Chapter Seven

"Wow.. I still can't believe that there's a little baby growing in there... It's just so... So amazing." Jay's voice was so gentle and fatherly already. He has been so good to me, and does everything I ask and more.

"I know.. And before long we'll have a little baby all bundled up in our arms." I replied, smiling down at him as he gently rubbed circles on my belly.

"Oh my gosh! Did you feel that!? The baby just kicked, ahh! That's so cool!" Jay squealed as he looked up at me, his face full of excitement and his smile seemed much brighter than it normally is. I just couldn't believe how incredibly lucky I am to have such an amazing life partner.

"Um, you know I'm the one carrying the baby right? So of course I felt it, silly." I teased.

"Haha, sorry. That's the first time he or she has kicked with my hand there, it was exciting for me."

"I know, it's okay. You're going to be such a great daddy, Jay."

"You think so?"

"I know so."

Jay also made a habit of listening to my stomach, and talking to the baby since they can hear our voices at some point during the pregnancy. Also, if it hadn't been for Jay being so excited and happy over us expecting our first child together, I probably wouldn't have gotten on board the happy train at all. As much as I love my unborn child, I hate to admit that I really miss getting out and going to work. The hospital forced me to take a paid maternity leave for the whole pregnancy as well as the first few weeks when our child is born. They said that they didn't want me coming in to work and getting stressed out due to the hormone changes that my body is going through right now, which I had to agree because even I know that stress is not good for a growing fetus.

As the months passed though, it felt like I was going to be pregnant forever, and I felt like I was as big as a house. Not to mention how awkward it is for me to do anything with my belly bulging out. Each morning was started out the same, Jay and I would wake up around seven o'clock and we'd each make our side of the bed. I would get my shower in first and get dressed for the day, then go downstairs while Jay would start on the laundry and then get his shower in and dressed for the days events as well.

 While waiting on Jay to get out of the shower, I would often make breakfast, usually just pancakes, but every now and then I would change it up a little bit and we would have waffles. It was mostly me that wanted to change up the item on the menu though, Jay was okay with whatever I wanted to cook for us.

Breakfast was great as it normally is, and of course my waffles pleased Jay, just like I had expected. So after the dishes were washed, dried, and put away, Jay and I decided it would be nice to sit and relax together while reading pregnancy books. He had went out and bought two different titles so that we could both read one at the same time, and when we were finished with one title we could switch. It was a perfect way to keep my mind busy and not thinking about work. After a few hours of reading, we needed to go do other things, since it was nearly three o'clock in the afternoon. 

The day passed by very slowly for me, it felt much later than seven at night. Jay was busy finishing a painting he had started shortly before we remodelled our house. So since he was busy, I figured it would be best for me to catch up on the latest medical journal that had been released a couple of days ago. There was no use in waiting around until my maternity leave was up and it was time to go back to work before I caught up on the current medical practices.

While I was reading, and absorbing the information from the medical journal, I began to feel very weird, nothing hurt really, my back seemed kind of stiff but nothing that I wasn't use to by now. Being so thin before the pregnancy and now carrying all the extra baby weight around was pretty tough on my back. Five minutes passed and the weird feelings had stopped, which was good because I ended up finishing the medical journal. I let out a slight sigh, now I was bored, and didn't know what to do other than go downstairs to play a game of chess. Slowly I sat up and stretched a little, then swung my legs over the side of the bed and slowly pushed up off the bed. Getting up even felt like it took forever now, since my belly had grown far more than I thought it would with the pregnancy. Now I just had to make it downstairs and to the chess table. As I put one foot in front of the other and began making my way towards the bedroom door, I only made it a few steps to the end of the bed before a really sharp pain shot through my body.

"Owww!" I yelped as I clutched my belly with both hands, my eyes wide with shock and fright. What's happening? Am I in labor? Thoughts raced through my head as I tried to frantically clear my mind in an attempt to think of a quick plan. The pain subsided after a moment, and I thought that maybe it was just one of those false labor contractions.

Just when I had caught my breath and was about to go tell Jay that I should probably go to the hospital just to be safe, another pain shot through my body. This time the pain was much more intense and I knew that I needed to go to the hospital as quickly as possible, this might have been my first pregnancy, but this pain was way too intense for it to be false labor, at least to me that made sense.

"Jay! The baby's coming!" I yelled as soon as I could speak again. Within moments I made my way downstairs, fighting through the pain and contractions that were now much more regular than the first two had been.

Thankfully our house is only right down the street from the hospital so I didn't have to go very far at all to have this baby. Jay followed right behind me as we entered the hospital, it was now around nine thirty at night. The contractions were still regular and at this point they were about three minutes apart. Then there was another lucky moment for me. One of my co-workers, Molly Coddle, she spotted Jay and I coming through the front doors and quickly went with us to the maternity floor and helped get me into a Labor and Delivery room. By the time I was actually in room and in the bed with the hospital gown on there was no time to get my OB/GYN there, so the on call doctor came to the rescue.

Not even an hour later Jay and I welcomed our first child, a little boy, into the world.

Meet our little prince, Blaine Rodriguez. He was born at 10:07 pm and weighed in at a healthy 7 lbs 5 oz, and measured 20 inches long.

The hospital released Blaine and I to go home after three days in the hospital. Now the journey into parenthood really begins.