Chapter 18
Camden
Obviously, I hadn’t ever been pregnant before. I had delivered enough babies in my life that I knew the “off feeling” I was experiencing meant that our little guy was going to be here soon.
“Maxwell?” I called out through our bond. I was in the bedroom, and he was somewhere else in the house.
In response, he suddenly appeared in the room with me. Maxwell tilted his head, then furrowed his brow. “You’re in labor.”
“I had assumed,” I said. “I feel ‘off.’ I’m not sure what it is, but I know the waves that I’m feeling are contractions. But it’s more.”
Maxwell was suddenly concerned. “All right. Let’s get you into bed, and I’ll check you over.”
I nodded. I was ready for that. I was four days from my due date, and I’d woken up with that burning sensation in my omega line. It was opening, and that meant our baby was going to be born soonish.
Maxwell carefully placed me on the bed and then gently pulled my sleep pants down. His eyes widened so briefly that I would have missed it if I weren’t staring at him.
“All right. You’re basically ready to give birth. But your waters haven’t broken. I can get you to the shower and do that for you if you’d like.”
The last thing I wanted was for them to break on the bed and cause a huge mess there.
So what did I do? I sat up, and I absolutely shouldn’t have because apparently doing crunches to sit up when you were full-term pregnant did exactly what I didn’t want to happen.
The sudden gush of warm fluid from my front and lower had me closing my eyes tightly and saying a silent curse.
I lay back down and put my hands on my face.
Maxwell was chuckling, and I moved my hands long enough to glare and growl at him. “I’m glad you’re enjoying my discomfort.”
“That’s not it at all, my love, and you should know that. I’m only laughing at the situation because you did not want to make a mess of the bed.”
“And that’s exactly what I did.” I covered my eyes again. “Can you fix it? You can, right? You can do all the things?”
Maxwell nodded and leaned down, bracing his arms on either side of me. “I absolutely can fix it. As soon as our little guy is here, I’ll have the mattress clean and exactly as it was before.” Maxwell kissed me then, his lips lingering just a little before he pulled away.
I smiled up at my mate. He was absolutely amazing, and seriously, how had I gotten so lucky? “I’m sorry, Maxwell. I think I’m ready to give birth.”
“I’d say that you absolutely are. Well, at least your body is. We’re just waiting for Costas.”
It had been such a relief when Maxwell was willing to have Costas as our doctor. I understood that Maxwell would want to deliver his own children, but I was being a bit selfish this time, and I wanted him up here with me and not down there delivering the baby.
“Knock, knock.”
I absolutely knew that voice. I leaned my head up just in time to see Constantine come into the room. The doctor was here.
“Hello, Costas,” Maxwell said as he walked toward the other warlock.
I sighed. All warlocks were just fine-looking.
Seriously. Tall, slender, yet still lightly muscular.
I knew that Costas, as he insisted on being called, was a bit older than Maxwell.
He had a little more silver at his temples, but like Maxwell, that didn’t detract from his looks even a little.
“It appears that your One is about to make you a father, finally.”
“Hey now,” Maxwell teased. “I’m not complaining about not finding him sooner. You’re quite a bit older than I am, my friend.”
“Touché.” Costas smiled my way. “How are you feeling, Camden? Are you ready to float? Are your contractions painful?”
I took a deep breath and let it out just as quickly. “Honestly, I feel them, but they’re not that painful.” Costas and I both looked at Maxwell, who held up his hands.
“I’ve not done anything. He’s said he was feeling a bit off, so it’s possible that his contractions simply haven’t ramped up yet. His waters just broke moments ago.”
“Ah, there we go,” Costas said. “Well, we can take the baby now, or we can wait to see if the labor progresses. If he’s not experiencing any real contractions and the waters just burst, he might not be in active labor.
” Costas moved to my side. “Or it’s possible that you are one of the lucky few that doesn’t ever experience a painful labor. ”
“Wouldn’t that be nice,” I said.
“Do you mind if I peek?”
“Not at all,” I said, slowly shaking my head. “You can’t deliver the baby without looking.”
“Very true.” Constantine did as Maxwell had not long ago.
He carefully pulled my shirt up and the waistband of my pants down just a little.
It was enough to see, and I shook my head at the two standing there discussing what was happening as if it wasn’t occurring to me and I wasn’t a doctor as well.
