“Are we going to the hospital now?” I ask, noticing that he’s on the phone.
He shakes his head. “How far apart are your contractions?”
“Four minutes or so.”
He repeats my answer to whoever is on the other side of his call.
“And on a scale of one to ten, how painful?”
Good question. “About a six.”
He leaves the room again which irritates me. Can’t he see I need him to stay with me right now? I pick up my phone ready to text my mum, Sasha and Tommy to let them know that it’s time. Nathan chooses this moment to swoop in, take my phone and hand me a drink. “I’ll deal with that, you rest. Try and get some sleep. The doctor said we should wait a while. He’s on his way.”
“Can I get a pain killer?” I rub my belly and roll onto my side again. “And my ball.”
“Sure.” He rubs my back absentmindedly with one hand, tapping away on my phone with the other. “Do you want me to turn on the TV?”
I shake my head and sip my water, breathing deeply to help with the pain. “No thank you. Be quick, I don’t want to be on my own.”
He is quick. I’m glad when he brings my laptop and plugs it into the TV on the wall so we can watch a movie, although my thoughts aren’t on the movie, they’re on the ever increasing pain in my stomach. Nathan is being great. His back rubs are helping and his calm façade is soothing. If he starts panicking I think I’ll lose it and start blubbering.
I’m terrified. I just want this labour over with.
“Hurts,” I moan and lay my head on Nathan’s lap. I should be embarrassed that my arse is sticking in the air but this seems to be the only comfortable position right now.
“I bet it does.” He rubs my back with one hand, still texting with his other.
“I think we need to go to the hospital now.” A long moan rips from my throat as the clenching in my stomach persists with a vengeance. The pressure is getting worse and the contractions are closer together and killing me. Another one follows almost immediately after the last. I cry out loudly from the pain, I can’t help it. It hurts so badly.
Nathan slides out from beneath me and stands behind me, his thumbs pressing into my back. Why aren’t we going anywhere? I ask him this and hear him sigh. “We’re sort of… damn it.” Pause. “We’re snowed in.”
“That’s really funny, but totally not appropriate to make jokes right now.” I snap burying my face in the pillows. “Can we just go already?”
Nathan falls silent and his words sink into my pain fogged brain. Oh no. No, no, no, no, no. “I’ve called an ambulance but it’s having trouble getting here. We’re up a cliff; the snow around this area is about a foot deeper than everywhere else. Possibly two.”
“Oh my god,” I whine, my body now running on panic alone. “What about the doctor? Doesn’t he have skis or something?”
“He’s… stuck in the city.” Where the closest hospital is.
“Then find me another one!” I shout and I don’t feel guilty for it at all. Tensions are high and I need release.
I roll over and slide from the bed onto my exercise ball. “We’ll figure this out,” Nathan whispers softly after crouching beside me. His hand continues to rub circles on my back. “We have time.”
There’s an odd popping feeling inside as I roll my hips on the ball and bounce a little. My trousers feel wet. “No we don’t.”
“We do…”
“Nathan,” I grab his shirt beneath his chin and pull him to me. “My water just broke. You need to get me a doctor.”
His face pales and his thumb taps frantically at his phone screen. He calls numerous people, the hospital, nine, nine, nine. He tries everyone but nobody can get to us.
“Jeanine has had kids.”
He nods and calls her. I don’t listen to their conversation. I’m in too much pain and I’ll never forgive the snow for this.
The reality of the situation sinks in. “Oh my god. I’m going to be…” Another pain rips through me. I cry and tense, my teeth gritting in an attempt to help it pass. “One of those women who has a baby on the living room floor!”
“We need to get you downstairs,” he blurts. “If… I mean…”
I’m suddenly airborne, which is a good thing because there’s no way I can