Perfect Little Accidents

Chapter 12

I put on my shoes, sighing quietly as I stood up. The doorbell rang and Frank answered it.

"Can I help you?" He asked.

"Who are you?" The man asked.

"This is my house, who are you?" Frank asked.

I walked over and looked at the man on the doorstep. He looked down at my stomach, surprise evident on his face.

"Man, we've gotta get going so if you're selling anything we don't want it," Frank said.

"Baby, the Lamaze class starts in fifteen minutes, we're gonna be late and it's already embarrassing enough being the only teenager," I said.

"Yeah, we've gotta get going so you should leave," Frank said.

We walked out and he locked the door behind us. We got into the car and I eyed the man nervously as we drove off.

"Who's that?" I asked.

"I don't know, probably just some dumb guy trying to sell stuff," Frank said.

"He seemed upset that I'm pregnant," I said.

"Yeah, well, fuck him," Frank replied.

We went to the building and I looked around nervously. We went into a room that was bright and colorful where people talked. Frank held my hand and class started. We all sat on the ground in a circle and I bit my lip nervously.

"Alright, why don't we go around introducing ourselves and our family," the instructor said, energetically. "I'm Cara, I have two little boys at home, seven and four, and I have been happily married for ten years."

She turned to the couple next to her.

"I'm Marie and this is my husband, Joe," the girl said. "And I am nineteen weeks pregnant with a little girl, she's our first child."

We went around the circle and in total there were only four other couples, five including us, until it finally got around to us.

"I-I'm Gee," I said nervously. "This is Frank and I am twenty-three weeks pregnant with twin girls. And yeah, obviously this is my first kid."

"How old are you, Gee?" Cara asked.

"Sixteen," I said quietly.

She nodded before carrying on.

"This is just a one day Lamaze class," she said. "We'll be talking about techniques to relax, various labor positions, pain relief options, labor and basic care for your newborn."

Frank wrapped an arm around my waist and I leaned against him.

"Alright, the worst thing you can do is panic," Cara said. "And this goes for both the mother and the father. Everyone just needs to stay calm no matter how scary it is. And yes, it will be very scary no matter how prepared you are."

I looked at Frank and he gently ran his fingers through my red hair.

"Now, the best thing to do is just distract yourself," Cara said. "With my first pregnancy I was in the hospital in labor for about thirteen hours. At my second one I realized to bring things to entertain me because my second labor was about fourteen hours."

I felt myself pale slightly. Fourteen hours?

"I brought a book with me and some magazines," she said. "Many people bring things like movies to watch. Another thing to worry about is your breathing techniques. Some prefer deep, slow breathing from their diaphragm, others prefer short, quick breaths, just enough to fill the chest. It helps calm you down with patterned breathing. But really, bring something to distract you because you'll be there for a while."