Aideen(16)

“The only thing painful about it now is lookin’ at it.”

“What about your throat?” This came from Nico.

I snorted at the three brothers.

“I’m talkin’ so it’s fine. I’m fine. Perfectly fine.”

They nodded their heads but kept staring at me.

I was about to laugh and question why they were staring at me until something happened.

Something wet and sudden.

I widened my eyes. As quick as I could, I jumped to my feet. I gasped and held under my belly as water gushed from between my thighs.

“Oh, shit,” Nico whispered as he stared at me with wide eyes. “Please tell me that’s not what I think it is?”

I couldn’t respond, my throat was clogged up with shock.

“Bro!” Alec hissed at Nico. “She is pregnant, don’t make fun of her for pissing herself. The baby is pressing on her bladder, have a heart!”

Alec looked at me then and smiled. “Don’t even worry about it, gorgeous, we’ll help get you cleaned up and—”

“Branna,” I called out, my voice shaking.

Silence.

Damien opened his mouth when he realised what just happened and called her name louder. “Branna!”

Alec shook his head. “Why do you three look like you’ve seen a ghost? It’s only piss—ew, why does it smell funny?”

I looked down to the clear liquid that was puddled around my feet. I gasped when more of the liquid flowed down my legs. It was the oddest sensation of not being able to stop it.

“Branna!” I called out again.

I heard the toilet flush from down the hallway. “I’m comin’, just washing me hands, honey.”

I took a few deep breaths then cried out when a sudden sharp cramping pain filled my mid-section. It was so painful and out of the blue that I slipped on the water that I stood in. I almost fell over, but Damien and Alec shot up from the sofa and each quickly grabbed one of my arms. They steadied me and tried to avoid standing in the water that was still dripping from me.

I could feel it.

“Oh, shit,” Alec whispered then turned his head and screamed, “Branna, it’s happening. Get your midwife ass in here!”

I heard an excited squeal come from the hallway, then quick-paced footsteps. Branna entered my sitting room, looked at the brothers on either side of me then to the water on my legs and at my feet.

A wide smile spread across her face. “Your water broke before your contractions started? That is brilliant, sweetheart.”

“I just had a sharp pain right after they broke,” I explained. “It only lasted for a few seconds though, is that bad?”

Branna shook her head. “Nope, usually contractions happen for a few hours, then your waters break, they intensify and bam, you’re a mammy.”

I blinked as fear suddenly filled me. “Why didn’t I get the hours of contractions first? Why did my waters go first?”

Branna chuckled and the brothers moved me out of the puddle I had created to a dry patch of floor. “Every labour is different, babe. You might a have a really quick labour, or you might be in labour until tomorrow or the next day. It all depends on how fast this little one wants to come out.”

“You swear this is normal?” I asked, suddenly shaking. “I still have two weeks to go. Can I not have a home birth anymore, do I have to go to the hospital?”

“Calm down, you don’t need to go anywhere unless I say so.” Branna placed her hands on my cheeks and smiled into my face. “Honey, you and the baby are fine. For about three in one hundred women their waters will break before they’re thirty-seven weeks along, and you’re at the thirty-eight week mark. Like I said, every pregnancy is different; there is no by-the-book way to have a baby. All of what I do is simply checkin’ on you and the baby throughout your labour. I follow the guidelines your body sets. This is perfectly normal and nothing to worry about, I promise you.”

I nodded my head, and took a few breaths to try and calm myself.

“I’m going to switch into midwife mode now, okay?” Branna smiled.

I nodded and found myself smiling when Nico and Alec kissed my head in unison, followed by Damien who kissed my nose.

“Let’s do this, Ado,” Alec said excitedly.

I chuckled. “Can you call Kane and have him come home?”

Alec kissed me once more. “I’m on it.”

He moved away from me and jogged out of the room with his phone pressed to his ear. I looked at Branna when she moved over to the large bag she left here a few weeks ago. Since she was my assigned midwife, it made sense for her to leave it here since I rarely left my apartment.

