Half a Heart

-Maria:
Today's October 31st, and I'm still pregnant, which means I'm either late or in the beginning stages of labour. I however don't feel any discomfort at all, Leo's been going crazy though, he's been on his feet all day, pacing around, watching my every move just in case my water broke or something. It's a little bit creepy, but I love my goof of a man, so I let him do whatever he wants. However, it's not only Leo's who's on an edge, the entire family and our friends seem to be walking on egg shells as well. It's actually also a bit funny to see everyone fussing around, and jumping up every time I moved.

"How are you feeling mi amor, any discomfort or pain?" Leo asked me, breaking me out of my thoughts. I rolled my eyes as he sat down next to me and wrapped his arms around me.

"I'm fine hombre, stop treating me like a doll, I won't break I promise." I teased and he chuckled before rolling his eyes. We spent the rest of the day just like that, with them worrying about me and me just feeling relaxed. Night came and there was still no sign of me going into labour, and by now everyone were feeling a bit more relaxed, since they finally got that I'm going to be late. As I laid down on bed, I smiled at the thought of seeing my baby boy soon, before closing my eyes and falling asleep.

I woke up by sharp pains, almost like cramps, coming from my abdomen. I frowned and sat up, and the pain intensified as I sat up. I took a look at the clock and saw that it was about three am. I groaned and got out of the bed, and as I got up the pain got worse. I started breathing heavily and pacing around in the bedroom, and after a while the pain suddenly stopped. I shook my head and laid back in bed, this was probably nothing important. Just as I was about to fall asleep, the pain came back in much more intense waves than before and I decided to wake up Leo, I had a feeling that it was time.

"Leo?" I said in between breathing heavily and shaking him gently. He opened his eyes slowly and yawned before looking at me, when he saw that I was in pain he immediately got up.

"What is is querida?" he asked and rubbed my back. I gasped at the pain and his eyes widened.

"I think it's time." I wheezed out in between taking deep breaths and he gasped before literally rushing out of bed and grabbing the bag we had prepared for the hospital. After that he helped me out of bed and I quickly grabbed some sweatpants before Leo dragged me out of our bedroom. As we got to the stairs, I doubled over in pain and bit my lip to hold in the scream that was escaping me, to make sure that no one would wake up. When Leo saw that I couldn't make it down the stairs, he swiftly carried me down and into the car before running inside and grabbing the bag. As soon as he got back to the car he leaned over and kissed me quickly before starting the car and driving to the hospital fast. I just closed my eyes and tried to breath through the pain.

When we got to the hospital, Leo quickly ushered me to the reception, and when the receptionist saw how much pain I was in, she immediately called on Dr Ramirez and got me a wheelchair. We were brought to the maternity ward and into a private room. Leo helped me change into the typical hospital gown and then helped me into bed. My contractions were about twenty minutes apart by now. Dr Ramirez entered the room and Leo held my hand tightly.

"I'd advise you not to hold her hand already señor Messi." Dr Ramirez joked and I glared at her slightly.

"Alright Miss Tabrizian, lets see how dilated you are, how far apart are your contractions?" she said and Leo looked at her cluelessly. I rolled my eyes.

"About twenty minutes apart." I wheezed out and groaned at the pain.

"Hmm, you're only about two centimeters dilated I'm afraid, and you need to be about ten." she said and I groaned again.

"So it's just gonna get worse from now on?" I asked her and she looked at me sympathetically before nodding.

"Usually we tell women who're only two centimeters dilated, to go home and come back when their contractions are minutes apart, but in your case I know you don't need the media seeing you on your way to the hospital twice." she said and Leo smiled at her appreciatively.

"I need you to think about the epidural now, because once your ten centimeters dilated, you're pretty much ready to give birth, so there'll be no time for an epidural, you need to have it now or skip it entirely." she said and I frowned.

"Can I think about it and let you know soon?" I asked her and she smiled before nodding, she left the room after that and I gasped at the pain.

"Amor, you're in so much pain, why not take the epidural?" Leo said, stroking my forehead softly. I smiled at him weakly.

