Chapter 52 Hailey
Hailey
Iwas a week overdue.
“I’m sick of this!” I whined, flopping down onto the couch. It was the wrong move, because there was no way in hell I was going to be able to get up easily.
“Any day now, cutie,” Wilder said, patting my leg reassuringly.
With intense effort, I managed to sit up on my elbows and glower at him. “You can't say that. You're not the one who’s a week overdue. This baby is never going to come out. He’s getting so fat and chunky that he’s going to tear me apart if he eventually decides he wants to leave!” I growled.
Not giving him a chance to respond, I kept going.
“Everything hurts. I’m the size of a whale, and I can barely get around.”
“You've got us to help you move,” he insisted.
I just glowered at him.
All of my friends had had their babies around their due date or earlier, but my baby had decided to be an overachiever and was late. Very late. More than a week late, to be exact. As excited as I was to be a mother and how much I’d enjoyed being pregnant, I was over it and I wanted the baby out.
Thanks to all the love and support from everyone around us, we were more than ready for baby Landry to come.
In fact, we had been ready for weeks.
His nursery was filled with more items than any baby could need, and decorated to perfection in pale yellow and blues.
The house was fully furnished, and the guys had even finished painting and doing all the little odd jobs, like tightening the cabinet handles.
There was nothing left to do.
“I love you, but can you hurry up and come?” I said to my bump. “You know what? I’m serving you an eviction notice, buddy!”
“He’ll come when he’s ready.” Preston laughed, throwing an arm around me and kissing the top of my head.
“Stubborn, like his fathers!” I growled.
“Yet you love us.” Preston grinned.
My stomach flip-flopped at his words. Not only because of the wriggling baby taking up far too much space in my torso.
Preston and my relationship was still rather new, and we hadn’t said the l-o-v-e word to each other.
I liked him, I liked him a lot. Did I love him?
I was fairly sure, but it was so hard to decipher what my feelings were—we were bonded, which some said was stronger than being in love, but sometimes hearing the words was nice.
“Why don’t you take a shower while I make you an ice cream sundae?” Preston asked.
“Well, those are the magic words!” I nodded adamantly, waddling toward the shower that I probably desperately needed.
“Want a hand?” Wilder asked, dropping his phone, eyes trained on me.
“You can help, but no funny business! I’m too tired for knots,” I informed him, pointing a finger playfully at him.
“Just seeing soapy titties will make my day!” he declared, hot on my heels.
An hour later, I was wrapped up in a series of blankets, lying on the couch, an ice cream sundae resting on my comically large stomach.
“I don’t know how a little omega can eat so much ice cream,” Nolan muttered in awe.
Merrick laughed. “I’m pretty sure she’s half ice cream at this point.”
“Maybe a third,” I reasoned. “The baby takes up a lot of space.”
He shook his head. “What do you guys want for dinner? It's a lovely night, so we could always grill on the deck.”
Everyone mumbled words of agreement. As the weather had been fantastic lately, we'd taken to spending our evenings sitting on the deck while we ate. Our new home was surrounded by woods, and there was even a pond nearby.
If I wanted to, I had space to get chickens. I had never considered owning them before, but now that I had the option, I found myself pondering it.
“Dinner on the deck sounds nice, but you will have to pick me up out of that rocking chair.”
Next to me, Nolan chuckled. “I think we can do that.”
“Maybe we should have something spicy for dinner. The doctor said that can induce labor.”
“Walking also helps induce labor,” Merrick pointed out.
I glowered at the alpha who I loved dearly. “I tried that, remember? I was out of breath in three seconds. Your gigantic overdue alpha child is squishing all my organs and making things difficult for my lungs!”
“If he's not here in the next few days, you know that Dr. Chen will induce you,” Wilder assured me.
“I know, but I wanted to go into labor naturally.”
“There's still plenty of time for that.” Merrick planted a kiss to the top of my head before wandering over to the kitchen to start getting things together for dinner.
While he prepared the food, I snuggled with Nolan. Preston took my feet, placing them in his lap, and rubbed them. The feeling was downright euphoric. My feet were swollen and sore.
I’d heard a lot about the pregnancy glow. Unfortunately, I never glowed. I felt bloated and icky.
“Grill’s on!” Merrick called from outside.
I turned to Preston. “Better get me out there, handsome.”
“Your wish is my command.” He smirked, scooping me up with ease. I was still pretty stuffed from the ice cream, but I would never say no to a burger.
Wilder and Nolan trailed after us, talking about some house project or another as I snuggled into Preston's chest. I was relishing all of the care they were giving me. Even though I was usually pretty independent, it made my omega happy to be pampered.
“Actually, drop me off here for a potty break,” I said, tapping him on the shoulder.
I liked being pampered and carried, but I refused to let them carry me to the bathroom; that was a hard limit of mine.
Preston did as he was told, popping me down and letting me waddle off to the bathroom. Thanks to the baby sitting firmly on my bladder, I needed to make frequent trips to the little girl’s room.
After doing my business, I washed my hands and made my way back to Preston, who was waiting for me by the entrance to the kitchen.
I was only a few steps away from him when my belly tightened. I'd been experiencing light Braxton-Hicks contractions, but this was something else.
A moment later, a trickle of liquid slowly seeped down my leggings. Given that I’d just been to the bathroom, I highly doubted it was pee.
“Hailey?” Preston asked at my shocked expression.
“I'm pretty sure my water just broke,” I told him, looking between my damp leggings and the alpha who stood there, looking dumbstruck.
“Is it time?”
“I think so.”
I opened my mouth to say something else but was cut off by a contraction hitting me. My hand flew to my stomach and I groaned. Preston lurched forward to keep me upright.
A gigantic smile spread across his face. “Merrick, you better turn that grill off. It's baby time!” he shouted in the direction of the deck. Not even a second later, the rest of my alphas converged into the hallway.
“It’s time?” Nolan asked.
I nodded, taking deep breaths.
“Is her hospital bag still in the car?” Merrick questioned.
“There's a hospital bag in every one of our cars,” Wilder pointed out.
I had wanted to be prepared, no matter what. I had no idea when or where I was going into labor, so I had definitely overprepared.
“Let’s go have a baby!” Preston said.
I held up a hand, halting him. “I am probably in the very early stages of labor. I'm going to take another shower and put on some clean clothes, and then we're going to have a baby. Sound good?”
Merrick nodded. “I'll help you shower.”
“And I'll make you a snack for the road,” Preston added.
“I would offer to watch your shower, but I feel like now is not the right time…” Wilder trailed off.
“I’ll double-check the hospital bags and smack Wilder around the back of the head,” Nolan added.
I chuckled as I waddled toward my nest and my bathroom. “See, we make an excellent team!”