Katniss POV- (About 6am)
"Peeta? Please, wake up?" I cry out, bawling hysterically.
He jolts awake, turning to me, "Katniss, what's wrong? Is it the baby?" He asks me frantically.
I nod my head and grit my teeth as pain shoots through my lower abdomen and back, it feels tight, like someone wrapped a belt around my stomach.
It started about 3 this morning but it's just gotten worse since then.
I've tried sleeping too and walking around but nothing helps.
"It's really bad cramps and tightness in my stomach." I tell him hysterically.
"Do you need to go to the hospital or you think it's like a false labor thing?" He asks, jumping up and flipping the lights on.
"I don't know. It's just gotten worse since it started, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry about getting so angry." I cry guiltily.
Peeta frowns and pulls the covers off of me, "It's okay, it doesn't matter. Can you sit up for me?" He asks, all out of breath.
I nod and he helps pull me up into a sitting position, which makes breathing harder.
It feels like I'm popping, like my stomach is going to pop.
Willow is still moving but I'm really worried about her.
"Do you think it's early labor?"
I nod my head, "If it's not that then I don't know what it is." I cry into his chest.
I pull him close to me and grit my teeth as the cramp kind of subsides.
"Oh my goodness. Are you sure that you're okay?" He asks worriedly, pushing some hair out of my eyes.
I close my eyes, "Yeah, just call the hospital or see if Dr. Coles will answer her home phone. Her card on the fridge, please just hurry." I beg him.
I'm so scared something is wrong or she's already coming.
He runs out of our bedroom and rushes downstairs, reappearing just seconds later, all out of breath.
"Are you okay?"
I sigh deeply, "Just please call her, Peeta. I'm really scared." I tell him.
I'm faced with the fact that I might have her early which is NOT safe for her.
She won't be able to breathe good or eat and could have so many problems if she even survives at all.
Peeta shakily picks up the phone and dials the number.
"I'm sorry to bug you. This is Peeta Mellark. Katniss is kind of having complications. Please, just talk to her." He says, breaking down.
He hands me the phone and I hold it to my ear as Peeta kneels down in front of me, putting his hands firmly on my belly.
(On the phone with Doctor Coles)
"Katniss, sweetie. What's going on?" She asks calmly.
"I think I'm in labor but I don't know." I cry into the phone.
"You think you're in preterm labor?"
"Yes." I cry.
"Okay, can you tell me what you're experiencing?"
"I-I-I've been having abdominal pain since about 3 this morning. It's gotten worse. It feels like she's all stretched out in there and it hurts so bad." I cry, barely choking it out.
Peeta rubs my belly back and forth and whispers reassuring things to me.
"Okay, do you have any other symptoms? Any bleeding or back pain?"
"I don't think I'm bleeding but my back hurts pretty bad." I tell her.
"Have you had more than five contractions in the last hour? Are they stopping and starting?"
I cry, "Yes. They weren't bad and now they're every ten minutes or so."
"Okay, I want you to have Peeta bring you up to our office in the next thirty minutes. If you can, I want you and Peeta to throw together a birthing plan."
"How do we do that?" I whine into the phone, wiping snot on my sleeves.
I'm not ready for this.
"You need to say who you would like present during birth if possible, if you want pain medications, the fetal monitoring, if you want Peeta to cut the cord or help deliver the baby, if there's a C-Section what you would like to happen, what you want to do after the baby is born, if you guys need me to I can help make one after diagnosing you." Dr. Coles says and it all overwhelms me even more.
"I can't think about that right now. I just need to know if she's okay." I say, choked up.
Peeta stands up and quickly dresses.
"We are gonna make sure you're both okay. I promise." She says.
"Can we leave now?" I ask.
"Yes, I'm on my way. I live about twenty minutes out but I'll be there soon." She says.
"Thank you." I say.
"No problem. Just keep calm, Katniss." Dr. Coles says and I hang up.
"Peeta, I'm so scared." I cry to him, standing up and finding dizziness.
He rushes over to me and holds my hands.
"Are you okay?" He asks softly.
I shake my head and press my forehead to his chest, "No, I want to go."
"We are. We are. I promise you are going to be okay."
"I'm not worried about me. I'm worried about Willow." I cry harder, my breaths getting heavier as another cramp hits and tightens my belly.
"She's going to be okay too." He says, looking around for some different clothes, helping me quickly change and putting some shoes on my feet.
"Are you okay?" I ask him, seeing how shaky he is.
He shakily nods his head, "I'm just worried about you both."
I sigh and he rubs my back, "Let's go." He says and we do.
When we get into the car, I completely lose it.
"Katniss, please just calm down. You're not making it any better. It snowed a little last night and we have to go all the way across town. I love you but I need you to be quiet." Peeta says calmly.
