Who: Kaylee Ramsey and Others What: Someone doesn't want to be late Where: Ramsey house//Hospital When: Tuesday and Wednesday Rating: PG-13, partly for Kaylee's sense of humor.
It was 12:52 pm when she noticed the first one. The holiday had been as good of an excuse as any to just stay home with promises that she would keep her cell phone next to her at all times. Honestly... If she went over they would be getting her a LifeAlert pendant by the weekend just to let her sit around her own house to read and possibly sit on the kitchen floor and give it a good scrub if she felt up to it. Contractions were nothing new though considering they'd been coming off and on for the last two months. Kaylee Ramsey hadn't been a complainer before and there was no way in hell she was going to turn into one before this kid was actually coming. Most of the time it didn't seem like anyone else even noticed the slightly pained expressions unless they were really paying attention. She sat down in one of the kitchen chairs to just breathe for a minute until it passed and went back to making her lunch and finish sketches for how she wanted the dance decorations.
Shortly after 3:30 pm and a long bath with no relief was when the fear really started to hit. Normally she might be able to relax them away with the Braxton Hicks contractions. These were going to be the difficult ones that didn't want to go away and had been coming at semi-regular intervals. She stayed wrapped up in her towel just staring at the phone for a long time. If it was anything like she had been reading, there was still more than enough time to let someone get home before dropping the bomb that she was pretty sure this was actual labor striking. Then it could also end up speeding up before she knew it and then they weren't going to be able to get to the hospital at all. She tried to just squash the pessimist that was giving her unrealistic awake nightmares of her baby just suddenly sliding out into the toilet while she was sitting there. She'd AT LEAST make it back to the bathtub first.
With another clinching feeling in her abdomen she hit the start on the stopwatch and the “lap” button once it had passed. At least then she would be able to give Dr. Lewis and approximate space between and length of each one. That would be her second call however as she dialled the number for Sapphire Stage. If there was any time to make sure she had on her calm voice, this was going to be it. "Hey Justin, it's Kaylee. Could you possibly grab one of my family members based on whomever is most able to get to the phone right now? And don't go running and possibly tripping over your feet. No one likes a Valentine with a bloody nose."
By 6 pm, Kaylee was pretty sure this wasn't what she had signed up for in terms of the whole "experience" of labor. All things considered maybe it was for the best that she was already checked into the hospital and in her room. At least she had talked her way out of being strapped down to the bed with a monitor and an IV for now as long as she kept drinking and things seemed to be going normally. She understood that this wasn't exactly a low-risk situation, but sometimes they acted like they were trying to hide something from her. Honestly at the moment there was too many other things to worry about to be concerned with nurses whispering. So far she had been avoiding calling anyone. The town was small enough and the way news travelled it would only take one person outside of her family knowing before it would be all over. Besides it was Valentine’s Day/Night and had she been about any other case she probably would have been joining in on something even if it was watching bad romance movies. Admittedly being there had relaxed her enough to make things a little easier. If anything went wrong there was a doctor close-by who could take charge of the situation. "You'd think no one around here had ever seen someone in labor..." She bit her lip as a new sensation came over her and Kaylee had to keep from swearing despite it being expected. "And I think we need a mop in here before someone slips in amniotic fluid."
It was shortly before midnight when they declared she was at five centimeters and Kaylee finally sent a text to Johnny. Despite hopes of him actually being asleep considering there was school in the morning, she got a reply back and just dialled the number. By the end of the conversation she didn't feel much better, but at least he knew. Hopefully the rest of the island was sane enough to be asleep. She was certainly going to try...
The rest of the night was on and off sleeping which was almost worse than just tossing and turning. It seemed the moment she fell asleep there was another feeling like she was being put into a vice. Dr. Lewis kept suggesting just a standard epidural for the pain so she could hopefully get some actual sleep. It wasn't that she was completely against not being in pain through all of this, but it was supposed to be faster without. Though whoever said taking her worst menstrual cramp and multiplying it by ten was underestimating how bad labor could be. Plus she knew for sure that every part of her could still function as long as she could get past the pain. She had her iPod on half of the time and just tried to focus on other things which helped. It all made for a long night even though the nurses assured her that everything was progressing at a normal speed. Thankfully Dr. Lewis was back shortly after six AM even if she did look far more rested than the expected mother. "Congratulations, you're first on my list today, so let's see about having this baby."
Kaylee pushed when the urges hit and just clung onto her mother's hand. Even before the fighting she had decided against having Johnny in the room. Now it really seemed for the best rather than giving him a lifetime of things to tease her about as she didn't feel particularly pretty while bearing down. Even though time seemed to be creeping by slowly there were tears in her eyes as she heard the loud cries of the child she had been carrying all that time. "It's a girl!"
Well sadly no surprises for Johnny, though he was the furthest thing from her mind as they set the bright pink newborn on Kaylee's stomach and placing a blanket over her. Kaylee just reached down and gently patted the girl's back. "Shhh Catarina. Everything's gonna be okay." She suddenly calmed down though which just made Kaylee lose a few more tears and break out into a grin. Kay was exhausted from the whole night, but her little kitten knew her mother's voice. Though she already sounded less than happy as they took her over to another table to do their tests to make sure she was healthy and put a clean blanket and a hat on before returning her to her mother who was as good as oblivious to anything else.