigail and your mom." I quickly call them before rushing back to the bathroom. She changes pants and lies down on the bed on her side. Abigail and Andrea got here in no time. "Ooooh. This hurts so bad." she said. "I know. Just think, she'll be here soon." Andrea said, pushing Taylor's hair back.

Taylor's POV
I've never felt this much pain in my life. Knowing it's only gonna get worse from here doesn't help the situation. "I feel like I wanna get up and move around." Joe helped me up and he held one hand and my mom held the other. "Walking is good. It should help speed things up." Andrea said. As we walked around the house, I was hit with a contraction. I wrapped my arms around Joe's neck and swayed side to side. My mom rubbed my back. Abigail was timing my contractions. This was going to be a long day.

12 hours later 11 PM
Joe's POV
Taylor was doing so good even though she felt miserable. I've always known she was strong, but this just topped it all off. "Ok, I think we should go to the hospital." Taylor said. I put her bag and the baby's bag in the car and we leave with Abigail and Andrea in a seperate car. "Owwww" Taylor cried. I rubbed her belly with my right hand.

11:30 PM
We arrive at the hospital and get checked in. We get taken to our birthing suite. I helped Taylor out of her clothes and into her hospital gown. She lies in the hospital bed. A nurse comes in to hook her up to the fetal monitor and get some antibiotics started through an IV. She looks up at me, visibly exhausted. "Joe, I'm scared." I kiss her forehead. I was too, but I wasn't gonna let her see it. "I know. It's ok. We'll have our baby soon." The nurse said she needed to check Taylor's cervix. "You're 4 centimeters dilated, 100% effaced." the nurse said. "Only 4?! Oh my god."
"If you wanna try and help things speed up, you can try walking around or squatting." the nurse said. "Can I get into the tub?" Taylor asks. The nurse gets a warm bath ready and Taylor removes her gown, leaving her in only her bra. She gets into the bath and I can see her relax almost immediately. That's short lived though because she's hit with a contraction. "Oh fuck! It hurts so bad" she says. She leans over the side of the tub and I hold her hands. "Good job, baby. Breathe. Remember the breathing exercises we learned in that class?" She focuses on her breathing and becomes more relaxed. Several minutes pass and I help her out of her wet bra back into her hospital gown. She gets back into the bed. The time is 12:30 AM.