Double The Love (BWWM Pregnancy Romance Novel) (10 page)

“Give it a second,” Jasmine
said, placing her hand on top of his as she silently urged the baby to kick
again.

It did the trick.

Liam smiled and followed each
one of the baby’s motions, seeming to forget that it was Jasmine's skin that he
was stroking.

Jasmine smiled as she watched
him. He looked so happy, and the baby’s movements indicated that he or she was
happy too. It occurred to Jasmine that this was probably how it was for real
couples; calm, relaxed moments that didn’t end with an air of awkwardness.

When Liam caught Jasmine
staring at him, she pulled herself from her thoughts and stood up to get ready
for bed. Sleep didn't come easy for her though. As soon as her eyelids started
to feel heavy, she was jolted out of bed by a sharp pain that shot its way
through her lower back.

“Liam,” Jasmine hissed from his
doorway, steadying herself against the frame when her contractions became more
painful. These were definitely not Braxton Hicks.

“Hm?” Liam groaned, sitting up
and rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

“I…I think it’s time.”

That was all Liam needed to
hear. He shot out of bed and scrambled for his clothes as fast as possible. “Are
you sure?” he questioned, clumsily sliding into a pair of jeans.

When Jasmine didn't respond,
Liam switched on the light and sucked in a sharp breath when he saw the way she
was cowering in the hall. It told him everything he needed to know.

“I’m sure,” Jasmine managed
between strained breaths. “My stomach feels really tight, and I’m having
contractions.”

“Shit.” Liam rubbed his face
and combed his fingers through his hair as he dispelled a stream of air from
his lungs. “Okay, this is fine. It’s going to be fine, Jazz, I promise.”

Jasmine wasn't sure who Liam
was trying to convince more—her or himself. She started to tell him so,
but she stopped in mid sentence when she noticed the moisture running down her
legs.

This was definitely not a false
alarm.

Liam gawked at Jasmine for a
few seconds before snapping it action. He rushed to help her change into a
clean pair of pajamas, and neither one of them had time to feel awkward about
him seeing her naked. All things considered, it seemed like a pretty irrelevant
concern.

Liam led Jasmine downstairs and
snatched up his phone along the way, dialing Dr. Everett’s number to inform her
of what hospital they would be at. She assured him that it was a good one and
promised to get there as quickly as possible.

“Wait, how did you know her
number?” Jasmine questioned.

“Jazz, you’re eight and a half
months pregnant,” Liam said, giving her an amused look. “Of course I'm going to
have your doctor’s number on hand. Contrary to what you might think, I’m not a
total buffoon.”

“Yeah, not totally,” Jasmine
remarked, smiling through her pain. “You’re actually kind of amazing.”

Chapter sixteen

“Her name is Jasmine Davis,”
Liam told the nurse behind the desk in the maternity ward. “Her obgyn is Dr.
Lucille Everett. She’s based out of Los Angeles but will be here shortly.

“And you are?” the woman
questioned in a brisk tone.

“Liam Manning.”

“Sorry, I meant what is your
relation to the patient?” the woman clarified, glancing at Jasmine, who was
seated in a wheelchair with a pained expression on her face.

“He's the baby's father,”
Jasmine spoke up, rolling her eyes. What was this woman's deal? She was giving
them such a hard time for no reason. It was starting to seem like she had
something against interracial couples.

The nurse changed her tune when
she saw the annoyed expression on Jasmine's face. She gave her a tight smile
and stood up, coming around to the other side of the counter to lead her and
Liam into an empty examination room.

The next hour consisted of a
series of tests and examinations, but Jasmine wasn't happy. The obstetrician on
staff was less than helpful, and she was relieved when Dr. Everett finally
arrived to take over.

“You're five centimeters
dilated," Dr. Everett announced. “This isn't a false alarm. This baby is
coming, and it's coming today.”

Liam's hand found Jasmine's,
and he gave it a reassuring squeeze. “You're sure?” he questioned. “Because we
keep getting conflicting information. One of the nurses actually mentioned
something about discharging her.”

Dr. Everett looked amused by
that. “Positive,” she assured him. “She's not going anywhere until this baby is
delivered.”

Liam smiled and looked down at
Jasmine as she tightened her grip on his hand. Dr. Everett immediately snapped
into action, adjusting her bed and wheeling it towards the door. “Come on
then,” she called out to Liam. “It's time we get her to a delivery room.”

About twenty minutes later,
after some of the excitement had died down, Liam and Jasmine found themselves
alone again.

“What happened to the baby not
being born in Newport?" Liam remarked, breaking through the quiet.

Jasmine shrugged and plucked a
piece of ice from a cup a nurse had given her. “I guess it's not so bad,” she
said as she began to suck on it. “I mean, if Dr. Everett wasn't here I'd be
pretty upset, but I was born in this hospital. I like the idea of our kid being
born here too.”

