Page 98 of Lilly
“Are there instructions inthere?”
“Just go and get it.” I watch Dec stop and say something to Nic before he rushes out of thepub.
Nic runs over to me, her eyes wide and a huge smile on her face. “The babies arecoming?”
“It looks that way. When Dec reappears, will you help me to the toilet? You might have to apologise to the owner about the state of his chair,” Isay.
When Dec comes back, I hand him the paperwork I printed out for the local hospital. He gives me a questioning look when I hand it over. “What? I was just being prepared. As you all said, it could happen at moment, so I wanted to have everything in place. Now ring them, tell them my waters have broken but I haven’t had any…argh,” I say as a pain goes across my lower belly. “No, tell them my contractions have juststarted.”
Dec immediately goes to pull his phone out of his pocket as Nic grabs the bag he brought in and helps me towards the toilets. “Oh,” I shout over my shoulder towards Dec, “and maybe callLucas.”
After an hour, my contractions start coming hard and fast so the midwife tells Dec to bring mein.
“I’m so sorry for ruining your mum’s day,” I say toNic.
“Are you crazy? She would have loved it. She always wanted to be a midwife. Come one, let’sgo.”
“Aren’t you stayinghere?”
“Seriously?” she asks, lookingaround.
She has a point; the only people left here for the wake are a couple of elderly neighbours who are propping up the bar and watching the horse racing on the TV. “Okay, come onthen.”
Nic helps me get in the car after laying out a waterproof cover on the seat. They’re maternity pads but I’m fairly sure I could have picked up the exact same thing in the puppy training department in our local petshop.
“Hurry up,” Dec says anxiously from the driver’sseat.
“Seriously, Dec. You need to chill out alittle.”
“You are about to push out two kids. Two, Lilly. Not one, like most normal people. Two. How are you socalm?”
“What’s the point in panicking? There’s nothing I can do to slow this down. It will happen as it will happen. Have you managed to get hold of Lucasyet?”
“No, still no answer.” So much for me telling him to keep his phone on loud just incase.
* * *
“Lucas is on his way,”Dec announces as he walks back in the room after answering hisphone.
“About bloody time,” I grate out as I feel another oncoming contraction. “He’d better not missthis.”
Five hours later, I’m on my back with Dec holding one leg up and Nic the other while the midwife looks intently at my nether regions. If I cared about anything right now, I would feel sorry for my poor brother, but I don’t. My only focus is the pain I’m currentlyexperiencing.
I was planning on having an epidural. The midwife agreed, but there was an issue with another woman and by the time the anaesthetist actually made it to my room, it was too late. So here I am, enduring the joys of labour with only gas and air to dull the pain. And let me tell you right now, that stuff does shitall.
“Argh,” I groan as one contraction rolls straight into another. It wasn’t so bad earlier when I got a break in between, but this istorture.
“That’s it, Lilly. I saw the head. A few more like that and baby number one will behere.”
“Lucas,” I mutter. “NeedLucas.”
“He’ll be here, honey,” Nic says softly. I’m so glad she’s here. I’m not sure how I would have done this without her. Dec’s great and all, but he’s like a fish out of water. Nic seems to know what I need andwhen.
“Okay, one more like that and we’ll have a baby, Lilly. Come on, you can doit.”
I clamp down on Dec and Nic’s hands as I give it everything I’ve got. I’m vaguely aware of a bang, but that’s about it as I focus on the task inhand.
Lucas
