Chapter Forty-One

Mason

I lay reclined back into a bunch of pillows and had a fetal heart rate monitor wrapped around my gargantuan belly. With my feet flat on the bed and spread and Dr. Garcia's fingers in me, my stomach tightened. It all felt horrible.

“Ah. Ooh.”

“Breathe, Mason.”

I shook my head.

“You’ve made it this far. I know you can do it.”

I scrunched up my face. “It hurts so much more with you sticking your fingers in there. Jesus.”

Dr. Garcia slid them out and smiled. “I’m not going to check you internally much more, but right now you’re dilated three centimeters.”

“So seven more to go. Will that go quick?”

“It varies from person to person, but this is your first pregnancy, so you probably have some time before delivery. It might be a while. Take a nap now while you can and while your contractions aren’t that strong.”

“Shoot me now. They’re going to feel worse than this?” I was already in so much pain and tired. Dear God, what did I get myself into?

“They will become intense, so that’s why I suggest resting now if you can.”

“How am I supposed to rest when I’m in pain?” His logic was quite flawed.

“Just try to relax and rest. Okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll see what I can do.”

Conrad petted my hair off my forehead. “Close your eyes for a bit.”

“Fine.” I held his hand and did start to doze off, but that lasted about a minute. My contracting stomach woke me. I put my hand on my belly and breathed through it. Conrad stood there smiling at me like an idiot.

“You wouldn’t be smiling if this was you.”

“I love you so much.”

“Yeah, you’re saying that because every time we have kids, it’s going to be me in here in pain, not you.” I wanted to reach out and shake him until the smile fell from his face.

“Every time and not the next time, so that means we’ll have multiple pregnancies in the future.”

“Oh, shut up.”

“I want to have all the babies in the world with you.”

“Can somebody else magically birth them all? This sucks.”

“You’re doing great, though.” Conrad kissed me on the forehead.

“You are doing great,” my mom said, walking into the room.

“I think I’m going to get tired of people saying that really quick. How long were you in labor with me?”

“Seventeen hours.”

“Please don’t let that be my case.” I was done, so ready for the babies to come out.

“However long it takes, we’ll help you through it,” my mom said.

 

After I had gotten up and walked some, I made my way back to the room. My mom and Conrad in tow.

“I have to pee.” I held my mom’s shoulder with one hand and my stomach with the other. “Did you hear, Mom? My fiancé here thinks I’m a breeding machine and wants to have like fifty children.”

“No,” he said, rubbing my abdomen as I waddled toward the bathroom. “Fifty-one.”

“You just like me pregnant.”

“I like the miracle that is you and what you can do.”

“Mason, you got a good one here,” my mom said.

I went and did my business, and when I got back out, Conrad still carried on.

“So if we have kids every two years, you being twenty now, we might not be able to have that fifty-one, but I’d say a good, ten to fourteen.”

“You think you’re so funny.” I pointed to the giant purple ball across the room.

“We’ll start with the two,” Conrad said, rolling the ball under my butt so I could sit on it.

“Oh God,” I said, closing my eyes, gripping my stomach.

My mom and Conrad both started in with the he he hoooos.

I moaned and rocked back and forth on the ball. “How many hours has it been?”

“We’ve been here six hours,” Conrad told me.

“Nine hours so far. Three at home, the six here. Get them out of me.”

Conrad massaged my shoulders. “You’ll get them out soon enough.”

“It could be hours. Ow,” I said, resting my head on the edge of the bed. I focused on my breathing, but the contractions started getting so much worse and lasting way longer.

 

Five hours later and at the brink of exhaustion, Dr. Garcia walked into the room. “I hear we’re going to have some babies soon?”

I grabbed fistfuls of the sheets and closed my eyes, blowing out my breaths, but they didn’t seem to help much anymore. The contractions came so quick and close together, it was like riding a giant wavering wave of pain. I blew out a breath, whimpered, and blew out another. As it tapered off I squeaked out, “It hurts so much.”

Conrad dabbed at my forehead with a towel. “You’re so close to pushing. Almost there.”

I squeezed his hand as another contraction started. I threw myself back into the pillows and moaned. Pain surging through, the contraction so tight and intense, and then I felt an incredible pressure below. “Oh God. Oh God. I have to push.”

“Hold on a little bit longer,” a nurse who was in the midst of checking my vitals said.

“No, I can’t. Oh my God,” I screamed as another contraction hit. The urge growing, the pain unbelievable. Such an incredible pressure on my anus.

“Breathe, Mason. Breathe,” Dr. Garcia said, snapping on some gloves.

“I can’t, no,” I said, tossing my head back and forth.”

“All right, we’re getting you ready to push. Can you scoot down a bit here?”

I didn’t answer because I was too busy breathing through the urge, trying to hold on a little longer.

“The contraction is almost done,” Dr. Garcia said, looking at the squiggly lines on the computer screen next to my hospital bed.

I blew out a shaky breath and scooted down the bed. The nurse pulled out the stirrups and adjusted them. There were five nurses in the room, plus Dr. Garcia, my mom, and Conrad, so many people watching as I got ready to deliver my babies.