“I should probably go call our
parents and let them know,” Liam said. “Mine are in Tokyo on business, but
yours should be here for this.”

Jasmine shook her head.
“Actually, don't,” she said, placing her hand on his arm.

Liam couldn't believe his ears.
“Seriously?” he questioned. “Jazz...come on…your parents will kill me if I
don't call and let them know.”

“I know...I just...I think this
should be about us, not them,” Jasmine explained. “You know how they are.
They'll both want to be in the room, and they'll be shouting out orders the
entire time. This is a moment we'll be looking back on for the rest of our
lives. I want it to be special. I want you to be the one to cut the umbilical
cord, and I want the first face our baby sees to be yours. Not my parents.”

Liam was rendered speechless.
Dr. Everett re-entered the room before he could come up with a response, so he
remained quiet and opted on holding Jasmine’s hand instead.

The next hour was one of the
longest of Jasmine's life. She knew that labor was an excruciating process, and
that a woman’s first delivery was far worse than each subsequent one, but none
of that prepared her for the kind of turmoil she was experiencing now. This
pain was unlike anything she’d ever experienced. There was nothing she could
even begin to compare it to.

Liam was supportive. He
remained by Jasmine’s side the entire time, alternating between pressing a damp
washcloth on her forehead and sliding ice chips into her mouth. “You’re crazy,”
he remarked, shaking his head. “What kind of madwoman turns down an epidural?”

Jasmine sighed. She must have
been over this with him at least a dozen times now. “I told you...I want to do
this the natural way,” she said through clenched teeth, bracing through the
pain.

Liam wasn't convinced. “Well
the decision is yours,” he said as he wiped a few drops of sweat from her
hairline. “But I don’t want you thinking I’d think any less of you if you got
something for the pain.”

“It does hurt,” Jasmine
admitted, beginning to relent.

“I bet,” Liam said. “You're
bringing a person into the world. That’s no easy feat.” He bent forward and
pressed a kiss against her forehead. “Want me to give you a massage? I’ve heard
that can help speed things up.”

Jasmine smirked. She started to
tell him that she knew what he was angling at, but she bit her words when
another intense contraction rolled its way through her. “Forget it,” she
gasped, clenching down on the edge of the bed. “Press the damn button.”

Liam was quick to oblige, and a
nurse rushed in to administer the epidural a few seconds later. It put Jasmine
immediately at ease, and Dr. Everett encouraged her to rest up for the main
event later.

Not that it was easy.

The medication had done its
part in numbing Jasmine’s pain, but it was still there. She shot daggers at
Liam for getting her into this, but something about his expression made her
soften. It wasn't like he'd worked alone. She was just as much to blame as he
was.

Jasmine must have looked
pensive, because Liam frowned and took a seat on the edge of her bed. “You
know, as far as labor goes, you look pretty good,” he remarked, attempting to
lighten the mood.

Jasmine looked suspicious. “Was
that supposed to be a compliment?” she questioned.

Liam shrugged and gave her a
sly smile. When Dr. Everett returned to check how dilated she was, he stood up
and lingered near the doorway.

Jasmine offered Liam the
opportunity to leave, but he refused when he saw how much pain she was still
in.

“Oh come on,” Jasmine spoke up,
gritting her teeth. “You look on the verge of throwing up. I'll be fine. I
promise."

“Shush,” Liam said, coming over
to give her shoulders a reassuring squeeze. “Nothing you can say is going to
get me out of this room. I’m not about to let you do this on your own. We're in
this together.”

Jasmine managed to smile
despite the awkwardness of having Dr. Everett between her legs. It seemed like
her examination was lasting a lot longer than usual. She was really starting to
worry that something was wrong.

“Eight centimeters,” Dr.
Everett announced, pulling off her gloves and taking a step back. “The finish
line is near. In another fifteen minutes or so it'll be time to push.”

Jasmine let out an irritated
groan.

“It's almost over,” Liam
assured her. “Pretty soon you’ll be sitting up with our baby in your arms and
all this labor fuss will be a thing of the past.”

Unfortunately, Liam's words
ended up holding little weight. Jasmine was now almost completely dilated, but
the baby still showed no signs of crowing.

Dr. Everett sighed. “Alright,
Jasmine, you’ve been at eight and a half centimeters for almost two hours now,”
she announced as though it was something she and Liam didn’t already know.
“This baby doesn’t look like it’s going to come unless we coax it. I want you
to start trying to push for me.”

Jasmine did as she was told,
but she didn't see much success. “I can’t do this,” she moaned as two nurses
worked at holding up her knees. “It hurts too bad.”

“Yes you can,” Liam told her,
continuing to stroke her hair. “You're the most determined woman I know. Just
hold my hand and push as hard as you can.”

Jasmine whimpered as she pushed
down on her kegel muscles, but when another half hour passed without any
progress, Liam could tell that she didn’t have any energy left to keep going.
She was on the verge of passing out, and the baby still showed no signs of
coming.

