The Experiment 2: The Journey

Labour

She reached for the phone and answered RJ's call.

"Babe..." she whispered.

"Babe... happy anniversary," he said on the other line.

She glanced at the digital wall clock across the bed and saw that it was 12:47 AM. He didn't even try to greet me at exactly 12 midnight or even a minute after, she thought sadly.

She blinked a couple of times to get rid of the tears that were blurring her vision, and gently wiped her cheek. She knew RJ was on a dinner meeting in California that had probably just ended since it was only 9:47 PM where he was, and she knew she was being a brat but she couldn't help feeling dejected about it.

"Happy anniversary, babe," she replied softly before heaving a huge sigh.

"You sound sad, Dei," he said, his voice laced with sadness too.

"I'm okay," she said, clearing her throat. "I just miss you. This isn't how I expected our first anniversary to be but I understand. At least I'm trying to."

"Did you want me to be there?" he asked.

"Of course. A selfish part of me wished you didn't have to leave, but that's your job so I'm trying to be understanding about it," she replied.

"Can you unlock the bedroom door then so I could come in?"

"What?"

"Unlock our bedroom door please."

Dei quickly got off the bed and walked towards the door. True enough, when she opened it, RJ was standing there with his phone over his ear.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, totally perplexed as she held the door. "I thought you said you have a dinner meeting. What time did you leave LA?"

RJ ended the call and placed the phone inside his pocket. "After our conversation earlier I practically begged Mark to let me skip the dinner meeting, then took the earliest flight as soon as the symposium for the day ended. I wanted to be here before 12 but the earliest flight available would leave at 4:15 PM," he explained. "I couldn't stand you being so sad about this whole thing, especially now when you are so close to giving birth. Thank gods, Mark came through after I told him that. Happy anniversary, babe. I hope you're happy now."

RJ handed her the bouquet of yellow carnations he had been holding behind him and Dei wrapped her arms around him so hard she almost tackled him to the ground.

"Woah, easy there, pregnant woman!" he said laughing as he held her tight. "Are you happy?"

"Yes!" she said as she looked up and kissed his jaw. "I know I was being a brat but you didn't have to do this."

"Nope. I had to," he said as he pulled her to the bed and placed the flowers on the bedside table. He helped her sit down and lean on a pile of pillows he propped against the headboard. "It's our first wedding anniversary plus Athena's coming out any time now. I don't wanna miss any moment of that."

He laid on the bed beside her and kissed her tummy before sitting up so he could kiss her too.

"I love you, RJ," she whispered when they pulled away and he was leaning his forehead against hers.

"I love you too," he whispered back. "Now you mentioned something about having to induce labor around this time now, right?"

"Yea, that's what Dr. Hessel said," Dei replied. "I've actually started walking around with your mom this evening."

"Good. Well I've been reading some stuff during my flight and I found an interesting article about how else we could induce labor," he said, grinning at her. "It's just a theory and I'm not sure if it has been proven to work but it's well recommended... and it wouldn't hurt to try."

A smile slowly crept on Dei's lips as she looked at RJ gazing at her with a smirk. "I think I know what's on your mind," she said.

"Good. Now I need you to be really quiet. We still have company and they're sleeping right next door."

+++++

"Are you okay? You've been in and out of the toilet since we woke up," RJ said as he looked up from the food he and Rose were preparing on the table.

"I'm constantly feeling the need to go but nothing's coming out," Dei said, touching her lower back.

Rose turned to look at her too. "Um, don't push it sweetheart. Are you feeling any kind of pain right now? Contractions?"

"There's a dull ache on my lower back, mom, but it's bearable. It just feels a bit uncomfortable," Dei replied as she sat on the chair.

"RJ I think you need to cancel your trip today," Rose said. "It looks like Dei is beginning to feel the first signs of labor."

"Oh," Dei said, suddenly feeling nervous.

RJ knelt beside her and touched her tummy. "Are you okay? Let's just celebrate here, babe. I agree with mom, the road trip isn't a good idea right now. I'm going to cancel our reservations at Mirror Lake."

"Okay," Dei said in a small voice. "Can you call Dr. Hessel, babe?"

"Okay."

They called the doctor and she advised Dei to continue walking around and doing her exercises to help soften and dilate her cervix a bit.

RJ took her to Central Park that morning and they walked around for a few hours. From time to time he would ask her how she felt, and to be honest she was still feeling alright. Aside from the dull pain on her back, everything else seemed normal.

She had been anticipating a series of intense pain, and she had herself ready for it, but so far, every uncomfortable feeling she was experiencing were all bearable.

They got back home past noon and Dei went straight to the toilet.

"Dei?" RJ called, knocking on the door. "You've been in there for 15 minutes. Are you okay?"

Dei got out after a few seconds, her face pale. "I'm starting to bleed," she whispered, "and it's starting to hurt... real bad."

"Mom!" RJ shouted when Dei got hit by another wave of pain due to contractions. She held his arm, gripping it tight as she waited for the pain to subside and he massaged her back, reminding her to apply the breathing techniques she had learned in her lamaze classes. He was starting to feel nervous too, lightheaded even, but he tried to remain as calm as possible.

"What happened?" Rose asked.

"She's having contractions, mom. Can you drive us to the hospital so I can help her in the backseat?"

RJ got all of her things ready and they started to leave. They were a few steps to the door when Dei paused and gasped.

"What is it?" RJ asked nervously.

"Babe, I think my water just broke," she said as she felt a gush of warm water slowly trickle through her legs.