God, some nights we can’t stop. It’s as if because we don’t go as hard as we normally do that we can’t quite put out the fire completely. It’s a slow, hot, wet burn…one that we can do for an extended time.
I’m on my hormonal arousal peak and he’s happily making sure my every whim is taken care of. He turns me onto my side and rustles around behind me. He then lifts my top leg over his forearm as he slowly slides his body into mine.
My breath catches.
My eyes close in pleasure and my head falls back to his shoulder.
He goes slowly, in and out, and deeper and deeper, and God this feels… so fucking good.
With his hand protectively on my pregnant stomach, his lips on my neck and his body slowly pumping into mine, I have a new kind of happiness.
It’s called perfection.
The bathroom light wakes me, and I roll over; it feels like I only just got to sleep. Cam is up and showered and getting dressed for the day. He walks back into the room and smiles when he sees me. “Sorry, babe, did I wake you?”
“No,” I sigh.
He sits on the side of the bed and pushes my hair back from my forehead. “You okay?” He bends and kisses me softly. “You tossed and turned all night.”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I mumble. “Just can’t get comfortable.” I glance over at the clock. “You’re up early,” I notice.
“Yeah.” He stands and grabs his shoes. “I have a quadruple bypass on today.”
I fake a smile as I watch him. I can’t even imagine the amount of pressure he’s under every day at work.
People’s lives are literally in his hands.
“It’s going to be a long day.” He continues putting his shoes on. “Adrian is on standby if you need anything, okay?”
“I’m not going to need anything, Cam.” I roll onto my side toward him. “I still have four weeks to go.”
“Yeah, well, until Jameson comes back from vacation on Monday, you just take it easy please.”
I smile. Cameron is obsessed with not missing the labor. He already missed his first child being born. Until the last few weeks when he’s been so jumpy, I never knew how much it really affected him.
“You have my word. I’m not going into labor until Jameson comes home from Tahiti,” I promise. “I went overdue with Owen. We have heaps of time.”
He stands and watches me for a while. “Murph is coming over to take you out to lunch.”
I smile sleepily. “You to mean to check on me?”
“That, too,” he mutters dryly.
“Go to work, Dr. Stanton.” I wave with my fingertips. “Go save a life.”
He kisses me softly. “Bye, Bloss,” he whispers. “I love you.”
“Hmm.” I sigh sleepily as I run my fingers through his stubble, hmm…he smells good. “Love you, too.”
Owen patters into the room. “Dad.”
“Hey, buddy.” Cam smiles softly as he pulls his son into a hug. “Get into bed with Momma.”
He pulls back the blankets and Owen crawls in sleepily. Cameron tucks him in and Owen snuggles into me and I kiss his little head. Although Owen’s night visits are far less frequent, they still happen sometimes.
I think Cameron actually prefers him to sleep with us. He tears those blankets back so quick when he sees Owie, it’s almost laughable.
With one last look he leaves the room, and I fall back into my uncomfortable slumber with two little arms cuddling my back.
“Come on, Owie, grab your school bag,” I call from the bottom of the stairs.
I hold my stomach and wince. Fuck’s sake…I’m so uncomfortable.
This baby has moved into the most sadistic position possible…right on my spine.
I push one side of my stomach, hoping to move it. I say it because we have no idea what it is. We don’t know the sex of the baby yet, as we both wanted a surprise.
Owen smiles as he comes down the stairs, and he pats my stomach as he walks past me. He doesn’t really talk to me much anymore, he talks to my stomach. He’s so excited about being a big brother.
Between Cam and Owen, this baby is going to be spoiled rotten. We make our way to the school and I sit in the car in the drop-off lane. “I might not walk you in today, Owie.” I rub my stomach. “My back is a little bit sore.”
“That’s okay, Mom.” He leans over and kisses my cheek.
“Have a nice day.” I smile
“Okay.” He jumps out of the car and runs past the school’s front gates with his back pack on.
My stomach tightens and then releases. Oww! What was that?
An uneasy feeling sweeps over me. “It’s not.” I talk out loud to myself. I blow out a breath and pull back into the traffic.
Imagine if it was labor? Cam can’t leave surgery because he doesn’t have any backup,
No…it’s not…don’t worry…it’s way too early for that.
