For what was probably the fifteenth time that night, Trish pushed the covers off of her as she grew too warm to tolerate them. She winced a little as she tried to adjust her position to get comfortable, and a contraction decided to happen at the same time. She rubbed her belly lightly until the pain went away and sighed. She was getting used to the contractions by now – she’d had false labor several times, so it wasn’t worth waking Chance up to have him take her into the hospital again. She flung an arm over Chance and settled in, appreciating his closeness and that she wasn’t going through this alone.
She had just drifted off to sleep when another contraction came, sharper this time, more urgent, it seemed. Rolling over onto her back, she stared at the ceiling and waited for sleep to come. It didn’t. What did come was more contractions, each seeming just a little more painful. Finally, with a little whimper, she shook Chance awake. Sleepily, he looked over.
“You okay?”
She shook her head. “They hurt.”
“How far apart?”
“About seven or eight minutes, I think. But they hurt worse than before.”
“Alright.”
Chance pushed the covers aside and pulled on some clothes before helping Trish get dressed enough to go out. Her overnight bag was sitting next to the door, and he picked that and the keys up before helping her out the door and into their car. She bit her lip and made the kind of noise that made him worry about her, and he picked up speed toward the hospital – a route that, by this point, he could almost drive in his sleep. Almost.
It was three in the morning, and as no other door was open, he parked as close to the emergency room doors as he could. Trish leaned on him heavily as he helped her out of the vehicle and into the waiting room. She took the time to try and catch her breath between the contractions as Chance got her registered. They didn’t have to wait long before a nurse came for them with a wheelchair for Trish. Rather than stay in the emergency department, she was taken to the maternity wing and from there into an empty room. Trish gave small smiles to some of the nurses there – they had been present during previous trips, and she felt like she was bothering them by coming in so much.
It was when she was trying to get into the bed after changing into a hospital gown that she nearly fell over from a particularly strong contraction. They’d gotten closer together as time went, and were now roughly three minutes apart. Both Chance and a nurse helped straighten her up.
“Honey, why don’t we get you a shower?” one of the nurses said, guiding Trish to the bathroom and starting a shower for her without really listening for the answer. Trish feebly nodded and sat in the shower under the hot spray, relishing in it as it seemed to help.
“False labor again?” another nurse asked as she came in.
“I don’t know.” Chance replied honestly. “She woke me up and said they hurt worse than they usually did. She had me worried, so I brought her in.”
The nurse nodded. “Well, with any luck for that poor girl it’s for real this time.”
Chance tried his best to stay out of the way after Trish called the nurse to tell her she was done with the shower. They toweled her off and got her back into the bed, and one of them went to collect a midwife. The midwife examined her and then looked at her. “It’s a relatively safe bet it’s for real this time. You’re about 5 centimeters dilated.”
Trish smiled weakly and looked at Chance. “Call Grandpa?” she thought for a minute. “Don’t say anything to anyone else yet. Okay?” Chance nodded, and called Greg from his cell, one hand on the phone and one hand holding Trish’s.
“Hello?” a voice sounded from the phone.
“It’s Chance. We think it’s for real this time.”
“Be there as quickly as is reasonable.” he related, before hanging up. Chance knew that, what he meant by that was to arrive in such a time frame so as not to arouse suspicion. He would be there for Trish, and that’s what mattered. He hung up, pocketed his phone and gave her hand a squeeze before stepping aside to let the nurses start an IV to keep her hydrated and help manage the pain. Greg arrived within the half-hour, along with Trish’s mother, Alice. They all kept her company, until about four-thirty, when it was decided Trish could have an epidural. By five the contractions were less than two minutes apart, but her water still hadn’t broke, nor was she dilated enough.
Greg largely kept Alice in the family waiting room, letting Chance be the only one in the room with Trish, apart from the medical professionals. They waited a while longer before deciding to manually break the water, and see how labor progressed from there. Time seemed to drag as they waited for her body to be ready, but it never seemed to come. Chance fell asleep in a chair by around ten that morning, and didn’t wake until lunch. Trish had tried to sleep with mild success, but it was clear she was far from comfortable.
It was eleven forty-seven that evening when she finally dilated enough, but there was a problem – the baby wasn’t positioned properly, they determined. They set things up to prep her for a cesarean, and proceeded with the surgery. By twelve o’six on the morning of April 2nd, the baby was finally born. Chance was the first to be able to hold her as they patched Trish up. After she’d been closed up and the doctor said it was okay, Chance carefully handed the baby to Trish. She smiled at him, looking tired, but happy. She was especially both happy and proud that Chance was beaming with pride, as though the baby were his own.
After the two of them had some time alone with the baby and had told the nurses the name that had been chosen for the baby (Emily Andromeda VanZant), Chance collected Greg and Alice to see Trish and the baby. Both were proud of her, and remarked at how beautiful the little girl was. Greg at one point snapped a pictured of Trish with his phone, one where she was holding the baby and looking down lovingly at it. With no context whatsoever, he forwarded the picture to Vince so that he knew, though told no one else. After a moment of thought, he texted Jasper, whom he had told to stay away, as Trish would be perfectly safe with he and Aphrodite around. It was a simple text ‘your new job is to make sure no harm comes to Emily’.
Greg and Alice stayed awhile to visit, but eventually left. The baby was put in a bassinet to sleep, and while the opportunity was there, Trish slept as well. Chance took opportunity to text his Dad to let him know he was an old man now, and Charles, to tell him he wouldn’t be in for a few days, before falling asleep himself.