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We stayed in the water for a long time, until we started getting cold. Lucas helped me out of the tub and wrapped me in a warm bath robe. He fluffed the pillows on the bed and laid me on my left side, before running lotion over my arms and legs. My wedding ring felt tight on my hand, but when Lucas massaged my fingers, it felt better. Every touch was gentle, every caress sensual. I felt so at peace.
I closed my eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.
I didn’t know how long I was out, but I woke suddenly when Lucas gave a start. His breathing slowed quickly, like it was nothing more than a bad dream. He was still out cold.
Night had fallen, and the moonlight shone in through the windows. I rubbed my blurry eyes to get them to adjust to the darkness. I checked the clock to see it was already eleven o’clock.
A mild cramp deep in my belly prompted me to get out of bed. Slowly, I sat upright, giving myself a moment to breathe—which was becoming more difficult the bigger the twins got. One of the twins must’ve had a foot shoved under my right ribs, because it was really uncomfortable there. I got out of bed and waddled to the bathroom.
When I returned to the bed, Lucas stirred awake. “Everything okay?”
“I’ve got a stomach bug or something,” I said.
He sat up straighter. “Vomiting?”
“No, I just have weird cramps,” I told him. “It’s nothing to worry about.”
Lucas relaxed and moved closer to me, snuggling his frontside against my back. He draped his arm over me, holding my belly. I loved it when he did that. It made me feel so safe and protected.
Half an hour passed, and I couldn’t find a comfortable position. I watched the clock and waited, but I couldn’t fall back asleep. The moonlight seemed to darken, taking on a reddish hue. I placed my hands on my belly beside Lucas’s and started counting kicks. The baby on my right was active and moving. The one on my left must’ve been sleeping, because I didn’t feel any movement there.
My cramps worsened. I winced and shifted in bed. Lucas sat up straight in bed, never once moving his hand off my belly.
“Are you doing that?” he asked.
“Doing what?”
“That thing with your stomach. It’s… hard. I think you’re having a contraction!”
I scoffed. “It’s just Braxton-Hicks contractions; they’re normal. There’s no way I’m in labor. We just hit thirty weeks. The babies can’t be coming this soon…”
I trailed off as my eyes landed upon the incubators across the room. My stomach dropped. “Dear Goddess.”
I went to sit up, but as I shifted, I heard a pop. Water gushed between my legs.
Tears of panic welled in my eyes. “It’s too early!”
Lucas tossed the covers off himself so fast he was practically a blur. “I’ll get the hospital bag and tell the others.”
“Find Isa,” I begged. “I need her.”
It was unusual for Isa not to sleep by me. She must’ve gotten locked out of the room.
I didn’t want Lucas to leave my side, but as the next contraction hit, the room seemed to disappear around me. I curled onto my side and squeezed my eyes shut tightly as the wave of tension washed over me. The pain was intense, and I couldn’t believe I’d been lying in bed for thirty minutes in labor and hadn’t realized it.
I couldn’t wrap my head around how it was even possible to give birth this early. Luana had said the babies should be born closer to thirty-six weeks, unless complications arose. My preeclampsia was only mild?—
I cut off mid-thought when I realized that I’d overlooked those symptoms as well. I was so used to being sick that something as simple as a headache or blurred vision didn’t even register as out of the ordinary. Swollen hands were a normal part of pregnancy, so I hadn’t thought that my ring being tight was anything unusual. The pain below my ribs had barely seemed like an inconvenience.
It was silly to think that all of this went over my head. I’d been showing symptoms of worsening preeclampsia all day, and now, I was going into labor. I had the thought that I couldn’t trust myself to know what was happening with my own body. If I’d been more cautious, I’d have recognized something was wrong, and we might’ve been able to prevent this.
A horrifying thought hit, and I hoped to the Goddess I was wrong. The baby on the left wasn’t moving. I thought he was asleep, but what if…?
The contractions were intensifying, and I couldn’t organize my thoughts much beyond what my body was doing.
I heard clamoring all throughout the house. I was almost certain everyone must’ve awoken when they heard the commotion. Someone touched my shoulder, but I didn’t know who it was. I shrugged them off. I wanted to tell them not to touch me, but I couldn’t find my voice. Another contraction hit me, and it was like my whole body was being squeezed by an external, magical force.
“Nadine.” Verla’s kind voice brought me comfort. I opened my eyes to see her standing above me. “It’s time to go to the hospital. We have to get you out of bed.”
