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CHAPTER 22 - Don't Mistake This For Loving You Fool
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Ria calmed them both down, explained that hopefully she'd be having the baby in the next 24-48 hours and that she'd be calling regularly to check up on her. It seemed to have settled Petra but Patrick mothered the situation.

"Did you pack your toothbrush?" He asked urgently.

"Yup." She said calmly from slouching on the bed.

"Ok...Are you sure you have everything in here?" he asked as he zipped up her maternity bag.

"Yup."

"Should I take anything? Maybe I should pack a bag?" he said hurriedly.

"Patty-"

"-We're here!!" CeCe said excitedly as the front door opened and her and Joe entered.

"He's freaking out up here can you come save me?!" She yelled. Patrick looked at her sternly.

"What? You are - I'm the one who should be freaking out - my cervix wants to kill me!" she said.

"Pets!" He whined.

"Listen here!" She said urgently and he looked at her quickly.

"You sit down, calm down and think about how you're going to help me through this - stop stressing about things that don't even matter! I need you to wise up and pull the balloon out of your backside!"

Patrick stared blankly.

Petra frowned and gripped her tummy.

"Ow!" She sighed eventually,

"Ow - what, what do you mean ow?" Patrick stared at her.

Petra gasped suddenly.

"That was definitely a contraction."

"You're having the baby-"

"-I'm having the baby."

"You're having the - oh my god." he said, helping her up from the bed.

"We need to get to the hospital."

"No, not right now, I'm OK, I wanna stay at home." She said softly.

"At home?"

"Patrick - we talked about this?!" she said, getting stressed.

"But you're in labour-"

"-Patrick STOP!!" She yelled suddenly.

He stared at her, wide eyed.

"You're smothering me - just relax, everything's going to be fine! Stop stressing!" she said, she put a hand to her head, a headache was already brewing.

"How can you tell me not to stress-"

"-Because I'm asking you not to, Patty, I need you to focus!" She said, taking both his hands and putting them on her bump, she breathed calmly.

"You're about to become a Father....focus on that!" she said. He thought hard for a few moments.

It instilled peace in him, suddenly everything had the potential to be OK.

"OK?" she whispered, she cupped his face gently.

"No more freaking out....I need you to be the strongest you can be." She said, pressing her forehead against his.

"Now - I'm not going to hospital until my contractions are 5 minutes apart, that's what Ria said was a safe bet. So let's just go downstairs, be with Joe and CeCe and let this labour roll on however it wants to." She explained.

---

18 hours later, Petra was still in labour, exhausted and ready to just give up. Ria had arrived 4 hours ago when her contractions became closer together. They'd agreed to go to hospital, much to Petra's dismay.

"7cm's." Ria said regrettably after a quick check.

"That's bloody bollucks!!" Petra yelled.

Patrick choked on his laughter and tried hard to keep it off his face as Petra glared at him.

"How's that drug working?" she asked.

"What drug?" Petra said, throwing her head back and angrily enduring that contraction.

"Ok, I'm going to try something else." She said professionally and instructed the nurse to fetch the dose.

"Maybe you should get her friend CeCe in here, I think she may need a bit of support." Ria said quietly to Patrick.

"Where the hell are you going?!" She yelled at him as he went to leave.

"I was going to get-"

"-You're not going anywhere sweetheart, you got me into this, you're helping me get it out!" she said, beckoning him back with her thumb angrily.

"I'll go." Ria said

Patrick moved closer and Petra suddenly sat up and their heads butted hard.

"Fuck!" Patrick growled as he grabbed his head. Petra gripped the scruff of his T-Shirt and let him know just how much this hurting her.


"I swear to god you're never getting near me again!!" She gasped after the contraction stopped.

"You say that now, but-"

"NEVER!!" She growled.

Patrick remained silent and watched her helplessly.

Ria came back in.

"I need drugs!!" she said urgently to Ria.

"They're coming sweetie, now let's try and work on this breathing..." she said calmly.

"How much longer?!" she asked exhausted.

