“I love you too. Get here safely, okay?”
“I promise.”
3:20 a.m. CT
Maddox
Updates?
Gabi
Eight centimeters. Things are moving.
GPS says we’re getting there around 4:50.
Please don’t die.
We won’t. Oh! Did I tell you that Simon has the same stroller we bought? We’re stroller buddies!
Love that for you.
You aren’t as excited as I am, are you?
I am. You just can’t tell because I haven’t slept in twenty-four hours and I’ve decided we’re never having sex again.
That’s fair.
I’m going to go have a contraction now.
I wish I was holding your hand.
You say that now. Shelby might have to go to rehab after what I’ve done to her.
I’ll pay for it myself.
Get here safe.
Love you.
Love you kind of.
4:28 a.m. CT
“Fuck… fuck… fuck!”
This is the oddest feeling. I should be in pain, but I’m not. Not really. But the pressure. Oh God the pressure…
“Breathe Gab, I got you,” Shelby coaches out, doing her best to be here for me without ever taking a single class or reading one word of a book on childbirth. But like with most things Shelby does in life, she’s killing it.
I do the best I can as I let the contraction pass through me. Once it does, I fall back against the bed, spent and tired from now officially more than twenty-four hours of pain.
“Did I hear a big one?” my doctor says as she walks in my birthing suite with Ainsley.
“They can’t get worse, right?” I ask hopefully. “Like that was the max?”
“Sure,” the doctor says in a tone that’s anything but sure. “Let’s have a look at you.”
The doctor does her thing and I close my eyes for a second, taking advantage of the few minutes of silence.
