Toxic 2: Lethal

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Chapter13-Name

"Lydia, relax. The baby feels everything you do." Mom said, brushing my sweaty hair from my face.

"I can't help it." I said, my voice shaking from the crying I'd been doing. Ava was just as nervous and as anxious as I was. Yet she was handling herself much better.

"Yes, you can."

Beside me, Ava held my hand, smiling down at me.

The door opened and a nurse walked in, plastic gloves over her hands. "Ready to see how far along you are?"

I met Ava's gaze. Was she ready for this? Was I ready? After being pregnant for months, I knew I'd never be ready.

She squeezed my hand. "You can do this."

The nurse checked to see how many centimeters I was before she glanced up at me. "It seems you haven't grown any."

"I-is that bad?" I asked.

"I don't think so..." Her pause didn't seem like a good thing.

"What... what does that mean?" Ava asked.

"I'm sure it's nothing but I'm going to schedule a sonogram just to be sure."

"Could the baby be hurt because I'm not full term?"

"The baby's premature so anything could happen. The sonogram will help us better diagnose the problem."

Mom sat down in her chair, a serious look on her face.

"Mom, what if... what if something's wrong?" I asked, tears welling up in my eyes. The whole time I was pregnant, I'd expected the baby to come out and be fine. I didn't think about anything bad happening. So what if it did? I wouldn't know what to do. I doubted Ava did. How were we going to handle that?

"Lydia, the baby will be taken care of. The doctors will be here to help you both if anything goes wrong."

A sob escaped my chest and I couldn't stop the rest that followed. "I just want the baby to be okay."

"You have to relax, sweetie. If you're stressed out it could affect the baby."

"Lydia, we're going to get through this, alright? It's going to be okay." Ava said, her calm voice easing my worries just a little. I knew she was scared, I could just tell. But she was better at controlling her emotions than I was.

"I'm so scared."

"I'll be here the whole time. You don't have to do this alone."

"Sweetheart, you can only have one of us with you when you give birth." Mom said.

I glanced at Ava before looking back at her. "Don't be mad-"

"This is your decision, Lydia. Don't worry about my feelings."

"Mom-"

"I mean it. I want you to be happy."

I nodded.

Ava squeezed my hand and smiled at me. "It's going to be okay."

"They're bringing him in." Ava said, sitting down beside me. She rested her elbow on the railing of the bed and put her chin on her hand.

I nodded, struggling to keep my eyes open. After spending six hours in labor, they finally wheeled me into another room to do a C-section. They had to completely knock me out since I was bleeding more than usual. But thankfully both the baby, a boy, and I were fine.

"I'm so proud of you." She whispered, reaching over to move some hair off my face.

"You're next."