JC reached for Laura in his sleep, but quickly awoke when he realized she wasn’t in their bed.  Rolling over he checked for a light in the bathroom, but frowned when he noticed there was no light on and no sign of his wife.  Something didn’t feel right. 

He walked through the house in the dark to get to the nursery.  Looking in, he saw Laura sitting in the glider rocker in the corner holding a stuffed animal. 

“Are you alright?”

Laura glanced up in surprise.  She hadn’t heard him come in.  “Yeah, just thinking.”

“About what?”  JC said as he walked over to sit on the footstool in front of her, pulling the stuffed animal out of her hands and placing it on the floor before putting his hands on top of hers as they stroked her swollen belly together. 

“Are we ready for this?  To become parents?  What if I’m a terrible mother?”
 

JC stilled their hands, raising hers up to his mouth.  With his lips against her fingers, and his eyes looking deep into hers, he said.  “Laura, you have absolutely nothing to worry about.  You will be the most amazing mother that has ever been on this earth.  You are so nurturing, loving, and caring.  This baby will be the luckiest baby ever to have you as a mother.”

He released one her hands to reach up and touch the tear sliding down her cheek. Rubbing it away with his thumb, he pulled gently on the hand he still held until she came forward into his arms.  JC soothingly rubbed her back as he asked softly into her ear.  “That’s not the reason you were up.  What’s the real reason?”

Laura took an unsteady breath as she said.  “I was trying to mentally prepare for everything that’s going to happen to us soon.  The pain of labor and delivery…bringing our baby home…being parents for the rest of our lives…Our lives are going to change forever when this little one makes an appearance.”

JC drew back far enough to see into Laura’s eyes.  “Everything will change for the better though.  This baby is a permanent reminder of how much we love each other. Our lives will become so much better after this little one comes.  Now….come back to bed, I’ll rub your back until you fall asleep and we can talk about this more in the morning.  You need all the sleep you can get right now.”

“I’m afraid we can’t do that.”  Laura said with a light laugh. 

“What do you mean?”

“I’m in labor.”  Laura said simply. 

JC jumped to his feet in shock his hands automatically running through his hair.  “What do you mean ‘you’re in labor!’?”

“I mean that we are going to have this baby soon.”

“How long have you been in labor?”  He exclaimed.

Just then, Laura’s face tensed and her hands rubbed her belly slowly as she felt another contraction. 

“Oh, my gosh,” JC said as he sat back down and grabbed Laura’s hands.  “Tell me what to do.”

Laura released a breath as the contraction eased.  Her hand came up to the side of JC’s face as she smiled.  “I think you need to call the hospital then we need to get on our way.  It’s time to have our baby!”
***

JC’s hand came up to run through his hair again for the thousandth time since they got to the hospital.  This was torture for him, watching Laura in so much pain.  He wished she would yell or scream at him, but she got through each contraction silently.  She had turned town the epidural, preferring to give birth naturally. 

Laura whimpered a little as the contraction finally ended.  She looked up at JC with pain in her eyes as he ran a cool cloth over her face.  “I don’t know how much longer I can do this.”  She said quietly. 

He placed a kiss on her forehead as he said with a wavering voice, “You are doing amazing.  You are so unbelievably strong.  I couldn’t do this in a hundred years.”

Just then, another contraction came and Laura gripped JC’s hand tighter, her nails digging into his skin.  The doctor came into the room and noticing Laura was in the middle of a contraction, checked her progress.  

“Well, are we ready to have this baby?  Laura, with the next contraction, I need you to push, alright?”

Laura moaned as the contraction ended.  “How much longer?”

But just that soon the next contraction came and her body was no longer hers to control. Instinct had her body off the bed and bearing down with all her might.  Her hand was crushing JC’s as she put her whole body into pushing the baby out. 

Nothing else existed in the hospital room; Laura could hear nothing, concentrating only on what her body was experiencing in bringing forth the baby.  She finally let out a scream as the baby’s head began to emerge. 

Laura gasped in a breath before pushing one more time and feeling a great sense of relief.  She collapsed back on the bed, feeling JC’s head come close, his tears mingling with hers as the doctor placed the crying baby on her stomach. 

“Congratulations, it’s a girl!”

JC and Laura each took a trembling hand and placed it on their baby.  JC brought his lips to Laura’s ear and whispered a heartfelt “Thank you” through his tears. 

A nurse came and picked up the baby saying, “We’re going to get her cleaned and checked up, then you’ll get her back.”