“We’re going to have you put your feet up in here,” the nurse named Jose said.

“Or do you want to try to hold your legs, Mason?” Dr. Garcia asked.

I nodded my head, and I concentrated on breathing and then shook my head.

“Was that a yes to holding your legs?” he asked.

I shook my head no.

“Do you need help getting your feet in the stirrups?”

I nodded. The contractions were so strong they stole my ability to speak. Jose helped me move the one leg, and Conrad helped with the other. Dr. Garcia took away the bottom of the bed and handed it to another nurse. My mom stood in the corner, smiling and taking pictures.

Conrad kissed my forehead. “We’re about to have our babies.”

I grabbed his T-shirt as a contraction hit.

“Push. Push, Mason,” Dr. Garcia said, sitting on a stool at the end of the bed.

I rolled up and bore down, but I was so shaky, and it was so painful, I mostly just screamed and choked Conrad with his shirt.

“Good first push. Next one, we’ll go bigger. Really bear down and concentrate.” Dr. Garcia looked up at me and smiled.

I collapsed back. “I can’t stop shaking.”

“That’s just your body reacting to what you’re going through. Totally normal.”

“You amaze me,” Conrad said.

“Oh God, shut up,” I screamed, my stomach growing tight.

“Here comes another one,” Dr. Garcia said in a voice that sounded like we were having so much fricking fun. I was being ripped open alive, and he was happy. I wanted to punch him in the throat.

I curled up again and pushed with all my might, screaming, sweat dripping down my forehead. Felt like my head was going to pop off.

“Wow, good job, but let your breath go. Breathe through it,” Dr. Garcia said so calmly.

“Jesus, shut up. Oh my God. Why did I do this?”

“Because you want to be a dad and you love your babies.” Conrad petted my sweaty hair.

“Conrad, I swear to God.” I lay back, panting and shaking.

“Let’s adjust the bed a bit more for him,” Dr. Garcia said.

Jose nodded and pushed a button on the bed, and it felt like I was getting folded in half.

“Here we go. And push. You got this, Mason. You’re doing great.”

I bore down and focused, thinking how I needed to get those babies out of me. I let my breath go and pushed.

“There we go. Good. Good.”

“Are we done? Can I stop now?”

Dr. Garcia shoved his fingers in me. “You’re working that baby down.”

“So, I’m almost through.”

“Oh, no. They still have quite the way.”

And another one hit. I didn’t know how much more I could take. “Fuck,” I screamed. “How much longer?”

“Depends on the progress with each push and how your contractions go. You’re doing great, though.”

“But how long?” I needed to know a definite amount of time.

“First births for omegas, on average, are two to three hours of pushing. But it varies.”

“Oh God.” And I pushed and pushed again. Each time becoming more tired than the next. I was in so much pain that I stopped talking even between contractions. The between time not being much time at all.

“Baby one is really coming down. I can see the head,” Dr. Garcia said from between my legs.

Conrad wiped my forehead with a towel. I kept my eyes closed, breathing, prepping for the next one, which I screamed through.

“Next one, give me all you got,” Dr. Garcia said.

I nodded and pushed, grabbing the back of my thighs and bearing down, working that baby down and pushed as long as I could.

“Fantastic. Rest for a moment. Wait maybe not, and push.”

And the contractions kept coming. After an hour and a half of pushing, I was convinced our babies liked it where they were.

“Are we done? I can’t go on. They’re not coming.”

“We’re making progress. It might seem slow, but each push helps.”

I squeezed Conrad’s hand as pain gripped me again, and for the next hour, it kept coming, so little relief in between them.

“Never again,” I said, panting, sweat stinging my eyes. I was spent.

And as I screamed through another contraction, Dr. Garcia said, “I see hair. Oh, baby has a lot.” The nurses all gathered around and oohed and awed.

“Want to reach down and touch?”

I shook my head because I had to push again.

“Look at the hair,” Dr. Garcia said, holding up a lock of our baby’s hair. “Want to see in the mirror?”

One of the nurses fixed the mirrors so I could look. And there our baby was. One of my children about to be born into the world, and I bore down. It was just me and my pushing and the sound of the doctor’s voice.

“More hair. And push. Another good one.”

My body shook, and I pushed with everything I had.

“Keep going. There is the top of the head. Push, Mason. Push. Baby’s crowning.”

I bore down and screamed, and it was incredibly painful. It burned so much and felt like I was ripping wide open, but I knew I had to get through it. I had to push and get my baby out.

“The top of the head. Keep going. You got this.”

I bore down again, screaming. I’m sure everyone in Pine Wood Falls heard me.

“Here comes the top of the head. Look at that. Do you want to touch your baby?”

I reached a shaky hand down and touched my baby for the first time ever. It was unbelievable.

“And push. Push, Mason, push. Here comes baby number one. Here’s more of the head. Would you look at that face? Now give me another good push.”

And I pushed my baby out. “Here baby comes. Here comes your first baby.” I felt a rush of relief as the head popped all the way out. “Hold up a sec. Let me check.”

I looked up at Conrad, and he smiled, tears streaming down his face.