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She doesn’t respond and continues to pace, and then she sits down on a yoga ball.
“How far apart are your contractions?” I ask. “Shouldn’t we go to the hospital?”
“About six minutes,” she says, looking at her phone. “I’ve been tracking them. Actually, you want to time them? We’re supposed to leave when they last a minute and are five minutes apart.”
“Yeah. Of course I’ll time them.” I go to the bedroom and come back with my phone. “Do you need anything else? Water or...”
She holds up her hand for me to stop talking and closes her eyes again. She leans forward and puts her hand on the coffee table and breathes deeply through her nose.
“Is this one? Is it happening? Do I time this?”
She just nods without saying a word. I’m the one pacing now as I watch her. I’m not sure if I should be doing something else.
“Okay,” she says, looking up. “How long was that?”
“Around forty-five seconds.” I’m going out of my mind right now. I want to do something more helpful. I want to help her although she seems to be handling things just fine. “Are you in pain?”
“Not at the moment,” she says with a grin.
“How bad is it?”
She bounces on the ball and then stills. “Honestly, it’s fine right now. I mean – it doesn’t feel good. Okay, it’s painful but tolerable.”
She smiles at me and says, “It’s just the beginning.”
“Do you want me to rub your back or...”
She shakes her head. “Thanks but I don’t really want to be touched.”
I nod.
She continues to bounce, and I continue to pace until she squirms a little and says, “Oh, here’s another one.”
She groans softly a few times but keeps her face remarkably calm, her breathing steady. How does she know what to do? I mean we watched videos and read all the books, but I think this is just instinct. Finally she lets out a deep breath and says, “Oh, I felt that one. How far apart was that?”
“Five minutes and twenty seconds.”
“We should probably get ourselves packed up.”
I rush around getting everything together and throw some clothes on. By the time we leave, the contractions are coming closer and harder.
As we’re leaving the apartment, she says, “Ready or not.”
I laugh. “Ready or not.”
Sterling Family Group Text
Declan: It’s time.
Elizabeth: Are you at the hospital?
Declan: Just arrived.
Olivia: Woo-hoo
Eli: One day after his due date. That’s respectable.
Juno: So excited.
