Not up to Me, Not up to You

“Seriously, how are you coping with this?” Brian managed to say through a series of hiccups.

“Small sips of water.” Kelly replied holding up the glass she had just taken a drink from.

“But, you’re a wimp when it comes to spicy food. Why are you eating a Jalfrezi all of a sudden?” Brian asked taking the glass from her.

“Leanne told me that spicy food can help get labour started.” Kelly explained briefly taking another mouthful of her curry.

“But babe, you labour has already started.” Brian stated as Kelly shrugged.

“This will hopefully get things moving quick ooh, see, here’s another one.” She said dropping her fork and reaching for Brian’s hand.

“Shit. Fuck.” Kelly muttered as she breathed through the pain, gripping Brian’s hand tightly.

“Ok, that one lasted a bit longer.” She sighed letting go of Brian’s hand. He immediately began to rub it with his other hand.

“We better start timing them.” Kelly said and Brian nodded. Kelly relaxed back into the sofa and rubbed her hands over her stomach with her eyes shut.

“You ok?” Brian asked quietly and Kelly nodded silently.

“Tired.” She mumbled.

“Why don’t you go up to bed? I’ll clear all this lot away and I’ll join you.” Brian said quietly.

“I might just do that. You’ll have to help me up though.” She replied holding her arms out for him.

Brian helped Kelly up and began to clear away the dishes from the coffee table.

“Hey, I’ll do it, you get yourself upstairs.” Brian ordered as Kelly began to pick up some plates too.

“I’ll just help you take these few things out and then I’ll go.” Kelly replied walking passed him into the kitchen.

“Ok, you go up and try and get comfortable, I’ll be up in five.” Brian said putting the dishes he was carrying onto the counter. Kelly took a step closer to him and smiled.

“I love you Brian Haner.” She said quietly leaning up to kiss him as he gave a small laugh.

“I love you too Kelly Stone.” He replied kissing her lips again.

“Now go.” He mock ordered pointing towards the stairs.

Kelly climbed the stairs slowly and decided to have a shower before heading to bed. If she was going to go into labour and have to go to the hospital then she wanted to make sure she was clean and refreshed doing so.

Once in bed Kelly struggled to find a comfortable position. The closest she got was on her side with her back to Brian and a pillow between her bump and the bed. Brian moved in behind her and placed an arm around what used to be her slender waist. His large hand gently moved over her large, swollen stomach as she felt his warm breath on the back of her neck. She had her hand on top of his with their fingers entwined.

“I can’t believe these past nine months have gone so quickly.” Brian mused as his other hand played with the small wisps of hair that Kelly had missed when she tied her hair back.

“I know, the time since the wedding has past by in a complete whirlwind.” She replied, relaxing at his touch.

“Any regrets?” Brian asked quietly.

“Not one.” Kelly replied giving his hand a small squeeze as she felt him gently kiss the top of her shoulder.

Kelly took in a sharp intake of breath as she felt another contraction begin. Her grip on Brian’s hand tightened as he sat up behind her, his other hand rubbing her back.

“How long since the last one?” Brian asked once the contraction had finished. Kelly lifted her head to look at the time on the clock next to the bed.

“About forty-five minutes.” She replied quietly, trying to get comfortable again.

“I know this is going to be easier said than done, but you’ve gotta try and get some rest. You’re going to need all your energy once the labour really gets going.” Brian said as Kelly turned slowly to face him.

“I know, I’m going to try and get some sleep. Night babe.” She replied leaning across and kissing his lips.

“Night babe.” He replied quietly as she closed her eyes and reached out to grab his arm, ushering him closer to her.

Despite it being still early, it wasn’t long before Kelly heard Brian snore softly next to her. It was easy for him, he wasn’t the size of a baby elephant, he didn’t have a baby resting awkwardly against his bladder, moving and kicking inside him.

Kelly groaned and turned slowly away from him. She felt him moved behind her, but he was only making himself comfortable. Kelly went back into her original position, with the spare pillow between her bump and the bed, and slowly felt her eyelids becoming heavy as she finally began to drift off to sleep.

At first she wasn’t entirely sure whether she was awake or dreaming when she felt the pain in her stomach return, but her eyes soon snapped open when she felt the lower half of her body getting wet.

“Shit!” she breathed almost silently as she realised that it was her water’s breaking. She contemplated waking Brian to tell him, but looking at the clock she realised that it had only been thirty five minutes since the last contraction and Brian seemed to be in a deep sleep anyway.

