Turning A New Leaf

Sixty-Nine

"Damn, you gonna put my ass to sleep after that," Krist murmured, stretching out in bed after a particularly satisfying romp.

Atira was lying next to him, hand on her bare belly, "Ugh, it gave me mad Braxton-Hicks, though." She grimaced, massaging the top of her abdomen.

"You good, baby?" he asked, eyeing her and then poking her stomach where it had risen to almost an egg shape, "The fuck, is that the baby?"

"No, it's my uterus contracting," Atira said.

"Is that supposed to happen?" He wondered.

"Yeah, it's normal," she told him, letting out a breath as she rode out the Braxton-Hicks, "Can you get me a bottle of water?"

"Sure, baby," he replied.

The contraction had subsided by the time Krist returned to the bedroom. He handed her the water and a small bowl of the peanut butter pretzels she loved.

"You're the best," Atira told him, scooting up in bed.

Krist kissed the side of her face as he climbed into bed, flipping on the television, "What do you want to watch? Your boy, Rio?"

Atira popped a pretzel in her mouth, "Nah, I'm not trying to make these stupid Braxton-Hicks worse," she teased, "Let's just watch ID."

"Works for me," Krist grinned, tuning to channel 271, "Do you realize how old and boring we are now?"

"We aren't old," Atira told him, "We are boring though. Boring is good."

"You got a point there," Krist agreed, watching what appeared to be a foot or fist move across Atira's stomach, "He likes those pretzels, huh?"

She nodded, "He does! Every time I eat them he gets pretty active. I mean, he's always pretty wild at bedtime but the pretzels really get him going."

Krist poked Atira's stomach with his index finger, Baby Gabe responded by punching or kicking him. It was their nightly game, the baby would become active, Krist and Atira would place their hands over him or poke him, he'd kick in response. Sometimes his hand or foot would follow their hand as they drug it along her belly.

It was mind-blowing how much he was able to interact in the womb already. As much as Krist enjoyed the engagement with his unborn son, he couldn't help be feel a little sad that he missed out with Rocco.

"Six more weeks," Atira smiled as she looked down at her rippling belly.

****

Atira had struggled to fall asleep, the Braxton-Hicks had started back up in what seemed to be regular intervals. She looked at her husband, slightly jealous of how easy it was for him to fall asleep. Krist was sprawled out in bed, mouth agape, snoring lightly.

A contraction had just ended when she felt a small goosh in her underwear. They'd had sex twice that night, Atira chalking it up as being leftover semen.

She rolled out of bed to go the bathroom for a change of panties, struggling somewhat as her belly was in the way. When she got to her feet, there was a much larger gush of fluid without the relief that came with peeing.

Panic set in, her water had broken.

Atira stood frozen in fear, they were forty-five minutes from the hospital, she hadn't even packed a hospital bag nor had they installed the baby's car seat yet.

"Babe, babe," she whispered. Krist grunted in his sleep, pulling the blanket tight around himself. "Krist!"

He stirred, "What?" he mumbled, looking at her through a squinted eye.

"My water just broke," she said, bursting into tears, "Can you call your mom?"

Krist sat up with a jerk, frantic as he fumbled for his phone, "Yeah, of course."

"I need to get myself cleaned up, it's all over. I'm so sorry," she sniffled.

"I got you, I can mop it up, don't worry," he assured her, waiting for his mother to answer. Linda was barely able to say a word before Krist blurted, "Atira's water just broke! What do we do?...ok, yeah, I'll have her call them..." Krist called out to Atira, "My mom says you need to call Labor and Delivery, are you having contractions?"

"Yes, tell her like every four to five minutes for the last few hours," Atira shouted from the bathroom.

"She said she has been having them every four minutes for a couple of hours," Krist told his mom, "Ok, I'll tell her...OK, I'll get Rocco up and we can meet you there. Ok, thanks Mom, we love you too."

Krist climbed out of bed, stepping into the bathroom where Atira was changing her leggings and waiting for an L & D nurse to take her call, "My mom says we need to head to the hospital."

"Should hang up then?"

"No, she said they should still get a heads up that we are on the way. She's gonna meet us there to pick up Rocco," he told her.

Krist grabbed a towel to clean up the puddle of amniotic fluid next to the bed before hurrying to Rocco's room to wake him.

Atira was hit with another contraction as the L&D nurse answered, one that forced her to lean over the bathroom counter, nearly taking the breath from her.

Rocco had been sleeping deeply and hard to wake up, Krist was too panicked to fight with him and instead put together a bag for him to take to his Grandparents ' home.

"Babe, they told me to come down right away," Atira informed Krist, "I haven't even made my hospital bag." She began to cry, "I don't even know what to pack."

Krist brushed her hair out of her face, "Don't worry, just grab maybe the phone chargers, I can have my mom bring us stuff later. It's ok."

"I just can't believe I didn't pack my bag yet, I'm normally much more prepared than this."

"Baby, it's ok, go out of the car, I'm gonna grab Rocco and we will get moving."

Rocco had been completely dead to the world until he heard the words "Atira is having the baby", then he was wide awake, shoes on (the wrong feet) and at the door ready to go.

****

The drive to the hospital had been nerve-wracking, Krist trying to go fast enough to make it there before Atira's labor progressed too much but not so fast it was unsafe and catching police attention.

Atira's contractions were staying steady every four minutes, leaving them hopeful that they had plenty of time to make it to the hospital.

Linda had met them on the second floor of the hospital parking garage, Rocco protesting that he wanted to watch the baby's birth.

"Honey, it's going to take a while, maybe even a few days," Linda told him, coaxing him into the backseat of her SUV, "How far apart are your contractions?"

Atira gave a heavy sigh, "Still around four minutes, I still feel like I'm leaking."

Linda nodded, "It will trickle out for a while."

"Is there any way you can bring us a hospital bag, we haven't packed anything yet," Krist asked his mom with pleading eyes.

"Of course, send me a list of the things you need and I can bring it later this morning."

"Do you think they'll send me home?" Atira wanted to know.

"With your water broken at this point, you'll be admitted. They're not going to send you away at thirty-four weeks."