"This is our first child Leo, I need to experience all of this, even though it's extremely painful." I said and he sighed before kissing me gently. I was in pain for what felt like an eternity, but it had only been about four hours. Dr Ramirez came in to check on me about half an hour ago, and I was only four centimeters dilated, which meant that there still was an eternity left. It was now very early in the morning, and Leo had fallen asleep in the chair next to me, his hand gripping mine tightly. I had insisted on him getting some sleep, it would be a long delivery, and he needed to rest.

About an hour afterwards, the pains were getting stronger than ever, but I closed my eyes and breathed through the pain, I didn't want to wake Leo, so I tried to keep quiet. Leo slept for another hour before he woke up and immediately handed me some water when he saw how much pain I was in.

"How much more do we have to wait, querida?" he asked and I knew he felt horrible seeing me in pain.

"A lot more Leo, it's been about six or seven hours and I'm still only about five centimeters dilated, I need about five more." I said he sighed. We spent the rest of the day, with me in immense pain and Leo counting down the hours. It was now about 10pm and I was exhausted already. I got out of the bed gently and winced as I made my way to the bathroom. Halfway to the bathroom, I felt something wet make it's way down my legs. I sighed loudly.

"There's really no dignity left for me, I think I just wet myself." I said and Leo immediately made his way towards me and lift me up and put me in bed before calling Dr Ramirez. I raised an eyebrow at him, but screamed out when the strongest, most intense contraction I've had yet, hit me hard. Dr Ramirez came into the room and hurried over to us.

"I think her water broke." Leo said and winced as I was squeezing his hand hard, the pains I'd been going through all day felt like nothing compared to this.

"Yes, it's time for you to give birth now Maria." Dr Ramirez said and smiled at me. I just screamed again and squeezed Leo's hand harder.

"YOU DID THIS TO ME LIONEL, I'M NEVER EVER LETTING YOU TOUCH ME AGAIN!" I screamed out as Dr Ramirez gently put my legs onto the stirrups and called over some nurses. Leo's eyes widened and he looked over at Dr Ramirez, who was chuckling.

"Don't worry señor Messi, every woman goes mad over her husband when she's giving birth." she said and Leo sighed in relief. I just gripped his hand tighter and he pulled his attention back to me.

"Breath mi amor, you're doing so great, it'll be all over soon, think about our son." he said and I just screamed in between trying to take deep breaths. I cursed Leo in every way possible, even told him I hated him once. But he never stopped smiling at me and wiping away the sweat that had gathered on my forehead.

"Te amo mi amor, you're so brave and you're doing amazing." he whispered in my ear as Dr Ramirez finally came back with two nurses.

"Alright Maria, It's time to push, I want you to count to ten in between every push and only push when we tell you." she said and I nodded weakly and counted to ten in my head.

"Ok now PUSH Maria!" she said and I pushed hard, pausing in between, just as she had told me. This went on for what felt like forever before Dr Ramirez smiled at me.

"I see his head Maria, I just need you to give me a few more pushes and he'll be out." she said and I nodded again.

"Push mi amor!" Leo said and I pushed. I did this a couple of more times before I felt him get out of me and we soon heard our baby cry for the first time. I cried when I heard my son and Leo's eyes welled up as well.

"Congratulations it's a boy, born November 2nd 2012 just a minute after midnight." Dr Ramirez said and I smiled in between crying.

"Do you want to cut the umbilical cord?" she asked Leo and he nodded quickly, tears running dow his face. I watched Leo cut the umbilical cord and I smiled at them both. They were my life now, all that mattered. The nurses grabbed Thiago from Leo to clean him up and Leo kissed me passionately.

"Gracias por todo mi amor, te amo con toda mi alma!" he said and I smiled at him tiredly.

"I love you to Leo." I said softly and he smiled. The nurses cleared their throats and smiled at us.

"What do you name him?" they asked and we smiled, I looked at Leo and nodded at him.

"Thiago Andrés Messi Tabrizian." he said proudly and I smiled. They nodded and put Thiago in my arms, I smiled and kissed his tiny forehead, tears running down my face, he was so beautiful.

"Bienvenido al mundo mi hijo, mamá y papá te quieren más que a nada en este mundo" I said quietly, smiling at my son. I looked up at Leo and he smiled at me widely.