Alerrie: The Perfect Match

27

Perrie

I always imagined how this day will turn out. I envisioned it to be filled with a rush of pain and anxiety all over. I knew that I would be succumb under a tremendous amount of pain as I risk everything to bring my child into this world. Of course, I knew that it would all be worth it once I meet my baby, once I hear her cry. I anticipated the pain, expected the hurt, but what I didn't expect was being in labor for four hours and counting and feeling this much pain. I swear, I totally forgot about the labor part and whoever decided to put me in hours of very painful contractions, I'm gonna have a serious conversation with.

"Okay, breathe. Five, four, three, two, one. Okay, you're done." Leigh says as she monitors the machine that records my contractions. "Ow, ow, ow." Jade says as I let go of her hand from my tight grip. "I'm sorry." I say under my breath as I see her shake the pain from her hand. "Oh, it's okay. Really." Jade says, trying to conceal the pain in her voice. I loosen my grip on Alex's hand as he strokes my hair away from my face.

I texted the girls and my mam in the car on the way here, informing them of our little situation. Leigh was the first to arrive, soon followed by Jade and Jes. They immediately rushed to my side, trying to help make me feel a little better despite the growing pain I was feeling. My mam was set to arrive in a few hours and I'm guessing Alex's parents were on their way as well.

Along these four hours of gruel labor, I've come to think about the other mothers who had like ten children. I mean, how on earth did they do it? I can barely handle it with my first one, what more nine others. Do they have supernatural pain tolerance? Because I think I just maxed out at mine.

I lean on Alex's chest as I release a deep breath, my face burying in the crook of his neck. He scoots closer to me and pulls me in closer, running his hand up and down my arm. "Ouch." I say, trying to steady my breath. "Aw, babe. I'm sorry." He says, leaning his head on mine. "You better be, this is all your fault." I say, chuckling lightly. "I'm so sorry, baby." He says, kissing the top of my head, chuckling.

"Pez, you okay?" Jesy asks, concern in her voice as she passes me the ice cubes. "Well, other than the fact that I'm about to push a human being out of my body, I guess I'm fine." I manage to say, making everyone laugh.

"Ugh, your kid is really trying to kill me, Chambo." I say, resting a hand over my bump. "It's your kid too, you know." He says, chuckling. "It hurts so much." I say, letting my pain become evident in my voice. "I know baby, I know." He says, wrapping his arms around me tighter. I look up and see the guilt in his face, as if he was sharing my pain with me. "I love you." He says, leaning in to kiss me.

"Here comes another one." I say as another wave  contractions hit me. I shut my eyes tight and grip Alex's hand. "My turn." Jesy says and lets me squeeze her hand. "Breathe, Pez." Alex whispers as he leans his head on mine, his other arm rubbing my shoulder down my arm. "Done." Leigh says, squeezing my thigh as I release a loud breath.

"Come on, Pez. Are you sure you don't want an epidural? Because if you won't take it, I'll take it for you. I'm feeling so much pain just by looking at you." Alex says. "Nope, I read that it slows down recovery, and leads to more complications and can even be bad for us." I say, trying to steady my breaths again. "Oh, Perrie." He says, kissing my forehead.

"How are we doing here?" Dr. Robbins waltz in the room with a smile on her face. "The baby is torturing me." I say, making her giggle. "Well, let's see how long she's planning to keep that up." She says, preparing to examine me. I grunt as she takes a look, praying that I'm close to pushing. "Well, you're still at five centimeters so she's still trying to hang out in there for as long as she can." I throw my head back and release a frustrated grunt. I grab Alex by the collar and glare at him. "You created a monster baby." I grit, hearing the girls snicker in the background as Alex tries to fight off a laugh.