Not My Mate - Finished

Chapter Twelve - The Birth

I woke up late in the night and I couldn't get comfortable in bed. I tossed and turned. My back hurt, and my hips were cramping. I decided to walk around for a bit, which helped. I kept feeling like I had to pee, and kept switching between sitting on the toilet and pacing.

I began noticing small surges in contractions. They came in waves. The first hour, they were nothing more than painful period cramps and were 8 or 9 minutes apart. This quickly escalated to coming 5 minutes apart and increasingly more painful over the next few hours. I kept pacing, and eventually began leaning on the counter and swaying my hips back and forth.

Eventually one contraction hit me. I growled as it tore through my abdomen, and dropped to my knees in front of the bathtub. I began vomiting, I felt dizzy and sick. I was shaking.

“KAYNE!” I yelled out. Somehow, even from his sleep, he got to the bathroom within a few moments. Immediately, concern took over the sleepiness in his features.

“What? What's wrong?” He asked. He rushed to my side, placing his hand on my back and rubbing gently.

I screamed as another contraction ripped through me. I gripped the side of the bathtub until my fingers were white. Kayne understood then, and jumped into action.

“How long have you been having contractions?” He asked.

“About three hours.” I panted.

“How far apart?”

“I think five minutes.”

“Okay, I'm going to get some water and ice for you before the next one hits.”

He got downstairs and back before I could protest. I sipped coconut water to help keep me hydrated. Dehydration was not going to help this process.

Another contraction came. Kayne pressed hard against my back and hips, which felt amazing and helped a lot.

“Okay, keep drinking, I'm going to get cloths set up.” He said. Once again, I wanted to protest, I wanted to beg him not to go. Every minute he was gone, I kept waiting for contractions to come. He arrived again with a crockpot filled with water and washcloths. He plugged it in and set it to high. He had frozen cloths in an ice bowl. Another contraction came and he again applied pressure.

After it was over, he started rinsing the bathtub to make sure it was ready if I decided I wanted to try to labor in it for a while.

Another contraction hit. Worse than it had been. I was breathless and clutching Kayne for support. He held me and rubbing my back.

More hours passed of this. I started laboring on my hands and knees, rocking back and forth and eventually making noises that were in-human. Kayne applied pressure during each and began putting hot washcloths on my back. It was amazing, and I decided at that point to get in the bathtub.

The hot water was magical and contractions were much more manageable.

I finally stepped out to go to the bathroom. I felt like I had to pee, and went to go to the toilet. I thought I hadn't made it when hot liquid began drizzling down my legs.

“Oh... shit.” I said.

“What?” Kayne asked – he was helping me walk.

“I think I already peed...” I said.

He looked down. Fluid was still trickling out. “No, that's your water.”

As if on queue, I felt like a balloon snapped inside my belly. It wasn't painful, but it was weird. A large gush of fluid rushed onto the floor. Then it hit – the worst contraction I had felt yet came, I felt like I was going to pass out.

Kayne got me back into the tub and another contraction hit. I felt something drop, there was a lot of pressure in my v****a.

Another contraction. I was growling, screaming through now. I was panting and could barely get words out. “I can't do this. I'm going to die.”

“No, you're almost there. Breathe, Bria.” Kayne said. He kissed me.

“This is f*****g bullshit.” I screamed through another contraction.

“You're doing really good.” He assured me.

“There's so much pressure.” I instinctively began bearing down, working with my body.

“I can see the top of the baby's head Bria.” Kayne said. He had a huge smile on his face.

I pushed with my body during each contraction. There was a lot of burning and pressure down low. My whole v****a felt like it was on fire.

“Heads out baby. You're doing great.”

Another push. More encouragement. Kayne put a cool cloth on my head. A few more minutes of pushing.

The worst contraction yet came, and my body was pushing the baby out without any help from me. It felt better to push with it, so I pushed as hard as I could. It was horrible, everything was on fire. I growled, and then I felt it.

The baby was out, the pain was fading fast. Kayne had his hands on the baby and guided them out. He pulled the baby gently out of water. The baby's face was a perfect little mix of Kayne and I.

I sobbed and held the baby against my chest, rubbing their back to stimulate crying. Kayne gently used a suction bulb to suction their nose and mouth. Finally, a huge cry came out of the baby's mouth, and more cries after that.

“Oh my god.” I groaned, leaning my head back in the tub, exhausted. I could barely see through my tears. The baby was here, they were healthy. I looked up to see Kayne, he was staring down at our baby, tears streaming down his face.

He helped me slight pull the baby from my chest to look down.

“It's a boy. A boy.” Kayne told me. He kissed me, hard. Then turned to grab a towel to lay over the baby to keep him warm.

I stayed in the tub for another ten minutes until I was able to push out the placenta. My son stayed on my chest, making small squeaks and taking in his new surroundings. Kayne and I stared at him in awe.

Once the placenta was out, Kayne grabbed a metal bowl from the kitchen to put it in. We agreed not to cut his cord right away. The bath water was getting cold, and I wanted to dry off. Kayne took the baby from me, and then helped me stand up out of the tub. I was exhausted.

“Are you alright if I go get this guy into a diaper?” He asked. 

“Yes, thank you.”

He handed me a dry towel. I started drying off and sat on the toilet. I was too tired to move. I leaned my head against the wall.

Kayne came back in, promising me he had set the baby safely in the bassinet. He helped me get dressed and situate pads for the bleeding that happened after you had a baby. He helped me get into bed, and brought the baby over.

We got the baby latched to my breast and he ate for a while. When he had fallen asleep, Kayne encouraged me to sleep as well and promised to wake me if they needed me.