Me and my wife walked into the hospital. We weren't carrying much, just a diaper bag, and a bag full of clothes. I was wearing a t-shirt that fit nicely, it gave a little room for growth, but it showed off my huge bump. I was 6,0, but my abdomen was shorter than my legs, so the baby was "high" and my belly seemed very circular. My wife was 5'6, she was a mere twig, I looked like an absolute cow right beside her. We talked to the desk lady," My husband is due to be induced." She nodded and gave us a room number. I waddled to the elevator, I sighed loudly waiting for the door to open. I stepped in first, luckily me and Janet were the only ones in the elevator. I leaned my head on the elevator wall, then retaliated thinking about potential germs. Janet seemed lost in thought, when the door came open she snapped out of it, walking out before me. We opened our room. I immediately sat on the bed, my hands were propped behind me, making my large bump more distended than usual. I started thinking about how weird it was that me, a hetero was carrying a baby. This was way more common around homo relationships, but when we found out that Janet was infertile, I was more than willing to step up and be a baby carrier. Suddenly a nurse walked in, female, probably mid 30s. She held a bag. "I'm going to insert an IV that's going to insert a hormone that should induce labour." "As if I haven't been given enough hormones to go through puberty." The lady let out a laugh, she then inserted the IV. "Lay down and try to rest before this kicks in." I nod. I place the thin covers over my body. I actually managed to get comfortable in the hospital beds, and baby boy wasn't kicking me, probably due to the hormone. I wake up will a dull ache in my back, and like inside my stomach was burning. I sit up a struggling. "You've been our for nearly 5 hours, I'm glad you were able to get some sleep," I smile at my wife Janet. She knew exactly what I was gonna ask. She sits beside me on the bed. She starts rubbing my back," Are you feeling anything?" "Just a little discomfort," I said lazily. A nurse walked in," Are you feeling any contractions?" "Some some aches in my lower back, and inside of my stomach feels like it's burning." "Good, you're in early labour." "I- uhm- read that you can do like sitting positions and other things can help dialation." The nurse smiles," That's usually around mid labour, but you can do some if you like. Right now I'd highly suggest maybe walking up and down the stairs a couple times, then coming back and try different sitting positions." "Yeah, I'll do that." "I've gotta get you unhooked and hooked up to something else," she said smiling. She had me pull up my shirt and she put a monitor where we could track the baby's heart. I was given a little box and me and my wife walked around with it. I managed to walk for 45 minutes, but then the contractions started building up and I had to focus hard on breathing. The contractions had gotten to ten minutes apart, I couldn't think straight while they happened. I layed back on the bed, falling into my pillow. My wife situated herself beside me and started playing with my hair, I was always a sucker for the hair. "You're doing so good sweetie." I moaned at a contraction. "This is so boring," I say pain present in my voice. "I know hon, you've just gotta stick through it." "Can you hit the button for the midwife, maybe, I need some gas and air or something." My wife hit it and the nurse came in almost immediately. The first thing she did was hook up my stomach monitor to a bigger machine. "I'm just going to check baby's movement. Okay?" I nodded, and pulled up my shirt. "Baby's making good process, he's right above the pelvis. "I need to check your progress." She told me. "I- uh- do I need to move?" "Yeah, on your stomach with your bottom in the air." I was going to turn then I had a bad contraction, I grabbed my pillow, trying hard to breathe through it. I let out a hiss of pain when it first started though. I did what she said, Janet was playing with my hair and rubbing my back. I let out a cry of pain when she did it, but that was all. "You're already 6 centimeters, you're doing really good!" She said enthused. "Is there anyway I could get some gas and air or like a drip, anything really." "Do you want an epidural?" She asked me. "No, I'm going to try to do without it." "I'll be right back then." She taught me how to use the gas and air, and she added a drip which allowed me to transfer medicine into my body depending on the pain I was in. I was in a lot of pain, but didn't want to cry for an epidural. I sucked it up trying to be strong. I got on my knees and started rubbing my belly and my irritated nipples. They were so sore, my milk had been coming in and now they were leaking a little bit. My wife was trying to console me, but I was shoving her hands away. I got on my hands and me, my butt in the air. Suddenly I was hit with this awful wave of nausea and just knew I was going to throw up. I moaned, and said the word bucket. She ran and handed me a bed pan seconds before I threw up. It was a lot, I ended up collapsing due to lack of air and the amount of pain I was in. I struggled to catch my breath and pick myself up. When I sat up I realized I had threw up on my shirt. I started to cry. I was racked with pain, tired, and now wore my own vomit. My wife helped me into a new shirt. The midwife came into my moaning while trying to get the fucking gas and air to work. It seemed to do nothing, I feel it was more of a distractor but I couldn't even think during my contractions. She checked my dialation. "You're 9 centimeters!" I smiled weakly. I was so hell bent on a natural birth I decided I didn't need the epidural. I shifted slightly, then water was gushing out of me. It felt disgusting. "You're water just broke!" The lady nurse told me. I moved off the bed and she started changing my bed sheet. I grabbed onto my wife for support. The next contraction I had, was more intense then the last one, I let out a moan in pain. I sat back down, and I knew I needed to push. The midwife heard my troubled moans and checked me again. "It's time for you to push!" "Is that necessary?" I said sounding like a child. The idea of bringing home a human being was absolutely terrifying, I knew she was safe just where she was, and I was going to jeopardize it. We had formally talked about the hang bar method so the midwife was setting it up. Suddenly the doctor walked in. Him, my wife, and the mid wife helped me to hang from it like I was supposed to. I felt the baby moving downward, just due to the gravity. I started a pained humming in the back of my throat. The doctor told me to push and I did as requested. The baby's slow movement downward was agonizing. I immediately stopped. "I WANT A EPIDURAL," tears threatened to spill from my eyes. "It's to late for that," the doctor said sternly. "I NEED AN EPIDURAL!" I screamed becoming absolutely hysteric. I was hit with another contraction and moaned in pain. "You need to calm down, and breath," the doctor told me. I was still absolutely losing my shit. "Nurse, administer more pain medicine." The midwife started playing with all my cords. Janet was rubbing my back trying to get me to calm down. The hormones coursing through my body made it impossible to get anything under control. I fought away and continued to push through gritted teeth while the doctor coaxed me to keep going. The pain was absolutely unimaginable when the baby started crowning the intensity was turned up another level. I was forcing myself to push, he was coming fast though. I finally felt him leave my body. I sighed in relief. Then the placenta passed. I hadn't realized I'd torn until the doctor told me I had. My baby was screaming his head off. I never thought I'd be grateful to hear a screaming child, but after all that, I just wanted to make sure he was safe.
