SHAY
31 January
I bite the inside of my cheek whilst listening to the sound of the dial tone sound throughout the room. Harry stands at the side of my bed, with his phone in hand. I wanted to make the phone calls with him, even if I'm in a lot of pain about every five or so minutes.
The first phone call necessary for us to make was to Harry's family. I knew his mum wanted to be the first to know if anything was to happen, she's become quite ecstatic in the last few weeks to meet her granddaughter.
"Hello dear!" Anne's voice rings cheerfully and it brings a smile to my lips. "How are you, my love?"
"I'm well, thanks. Uh, Shay's here too." He barely gets out my name before he's interrupted by his mother.
"Shay, sweetheart, hello! How are you and my grand-baby doing?" I chuckle at her giddiness, growing excited to tell her the news.
"Well Anne, that's actually why we're calling. Harry and I are currently sitting in the hospital –" Anne gasps loudly and squeals. I look to Harry, who is smiling, but rolling his eyes at his mother. "Now we only just got here about an hour ago and I've still got a long way to go, so don't get all excited now."
"Nonsense, this is so bloody exciting!"
"Mum, can you and Robin drive down tonight? Shay and I want to be the only one's in the room, well besides the doctors and nurses, but we'd –"
"Say no more, Harry. Robin gets off work at four and we'll make the drive. You could have called at one in the morning and we'd still make the drive immediately."
"Alright mum, you still have the spare key, right?" Harry asks, drumming his fingers against my thigh.
"Of course. Oh goodness, this is unbelievable! My first grandchild is going to be born." Harry and I chuckle to ourselves whilst Anne sounds on the verge of tears.
"Mum, don't cry. Just call Robin and start packing."
"Okay, okay, but I can't promise I won't cry once I get there. I will see you both soon. I love you both. Keep me posted, Harry, on everything. Oh, and let me know if you need us to bring you anything. Shay, just remember to breathe and feel free to boss my son around in any way you'd like."
"Mum –"
"Sounds good, Anne." I interrupt, wiggling my eyebrows at Harry.
"Okay, love you both."
"Love you too." We say in unison, before Harry ends the call and grins over at me.
"One down, about a million to go." I swat him across the chest and chuckle to myself.
"Only Gem, Louis, and Moxy. Hand me my mobile. I'll ring Moxy, you call the other two."
Harry does as I request and digs deep into the depths of my handbag. It's like Mary Poppins' bag, I swear. When he hands me my phone I waste no time in searching for Moxy's number. I know that I've only a couple minutes left before I have my next contraction, so I have to be quick about this.
"Well hello, Shay Nichols." I pull the phone from my ear and double check that I've rung the correct person. The deep voice threw me off the second they spoke.
"Hi Niall. Where's Moxy?" He clears his throat and groans a bit.
"She's a little preoccupied at the moment. "He stutters out. I roll my eyes and pray that they're not doing what I think they're doing.
"Oh yeah, preoccupied doing what?" Niall sighs heavily on the other line before gulping loudly.
"I-I'm not sure you really w-want to know."
On a normal day, I'd drop the subject, hang up, and probably ring her back in an hour. But as you can tell, this isn't a normal day.
"Try me, Niall, I dare you."
"Agh, fuck, fine! You really wanna know? Moxy currently cannot come to the phone and speak with you because her mouth is currently around my d-"
"Would she be free if I told you I was in labour?"
There's a moment of silence between Niall and I as I try to erase my mind of the image of my best friend giving her fiancé a blowjob as he lets my words sink in.
"Wait, you're... babe get off me... are you serious?"
"Of course I'm bloody serious. I'm in the hospital as we speak!"
"Mox, Shay's in labour!" I hear a faint "what" being screeched and next thing I know Niall is groaning and she's got her own phone back.
"Well, look who got her mouth back."
"Babe, you're in labour!" She exclaims, ignoring my previous comment. "That's bloody amazing."
"Yes, I know. I just wanted to let you know, so you're aware and I don't get chewed out for not giving you a heads up."
I know Moxy and if I had waited to tell her until after the baby is born, she'll chew me out for the rest of our lives. She'd never let me live it down. Ever since finding out all she's wanted is to spoil the baby and be there for everything. For some reason she's already been planning her first birthday... her first birthday! She's not even here yet!
"We can be there by tonight if you want. Niall's already looking up flights back to London as we speak." I chuckle lightly to myself, glancing across the room at Harry.
