Page 65 of His Determined Bear

Cooper did as I asked and reclined against the lounge chair. His ankles were a bit swollen from the excess fluid he was carrying, so I knew a foot massage and a snack would be good for both of them.

I went into the house and brought him a glass of lemonade and a banana. Both would help with his swelling ankles. I handed off the snack to him, then took his ankles in my lap. I slowly applied gentle pressure to the bottom of his feet until the moans began. Now I knew he was relaxing while sipping his drink and replenishing his electrolytes.

If Cooper weren’t a thousand months pregnant, I would have shifted into my bear and wrestled him around the yard. He loved it when I shifted, and we cuddled up together in the sunlight. After the baby came, we would do more wrestling around in the yard. Sexy times ahead.

“ We’re going to be parents soon,” Cooper whispered, lost in thought. At least for a little while, he wasn’t focusing on work, and I could give him something else to be focused on. Unfortunately, all good things came to an end, and he returned to writing his articles. No matter how short, it was something.

Three days later, all the waiting finally came to an end. I was in the nursery, applying the last coat of paint, when I heard the yell coming from the living room. “Graham!!”

It sounded like a blood-curdling scream, so I dropped the paintbrush and rushed downstairs and into the living room, where Cooper was holding his back and bent over in pain.

“It’s time,” he moaned.

“How do you know?” I asked, rushing up to him. He looked up at me, pain all across his face.

“My water just broke,” he finally stated. “It’s time.”

I wrapped my arm around him and escorted him out of the living room. Grabbing my car keys and wallet, I helped him out the door and to the car. We’d placed his bag in the car two weeks ago, just in case we needed to go to the hospital quickly.

“My laptop,” he squealed.

“You’re about to have our baby. You can take a few days off work,” I argued, not stopping to hear his pleas. When I got in the car, I headed straight for the hospital. I could still hear the grumblings through the groaning pain he released. “You’ll get your laptop soon enough,” I stated. “Don’t stress over that right now, especially when you’re having the baby.”

That quieted him, but only for a few minutes as we made the trek to the hospital. Once we got into the emergency room, Cooper looked at me. “Call my mom. See if she’ll go get my laptop.”

I groaned. “What’s so important? The article can wait.” I knew he was working on writing articles for E-Zine. Even though he no longer ran the magazine, he did write food and wine articles occasionally. He stopped covering wine when he got pregnant, but he still felt he needed to keep on top of deadlines. Even as he was en route to give birth. He never ceased to amaze me. “I will call your mother,” I finally relented. That eased his mind.

We were placed in a delivery room to wait for the doctor since his water had already broken on its own.

While we waited, I made my calls, including one to Kelly. She was not happy about his request any more than I was. “He does not need his laptop,” Kelly argued.

“I said the same thing, but I swear he won’t deliver this baby without having the laptop. Will you please just stop and get it? You have the spare key, and it’s in the living room where he left it.”

“Fine. I’m on my way.”

“Thank you, Kelly.” I hung up and hurried back into the room where Cooper was yelping from another contraction.

“Your mom is going to go get it. But you are most likely going to deliver this baby before she even gets here.”

He shrugged, and I reached for his hand as we both waited for the doctor to arrive.

When the doctor came in, he checked to see how much Cooper had dilated and looked up at us both. “You still have hours to go,” he said. “Just hang in there. Do you want something for the pain?”

“No!” Cooper quickly yelped. “I’m fine.”

I held his hand as we waited for our families to arrive. It was forty-five minutes before Kelly came in with his laptop in tow. Cooper pounced on that and quickly grabbed the computer from her.

I shook my head. “He’s your son. I can’t do anything with him. I sure hope this little guy isn’t as stubborn as his Papa.”

She laughed. “Who works from the bed when they’re about to have a baby?”

“Cooper!” I teased.

Cooper ignored us and quickly went about working on the article. I got up and started pacing the floor, anxiously wanting this to all stop. I wanted to see our son, and every time Cooper stopped writing to yelp in pain, I rushed to his side.This was taking a toll on all of us.

“Are you sure you don’t want anything for the pain?” I asked.

“I’m fine,” he panted between gritted teeth.“I want to do this without medication. It's better for him.”

---