Slowly she got out of bed and took clean underwear and pyjamas from the draw before making her way slowly and quietly to the bathroom to have another shower and change into dry clothes. She decided to head downstairs so that she didn’t disturb Brian and in the hope that she may be able to get comfortable on the sofa or in one of the chairs. As she reached the bottom of the stairs she quickly grabbed hold of the banister as another contraction hit her. She looked up at the clock in the living room as she tried to count. There had been less that 30 minutes since the last one and this one lasted a little bit longer as well.

She got herself a glass of water and settled in one of the armchairs and began to flick slowly through the channels, not really paying attention to what she was turning over.

Every time she closed her eyes and felt herself fall asleep she was disturbed as she felt another contraction. They quickly started to become more frequent and lasted longer each time. Kelly walked around the living room and kitchen trying to get comfortable. Her last contractions had only been six minutes apart.

After the next contraction had subsided she decided that it was time to call Leanne. She advised her to ring the hospital and make her way there as soon as possible. Leanne told her that she could probably expect to give birth some time in the next 12 hours. She promised Kelly that she would be at the hospital waiting for her and would hopefully see it through with her.

Kelly sighed deeply as she began to climb the stairs. Quietly she put her sneakers on and pulled a hoodie over her head before walking over to the bed where Brian was still snoring softly.

“Babe? Babe?” she said quietly as she shook him gently and he began to stir.

“Brian, it’s time to, oohh” she trailed off as another contraction started. Brian immediately sat up and she grabbed his hand.

“Another contraction?” Brian asked, his voice groggy from sleep. Kelly nodded as she tried to breath through the pain.

“How far apart are they now?” he asked gently rubbing her back.

“Five minutes.” She said breathing deeply.

“Five minutes?” Brian yelled, his eyes widening as Kelly nodded.

“Yeah, that’s why I woke you, I’ve spoken to Leanne and she told me to get to the hospital.” She said slowly as the pain subsided yet again.

“Shit, ok, um, let me just get dressed.” He said in a fluster jumping out of the bed and gathering clothes to put on.

“Hello?” Matt answered his phone sleepily.

“Hey it’s me.” Kelly replied quietly as Brian drove them to the hospital.

“Kelly? What time is it?” he asked.

“Twenty past two, um, Matt, I’m on the way to the hospital.” Kelly said.

“What? Is everything ok?” Matt yelled.

“Yes, I fine, but I’m in labour, the contractions are five minutes apart and my waters have broken.” She explained.

“Your waters have broken?” Brian yelled next to her. Kelly looked up at him with an apologetic look and nodded.

“Oh my God, I’m on my way.” Matt yelled and hung up the phone.

“Your waters have broken?” Brian repeated glancing between her and the almost empty road.

“Um, yeah, about two and a half hours ago.” Kelly said biting her lower lip as she told him. Brian went to reply but Kelly cut him off.

“Babe, you were fast asleep and the contractions weren’t that close together, I didn’t want to wake you and have you worrying about me.” she explained.

“I better ring my mom and Jimmy.” She added returning to her phone and scrolling down her contact list to ring her mom before he could argue with her.

When they reached the hospital Leanne was there waiting for them with a wheelchair as promised. She took them up to a room in the maternity ward and helped get Kelly comfortable. She helped her get changed and showed her how to use the gas and air machine when she needed it. Kelly tried hard to get comfortable on the bed but it just wasn’t working and so she took to pacing the room. Every time she felt another contraction hit she braced herself against Brian’s shoulders. She was screaming quietly now with every contraction as well and was unbelievably grateful for the use of a pain relief.

The doctor had been in and examined her and the baby. She was five centimetres dilated and the baby was also doing well. Both the doctor and Leanne had both mused that the baby would be born within the next twelve hours.

It wasn’t long before the room was filled with her friends. Before leaving for the hospital, Jimmy had phoned both Zack and Johnny and now all three of them were sat in the room with her with their girlfriends. Matt and Aly had also turned up less than ten minutes after Kelly and Brian arrived in the hospital themselves; and of course both grandmothers to be were sat in the room as well.

Each contraction was becoming more intense and lasting longer. To Kelly it felt like each one was lasting three hours.

She paced back and for in her room, stopping every three minutes to grab the person closet to her to help her through the contraction. Four hours had past since she had first arrived and the contractions had steadied to every three minutes and were each lasting a little over a minute. Everyone was taking it in turn to stay with her while the others went to stretch their legs and get some coffee or whatever else they did when they were not in the room. The only two who stayed the entire time were Brian and Matt.

The doctor had been in on a regular basis to measure he progress and had told her that she was still only seven centimetres. He’d told her that she was moving slowly and that he would give her until 9am to get to ten centimetres or he would have to give her a caesarean or the baby could go into distress.