An Initiates Baby

Chapter Twenty - Dolly

It's midday two days later from the day where I was sat with Eric in the Pit, I had a strange feeling when I woke up so I stayed home as Eric did little tasks around the compound, keeping up with his title of leader.

My stomach was fluttering, and I put the feeling to the back of my head, the baby had been more active the past few days, it had became a more regular thing now. I was humming to myself, walking around Luna's room, then I noticed one of the teddies that Eric had bought a while back, I walked, well waddled over to it, and picked it up, running a finger over the details on the bear, it's flocked nose, it's smooth beaded eyes.

I winced when the baby kicked as I entranced by the tear, I rubbed my stomach, trying to ease the pain from the kick. I placed the bear back on the shelf where Eric had places it months ago, before leaving the room, trying not to wince with each step. I stop in the living room, sitting on the sofa, hoping the pain I was now feeling would slowly fade away. I groaned, the pain getting a little more painful for me to cope with, then all of a sudden it felt like I wet myself, I stopped still for a minute, then sighed when I realised what was happening, my labour had started, nearly two weeks early, I was giving birth early.

I groaned and slowly stood from the sofa, moving to the bedroom to change quickly and grab the bag with extra clothes and some baby clothes in case, and grabbed a towel from the bathroom for the living room. I waddled back to the living room and sighed in relief when I saw Eric walk through the door, his eyebrows furrowed as he watched me clean the sofa and floor.

"What happened?" He asked, moving towards me quickly, I sighed and placed a hand on my lower back, wincing when a new pain came up, I was now experience contractions, and it happened pretty quickly from the water breaking. Eric quickly grabbed the towel from me and cleaned up as I stood slowly.

I laughed a little, "My water broke, Eric, I'm technically in labour." I announced to him as he cleaned, he stopped for a moment and looked up at me from the floor, his expression shocked.

"Are you in any pain?" He asked me, standing up and throwing the now dirty towel away, in a laundry basket not so far away from us. I shrugged to him.

"The contractions are starting, they're slow, I've only experience one properly." I told him, then pointed to the bag beside me on the sofa, "I was just about down head to the infirmary to get a bed ready and tell the nurses." He nods and picks the bed up, the strap now on his shoulder. He grabs my hand and leads me out of the apartment, locking the door behind us as I leaned back slightly, my hands on my back as I stretched slightly, groaning at the sensations I was feeling.

"Come on." He murmured, wrapping an arm around my shoulder, guiding me through the halls, towards the infirmary. I groan as another contraction stops me for a moment, I lean against one of the stone walls, just a corridor away from the infirmary. Eric waits beside me, kissing my temple as I leaned against the wall, I breathed pretty quickly, still not prepared for the pain.

I pushed myself off the wall and continued into the infirmary, Eric rushed ahead and grabbed a chair and moved it by one of the spare beds, pulling the curtains around it slightly, I moved towards it, sitting on it, then moving to lay back. A nurse quickly came over when Eric glared over in her direction, from the look she gave me, it was pretty obvious she guessed what was happening, she rushed over and got some machines ready, a heart monitor for me and one for the baby, using electrons that kept track of the baby's heartbeat. The nurse had helped me change into gown, Eric sat beside the bed, grasping my hand and linking our fingers, I gasped then groaned when another contraction came, the monitor beside me beeping more and more as it continued.

The nurse quickly glanced between my legs, with my permission to do so and after dragging the curtain fully around the bed for privacy, and she told me that the labour was progressing quickly, and that I would be having the contractions for quite a while before the proper pain and business came around, in other words, the pushing. I nodded with a small smile before laying back in bed, looking at the pristine, white ceiling.

Eric tightened his hold on my hand, and I looked over at him, he leaned forward after moving his chair closer to my head. His other hand came up and moved some stray hair from my face, before kissing my forehead.

"You can do this." He said, "You're the strongest person I know, I love you."

"I love you too." I say back, grinning before sighing a slight pain came over me. I then remembered the teddy that I was looking at earlier, then turned back to him, "Will you go back to the apartment, and pick up the bear you bought a while back, bead eyes, flocked nose." I describe to him and he nods, "I want to see it, it's cute." I admit quietly and he laughs a little before nodding and standing up.

"Don't start giving birth whilst I'm gone." He threatens jokingly, and I laugh.

"I'll try." I say before he jogs away, leaving me in the bed, alone and in labour. I sigh as I lay back, moving slightly to get more comfortable. The nurse from before comes over and sits in Eric's seat, she smiles before speaking up.

"Is this your first time?" She asks curiously, a warm smile still on her face.

I nod before answering, "Yeah."

"You seem like a pro." She says, and my eyebrows raise a little, "You're so calm and collected, the other births I've witnessed, the new mothers would be crying and pleading for some drugs already." She explains.

"Reading helps." I tell her, "Being Erudite in birth, gives you the never-ending need to read or research, I enjoy reading so it's something I never really left behind, plus it was nice to know that the weird things I could end up feeling were normal." I laugh a little and she smiles even more, Eric jogs back into the room, the bear in his hands, he hands it to me, glancing over at the nurse for a second before turning to me. 

"I'll check on you in a few minutes." The nurse says before leaving us both, Eric sits back in his chair, leaning back in, watching me with the bear, I hold it on my stomach, the bear facing me. I touch the fabric of the bear, before placing it on the bed beside me. Eric and I spoke for the most of the time we were waiting for the labour to progress, the nurse came over every so often to check up on me, and soon enough, she said the words I was waiting for.

"Looks like you're to push." She tells me with a grin, her white teeth gleaming at me. I nodded multiple times, feeling nervous, Eric grabbed my hand tightly as the nurse instructed me to push every other minute, I started to sweat as the pressure kept getting harder and harder.

The nurse stopped me for a moment before grabbing some towels, she looked at me in the eyes before nodding at me, "Okay, a few more pushes and the baby should be here. Let's go." I nodded back at her before starting to push again.   

I gritted my teeth, determined not to scream as I pushed some more, and soon enough the nurse told me to stop and she grasped the baby, wrapping her in towels and cleaning her, then weighing her and measuring her, before turning around to face Eric and I as another nurse checked on my body and started to stitch me up.

Nurse number one held our baby in her arms, covered in a pink blanket before walking over to me and handing her over.

"What would you like to name her?" She asked as she grabbed a birth certificate and a pen, looking at me with a huge smile. I glance over at Eric who's staring at our baby, silent but with a small smile, his eyes slightly watered.

"Luna Coulter." I said, looking at the baby, before looking up at the nurse, "She's Luna Coulter."