Fearless

28

When we got to the hospital Colby ran in to get me a wheelchair, my contractions were now 8 minutes apart and were still about 30 seconds each. "Hey mom to be!" The nurse that came out with a wheelchair said as Colby helped me get out of the car, "how are you feeling?" She asked as another contraction hit, they were getting progressively more painful. I couldn't help but whimper in pain as I reached for Colby's hand. "Shh, breathe for me." He said and knelt down to be eye level with me. I closed my eyes and tried to focus as Colby comforted me as best as he could. I groaned when the pain finally melted away. "Sorry" I whispered as he brushed my hair behind my ear, "don't apologize. I'm gonna park the car, then I'll be in okay?" He said and I nodded.

He jogged to the car as the nurse wheeled me in, "c-can we wait for him before going to the room?" I asked and looked up at the nurse who was wheeling me through the halls, "of course." She said and stopped when we got to the waiting room, "is this your first kid?" She asked and I nodded, "yeah..she even came a month early." I said with a laugh and rubbed my belly. I think I was going to miss being pregnant. I couldn't wait to meet her though, it was surreal that this time tomorrow she would be in my arms. "Well I am going to make sure you're as comfortable as possible." She said just as Colby came jogging in, "I'm here, let's go" he said and slung our bag onto his shoulder.

We were led to our room, it was small and brought back memories of being in the hospital after the accident.

They both were in the process of getting me onto the bed when my legs collapsed, "Shit shit shit" I wimpered as a contraction came on, Colby caught most of my weight as I clung onto him. "Breathe with me." He said quietly and played with my hair. I groaned and squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for it to pass. When it did I fully collapsed into Colby.

He sighed and lifted me up so he could place me on the bed. That's when they hooked me up to all the machines. There was one for my heart rate, one for the baby's, there was one that was monitoring my contractions and they set me up with an IV. The nurse left as Colby took a seat in the chair next to me. "Hey baby girl." He said quietly and grabbed my hand, "hey." I said and let my eyelids close, "when did my water break? Like what time?" I asked and he scrunched his brows in concentration, "you woke me up at 2:48am so I would say 2:47." I nodded, looking at the time now. It had already been an hour since then with almost no progress, meaning I was going to be in this pain for a long while.

We sat around for the next hour, every 8 to 10 minutes a contraction would hit and we would work through it. I tried to get Colby to sleep because he looked exhausted but he refused, "how about when someone else gets here you sleep?" I asked, concerned for him. "We'll see, I want to be awake for you." He said and leaned up to kiss my forehead. I sighed, "I know, but you look exhausted." I said and leaned up to move his hair from his face. "So do you." He reminded me quietly as someone came into the room, well, multiple someones.

"Hey, sorry we are late." Sam said as he and my dad came in, "no biggie, how is everyone holding up at the house?" Colby asked as I felt the familiar pain filling my body. My hand tightened around Colby's as his attention went from Sam and my dad to me, "breathe baby, it's almost over..ten more seconds..." he encouraged, as Sam went silent. As soon as the pain went away I collapsed against the bed, trying to recoup. "Things are crazy at the house still, we tried to go back to bed but we couldn't so..everyone's in the waiting room, we can only come in two at a time though." I frowned, "that's so sweet that everyone is here." I said as Claire walked through the door.

Sam and my dad stepped off to the side so she could come in fully, "hey momma, how you feeling?" She asked and started checking everything out, "like someone is trying break out of my body." I said with a small laugh, "hm that's weird, I don't know why you could possibly be feeling like that." She teased, "I know we briefly talked about an epidural but I wanted to know if your plans have changed?" She asked and I nodded, "I'm not against one but I want to try and do it without...am I crazy?" I asked and she laughed, "no but I'm gonna go ahead and order one just in case you decide suddenly that you need it, that way we can get it as fast as possible." She said and I nodded.

Sam and dad stepped out of the room so she could check how dilated I was, "hmm....only about 3 centimeters , we have to get to 10 before we can really start this. Got any questions!" She asked and bit my lip, "she's early..is she gonna be okay?" I asked and twisted my ring. "She's gonna be small and there may be some problems but we won't know until she's here, I think she's gonna be just fine though, we aren't in the danger zone of premature." She said and I nodded squeezing Colby's hand.

For the next few hours our room always had two visitors, I tried to take a nap but couldn't due to the pain that would come about every 6 minutes. Kat and Devyn were in the room with us now as another huge wave of pain filled my body. I sobbed out, my body starting to feel tired as Colby hovered over me, placing a small kiss on my forehead. His eyes were sad as he watched me cry in pain. "You're okay..you're okay." He whispered. "No I'm not." I groaned, "get me the epidural." I whispered and he shook his head, "you're sure? I know you-" I shook my head hard, "I don't care what I said GET ME THE FUCKING EPIDURAL." I yelled and Kat scurried out of the room to find someone to give it to me. "God.." I sobbed out as Colby wiped my tears with his thumb, "you're doing so good baby.." he whispered, I could hear the pain in his voice.

Everyone had to leave the room including Colby when I got the epidural. "Are you ready?" Claire asked but I just sobbed in return, "it's okay, take my hand." She said and rubbed my upper back. "I don't think I'm ready Claire...I can't do this.." I sobbed and she shook her head. "Sweetheart, you went through a car accident with no real pain killers..you did something that people can't usually do. You can do this. You have the best support team out there..there's like 20 people in the waiting room for you. You are going to get through this." She said as I just sobbed. She called a nurse to come in just to hold my hand through it.

I was finally able to take a small nap now that I was drugged up. When I woke up Colby's parents were in the room. "She's been sleeping for about an hour and a half, I think the epidural finally kicked in..thank god." Colby whispered and his mom chuckled, "best drug out there." I opened my eyes to see Colby's dad laughing, "you were a monster before it. Remember when you threw your cup of ice at me?" He said and she chuckled, "I do remember that, it hurts like a bitch though, right Cora?" She said and winked at me. "Hey, how are you feeling?" Colby asked and brushed my hair from my forehead. "Numb." I said and coughed at how scratchy my throat was. Colby grabbed my cup of water and handed it to me. I almost dropped it as another contraction came on, it was numbed but it still hurt causing me to shut my eyes.

This was easily the hardest thing I have ever dealt with.