Yesterday | Seth Clearwater

Chapter 31

Less than one minute old

I never thought through love we'd be

Making one as lovely as she

~ Stevie Wonder "Isn't She Lovely"

Brooklyn knew that active labor was going to hurt, but she wished that someone would have done a better job of warning her about just how bad it would hurt. Her water hadn't broken until almost midnight, and her contractions had gotten a lot longer and more painful. They also occurred a lot closer together than they had earlier in the day, which sucked because there was less time to recover in between contractions.

"I really don't think we need to go to the—" Brooklyn was cut off by another contraction. It hurt too much to talk through, and she quickly forgot whatever it was she was trying to tell Seth. Her fear was growing with each contraction— there was no going back now. What if something bad happened? What if she was a terrible mother? What if the baby hated her? Her mind raced with all of her insecurities and fears, and her body was wracked with the pain of her contraction. Nearly a minute after it started, her contraction was over.

"That was less than five minutes from the last one," Seth said. "We are going to the hospital."

Seth and Brooklyn had been arguing about whether they should go to the hospital for over an hour. He thought that she should go to the hospital, but she wanted to wait until her contractions were closer together. 

"Fine," she agreed. "Can you grab my bag?"

Among the items in her hospital bags were toiletries, a change of clothes, a fluffy robe, Brooklyn's favorite pillow and blanket, clothes for the baby, clean bottles, and much to Brooklyn's horror, adult diapers. Apparently there was more to postpartum care than people liked to talk about, and that included what was essentially a mega-period that lasted a few weeks and the possibility of uncontrollably peeing her pants a little bit for a while— possibly for the rest of her life. Man, this baby better appreciate what Brooklyn was doing for her. Luckily, they had installed the car seat in Brooklyn's car a few weeks before she had driven to California, so that was one thing they didn't need to worry about.

Seth put the bag in the back seat, and helped Brooklyn into passenger's seat. 

"Your dad said that he'd meet us there, and Kathy will come by with the girls later," Seth informed her. 

"Okay," Brooklyn said. "My mom's flight should land in like thirty minutes, so I texted her the name of the hospital we're going to."

"I can't believe this is actually happening," Seth said. "It feels so surreal."

They arrived at the hospital, and checked in. The nurse had Brooklyn sit in a wheelchair, and wheeled her to the delivery room. Her insurance hadn't covered a private room, but when her dad found out about that, he had insisted on paying for a private room for her. She was really grateful for that. Especially after she saw that episode of Friends where Rachel had to share a room with all of those women— Brooklyn didn't want to get stuck with the real life equivalent of Janice. 

"Where is the nurse?" Brooklyn complained. "I want the drugs. Fuck a natural birth."

"She said she would be back with the doctor in a few minutes," Seth replied.

"That's such a long time from now," Brooklyn groaned as she felt another contraction start up. 

Seth grabbed her hand. "Squeeze as hard as you need. I can take it."

Brooklyn squeezed his hand as she waited for the contraction to end. "That probably hurt my hand more than it hurt yours," she laughed lightly.

"That's definitely true," Seth said. "I just didn't want to seem like I was patronizing you by saying that."

A knock on the door tore them out of their conversation. 

"Come in," Brooklyn called out.

A woman in a white lab coat walked in. "Hi Brooklyn, it's nice to see you again. I heard that you would like me to administer the epidural block?"

"Oh my god. Yes please," Brooklyn cheered. Dr. Alverez was the doctor that Kathy had recommended, and Brooklyn had been seeing her for the few weeks that she had been staying with her father. 

The doctor checked to make sure Brooklyn was dilated enough, but not too much, to receive the medication, and discussed the risks of receiving the medication. The epidural definitely helped. Her pain was almost completely gone, and the contractions began to feel more like pressure in her lower stomach and back.

Brooklyn's mother arrived shortly after Brooklyn had received the epidural, and after a tearful reunion, she was now sitting next to Seth at Brooklyn's bedside. 

Brooklyn had really missed her mom in the few weeks that they had spent apart. Growing up, Brooklyn had rarely gone more than a couple of days without seeing her mom, so this was by far the longest they had ever been apart. 

"I finished setting up the baby's stuff in your room while you were gone," Brooklyn's mother, Jamie, told her. "Paul assembled the crib."

"Thanks," Brooklyn replied. "How frustrated did Paul get? I can just imagine him arguing with the instructions."

"Oh it was pretty bad," Jamie laughed. "He had to take a few breaks to go to Sam's house."

It was nearly two in the morning by the time Brooklyn was allowed to push, and at 2:37 that morning, Eleanor Padmé Clearwater was born—Seth had talked Brooklyn into letting him use a Star Wars reference to "keep up the family tradition." 

"She's so beautiful," Brooklyn cried as she held her daughter to her chest. The baby was tiny and fragile and perfect. Both of them were so in love with her already.

"I can't believe we made her," Seth replied with tears rolling down his cheeks. "I love you so much. Both of you."

"I love you too," she told him. 

Brooklyn and Seth chose to keep Ellie in their room overnight instead of sending her to the nursery. Some people had recommended letting the baby sleep in the hospital nursery so that they could have one last night of uninterrupted sleep, but neither of them had wanted to let her out of their sight. They didn't care that she would wake them up— they were just so happy that she was finally here.