“Umm…hello?” I said as a contraction hit. Maxwell and Costas both seemed surprised.
“Well, we know why you might be feeling a bit off,” Maxwell told me. He came to the head of the bed, and after a chair suddenly appeared behind him, he sat down.
“What?” I asked. “What’s happening?”
“I didn’t feel anything out of the ordinary through our bond, but has the baby been extra wiggly?”
I made a face because he had, and I’d not really thought about it at the time. “Yes. How bad is it? Feet? Behind?”
“Behind and upper back,” Costas said as another contraction hit.
“So essentially, our son has turned himself breach? Really?” I asked Maxwell. I was irritated more than anything because just three days ago, he was still head down.
“If the waters hadn’t broken already, we could have used magic to deliver him,” Costas said. “As it is, we’ll get you floating, and then I’ll take him. It’s going to be the safest option.”
I nodded. Wasn’t I just extra lucky. Maxwell took my hand in his, and while he distracted me by kissing it, I saw a green glow appear.
I looked down in time to see something that I’d seen Maxwell do twice now.
It was happening to me this time, and my eyes widened when I experienced that floating feeling for the first time.
“Oh. That’s what they mean.”
Maxwell and Costas both smiled. “Yes, my love. It helps take the edge off of the pain.”
“Oh, there’s no edge at all. I can’t feel anything.”
Costas sighed. “Yes. Your little man is bent in half. So his feet are up by his face.”
“Really?” I looked at Maxwell, worried.
“It will be all right,” Maxwell said.
“Listen to your mate, Camden,” Costas said. “I’m starting now. I do have to widen your omega line though, which is why you don’t feel anything. Lucky for you, your little man is on the smaller side, and he’s not super chunky like some of the dragon babies.”
I felt a moment of panic for those omegas. I couldn’t imagine giving birth to an overly large baby. I knew smaller omegas did all the time, but I was so very thankful that I had a warlock for a mate, and he was tall and slender.
I felt myself move as Costas struggled to wiggle our son out with the position he’d put himself in. Maxwell was holding my left hand and running the fingers of his free hand through my hair. I smiled up at my mate, who kept looking at me, but also back at what Costas was doing.
“Maxwell? You can help him,” I said. “I’m not pushing, and he could probably use another pair of hands? Maybe? I’m not sure.”
Maxwell’s brown eyes met mine. “Are you sure?”
I nodded. At that, Maxwell kissed my hand once more, then stood. He kissed my lips gently before he moved down to assist Costas.
“He’s stuck,” Constantine said. “I don’t want to tear Camden more than necessary, but your son has really put himself in a difficult position.”
I closed my eyes, not willing to look. I was going to make sure our little guy heard about this later, but at the moment, I just wanted him here.
“Maybe if we go old-school and open the other way? Not cut, but retract?” Maxwell suggested.
Old-school? Really? You mean the way I have to deliver babies, I thought. I took a deep breath, trying to stay calm. There was more movement, and I was thankful that I couldn’t feel anything.
“Question,” I said, grabbing their attention. “Since you two are both warlocks, why doesn’t one of you just magic the baby out? I don’t understand why you don’t or can’t?”
“Only in very emergency situations can we do that,” Maxwell said. I felt even more wiggling down in that area.
“Maxwell, you’re going to need a blanket or towel.”
Maxwell turned in time to have a towel magically appear in his hands, and he opened it as Constantine pulled our son out. He looked like many other newborn babies: messy.
Maxwell brought the baby closer to me and moved his hand, which had a light green glow to it, down the baby’s body.
When his hand stopped glowing, the room was suddenly filled with a newborn cry.
It didn’t take long for our son to make his displeasure known.
The look on my mate’s face made everything worth it.
I saw firsthand my mate fall in love all over again.
It only took moments, but he was completely in love with our little man.
“He has quite the set of lungs on him,” Costas said over the crying baby.
Maxwell repositioned our son and then brought him down to me. “He’s beautiful, my love, and looks just like you.”
I looked up at Maxwell in shock. “No way.”
“Look for yourself.” I pulled my eyes from my mate and to the still-fussing baby. He had his eyes tightly closed in his irritation, but there was definitely white, fuzzy hair on top of his head. I looked back at Maxwell. “Don’t warlocks have dark hair?”
“Not all,” Maxwell said. “Sebastian?”
I blinked a few times and shook my head. “I should have remembered,” I said.