Niall Horan Pregnancy Series

Labor: Part 2

It had been about 10 hours since your water broke and you still weren't dilating very fast. When the doctor last checked you twenty minutes ago you were at 6cm, meaning you had only progressed 1 cm in the last four hours.

Both your parents and Maura and Chris were now at the hospital and they were both in the room with you and Niall. Your mom couldn't sit still because of how excited she was for the twins to arrive. Maura was also very excited, but she was a little less jumpy about it.

Your doctor came into the room and took a seat on the stool next to your bed, and you knew that something was wrong.

"What is it?" You asked as you looked at her.

"I want you to stay calm, but I want to talk to you about a couple things." She said.

"Okay."

"You are progressing, but you aren't progressing as fast as we would like. The longer your labor lasts, the more stressed your babies will get as they get further down the birthing canal. We're going to try a few things to get your labor to progress a little faster, but if you don't progress a little faster we might have to do a c-section to deliver them." She said.

You had a feeling that this was coming. You knew that you weren't dilating very fast and that there was a possibility of having to take the twins via c-section. But it didn't make you feel any less nervous or anxious about it.

"It's going to be okay baby." Niall said as he reached up and gently rubbed your back.

"Are you feeling strong enough to take a walk around the hallways?" She asked. "Since taking a few steps around the room has helped you move further so far, we think maybe if you walk a little further you might dilate more." She said.

"Yeah, I can do that." You said.

"Great." She said as she smiled at you.

You swung your feet over the side of the bed and Niall helped you to your feet. He helped you slide your robe on over the gown so that you weren't exposed to any other mothers or families who were also on the birthing floor.

Niall wrapped an arm around you as the two of you headed towards the hallway while one of the nurses followed behind you with a wheelchair and your IV pole in case you got too tired and needed to sit.

You were about halfway down the hallway when you felt a contraction come on. By now your contractions were so painful that you couldn't talk during them, and you couldn't just "walk them off."

"Ni...I gotta.." you struggled to say as you turned towards him and put your hands on his shoulder. He immediately knew you were having a contraction and he put his arms around you and began to massage and rub your back to help you through the pain. You leaned your head against his chest and gripped his shirt with all your might as you waited for the contraction to end.

The nurse was now timing your contractions and you told her when it eased up.

"That one was 50 seconds." She said. "And it's only been about six minutes since the last one which was just before you left the room. You're getting there!"

You smiled at her words. That was what you were hoping for. All you wanted was to have your babies and to hold them in your arms for the first time.

You walked to the end of the hallway and had to stop for another contraction. Once again you leaned on Niall and he rubbed your back as the contraction happened. This one lasted 51 seconds before it eased up.

You walked to the other end of the hallway and back down two more times. During that time you had two more contractions. When you got back into the room you used the bathroom and then walked over to the bed.