"In trying to be quiet and calm but it hurts, Peeta!" I scream at him.
"Okay, but we aren't going to get there any quicker if you can't let me drive in somewhat of a peace. I don't want us to have a wreck so please, just try?" Peeta begs and I can tell he is just as terrified as I am.
I nod my head and fix my seatbelt around my belly, even though it makes the tight feeling worse.
Of course this is all happening in the middle of winter.
About twenty minutes later, we arrive at the obstetricians office that we left not even 24 hours ago, feeling so happy.
Doctor Coles is already there when we get there, thankfully.
"Come in." She says, helping me into the door.
She takes me back to the examination room and has me sit down, not before having me change into a stupid gown.
"I'm going check your blood pressure and listen to both of your heart rates. Did anything happen last night that may have caused a spike in your blood pressure?" She asks.
"I got really upset over something silly, that's all." I tell her, not really wanting to share our information with her.
"Okay, well she's in obvious distress. Her heart is beating faster and your blood pressure rose quite a bit since yesterday. I'm going to check and see if there's dilation. Peeta can stay if you want him to." She says.
I look up at him as the doctor preps and I know what's coming up.
"I don't want him to leave me." I say.
"Katniss, it's okay. If you don't want me in here, it's fine." Peeta says.
"If you don't want to be in here then you don't have to but I need you to be here every step." I say, knowing I will not be able to do anything without him.
He nods his head and sits down next to me, taking my hand.
"Okay, I know the few times we had to do this it was weird but just try to relax. I'm going to measure your uterus too." Dr. Coles says moving the bed into a laying position and having me position my legs awkwardly.
She does her thing and Peeta talks to me, trying to distract me.
"Just think no matter what, after this we will have a beautiful baby girl." Peeta says to me softly.
"Yes, Katniss. The infant mortality rate of preterm infants is significantly low for babies in your teen. They have a large chance of making it."
I could kill her for saying this.
That doesn't make it any better.
"What if she's in that percentage that's doesn't make it?" I sob.
"Sweetie, I know you're scared but you've done fabulous since you got pregnant, whether you knew or not. I know you had a few accidents but she's a perfectly healthy baby. Nothing I've seen has shown any trauma from anything that's happened. She's a little bit bigger than some baby's at this age. I'm not sure she's more developed but she's definitely going to make it." Dr. Coles assures me.
"Do you think there is any possibility that she's a little further a long than you decided? Maybe by a week or two?" Peeta asks.
"It's possible. I just gave a rough estimate with what she knew, which wasn't much."
"Does that mean that if she's a little older that she will be okay?"
"Sweetie, I can almost promise that she's gonna be perfectly fine whether she's born early or not." She tells me.
"Am I in labor?"
"You are in the early stages of it, you're dilating but I'm going to give you some medicine to stop it all. You're not opening yet and she hasn't seemed to turn down but she's on the verge if we can't get it under control."
"Will you be able to stop it?" Peeta asks.
"I should be able to. If not, be prepared to have a baby in the next few days." She says with a shrug.
My heart sinks.
It's the beginning of December, she's not suppose to be here until mid-February.
I'm not ready to be a mom yet.
"She will come when she is ready but she's obviously getting a little too eager." Dr. Coles says, throwing a pair of blue gloves into the garbage can.
"Please, just go get whatever you can to stop it. I'll too whatever have to because not ready yet." I demand.
"Okay, while I'm at it, I'll be giving steroids to help her lungs develop a little faster so that if she does come early, she will be able to breath a little better." She says, exiting the room.
I lean my head against the bed, "Peeta, I'm not ready for this. I'm so scared." I cry.
He stands up and hugs me tightly.
"It's gonna be okay. I'm not going anywhere." He assures me, kissing my forehead.
"It hurts bad. What if she's coming?"
"Then she's going to come and she's gonna be okay and so are you." Peeta assures me.
"I'm so scared, it's gonna be hard enough taking care of a full term baby. If she comes early, it's going to make things that much harder." I sob.
"Katniss, it's going to be worth it. We can do this. You can do this, I have no doubt in my mind. You're going to be a great mother and I'm not going anywhere." Peeta says sternly to me.
"We don't even have her carseat yet or all her stuff. We still need bottles and we will need preemie clothes and diapers if she comes early. I'm not ready for this."
"Katniss, listen to me." Peeta says, taking my hand.
"It's gonna be okay. If she comes early, I'll get it all taken care of." He tells me.
I don't have time to reply before Dr. Coles reenters the room with some needles, filled with liquid.
"We are going to get this into your systems and then see what happens. While we are waiting, I'm going to do another ultrasound. We are going to find her current size and weight. If you have a contraction during this, just squeeze Peeta's hand off." She tells me.
