Apt 8160, Evening, Ang and Alec, Closed.
Ang was settling down in the evening, tired after what felt like a long day. A little cranky from being uncomfortably large and unwieldy, ok, clumsy, but more comfortable now she had a hot cup of tea, her feet up, and a blanket over her legs. "Mmmm," she hummed with a smile as Alec settled on the sofa next to her and gently pulled her in close, "I have no idea why I'm so sluggish tonight, I just feel completely drained. Would you mind awfully if I just, fell asleep?"
Alec snorted a little, "You feeling alright? Normally you don't ask first, you just do."
Ang chuckled, leaning her head against his shoulder and looking up slightly, "I know, I'm sorry hun, but," she paused, her eyes widening slightly as her belly rippled under her hand, "oh gods, that hurt." Her hand, holding the tea, was shaking slightly, and she was hoping that it was just a random Braxton Hicks contraction. She wasn't ready for this. Oh, it couldn't be time already could it????
"What?" Alec's eyes narrowed slightly in concern, "Another one of those practice contraction things? Let me take that tea, before you spill it?" He reached for the tea, taking it from her and leaning across her slightly to set it on the side table. He felt the next one, heard Ang's gasp as the muscles contracted strongly in her stomach. "Ang?"
"Um," Ang was breathing a little harder, "these feel a little stronger than the ones I had yesterday? Quite a lot stronger in fact." If there was a hint of panic in her voice, perhaps it was understandable. Those two contractions had been less than two minutes apart. She waited, almost breathlessly for the next one, almost certain it would come.
Alec looked at her, "Relax Ang, breathe, you're gonna be fine." He waited too, appearing unconcerned, but quietly worried.
It was a good five minutes later that the next one hit Ang, she'd been starting to relax, to doze off, but this one had her wincing, "Alec? You do know where the hospital bag is right?" She looked up, her face paling slightly, "I just, I have the strangest feeling that this is it." Yeah, now she was panicking. It had hurt more than she was expecting, and she wasn't entirely sure that drug free was the way to go now. Despite the agreed birth plan they'd all discussed and agreed on.
Alec picked up on her worry, and although it echoed his own, all he could think of was to reassure her, "You'll be fine, we'll both be fine. Remember the breathing, and yes, I know where the bag is, but what didn't the doctor say it was a bad idea to go in too soon?" He smiled gently, "How about you finish your tea? I'll even help you hold the cup if you want?"
The pain subsided and Ang tried again to relax, it might not be it, this might not be the time, and why did she suddenly feel so very under prepared. They'd been to all the ante-natal classes, done and practiced all the breathing exercises, the bag was packed, and really, there wasn't anything else she could have done that she hadn't! Was there? "I would like some tea, have you got a stopwatch handy, I think we need to time these pains, see if there's a pattern?"
Alec picked up the tea, and held it carefully so Ang could guide it to her mouth and take a sip, at least she wouldn't dump it all over herself this way. Gently he wrapped her hands around the cup. "Hold tight, I'll go get my watch." Quickly he left her, and just as quickly returned, buckling his heavy metal watch around his wrist. "Okay, got it."
Ang had managed a small sip in the meantime, and smiled up at him, "So, do we time from the start of one to the start of the next? Or the end of one to the end of the next? I'm not sure if it's just the frequency, or the intensity as well we should be measuring? I can't remember what they said about these." She lifted the cup to take one sip, and then quickly another.
The random intervals continued for quite a while, although Ang was able to confirm that this was a lot more painful than Braxton Hicks. Her back ached, and she had to keep getting up and moving about to ease it. Sometimes the contractions were anything up to ten minutes apart, other times just five, and Ang was finding it hard to cope with her own uncertainty, was this it? Was it just a 'practice', and then she went to the bathroom, because she had to, and as she waddled gracelessly across the floor to come back out there was a very sharp pain and a gush of fluid ran down her legs. "Alec!!! Oh god, Alec!!!!" She stood there, clinging onto the counter, absolutely certain now. This was it.
He was there, having been following a few uncertain steps behind. "Okay, okay." He tried uselessly to sooth her as his arms came around her and tried to guide her back the way she'd come. "We're going. I'll get the bag." It had been waiting at the ready just inside the door for some time now and it wasn't hard to hook it as they passed by. They got a few steps down the hall before he realized he might need his keys. He left her leaning against a wall while he fetched those....then his cell phone when he left to leave without that too. "Okay. I swear, I think I've got everything now."
"I need to change, I'm all wet, I can't go like this," Ang couldn't help smiling, although she was rather worried, even as she turned back again. "Honestly, anyone would think you were panicking and not me! It won't take but a minute to change my skirt and put on some socks or something and my slippers, I simply can not be bothered with shoes right now."
She'd have to change her underwear too, but that wouldn't take any longer than changing the rest would do anyway, since she'd have to dry off a bit as well.
