I walked out the room and pulled my phone out quick, hittin’ Pressure’s line, and he answered on the second ring.
“Wus’ good?” he asked.
“Nigga… Toni in labor,” I said, runnin’ my hand over my face while I paced a couple steps down the hall.
There was a pause on his end, then a low chuckle. “Yeah… It’s about that time.”
“This shit different, bro,” I muttered, shakin’ my head. “I ain’t even gon’ lie to you. This shit hittin’ different watchin’ her go through it.”
He let out a breath. “I already know. That first one gon’ sit on you heavy. You good though. She good?”
“Yeah, she straight… she just in pain like a muthafucka,” I replied, my voice lower now.
“A’ight, then you straight,” he replied. “You right where you supposed to be, nigga. Just stay with her. You ’bout to be a daddy in a minute.”
I let that sit for a second, lookin’ down at the marble floor. “Yeah…”
“Soon as my goddaughter get here, yo’ ass better hit my line nigga,” he added.
I smirked a lil’. “I got you.”
“Make sure you do,” he said. “Y’all gon’ be good.”
I hung up after that and stood there for a second, lettin’ that shit settle in me before I turned around and went right back to my wife.
Hours kept passin’ after that, and nothin’ really changed except the pain gettin’ worse. The pool wasn’t doin’ what we thought it would, and Toni was startin’ to get irritated, shiftin’ around, tryna get comfortable but nothin’ was really helpin’.
I had called Sha’Nelle earlier to let her know what was goin’ on, and ever since then my phone ain’t stopped buzzin’. She kept textin’ every few minutes askin’ for updates, and I kept tellin’ her the same shit, that Toni was still in labor and we was just waitin’.
By the time I checked my phone again, it was 11:30, and that shit felt like it took forever to get here.
More calls started comin’ in too, with family checkin’ in and askin’ questions, but I wasn’t really entertainin’ none of it for real. My focus stayed on Toni.
By 12:30, I had checked the time so many times it ain’t even feel real no more. I had ended up gettin’ in the pool with her, sittin’ behind her with her body leaned back against mine with my legs on either side of her while I held her close.
My lips stayed at the side of her neck, kissin’ her slow between contractions, breathin’ her in and tryna keep her grounded through all of it.
“I’m right here, baby… just lean on me,” I murmured against her skin, my hand slidin’ over her stomach while she breathed through another wave.
My mama phone rang after a while, and she stepped out to take it, sayin’ it was my pops, so it was just me and Toni in the room.
For a minute, it was quiet except for her breathin’ and the water movin’ around us, and I stayed right here with her, holdin’ her, kissin’ her neck and rubbin’ her stomach.
Then Toni shifted a lil’, her body tense again.
“Kay’Lo…” she whispered, her voice shaky.
“Yes, baby?” I asked quick.
“She movin’… it feel different,” she said, her breath pickin’ up.
I frowned a lil’, not really understandin’ what she meant. “What you mean?”
Before she could answer, that next contraction hit her harder than anything before, and the sound that came out her mouth made me freeze for a second ’cause I ain’t never heard a sound like this in my life.
“Kay’Lo…” she cried out, her whole body lockin’ up. “She comin’… she comin’!”
That shit hit me all at once, and I moved quick, reachin’ for my phone to call my mama, but before I could even dial, Toni screamed so loud it threw everything off and made me snap my attention right back to her. When I looked down between her legs, I saw blood rushin’ out into the water in a way that made my whole body lock for a split second before reality caught up with me.