She pokes me and injects the stuff as another contraction comes and I squeeze his hand tightly as the pain somewhat subsides but the tightness on my belly worsens.
"This is going to hopefully halt the contractions and labor and we are going to see if we can get it completely stopped. I'm also going to give you this steroid to help her lungs develop quicker."
I hate needles but this is to help us both so I need to suck it up. I've gotten poked with way more since this started then I will be getting now.
"Just try to relax and I'm going to get this all figured out." She says, getting the ultrasound machine out and getting right into it.
We see her immediately, it's her entire body this time.
"Okay, your belly measured 25 cm around, which is good for your body weight and how far along you are. She's almost a pound and a half and roughly 14 inches long. She's perfectly normal for her age, actually a tad bigger."
Peeta rubs my arm and kisses my shoulder.
"If we can prolong your labor at least until you're 35 weeks, we will make that our goal, then she will be perfectly healthy for delivery. There should be no worries."
"Do you think I'll be able to make it that long? Do you think the medicine will help?" I ask.
"I'm putting you on strict bed rest and I'm going to transfer you to the big hospital here."
"We are going to make a birthing plan right quick before I have you transferred over." She says.
I nod my head.
"Okay, I'll fill this out for you. You just answer."
I sigh deeply and look at Peeta.
"Okay, first is parents names. Katniss and Peeta Mellark." She says, writing our names on a sheet.
"Your due date is February 19th?" She asks.
I nod my head, feeling another contraction coming on.
"Depending on the type of birth and the situation, you can have me deliver her here or at the hospital or have a different doctor deliver at the hospital."
"You. I don't care where." I say.
"Okay, I'll put my name at the hospital." She says, writing stuff in.
"Would you prefer a vaginal birth or C-Section?"
I look up at Peeta, "Whatever you want."
"I guess it's whatever you suggest at the time." I shrug.
"Okay. Who all will be allowed in your room during, after, and before delivery, saying you have her at your normal time?"
I sigh, "Peeta. I want him there the whole time." I say, gritting my teeth from pain.
She writes his name in, "Okay, any family members? Mom, sisters?"
I hold my breath, "No." I say.
"Sweetie, do you want any of the girls in there?"
"Bristol, I guess. And Annie but only before I have her. I really don't want anyone but those two, not Finnick either." I shrug.
"Bristol Brown and Annie Odair, just before." Peeta tells her.
"Only Peeta during birth?"
I nod my head.
"Fetal monitoring? Continually throughout the whole birth?"
I nod my head again.
"Pain relievers? Epidural?"
I look at Peeta, "Whatever she wants."
"If you opt out now and you're already too far into labor then you won't be able to get any kind of numbness." She says.
"I guess, I'll just fight through it." I say.
"When she's delivered would you like Peeta to cut the umbilical cord? Or even help deliver her?"
"Do you want to?" I ask him.
"Yeah, if you want me to."
I nod my head, "I want Peeta to do whatever he can do." I tell her and she nods, filling in a few more things with his name.
I experience another contraction but it doesn't seem as bad as they were, which is good.
"Breast feeding?"
I groan, "Yes." I decide.
I know Peeta and I have talked about it but I guess we are being forced to make a decision now.
"When she's born, do you want Peeta or you to be the first ones to hold her?"
"Yes." I say eagerly.
"Give me a list of people who are allowed to see the baby and you after you allow it?"
Peeta names off all of our friends, my mother too.
I don't say anything though.
"I don't want anyone but Peeta and I to see her or me until the morning after I have her." I decide, knowing I'll want some alone time with Peeta.
"Her first bath?"
"Peeta." I say.
"Do you want the baby in the room until you're recovery is over?"
"Yes, at all times."
"Peeta in the room at night?"
"Yes." I say.
"Okay, well I'm sending you guys to the hospital in town so that they can monitor you and the baby for a while. You should be released within a few days and the medication for the prolonging of labor should be kicking in within the next hour."
"It feels like they're not as bad." I tell her.
"You may or may not experience Braxton hicks contractions for the rest of your pregnancy but that's normal. After you're released, I'm going to have you come in once a week, until further notice. Just as if you were in your third trimester, which you're pretty close to."
I nod my head, "When you're released, you're on strict bedrest. I'll go into further detail and so will the hospital."
"Do we go?" Peeta asks.
"Yes. You can change back if you feel up to it, Katniss. If you stay in the car, I'll allow Peeta to get you some comfortable clothes from home so you won't have to wear a gown while being monitored."
"Can we?"
"Yeah." Peeta says.
"Okay, you'll be fine. She's gonna be fine too, she's a strong baby and she will be fine. If the contractions continue even after you get to the hospital, then you'll probably end up being induced or having an emergency C-Section."