Dr. Everett stepped back to
allow Jasmine to rest for a moment, and Liam followed her over to the door.
“She's exhausted,” he remarked. “I really don't think she can push anymore.”

Dr. Everett nodded. “I know,”
she said, setting down her clipboard. “I was just going to tell you that I
think it’s best that we intervene. I know Jasmine is dead set on a vaginal
birth, but if we wear her out anymore we’d be putting both her and the baby at
risk.”

Liam nodded in agreement.

“Well?” Jasmine questioned when
Dr. Everett returned by her side, glancing back and fourth between her and
Liam. Her next words were frantic and jumbled. “You look like you have
something you need to tell me. There isn’t something wrong with the baby is
there?”

“The baby's fine,” Dr. Everett
reassured her. “But you’re spent, Jasmine. You need a little assistance, and
that’s nothing to be ashamed of. Plenty of women have been right where you are
now. All I need you to do is concentrate, because I’m about to ask you to make
a very big decision, okay?”

Liam took hold of Jasmine’s
hand and allowed her to squeeze it as hard as she needed.

“You have two choices here,”
Dr. Everett continued. “Forceps or a C-section. Now...I know this wasn’t in
your birthing plan, but it’s really important that you decide how you’d like us
to intervene before the baby starts to crown.”

Liam could tell by the look on
Jasmine's face that she wasn't thrilled by either prospect. He knew she hated
the idea of the baby being pried out of her like some kind of science
experiment, but she also didn’t relish in the notion of being cut open.

Jasmine looked up at Liam for
help, but this wasn't anything he could decide for her. “It’s your decision,”
he spoke up, stroking her hand. “I’m fine with whatever you think is best.”

Jasmine studied his face for a
second before responding. “Alright,” she whispered, exhaling a nervous breath.
“C-section it is, then.”

Chapter seventeen

Jasmine couldn’t help but
notice how good Liam looked in his scrubs. She’d tried to talk him out of
coming into the operating room with her, but he refused to budge, and she ended
up feeling relieved by his presence when a sea of doctor’s and nurses surrounded
her.

Dr. Everett walked in the room
and wheeled over a stool to sit down on. Her unruly curls were hidden away
beneath a tight white cap, and she looked a lot more anxious than usual. Liam
rationalized that she was probably just as ready to get this whole ordeal over
with as he and Jasmine were.

“I knew I should have called
your parents,” Liam spoke up, glancing down at Jasmine. They were already never
going to let him live this down. If something happened to her or the baby, he
was as good as dead.

“I’m glad you didn’t,” Jasmine
said in a hazy voice.

Liam looked down at her and
swallowed hard. “I'm sorry,” he told her, waving a hand around the room. “About
all of this.”

“It’s not your fault. We we’re
both there, remember?” Jasmine looked down at the nurse who was prepping her
stomach for the procedure before glancing over at the anesthetist who was
topping off her epidural. “This is just as much my doing as it is yours,” she
added, meeting Liam’s gaze once more.

“Do you two have any names
chosen?” Dr. Everett questioned, trying her best to keep things lighthearted.

Liam nodded. “We decided on
Maya if it’s a girl, and Isaiah if it’s a boy,” he said, smiling down at
Jasmine.

“Beautiful names,” Dr. Everett
said, looking over at her colleagues, all of whom nodded in agreement.

Jasmine opened her mouth to
thank them, but she began to feel nauseas before she could. “I think I might be
sick,” she spoke up in a frantic tone, but she relieved to find that a nurse
was already by her side holding up a bedpan for her to vomit into.

When she was done, Liam wiped
her mouth with a rag and smoothed her hair back away from her face. “Better?”
he questioned.

“Not even remotely,” Jasmine
said, maintaining her sense of humor despite how gross she felt. “But I will be
soon.”

“I'm so proud of you,” Liam
whispered. “You’re an amazing woman. I’m honored to call you the mother of my
child.”

Jasmine’s smiled and kept her
eyes focused on his. She was so distracted by him that she didn’t even notice Dr.
Everett going to work on the other side of the sheet. “It's a Maya!” she
announced a few seconds later, passing the crying baby to a waiting nurse.

Liam stared at his daughter in
shocked silence. Jasmine’s tears streamed freely down her face, and he made no
attempt at holding back his own as he bent forward to kiss her.

Jasmine's heartbeat quickened,
and she was breathless by the time Liam finally pulled back. She knew that
things would go back to normal between them tomorrow, but right now she didn’t
care. The only thing she could focus on was her daughter’s tiny body.

As Jasmine watched Liam cradle
Maya in his arms, she couldn’t help but notice the similarities in their
appearances.

Liam noticed it too. “She’s got
my eyes,” he remarked, turning to give Jasmine a clear view of her face.

Jasmine gasped when her
daughter’s eyes latched onto hers. Liam was right. They were the exact same
shade of hazel as his.