I tried to keep my mind from travelling back to the place where it kept involuntarily going and stressing me out. I knew that if I was thinking it, that others must be too. I had been hoping that my baby would come after its due date, but I guess that wasn’t meant to be.

I leaned my head back on the headrest. I couldn’t stop thinking about the figurative elephant in the car…the fact that the baby was coming two weeks early made it more likely that it was Seth’s, not Sam’s.

36

Once we got to the hospital, everything went by in a blur. I was put in a shockingly nice room, and I wondered briefly how much it must cost. I knew that Sam would insist on paying for it, and that he could afford it, but I didn’t like thinking about him having to pay an exorbitant amount for this birth.

Not long after we were settled in the room, an onslaught of visitors arrived. Court and Seth got there first. Next Jessie came in with her usual burst of excited energy. Annie followed soon after that. She had come straight from the airport. “Just in the nickel of time,” she said, making us all smile as she squeezed my hand warmly.

Mr. and Mrs. Davis even stopped by and stood stiffly in the corner of the room. As if sensing that they were making me uncomfortable, Sam told them that it would probably be a long night and that they should go home to sleep. He promised that he would call them as soon as the baby was born. Looking relieved, they took him up on his offer.

My room bustled with activity all night. Nurses and doctors were in and out periodically to check progress or get readings from the machines that were hooked up to various parts of my body. Time seemed to go by quickly, probably because we were all filled with nervous energy.

The sun was just starting to rise when they finally indicated that it was time for me to start pushing. Everyone had left the room to give me some privacy during the exam, so when they came back in, I got to tell them that it was time. The excitement in the room was palpable as my visitors prepared to leave.

Sam and Court both seemed a little uncertain about what to do because we hadn’t discussed exactly what would be happening at this point. I grabbed each of them by the hand and said, “Stay.” They both looked relieved as they nodded. “You’ll both be up by my head,” I clarified, having seen enough of the childbirth video to know that I didn’t want anyone who wasn’t getting paid to be here to see what was happening below the curtain. They both nodded again, likely even more relieved.