So Kiss Me Goodbye

It was a gorgeous day by Chicago standards.

The wind was only blowing my hair halfway across my face as I sat outside, enjoying the birds chirping.

Okay so it was the balcony of the apartment and the birds were down the street and around the corner but still, it made me happy.

Today felt different; exciting almost.

You could almost feel that there was something magical in the air, the moment itself was magic.

While I sat out on the balcony my mom, who was staying with us till the baby came, had gone out to the corner store to take up Will's craving runs while he was gone.

Well not really gone; he had managed to delay his work on the record for another month but had gotten sucked into a show for Fall Out Boy.

So I was stuck at home, alone for the moment, staring at the setting sun.

I was attempting to put plans together in my head for tomorrow since I was practically going stir crazy in the apartment.

It had been about a week since the wedding and with me pregnant and all my family in town, any plans for a honeymoon were kind of impossible.

They at least gave us the night to ourselves that, although was sex free, was still wonderful.

Candlelight dinner over a Chicago deep dish with enough leftovers of wedding cake to not only serve as dessert but fill our freezer and my cravings.

We stayed up all night curled up in each others arms in bed watching old Jackass episodes, a wedding present courtesy of Gabe.

Since that night though Will had been going back and forth between band meetings on web cams, negotiations with the label, and whatever else he could do from Chicago.

I spent my time writing out thank you notes and finding places for all the presents that kept coming in.

The thing that shocked me the most was although they were mixed between wedding and baby presents from our friends and family, there were also some from fans.

In fact, the day after we got married and Pete had posted a lengthy blog of FoE, Will did the same and kept to his promise, calling out all the fans that had been bashing me and set things right.

Things were going good.... but it was just so slow...

At least until my water broke.

I was in shock at first, trying to figure out if maybe my drink had spontaneously spilled without me noticing.

Then of course the contractions started... and I began to panic.

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!" I began screaming frantically, pushing myself up off the chair and waddling inside like a penguin on fire.

I did the first thing I could think of, grabbing my cell phone off the table and dialing Will's number.

It rang... and rang... and rang.... and rang for an eternity till I realized it was a little after seven thirty and he was probably warming up.

I nearly dropped the phone as a wave of pain went over me and made me lose focus.

As it passed I began remembering the few things I had learned from the two Lamaze classes I had been to and the number of doctors appointments, counting the time in between contractions.

With the second one out of the way I frantically began dialing numbers just as my mom walked in through the door.

"Well they didn't have any Hostess donuts but I bought you..." She trailed off, running up to me as I sat curled over on the couch.

"My... my water broke and Will's not answering!" I breathed, turning into a yell as another contraction came.

My mom's panic subsided as she took control of the situation.

"Alright uh, I'm going to get your bags and I want you to stay here. Don't move." She instructed me, running into my room and grabbing my bags we had packed after the second time we'd rushed to the hospital.

We both barely made it to the door as another contraction hit. "I can't have the baby now! It's a month early!"

My mom made those soft shushes sounds mothers make when their kid has a scraped knee and spilling all those comforting phrases as we made it out to the rental car.

As we raced to the hospital I began calling everyone, though my first goal was Will.