Happily Ever After- Gilmore Girls sequel

Chapter 15

Once they enter the hospital, Lorelai spots an orderly with an empty wheelchair. She rushes up to him.

"Hi, hi, hi. Do you need that wheelchair? No. Good. My daughter needs it. She's going into labor. Just hand it to me."

The orderly says "Miss, I'll just follow you and help you go to L&D."

Lorelai leads him to where Rory and Jess are. Rory sits on the wheelchair while they wait for the elevator.

"Come on, come on, come on." Lorelai says as she insistently pushes the elevator button.

"Mom, I'm fine. Elevator will come." Rory reassures her.

Finally the elevator arrives. Jess pushes the 3 and holds Rory's hand. She squeezes it as she breathes through another contraction.

"You ok, Rory?" Lorelai asks.

"Yup. Just breathing. Hm." Rory shifts around in the wheelchair to get more comfortable. "Mom, aren't you supposed to call Luke? Tell him we made it. See if Logan got a flight."

"He can wait. God how slow can this elevator go?" Lorelai asks.

Finally the elevator doors open. The orderly pushes the wheelchair to the registration desk with Jess and Lorelai not far behind.

"Hi. I'm Lorelai Gilmore. I'm checking in." Rory says to the receptionist. She passes the ID card to the woman who already had her papers ready since the doctor called ahead to let them know she's coming.

"Ok, Miss Gilmore. This is your ID bracelet. Can you check to make sure all the information is correct? Also this is your baby's bracelet. Make sure all the information is correct as well. Are these your guests?"

"Yes. There might be two or three more coming." Rory replies.

"Ok when they come, one of your other guests has to come for them. You have to give me their names, ok?" Rory nods. "Ok, now can you guys please hand me your IDs."

As Rory is being registered in, she has another contraction, breathing in her nose then out. "Ooh that hurt."

"Ok. Here are your visitor passes. Let me call your L&D nurse and we can get started."

Forty minutes later, Rory is in her room, hooked up to an IV. The nurse has come in to check her blood pressure and hooked her up to machines that monitor her baby's heartbeat and contractions.

Dr. Harris comes in. Introduces herself to Lorelai. Then proceeds to check Rory out.

"Hey, Rory and Jess. So we are here, huh?"

"Dr. Harris. I'm a couple of weeks early. Should there be something to worry about?" Rory asks.

"Nothing to worry about. I expect a healthy baby. Now last time I saw you, we checked the position of the baby. And he's head down which is good. Now I'm gonna check to see how dilated you are."

She proceeds to put on some gloves and measure. "Looks to be four centimeters. Which is not bad. But we can't let you push until you're at ten centimeters. Ok? So this might take awhile. Now I know you want to do bathtub. You tell me when you're ready to do that. Walk around. And if you need help with pain management, just press the nurse button and we'll help with that. Ok? I will keep coming by to check on you. But just relax. Knowing you, I know you have some books. If you need anything call the nurse. Ok?"

"Yup."

When the doctor leaves, Rory gets out of bed to pee. Jess following closely behind. Lorelai goes closer to the window and calls Luke.

"Hey Luke." Lorelai says when he finally picks up.

"Hey. How's Rory? Did the baby come yet?"

"No she's still four centimeters dila-"

"Ah ah. Don't want to hear all that." Luke interrupts. "Logan finally got a flight. It will land in 8 hours. Do you need anything else from me?"

"Food? This might take some time. And I don't think Rory wants hospital food." Lorelai suggests

"Ok. I'll go get something. What do you guys want?"

"Hold on, let me go ask." Lorelai walks to the bathroom and knocks on the door. From the other side, she can hear Rory moaning in pain while Jess talks her through a contraction. A couple of minutes later, Jess opens the door and is met with Lorelai.

"Hey I'm on the phone with Luke. I asked him to get food for us. What do you want?" Lorelai asks.

"Pizza sounds good." Rory says. "Any word on Logan?"

"Luke says he finally got a flight and will be here in eight hours." Lorelai explains.

"Ok, that's good." Jess helps Rory on to the bed.

An hour later, Dr. Harris comes in to check on Rory. "Blood pressure looks good. Baby's heartbeat is still strong. No signs of distress. Which is good. Now let me check how dilated you are. Looks to still be 4.5 centimeters, which is good. Labor is progressing. Anything else you need now?"

"No, thank you. We are good." Rory lays on her side cuddling with her pillow, holding Jess's hand.

Lorelai's cell phone rings. "It's Luke. He must be here with the pizza. I will be back."

She leaves Jess and Rory alone. Rory shifts in bed to look closely at Jess. "You ok?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that question?" Jess laughs.

"I'm between contractions right now. So I can ask."

"I'm fine. Just worried about you. Do you need anything from your go bag?" Jess asks.

"Yeah, pull out the robe. I want to walk after we eat. And charger so my phone is fully charged. Same with your phone. Can you get the iPod? Just turn on some music while we eat." Rory instructs Jess.

As he pulls the stuff out, Rory goes through another contraction. "Hmmm." As she's breathing through the pain, she notices the pain level is a bit higher.

Lorelai comes back with the pizza. "Luke went back home. You know how he is with hospitals. He told Logan as soon as he lands to call him and he will pick him up at the airport and bring him straight here. Ok?"

"Good. I want pizza. What did Luke order?"

"He ordered the works. Figured you might want to eat some last minute veggies. Had to fight off some patients' family when I brought it in." Lorelai teases. "Anything new?"

"Still a waiting game." Just then she feels another contraction. Jess massages her back as she goes through this contraction. "That lasted a little longer. Ok. Let's eat. I need these carbs for me to push the baby out."