Something about the way he said it made my heart feel full in the middle of everything else I was going through.
“I love you too,” I whispered back, letting my hand rest over his.
Time kept moving, but it felt different now, like everything was slowing down and speeding up at the same time. The contractions were closer together, and each one carried more weight than the last, pressing down in a way that made it hard for me to stay still.
Then the pressure shifted. It wasn’t just in my stomach anymore. It dropped lower, pressing deep into my body, and it made me straighten up a little without even thinking.
“Pressure…” I said lowly, my voice tighter now.
He leaned forward right away. “What’s wrong?”
“I feel… a lot of pressure,” I told him, my brows pulling together as I tried to explain it. “Down low. Like… like I need to push or something.”
Before he could respond, the bathroom door opened and Auntie Treasure stepped back in, her presence calm but focused as her eyes went straight to me.
“What are you feeling, sweetie?” she asked gently, already moving closer.
I looked at her, trying to steady my breathing. “It feels like the baby is coming,” I said honestly. “It’s a lot of pressure… like it’s pushing down.”
Auntie Treasure nodded when I told her what I was feeling, and instead of rushing me or asking me to move around, she stepped closer to the tub and watched me carefully, paying attention to how my body was responding more than anything I was trying to explain.
“That kind of pressure usually means the baby is moving down,” she said gently, her voice calm in a way that kept me from panicking. “Do not fight it. Just breathe through it and let your body do what it is trying to do.”
I gripped the edge of the tub again as another contraction built, stronger this time, and it pushed down so hard that I could not ignore it even if I wanted to.
“I feel like I need to push,” I told her, my voice strained as my body started bearing down on its own.
“That is alright,” she replied without hesitation, already adjusting to what was happening without making it feel chaotic.“When it comes, go with it. Do not force anything, just follow your body.”
Pressure tightened his hold behind me with one arm wrapped around my stomach while the other came up to my chest to keep me steady as I leaned back into him.
“I got you,” he murmured against my ear, his voice low and serious now.
The next contraction came harder than the last, and this time I didn’t try to hold it back. My body pushed, and I followed it, gripping tighter while everything in me focused on getting through it.
“That is it,” Auntie Treasure said, her tone still soft but more focused now. “Just like that. Let your body lead you through it.”
I let out a shaky breath, trying to process that.
“Alright,” she continued, looking between me and Pressure. “When the next contraction comes, I want you to push with it, not against it.”
Pressure’s arms tightened around me a little with one hand coming up to cup the side of my face. “I got you,” he murmured.
The next contraction hit, stronger than anything before it, and I felt it all the way through my body.
“Push, Pluto,” Auntie Treasure said gently. “Just like that. Let it out.”
I bore down without even thinking about it, my body taking over while Pressure held me from behind.
“Yeah, just like that,” he said against my ear. “You doin’ that, baby.”
It burned. It stretched. It felt like everything inside me was opening in a way that was almost too much, but I didn’t stop.
“Good,” AuntieTreasure said, telling me to breathe through it and let my body do what it needed to do, and I leaned back against Pressure while I tried to follow that, pulling air in slowand pushing it back out while my body trembled from everything it had already been through.
For a second, it felt like I could catch my rhythm again, like I could settle into it and ride it out the way I had been. Then another contraction came, stronger than the last, and before I could fully recover from that one, another followed right behind it, stacking on top of everything and making it harder for me to stay grounded.
I tightened my grip without even realizing it, my body reacting on its own while Pressure held on to me, and all I could do was try to breathe through it while the pressure kept building instead of easing the way I needed it to.