"I don't know, the contractions just have to do their work..."

"Well they're not working!!" She snapped.

"Petra?!" Patrick said.

"You shut up!!" she snarled at him.

"Ria - get this baby out of me now - I can't do this!"

"Yes you can- just channel it all, bear through the pain, deep breaths..." she said calmly.

"No..." Petra said, she began to get teary, she turned away from them all and lay on her side, dreading the next contraction, praying it wouldn't just open her up and leave her dead like the rest.

"No - Petra." Ria said firmly, she pulled her back over and sat her up. She wiped her face with the cold flannel.

"You waited too long for this, now muster up those British balls of yours and let's get to delivering your baby!" she said firmly. Petra stared at her.

"I'm tired."

"We're all tired sweetie - you got work to do, now come on!!" she said, with a frown. Ria knew she had to be firm with Petra, she was a tough one and she had to play tough.

---

Petra finally got to the last stages 4 hours later. Ria monitored her closely, knowing how fatigued she was.

Petra always thought she'd be so strong during labor, everything for the baby, is doesn't matter what you have to go through. But now she felt different. She felt mentally, emotionally and physically exhausted, her muscles cramped and the pain was unbearable. The misery was exactly what she understood from all the mother's she spoken to. The only comfort was she knew she'd forget it all.

Patrick was distressed seeing her in this position, it was the worst thing he'd had to endure, seeing the person he loved more than anything go through such horrible pain.

"Petra listen to me..." Ria said softly, her hands occupied with monitoring the baby. Petra continued to cry gently, she was on the brink of giving up.

"Petra!" she said, Petra looked at her.

"Look at me , look at me." She said gently.

"Petra...there is a knot in your baby's umbilical cord and he's becoming distressed, if you do not push, he's going to be in serious trouble. So I need you to push the hardest you can because I don't want them to open you up." She said calmly.

Patrick stared at her.

"This contraction, push like you never pushed before." She gently.

Petra felt the contraction start to swallow her up and she grabbed Patrick's arm and growled ungracefully as she pushed as hard as she could.

"Well done! Good girl - that's fantastic - I need another one like that!" She said, letting Petra know she was doing well, encouraging her.

"I can't do it!" she said exhausted.

"Petra?" Patrick said suddenly and Ria felt Petra's leg's drop.

"What's happening?" Patrick cried anxiously.

"She's passed out - we're gonna need a c-section." She said quickly to the nurse who called for the Dr.

"What's going on?" Patrick cried.

"Patrick - we're going to take her in for a C-section, we need to get the baby out and she is too exhausted to deliver - everything's going to be fine!" she explained, she squeezed his arm carefully.

---

He waited while they prepped her and he stared at his unconscious wife, tubes coming out of her mouth.

"This wasn't supposed to happen." He cried gently, reaching down and kissing her forehead softly.

He stayed right by her side while they performed the surgery. The sound of his son crying and filling the room with his wails was overwhelming and he burst into tears.

"He's here!" Ria smiled through her mask and Patrick watched as they took the little pink bundle away and attended to him quickly.

"We have him Petra! He's here!!" he whispered into her ear and kissed her over and over.

"Congratulations Patrick..." Ria smiled and the nurse handed him his son, he stared at him, this was the saddest yet most happiest moment of his life.

He stared at his son's face, he must have been so confused, his whole world had changed in minutes. He softly kissed him.

"You should rest him on Petra's chest for a moment before we have to take him away..." Ria said gently, he handed his son to Ria who gently placed the baby on Petra's chest.

"There's your mommy!" Patrick whispered, the child became calm, hearing his mother's heartbeat soothed him, suddenly he wasn't far from home at all. Mom was sleeping. He'd soon have that challenged.

Then Patrick was alone.

His son was being taken to the unit to be checked, his Wife being taken care of in theatre.

He turned around and almost did a full circle as he looked for someone, anyone...

He slumped into the chair and put his head in his hands.

The ride was over and it was time to get off and find his feet.

He was a father.