Believe It Or Not (An Eddie Munson Story)

March of Dimes

"Fuck! This hurts," I gasp, the pain shooting from my abdomen and scattering throughout my body. It's like nothing I've ever felt before. Paired with my anxiety and fear, the sensation is almost crippling. A kind looking nurse rushes me quickly through the hospital on a wheelchair as Eddie hurries behind her. I'm sure we look like quite the odd pair, the prince and the princess off to labor and delivery. But I'm too worried about bean to care.

Eddie is as pale as a ghost. He does what he is told without dawdle and he he does not need to be asked twice. Otherwise, he is silent and his eyebrows are creased together in concern.

We get to a room and nurses are everywhere. They help me up and start to remove my dress, dragging a hospital gown from the cupboard to replace it. I drop my soiled panties to the ground and they stash them with the rest of my belongings. They encourage me to lay back as another contraction racks over my body, making my skin prickle with heat and my loins scream in agony. Eddie rushes to my side and grabs my hand, letting me squeeze as hard as I would like. My eyes mirror the horror in his. Neither one of us can believe this is really happening.

His fingers are like ice and I bring his hand up to my forehead, needing his cool touch on my clammy skin.

"Ripley, I-," he starts, his voice shaking. "I don't know what to do. Where do you need me? What do you need?"

"Call my mom," I sigh as the contraction finally subsides. "Call Wayne and maybe even Chrissy and Steve."

Eddie hesitates. He obviously doesn't want to leave my side. I see him argue with himself, unsure what to do.

"There's a phone there on the end table, hun." One of my nurses calls, waving to a table in the corner of the room. "You can call family from that."

Eddie's shoulders relax and he nods appreciatively at the nurse before settling into the chair beside me to call our parents.

"Hello," a small doctor calls from the doorway. She's got springy curly hair and big boxy glasses that abscure most of her face. "I'm Dr. Larson. I'll be taking care of you and your baby. I understand we are 26 weeks along. Is that correct?"

I nod in the affirmative, biting down on my bottom lips as Eddie talks in hushed tones with my mom in the corner. I can tell he is trying to be strong for her and I know it must be killing him.

"Alright, sweetheart," the doctor says with a sad expression on her face. "We may be having this baby much earlier than expected, but I'm going to do all that I can to get both of you through it. That being said, your kiddo will need to stay in the NICU with us following the birth and there may be some added risks and complications for both of you. Once I check how far along you are, there will be several hospital officials and nurses coming in and out to try to help educate and prepare you. If at any given point it is too much, you can always appoint your partner to take over so you can just focus on getting your little boy safely here. You're in control here. We are merely here to help."

I appreciate her honesty and her willingness to let me take the reigns. I know that most doctors aren't like this, so it's nice to have this kind of atmosphere going into this insane situation.

Dr. Larson encourages me to put my feet up in the stirrups and she drapes a surgical cloth over my knees. She sits in a wheeled chair level with my core and slides her gloved finger inside, probing my cervix.

"Six centimeters already," Dr. Larson says, her expression shocked. "Let's get the transducer hooked up and an IV started."

The doctor steps away and removes her gloves, letting me know I can rest my legs. One nurse moves forward to start placing an IV in my hand and another starts to place bands around my abdomen to monitor bean's heartbeat. Another contraction rolls in as the nurse shanks my hand with the catheter, digging around in search of my vein. I scream and Eddie jumps up from his chair, grabbing my arm and brushing my hair back from my forehead.