“Your liquid has a slight yellow tinge to it which is completely normal,” Branna informed me. “I can see you’re still leakin’, but not by much. That puddle over there was an obvious gush so there won’t be much left to leak out of you, but just to be safe I’ll bring you inside to change. I want to put a pad on you to keep track of the colour of the water, okay? I’m going to be jottin’ down notes on your form as I go along.”

I nodded. “Okay, then what?”

“Then I’ll check the baby’s heartbeat and we can have a chat.”

Check the baby’s heartbeat and have a chat.

“Got it.”

Branna and Nico both held onto me as I left the sitting room and entered my bedroom. Nico and Damien left and shut the door so I could undress and change.

“Can I shower?” I asked Branna.

She shook her head. “Wait another hour. I just want to watch your water to make sure there is no colour change.”

I nodded my head. “Can you go wet a cloth then so I can wash down my legs, please?”

Branna bobbed her head up and down and then headed out of my room and into the bathroom. She returned with a warm, wet washcloth. She helped me strip naked and took the cloth and washed the lower half of my body.

I flushed. “I’m sorry you have to do this, I’m so embarrassed.”

Branna snorted as she washed my thighs. “Babe, I help strangers do this on a daily basis at work. I’m happy to help you, you’re one of me best friends.”

I got emotional. “I’m so happy you’re going to be deliverin’ her.”

Branna stood up when she was finished and leaned in, wrapping her arms around me. “Me too, sweetie. It is an honour.”

When she separated, she got me a knee-length baby-blue nightie. She got a pair of granny knickers from one of the many new packets I bought for after the baby was born. She also grabbed one of my large pads and placed it onto the knickers then helped me slip them on.

I sighed. “I feel better knowing it will catch the water. It felt so weird when it just came out with no warnin’.”

Branna smiled as we sat down on my bed. She asked me a few questions about my water breaking then she laid me back on my bed and went to get the little portable Doppler she had so she could check the baby’s heartbeat.

When she returned to my room, Nico, Alec and Damien were hovering by the bedroom door looking in. I smiled at them and waved them in.

“Come in. I’m decent.”

They entered the room but quickly made a show of looking up at the ceiling when Branna lifted my nightie upwards until it sat under my breasts. I chuckled at them and said, “I have big knickers on, lads. All you will see is belly and leg if you look.”

They hesitantly peeked at me then fully looked when they saw I had nothing private on show. Alec climbed onto the bed and sat next to me while the twins stood a metre or two away from the bed, watching me warily.

“Where is Kane?” I asked Damien. “Is he on his way home?”

He licked his lips and said, “He didn’t answer his phone, but we left text messages and voicemails. We’ll keep on trying until he picks up.”

I frowned. “He is with Ryder, why don’t you try—”

“Already did.” Nico cut me off. “He isn’t answering either. They’re both probably doing sets and their phones are on silent.”

I blinked. “What if he misses the birth?”

Branna chuckled. “Darlin’, this takes a while. Trust me, he will be here.”

I nodded my head to Nico and said, “Did he take his injection this mornin’? I can’t remember if he did or not.”

“He took it,” Alec confirmed. “He binned the needle in that yellow bucket on the kitchen counter when I came over.”

I nodded my head and relaxed a little.

I glanced at Nico. “Did you ring Bronagh?”

“She and Keela are in town searching for a new bed since our base... broke.”

I snorted. “You broke the base of your bed?”

He shrugged, smirking. “It was bound to happen at some point. I’m actually surprised it lasted so many years of us having sex on it without caving in.”

I laughed.

My attention was brought to Branna when she squeezed some gel on my stomach. She turned on the little machine that found the baby’s heartbeat, then placed the Doppler onto the gel on my stomach and swirled it around.

There was some static, then almost straight away there was a beautiful thudding sound.

I smiled, and so did Branna.

“The heartbeat is as strong as ever.”

“Is it just me,” Alec murmured, “or does the heartbeat sound scary similar to the beat of the song Jingle Bells?”