Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 54742 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 274(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54742 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 274(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
“Oh, baby!” she gasped.
“Mmmm, again? You’re insatiable when you’re knocked up. I think I’ll keep you pregnant forever,” King mumbled against her hair.
“No. I mean, baby. As in, the baby is coming. I’m in labor,” she gasped.
King shot up in the bed and looked at her.
“Baby! Oh, wow. Okay. Let’s get you to the hospital then,” he said.
He shot up out of bed and got dressed. Within fifteen minutes, they were up, dressed and on their way out the door. King drove around the steep curvy roads that led to and from their house like a maniac, terrifying her.
“King, I’d like to not have the baby out of fright before we get to the hospital,” she gasped.
“Sorry. I just don’t want to risk not getting there on time.”
“The way you’re driving, we’ll be lucky to get there at all,” she gasped.
King slowed down, but continued to cast nervous glances in her direction, especially when she had another labor pain. Jo was nervous too but trying not to act too much like it. He had already told her she was lucky to be able to go to a real hospital, as many shifters only went to a mid-wife to mask the special requirements for the babies they had.
“What special requirements?” she had asked.
“Short gestation periods, faster heartbeats . . . Just nuances of our system that is a bit different than humans.”
“And I won’t have that problem?”
“Your gestation will be normal, like a human. I’m not sure why, but it has always been that way for my pack, at least the ones that are blood kin…well, their wives. Other than that, there is a shifter doctor at the hospital that we can take you to. He knows how to adjust the tests so that everything seems normal by human terms, while still checking to make sure all is well.”
“What if he is not there when I go into labor?”
“He will be. He will make sure of it,” King had told her.
Sure enough, they arrived at the hospital in record time and the doctor was already there waiting on them. Jo was quickly wheeled into labor and delivery and put into a hospital gown. King was by her side the whole time, holding her hand and trying to soothe her. It felt good to know he would not leave her side while she went through this. So many men ducked out or were gone when their wives went into labor. It was sad.
“Are we ready to do this?” Dr. Duncan was asking.
“Yes. I think so,” he replied.
“Well, let’s get you into bed and see where we are with this little bugger’s entrance into society.”
King moved away but maintained eye contact with her while they got her moved from a chair and into a bed, preparing her for the birth. With every contraction, she grew more nervous about what was to come. How did women get through this, she wondered.
“All right, everything is looking good. You’re barely dilated, so you’ve still got a while, but we’re right on track. We’ll just keep an eye on the contractions and be ready to catch him before he hits the floor,” he joked.
More than two hours passed with the doctor coming in periodically to check on her and update them on her progress. It felt like it was taking forever for the baby to come and she began to wonder how much longer it would be. The contractions were coming quicker though, so that was a good sign.
King had returned to her bedside, taking her hand again and letting her squeeze it each time a contraction hit her. The pain was unbelievable and getting worse each time. She was reaching the end of her rope when the doctor finally came in and announced that it was only a matter of minutes.
“Okay, Jo. We’re going to get ready to do some of those pushes you learned in your classes, now, okay?”
“Okay,” she panted.
“Just push when I tell you and stop when I say. We’ve got the top of a little head down here, so he’s ready to make his grand debut. How about we have us a baby now?”
“That would be great,” she groaned, stopping to breathe through a contraction.
Everything seemed to go quickly after that, with her pushing per his instructions as an incredible pressure arose and then suddenly subsided as the doctor beamed up at her, holding up a baby while a nurse cut the cord.
“He’s not breathing. Why isn’t he breathing?” King said, sounding panicked and causing Jo to feel the same.
“Just relax. He’s fine. A bit of suctioning will set him right,” the doctor said.
As if to confirm this, there was a sucking noise from the nearby table where the nurse had taken the baby and then a loud cry permeated the roof, causing both of them to breathe a huge sigh of relief.