You and Niall walked into the Emergency entrance of the Hospital because it was the only part of the hospital that was open since it was the middle of the night. You stopped at the ER desk and told them you were here to deliver the twins. They called the OB Department right away to let them know that you were here.
One of the ER nurses walked you down to the OB Department, who had a birthing room ready for you. Niall set the bags down on the couch in the room and then rushed to your side. The two nurses helped you change out of your sweats into the hospital gown that was policy for the expecting mothers to wear during labor and delivery.
Just as the nurses finished helping you into the gown, Dr. Y/doctor/n walked into the room.
"Hi Y/n, how are you feeling?" She asked as she grabbed a pair of gloves from the box on the wall and slid them on.
"Nervous but excited." You said as you gave her a small smile.
"Ready for these babies to come?" She asked.
"Ready as we'll ever be." You said as you looked over at Niall.
"I want you to try to relax and take deep breaths. I'm going to see if you are dilated and if you are, how far along you are." She said.
"Okay," you said as you nodded and tried to relax your body.
She instructed you to put your feet flat on the bed and bend your knees slightly and spread them as much as you could so that she could get a finger in to measure how far along you are.
You felt a little bit of pressure as your doctor inserted a finger in to try and feel your cervix.
"Anything?" You asked.
"You're just barely 2cm dilated." She said.
You felt a little dissappointed that all of the pain of the contractions you had experienced so far had been for nothing. After some of the contractions you had you expected to be further along.
After that the doctor left the room and the nurse started doing the standard protocol for labor and delivery. She asked you to go into the bathroom and pee in a cup so that she could do a dipstick test to check for Sugar, Protein, Ketones, Blood cells, and bacteria that may or may not be present.
She also checked your vital signs: pulse, blood pressure, temperature, and breathing rate. Though, she didn't tell you that she was checking your breathing rate because you probably would have started breathing harder if you knew she was watching it. She also asked when your contractions started and how far apart they are, along with whether or not your water had broken and if there had been any vaginal bleeding.
After taking your vitals, someone from the hospital lab came in to do collect a small blood sample from you so they could determine your type (in case of a need for a transfusion in an emergency situation) and also to check for anemia, signs of infection, and other things that may cause a problem to you or the babies' health or your delivery.
She asked a few more additional questions like if the babies had been moving a lot and if you had eaten or drank anything. She also asked you about your pain including where your pain was at on a scale of 1-10 and how you were coping with the pain.
After all of that was out of the way the nurse hooked you up to not one, but two fetal monitors so they could keep an eye on both of the babies' heart rates.
"You won't be on the monitor all the time but we will probably do monitors every half hour or hour just to make sure that the babies are comfortable and that their heart rates aren't rising or falling." The nurse explained.
Your doctor came in about ten minutes later and looked at the notes the nurse had made in your profile. She asked how your pain was and if you wanted any medication, but you told her that you didn't want any pain meds yet.
"Is the birth plan still the same or have their been any changes?" She asked.
"Nope everything is still the same. We're still hoping for a natural birth." You said.
Your contractions were still about 14-15 minutes apart and they would last 30-45 seconds each.
"Okay your vitals are a little low, and I think you're starting to get a tad dehydrated so I'm going to go ahead and have one of the nurses start an IV just for fluids so that we can keep you hydrated." She said.
"Okay, how long do you think it will take for me to be ready to push?" You asked.
"It just depends, Y/n. You are still in what we call "early labor" which means your contractions are still progressing. They are going to continue to become longer, stronger, and closer together. Eventually they'll be coming every five minutes and they will last 40 to 60 seconds as you get closer to the next stage of labor." She said.
An hour after you arrived you were still only at 2cm dilated. Two hours after that when the doctor checked you, you were at 4cm. An hour later you were still at 4cm. Then an hour later you moved to 5cm. The more you dilated the stronger the contractions got, which you knew would happen.
Before they had been a 5 or 6 on the pain scale. Now you were at a strong 8 or 9 and breathing through the pain wasn't enough to help anymore. You had learned that getting up, rather than laying in the bed, seemed to help a little. So with one of Niall's arm securely around you and his his other arm pulling the IV pole behind you, you would walk around the room. You would stop and lean against his chest when a contraction hit as he rubbed your back and whispered encouraging words in your ear, then once the contraction ended the two of you would continue walking.
The nurses had asked if you wanted an epidural but you were being your stubborn self and told them you didn't want one. The main reason was because once you got the epidural you would be numb and you wouldn't be able to get up and move around, which is what was helping the most with your contractions.
You were glad that you were progressing, but you were wishing it would go faster. You were uncomfortable being hooked up to the machines and monitors and having nurses coming in and out of your room constantly.
The only thing that kept you fighting through it all was Niall who had been by your side for the six hours you had been at the hospital so far. He had held you in the moments where you felt weak. He had given you words of encouragement as you went through each contraction and he had taken the liberty to keep your mum (who was freaking out) updated anytime you found out something new. You couldn't have asked for a better partner to be by your side during labor than Niall.
The doctor came into the room and she took a look at the beginning pages of the baby monitor to make sure both of the babies' hear rates were doing okay.
"Everything look okay?" Niall asked.
"Yeah. Both of their heart rates look good. Now we just wait for you to dilate a little bit more. Try to get some rest. This is the best time during labor to try to and get some rest. Once you're at 7 or 8 cm it's hard to rest comfortably." She said.
The doctor and nurses left the room and you got settled in for the long night ahead of you. Niall took a seat in the chair next to your bed and reached over and held your hand. He gently ran his thumb over the back of your hand.
"Can you turn the lights down, babe?" You asked.
"Of course." He said. He stood up and walked over to the light switch and dimmed the lights so that the only lights remaining were from the monitors and machines.
Niall walked back over to the chair to take a seat but you reached your hand out and stopped him.
"Will you lay with me?" You asked as you motioned towards the bed.
"Yeah." He said. You scooted over slightly on the bed so that there would be enough room for Niall to squeeze in next to you.
The two of you got comfortable and Niall reached over and put an arm over your bump that was going to be gone in a few hours (hopefully). He then laid his head on your chest as the two of you settled in for what would probably be a long night/day.
You laid your head back on the pillow and closed your eyes as your husband began to softly sing to get you to sleep.
**Author's Note**
Hey guys! Here is Part 1 of the labor. I'm still working on Part 2 and possibly part 3, I'm not sure how many parts there will be for sure yet! I hope you guys enjoy it!! xxx