I get home and decide to have a shower. I undress, and as I’m stepping in it happens again. I frown as my stomach tightens and then releases a few seconds later.
It’s not painful… what is it?
Braxton Hicks… yes… of course.
It’s just Braxton Hicks.
My body is getting ready for labor, that’s all. I smile as I stand under the hot water and it feels so relaxing on my sore back, I might even go back to bed once I get out.
For nearly an hour I stand under the water, simply because I have nowhere to be and it feels so good not having to rush around. I don’t think I have ever had a not- rushed shower since I started med school seven years ago.
My stomach has been tightening and relaxing, but it’s not painful at all, so I know it’s not labor… just Braxton Hicks.
I hop out of the shower and get dressed and lie on the bed. I really do feel out of sorts today.
I am woken by the house phone ringing and I frown. That’s weird, nobody ever calls the house phone. I scramble over to the bedside table and answer.
“Hello?”
“Oh, my God. Where have you been?” Adrian demands.
“What?”
“I’ve been trying to call you for half an hour; I was beginning to panic.”
I roll over; my stomach clenches and it hurts. I screw up my face.
Fuck.
“What’s wrong?” I frown as I rub my hand over my stomach.
Not today, baby…Daddy’s not here.
“Where do you want to go for lunch?” Adrian asks. “I’m going to book somewhere now.”
“Do you just want to pick something up and we can eat here?”
“Oh, okay.” He pauses for a moment. “Are you all right?”
I close my eyes and I know I’m worrying for nothing. “Just a bit of a sore back. Being a whale will do that to you,” I joke.
“Oh.” He thinks for a moment. “All right, see you soon.”
I slowly get up and walk around the room.
Okay, even if this is early stages of labor, which it’s not… but if it is…
Cameron will be finished in surgery by the time the baby comes anyway. I glance at the clock.
11am.
Shit, his big surgeries normally take at least twelve hours, and he would have started at 7am… so we’re looking at either eight or nine o’clock tonight before he’s out.
I take out my phone and type a ridiculous question that I already know the answer to.
How to slow down labor
I wait for the answers to appear.
Empty your bladder. Lie down tilted towards your left side; this may slow down or stop signs and symptoms. Avoid lying flat on your back; this may cause contractions to increase. Drink several glasses of water, because dehydration can cause contractions.
Ok, I lie down on my left side and try to calm down. I’m not even in labor. I’m just being silly, I know that. Stop being overdramatic.
I Google again.
The latent phase can last several days or weeks before active labor starts. Some women can feel backache or cramps during this phase. Some women have bouts of contractions lasting a few hours, which then stop and start up again the next day. This is normal.
Oh good, this is normal. Great. See, nothing to worry about.
I search again, and frown.
Preterm labor is labor that happens too early, before 37 weeks of pregnancy. If you have preterm labor, your health care provider may recommend some treatments that may help stop your contractions and prevent health problems in you and your baby. These treatments are not a guarantee to stop preterm labor.
Fuck. I search.
Problems for baby born at 36 weeks’ gestation.
The answer comes back.
At 36 weeks, the risk of health complications decreases significantly. The risk is much lower from babies born even at 35 weeks. But late preterm babies are still at risk for:
Respiratory Distress
Jaundice
Low Birth weight
NICU Admission
Developmental Delays/Special Needs
Patent Ductus arteriosus
By far, RDS is the biggest risk for babies born at 36 weeks. Baby boys seem to have more trouble than infant girls.
Fuck… calm down… it’s not happening. But if I do go into active labor, I need to get to the hospital as soon as I can so that they can try to stop it.
Yes. Okay, that’s the plan.
My stomach clenches again and I screw up my face and rub my stomach.
“Stay in there and be a good baby, please?” I whisper. “Not today. You’re not cooked yet.”
For an hour I lie on my side as my stomach clenches and tightens. Nothing else has happened so I’m just going to wait to see. If I go to the hospital too early they’ll just send me home.
My phone rings, it’s Adrian. “Hello?” I answer.
“Do you want a coffee or something?”
“Can you just come now, please?” I ask.
“What’s up?” He sounds like he’s frowning.
“I think I’m having contractions but I’m not sure. If I am, we have to get to the hospital as quickly as possible,” I blurt out in a rush.