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I frame his face in my palms and find my voice. “Ring or not. I love you more than life itself, Brian Alexander Fox. And spending the rest of my life with you is my ultimate dream come true. So yes, I’ll marry you.”
34
BRIAN
“Brian, wake up.”
A set of warm lips brushes over my cheek and when my eyes flutter open, I find Amanda standing next to the bed wearing a soft green nightgown. She’s caressing her belly while shifting her weight from left to right. A stream of light coming from the hallway radiates through the open door and highlights her contours—giving her an angelic vibe.
“What time is it?”
“Five oh two a.m. I called Kim. She’s on her way.”
My mind tries to grasp what she’s saying. Kim? Why...
When the meaning lands in my still fuzzy brain, it’s like someone injected a triple dose of caffeine straight into my veins, and my body jolts out of bed while my mind shoots into high-alert mode.
“The baby?”
She nods. “My water broke an hour ago when I went to the bathroom.”
“We’re about to have our baby... today?”
She hums, letting out a long breath in response.
“Well, why didn’t you wake me up earlier?”
Her lips curl into a smirk. “You just got to bed, and it can take hours before I’m fully dilated.”
My heart rate quickens as her expression morphs with pain.
“Are you having a contraction?”
She nods and breathes as they have taught us in birth class.
What do I do?I mentally berate myself as I struggle to remember what should be done when she goes into labor. But all my thoughts are scattered.
“They’re getting stronger. But the worst part is the tightness in my muscles,” she says while trying to massage her lower back. That’s when I take action.
I stand before her and start making circles with my fingertips on her back muscles and applying slight pressure to them.
“Oh, yes, don’t stop,” she hums while resting her forehead against my chest. Even though I’m doing my best to focus, my head is like a broken pinball machine that went haywire, since the moment I felt those little kicks against my palms that were placed on Amanda’s stomach. It was such a beautiful moment, but afterward, constant worries of her falling down the stairs or something else terrible kept taking over my mind and drove me to check up on her often. The worst time was when I freaked when we were home and I called out to her and she didn’t immediately respond. Like a maniac, I ran through the entire house, checking every room, and when I didn’t get a response, I called her, only to find her phone lying on the kitchen counter. I ran outside and stopped dead in my tracks when I found her... talking and laughing with the neighbor. The moment I saw she was okay, I tried to conceal my fear, but of course Amanda easily spotted it. Aware of the severity of my anxiety, we mentioned it during her checkup and Kim said it’s normal for expectant fathers to be anxious. She thinks it will settle once the baby arrives. Let’s hope so.
This last month, every part of me wanted to be home. But with three people on my staff sick, I had to be at Six-Pack more than I wanted and for the first time I hated to be the responsible boss. Amanda eased my mind every time by checking in on me every hour or two, by sending me a text or a funny photo of herself when I’m at work. It’s been the only way to keep my mind sane.
The doorbell rings. “That must be her,” Amanda says, patting my chest.
I quickly put on sweatpants and a shirt and hurry downstairs.
When I answer the door, Kim gives me a reassuring smile. “Are you nervous, Brian?”
“Is water wet?” I reply, to which she chuckles.
After I close the door, I face her.
“Are you sure this home birth is a good idea?”
The older woman gives my shoulder a soft squeeze. “Breathe, Brian. Amanda and your baby are in excellent hands. I’ve done over two hundred home births, so I know what I’m doing. If I didn’t trust it, I would have said so. Now, let’s see how they’re doing?”
