You've Made Me Stronger

"Here they talked of revolution. It was here they lit the flame. Here they sang about tomorrow but tomorrow never came..."
I wiped a tear from my eye as I sat next to Joe and proudly watched Nick, who stood on the stage almost directly in front of me, sing my favorite song of Les Miserables, Empty Chairs At Empty Tables, on the production's first performance of their 25th Anniversary Tour. The mix of being so proud of Nick for earning one of the lead roles of such a famous musical, the lyrics, the music and the depth of feeling with which Nick sang the song was making me very emotional. Not to mention the hormones that were running rampant through me.
As soon as Nick stopped singing, applause broke out, everyone standing to give him a standing ovation as the lights dimmed until he was only a shadow on the stage. Joe and I smiled with shared pride for Nick before getting up to join the ovation. I had trouble standing at first, holding my big, eight month and 3 week old baby bump, but I finally got up, with Joe's help, and began to applaud and cheer with everyone else.
"His voice really has developed great for this sort of singing," Joe yelled to me, and I nodded my head in agreement. It wasn't that Nick wasn't a great singer already, but this took a whole different kind of singing, and he was practicing and performing with classically trained singers, and holding his own.
The applause continued for about a minute, and I enjoyed listening to everyone's appreciation for Nick's talents. I continued to clap with everyone else until suddenly my abdominal muscles tightened painfully. Very painfully. I grabbed my stomach with my left hand and Joe's shoulder with my right to steady myself as I waited until, what I realized was just one big contraction, passed. Joe placed his hand on my lower back and looked at me with worry.
"Are you okay?" He asked. I held my index finger up in a gesture for him to wait a minute until it finally passed then took in a deep breath and nodded my head before sitting down with the rest of the audience. The show continued then, and after the wedding scene, we stood up to applause again, but as soon as I did, another contraction came, and I grabbed my stomach and sat right back down.
"Another one?" Joe asked me. I winced and nodded my head.
"A big one," I whimpered, and though it was big and extremely painful, it was a lot shorter than the ones I had been getting since that morning. But, just because I was having contractions didn't mean I was in labor. It just meant I was getting closer, and when I called Dr. Lucas that morning when I started getting them, he said that, beside the obvious sign of my water breaking, another sign was that the shorter and closer together they got, the closer I was to going into full blown labor. I sat and waited while also timing how long it took for the next contraction. I kept my breathing even as I counted the minutes, and after about ten minutes, while Nick was on stage, doing Marius and Cossette's final duet, my abdomen tightened, feeling like steel beneath my hands and a rush of wetness splashed into my panties and spread through my inner thighs and down onto the seat underneath me. I gasped at the realization and grabbed Joe's arm and squeezed tightly. He looked over to me with a worried expression, but I kept my eyes up on Nick, who was still singing and acting on the stage in front of us.
"My water just broke," I whispered as I continued to stare up at Nick. There was still an hour or so left in the show, I couldn't have these babies now!
"What? Now?" Joe looked around the room, panicked, as if someone would tell him what to do. Finally, he turned back to me and stood up before extending both his hands to me.
"Come on," he urged. I looked back and forth between Joe and where Nick was standing on stage.
"But... Nick," I said with worry. Joe was in full blown baby mode, but was feeling panicked since it wasn't what we went over to do for when the baby came.
"We need to get you to the hospital... Please?" He asked, silently begging me to take his hands. I whimpered as another contraction came before realizing he was right and taking his hands. Joe helped me up and everyone stood as we made our way past. Nick must have seen us leaving, for soon we were hearing gasps and Nick was running off the stage to meet us at the end of the aisle.
"What is it? What's wrong?" He asked me in a panicked voice.
"The baby is... Ugh, it's definitely coming," I answered as another contraction came and I grabbed onto Nick's shoulders for support. Nick took in a sharp breath of air and placed his hands on my waist as he watched me fight through another contraction. They were coming fast and hard, only minutes between each one, and each one lasting only thirty seconds or so.
"You're sure?" Nick asked. I glared up at him, giving him a look that said 'of course I'm sure'.
A wave of emotions crossed Nick's face, panic, worry and then bliss. Everyone was looking at us and whispering amongst themselves until finally the director came running to us.
"What is going on, Nick?" He asked. Nick looked up to him and smiled.
"The baby is coming... I'm going to be a Dad," he looked to the audience. "I'm about to be a dad!" He hollered in way of explanation. The crowd began to cheer. The director sighed but smiled all the same.
"Thank god for under studies... Get out of here," he said playfully as he shooed as down the aisle. Nick and I thanked him before him and Joe helped me down the aisle.
"And congratulations!" The director yelled after us.
Everyone stood as we passed and yelled out congratulations and such, but I was in so much pain that I hardly heard them. I just focused on not falling onto my knees.