He's lightly pacing across the expanse of the room with his phone pressed to his ear. He's laughing at something Gemma says and nodding his head, smiling happily.
"No, don't do that. I mean neither of you really need to come; I just wanted to let you know."
"Nonsense, Niall and I will be there. My first niece, our first niece, is being born! We have to meet the beauty straight outta the womb. We'll be there tomorrow then, it'll give you enough time to push that little one out and then get some rest." Molly hisses something to Niall before turning her attention back to me. "Do you need us to bring anything? Baby clothes? Nappies? A bottle of champagne maybe?" I laugh, rolling my eyes at my borderline alcoholic friend.
"Still won't be able to drink, breastfeeding. And more nappies would be nice, can never have too many of those."
"Niall, we've got to go pick up some nappies on the way to the airport. Ugh, bummer, more drinks for the rest of us then."
"How about I help you out with some calls? I'll ring the girls and me mum." Moxy won't be able to stop offering help until I allow her to actually do something.
"Go ahead, babe."
My words stop short as another contraction rips through my person. I let out a low groan, squeezing my hand around my phone until my knuckles are practically white as a ghost.
"Whoa girl, you good?" I try to answer her back, but all that escapes is a high-pitched whine.
Harry notices my discomfort and stalks over to my bedside from across the room. I whine to myself a bit more before nearly throwing my phone at him and ordering for him to keep her on the line. He takes my phone and immediately replaces my empty hand with his.
"Okay, baby, just breathe. You're doing great." He calmly coaches, bringing my phone to his own ear.
"Hey Moxy, give Shay a moment. She's having another contraction."
I try to focus on only one thing in the room, that being the ticking time on the clock across from my bed. I was told focusing on something would distract from the pain and keep me calm, but I don't think it actually works.
The pain only seems to get worse, but thankfully the contraction doesn't last too long.
"Shit." I hiss out, lounging back against the pillows behind my head and exhaling the breath I had apparently been holding.
"Are you alright?" Harry questions once I release my grip on his hand.
"Yeah, give it here." Harry hands my phone over with a quick nod. "Sorry, Mox."
"Hold on Shay, I'm just letting Niall know we're never having children."
"Come on now," I chuckle, still trying to catch my breath, "you can't let me have all the fun."
Moxy gasps lightly with a laugh of her own, whilst she inevitably orders Niall around on the other line.
"Fun? Oh hell no, that sounds like fucking torture."
If there's anything Moxy excels at, other than being an incredible lingerie designer, is be over-dramatic. I once accidently spilled my alcoholic beverage on her new two thousand pound Chanel dress that her father bought after the two had an argument. She didn't speak to me for a week, stating she was just too distraught to deal.
"Yes, well that's the price of becoming a mother."
"Hefty price." She breathes out. "Shay, do you want me mum to hop on over to the hospital? I know Harold's parents are hours away and yours are dead to us. She could be over in like thirty minutes tops."
Yvonne has always been like a mum to me. She was there when my parents weren't. She would let me sleep off the occasional hangover at her and her husband's home, but not without the light scolding the morning after. Yvonne even invited me along on some family holidays up North. Then after the whole engagement party fiasco with, gag, Tom, she let me crash at their place until I was on my feet.
Yvonne's more of a mother to me than mine has ever been.
"I'd love that, but we're alright. We kind of just want it to be the two of us." I say, gazing over at my loving boyfriend at my side.
He's finally calmed down a bit and has taken a seat. Yet, I can still see his knee bobbing up and down rapidly.
"Oh, is Harold delivering the babe?"
"God no, and he hates being called that, you know that." Harry rolls his eyes and stands from his seat, only to hop up on the end of the bed.
"Please tell me she isn't still calling me Harold." I reach over, patting his shoulder softly.
"Wish I could, gorgeous."
"Oh, and tell him he doesn't shake the nickname until he's buying out all my lingerie for you. He could potentially triple my sales."
"Whatever you say, Mox. I've got to go, having a baby and all."
"Right, right, nearly forgot that that was the reason you interrupted my fun time with Niall." I scrunch up my nose, the imagine of the two of them getting it on freaking me out a bit. "I love you and good luck! Niall and I will be there tomorrow. I can't wait to meet my niece."
And with that, Moxy's off the phone and probably bouncing around her flat, packing everything in sight.