The Holmes Called A [Sherlaide III]

Progress

That Night

Things had been moving along quite well since Adelaide's water had broken that afternoon. By six she had even graduated from latent to active labour and the Watsons had arrived. By seven, Cynthia, the midwife, and Jocelyn, the doula, had arrived to help. Missus Hudson bustled to and fro, insistent upon keeping the kettle brewing and distributing snacks to everyone. Teddy, happy for all the company but unable to understand why, alternated between following the landlady and roughing around with John and Mary, which kept him occupied and out from underfoot.

Meanwhile, Sherlock and Jocelyn were focused on keeping Adelaide's energy up, and making sure she stayed hydrated, comfortable, and relaxed. The Dad-to-be never strayed more than three feet from her side, using his skills of deduction to interpret Adelaide's signals and help her continue coping. Mainly by encouraging Adelaide to keep going with her exercises or go on walks to stimulate labor, providing as much comfort and affection as he could to soothe her.

As the night wore on and the contractions grew ever more powerful, Adelaide became less appreciative of their efforts, wanting to shut down and rest. But only when they were all satisfied with her progress was she able to curl up in bed with Sherlock while Cynthia and Jocelyn stepped out to update their logs and take a breather. Once the tired Mum-to-be had been made comfortable on the bed with a pillow between her knees and tucked under the softest blankets in the flat, Sherlock joined her. He got as close as he could and slipped his arms around her, nesting his face into the crook of her shoulder and letting himself take a nearly full breath for the first time in hours.

As he snuggled up a little more, he felt Adelaide grab the hand he had rested over her belly and squeeze it into a tight fist. Sherlock frowned and pressed a long kiss to her cheek, knowing another surge had taken hold. Before he could say anything she rasped, "W-Why didn't you let me just rest? I'm absolutely exhausted and sore-!!"

As she cut off to focus on breathing through the pain, he hugged her closer to him and nuzzled her neck. In his head he kept track of how long the contraction lasted. As much as he wanted her to recoup her strength he was very concerned about her regressing. Which would play host to a number of complications that we would rather not incur...

Finally the contraction ebbed and she was able to speak again, "How l-long..?"

"Sixty seconds. The last one was approximately three minutes ago, so you're on the cusp of transitional labor..," He answered and kissed her cheek again, "You're doing very well, Lovey."

"Then why don't I feel like it..?"

His heart stung and he grasped her free hand in his, stroking it as he replied, "Adelaide, you are coping extremely well."

"But I feel like no matter what I do, I'm not doing enough..! It's like a nightmare, Sherlock!" She sniffled, burying her head into her pillow, "And it keeps getting worse with every one of those contractions!!"

"Angel, you are doing more than enough and we are all very proud of you. Me most of all. I know you're in insurmountable pain, and that hurts me more than anything else at the moment. But we are so close to holding Mirabella for the first time. Don't let yourself get discouraged now, Love."

"Okay..."

Sherlock wrapped her up in his arms and brushed a series of tender kisses over her face and neck, "I Love You, Adelaide." He crooned and she smiled, although she didn't open her eyes to look at him.

"I Love You too, Sherlock." She hummed back, garnering a smile from him as well. To his surprise, she ended up drifting off rather quickly despite the contractions. Well, then at least I can leave her to sleep in peace. She'll need every ounce of strength she can get. With that thought, he pressed a kiss to her temple and disentangled himself from his exhausted wife, tucking her back in and then quietly stepping out into the kitchen.

Teddy immediately bolted towards him, eager for attention. Sherlock smiled and knelt down, scratching behind the Red Doberman's floppy ears and neck, "Oh, have you not been getting enough attention, Teddy?"

"He has! We've been playing with him nonstop!" John chirped in rebuttal from the stove where he had been pouring another round of tea, flexing his hand, "Especially tug of war, which has put my hand out of commission for the moment." Everyone chuckled and Sherlock stood up. John quickly handed him a cup of steaming tea and the detective accepted it with a smile.

"Thank you, John."

"Don't mention it, mate. You need to keep up your energy too."

At this, Sherlock chuckled, "Oh please, John, I'm not the average human. I have plenty of energy stored up," The army doctor snickered, "What?"

"Just envisioning Mirabella telling you the same thing in a few years when she  doesn't want to go to bed."

"Mmm, well luckily for us, she's got half her genes from Adelaide and I was rather well behaved in my youth," Everyone else either snorted or had to stifle spitting out their tea as they burst into laughter, "As much as that does seem impossible, it is true." But even though he tried to seem irritated, he couldn't help but to chuckle quietly along with them.

For the next thirty minutes or so, he remained in the kitchen where he could easily hear Adelaide call for him and nursed his cuppa while giving Teddy attention. After while of quiet playtime with the young Dobie, he checked his watch and decided a check on Adelaide was due. The brunette got a glass of ice chips in case Adelaide was awake and stepped into the bedroom, padding over to the bedside to find her awake, having difficulty breathing through a contraction. He set the cup on the night stand and knelt down to stroke her cheek, taking her clenched hands in his, "Adelaide, breathe with me, okay? You have to keep breathing through it, Love."

She didn't say anything in response and he didn't expect her to. Sherlock could deduce that to their luck, labor had continued progression and the odds were she had entered Transition. The shortest and most intense phase. He leaned over and fluttered several kisses on her lips and face, whispering more encouragement as the contraction drew out to a full seventy five seconds before subsiding. Once it had ended, he called for Cynthia to come in and check her dilation to confirm his diagnosis.

Before the midwife and doula returned, Adelaide rasped, "It's worse, Sherlock... I meant to c-call for you but couldn't..!"

"Shh, Angel, it's on me that I didn't check on you sooner. I wanted to let you sleep, I'm sorry," She nodded stiffly and turned her head in towards her pillow while digging her nails into his palm, and he knew better than to press the matter at that stage. He moved his free hand up and stroked her hair as Cynthia started the examination, "Not much longer now, Angel. We'll take it just one contraction at a time, alright?"

She let out the tiniest noise that said she'd acknowledged his statement and he brought her hand to his lips. So close now...

Then Cynthia cleared her throat, "Mister Holmes..?"

Stay tuned for the next chapter!! Love y'all!! 😘❤