Page 135 of Falling in Love with Two

“Sounds like labor to me,” I tell her. “But maybe not. Let’s go to the hospital and let them tell us for sure.”

“If I’m not, can we get Oreos on the way home?”

“Congratulations, Leah! It’s time to have a baby,” the nurse says as she hooks Leah up to the monitors.

“No, I can’t be in labor. It’s too early. We don’t have the nursery ready, and we don’t have the car seat installed. We haven’t picked a name.”

She smiles. “You know who doesn’t care about any of that stuff? Babies. They’re rude like that—always wanting you to be on their schedule.”

“Will my baby be okay?” Leah asks, her voice cracking.

“Thirty-five weeks is a little early, but we are going to do everything we can to take great care of you and baby both. You’re not the first early baby we’ve seen.”

Leah is poked and prodded for the next few minutes while the nurses get her ready to have a baby. I try to stand out of the way but am anxious to be right by her side again to try to assure her everything will be okay.

Finally, they get us into a room, and the contractions start. At first, Leah describes them as just a slight twinge, but it doesn’t take long for her to start yelling obscenities every time one hits.

When the nurses leave us alone, I sit on the bed next to Leah and hold her hand. “You doing okay, gorgeous?”

“No. Nothing is okay. We should have finished the nursery by now. We should have talked about names. I just feel like we aren’t getting off to a very good start. Hell, my body has finally decided to reject the baby and is spitting her out before she’s finished cooking.”

“Baby, everything is okay,” I tell her. “We will get everything done I promise—even if I have to work night and day when we get home to make sure it’s done.”

“I’m not ready,” she says, barely loud enough for me to hear.

“You know what?” I smile. “I am. And I’ve got you.”

She chuckles. “You know, that’s what you said to me when I freaked out because I was pregnant.”

“I meant it then, and I mean it now.”

A contraction hits, and I coach her to breathe through it. She looks at me like she wants me to catch on fire, but her anger toward me seems to be distracting her from the pain.

A nurse comes in to check some numbers on the monitors and then tries pumping some medicine through the IV line.

“What’s wrong?” Leah asks.

“The baby’s heart rate is just a little low, so we are trying to raise it a little.”

All of the color drains from Leah’s face.

“Hey,” I say. “It’s okay. The nurses know what they are doing.”

The next few minutes are filled with complete terror. I try to hold it together for Leah, but I’m freaking out on the inside.

The nurse walks out, and Leah turns to me. “I need you to promise me something.”

“What?”

“If something goes wrong, I need you to do whatever you can to save the baby even if that means putting me on the back burner. I need you to make sure the doctors know that.”

“Leah—”

“Dylan, promise me!”

I sigh. “I promise.”

After giving her a kiss, I say, “You know, for someone who doesn’t think they’re ready to be a mom, you sure as hell are acting like a good one.”

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