Before Rory: A Gilmore Girls Prequel

Chapter 10

A kind, older nurse approached her several minutes later. "Are you done?"

"Yes."

She took the clipboard. "Okay. Is anyone with you, hon?"

"No."

The nurse patted her arm. "Well, someone will be up to get you in just a second."

"Thanks."

Lorelai reached for her headphones and began listening to music as she waited to be taken to the labor and delivery unit.

°°°°°°

Monday, October 8, 1984

"Do you need more ice chips?" Pam, the nurse attending to her, asked upon entering the hospital room.

"Let me check." Lorelai reached for the cup, grabbed the last ice cube, and threw it at the nurse. "Yes, I'm all out," she said as she smiled sweetly.

"Well, I won't be getting you more. The other nurses just wanted to find out if they'd be targets to your air raid before coming back in here." Pam checked the monitor, then told Lorelai that she needed to check her progress.

"I better be close because I'm in desperate need of a drink."

"That's what the ice chips were supposed to help with."

Lorelai scowled. "Not water. I mean a stiff drink—scotch or rum or something."

Taken aback, the nurse looked at her. "You're sixteen!"

"Are you really surprised to find out that the pregnant sixteen-year-old likes alcohol?" Another contraction started, causing Lorelai to ball up the sheets in her hands as she writhed in pain.

Pam checked her, finding that Lorelai was ready to deliver. After a flurry of activity, the nurse began pushing her bed toward the delivery room.

As they wheeled around a corner, Lorelai closed her eyes. "Okay, this is a big pain and I'd really like it to go away, please."

"Just breath deep, honey," Pam said, matter of factly.

"Breathing doesn't help. Can I hit you instead?"

"What?"

"Or pinch you really hard 'cause that might make me feel better."

"No, you cannot pinch me."

"Can I bite you or pull your hair or use the epilator on you? 'Cause I really need to do something."

Pam simply shook her head.

"Lorelai Gilmore!"

"Can you wheel this a little faster, please?" Lorelai begged the nurse.

There was no mistaking Emily's anger as she and Richard caught up with their daughter.

"Lorelai, you do not do this. You do not just leave a person a note."

"Okay, see the timing here?"

Emily read the note in her hand. "'Dear Mom and Dad, I'm in labor. See you later, Lorelai.'"

Lorelai flinched as another contraction hit. "Ow!"

Richard was trying to keep up. "Emily, please. I feel ridiculous."

Ignoring her husband, Emily forged on. "You're having a baby. Do you know that, Lorelai?"

Scowling at her mother, Lorelai retorted, "Well, that explains the stomachache."

"You do not leave your house when you're having a baby without telling your mother. You say, 'Excuse me, Mom. I'm having a baby. Give me a ride to the darn hospital!'"