"Ang." He leveled a look at her, keys clutched in one hand, phone in the other, her bag strapped to his back. "You're going to have to change when you get there anyway."
"Alec, it's cold out, and I'm wet. I do not want to go out there like this and wind up sick, so I am going to change, aaaah, just as, soon as I can, ow ow ow ow ow, move." Her face contorted slightly and she hunched over her belly trying not to give in to the pain and just scream her head off. The pain took a minute or so to pass, and as soon as it had she turned for the bedroom, keeping one hand on the wall as she waddled back to the bedroom. It took her barely a minute to drop damp clothes on the floor, drying herself off with her skirt since it was handy (and oh yuck she was not looking forward to the laundry after!) and then pulling on fresh knickers and a pair of dry maternity sweat pants. Socks were harder, reaching her feet was kind of awkward because she just felt so unwieldy, but she managed it, and once slippers were on her feet she waddled back out to Alec, "OK, now I'm ready to go, before the next one hits?"
He'd hovered a few steps away, feeling useless, while she'd changed, but now he stepped forward, blowing out a tense breath as he offered her his arm for stability. "Let's go."
Ang was slow, waddling along carefully, the last thing she wanted was to fall over for any reason. She gripped his arm quite tightly, leaning on him as well as the wall. It seemed like such a long walk to the elevator. But of course, it only took a few seconds normally, right now it seemed to take hours rather than just a minute, Ang reached out to press the button, and gasped as another pain hit. She blinked and panted slightly, her fingers and nails gripping Alec even tighter. "How far apart are they? They're so strong, Alec I'm worried."
"They're supposed to be strong," he teased with a grunt as her nails dug into his arm. "You're giving birth, not baking cookies."
"But not until we get to the hospital right?" The elevator doors pinged, and with a sigh of relief as the pain ebbed a little, she stepped into the lift. "Tell me you practiced the route right? You know exactly how to get there?" Yes she might sound scared, but, she was doing this for the first time, it was unfamiliar, and it hurt, and she didn't know what to expect. All the books had tried to explain, but, Julie had said it best, "Ang, you're an individual, and every labour is exactly the same, individual to the woman in it."
She pressed the button for the parking level, and leaned against Alec for a spot of comfort. It was hard to wrap her arms around him, but she managed it, saying in a small voice, "I'm scared Alec."
Now would probably be a bad time to remind her that she had wanted this, but he was sorely tempted to do so. Instead he said, "Women have been doing this from the dawn of time. You're going to be fine."
"I don't know Alec, this is the first time I've ever done this, what if I get it wrong? Or something goes wrong?" Ang would have rolled her eyes at him, but the lift was descending and Ang was too busy with her worrying and snuggling to care about much else apart from what if someone else got in the lift and then the pain hit? Luckily, it didn't, and the lift went straight to the parking level, drawing to a halt so smoothly that Ang almost didn't notice they'd stopped.
"Don't talk like that," he said with a fierceness that belied his own fears. "You're going to be fine. The baby's going to be fine." He steadied her upright with one hand, and held his other against the elevator door sensor, making sure it would stay open while she waddled out. Over her shoulder he scanned for his car, judging distance and wondering if it wouldn't just be easier to leave her here and bring the car to her.
It was easy to let Alec reassure her, he always seemed to be so calm and in control. She needed that right now. She could feel another contraction building, and paused, leaning on the wall outside the elevator. "How far is the car? I think I can feel another contraction coming.
"You wait here." He waited for her to brace herself, and made sure she wasn't going to fall before stepping back. "I'll get the car and bring it around." He took several quick steps back, then he turned and jogged out of sight behind a row of vehicles.
Ang waited, leaning against the wall, and trying to breathe right. It wasn't as easy when the wave of pain from the contraction was building, but her body was tuning into the wave now and her brain was already sending endorphins out. She was not, however, able to say she was enjoying this, oh no, that was definitely not the case. The contraction was just peaking when she groaned a little. They'd run out without telling Emma! Then the pain washed the thought away and she accidentally smacked her head back against the wall trying not to cry out. "Hurry up Alec, please????" She muttered as the contraction began to ebb, and she realised she'd banged her head, "Ow, now that was stupid, I shouldn't be left on my own right now, I'm not doing so well." One hand came up to rub at the back of her head, it wasn't bad, just a little bit painful. Probably no real damage done.
On cue, the sleek black car appeared around the end of the line and came to smooth stop beside her. The driver side door popped open and Alec appeared, dashing around the front end to come to her side, pulling open the back passenger door and helping her inside. Once she was settled as comfortably as she was going to get, he closed the door and hurried back to his own seat. Slamming his door, and buckling up within seconds they were gliding forward, gathering speed as they breezed through the exit and merged with traffic, headed for the hospital.