Filed to story: Sorry Alpha I Am Wolfless Novel
I laughed just for a second at that thought, at how growing them in a detachable stomach would be so much easier. I couldn’t keep laughing though, the moment that it started a terrible pain ripped through me, and I screamed out, grabbing my stomach as if my thoughts had actually come true.
Joaquin, who was still sitting beside me rubbing my back when the pain hit me, just seemed to panic. He hadn’t been prepared to watch my whole body tense up or for me to curl forward as I screamed.
“Riviana? What’s wrong? Are you alright? Is it the babies?” I couldn’t see him for a moment as I just squeezed my eyes shut to try and block the pain from my mind.
Just then I heard two sets of frantic footsteps coming down the hall. I knew who it was that was coming, the time of day was all I needed to figure it out. And sure enough, just seconds later there was a frantic knock on the door from Vincent as he and Griffin both yelled out to us.
“Riviana? Joaquin? Is everything OK, can we come in?”
“Riviana? What’s going on? Tell me what’s happening?”
I heard Joaquin sigh in relief as he moved to open the door. He must have locked it when he came in for lunch. He didn’t do that often so it surprised me. I had just managed to open my eyes as Joaquin yanked the door open.
Griffin didn’t wait for permission or an invitation, the opened door was all he needed. He ran right to the side of the bed and knelt in front of me.
“What happened? Tell me everything that happened before this started.” Griffin had obviously only been coming over for my blood pressure check, but that had been completely abandoned as he started to lay me back on the bed.
“Ah, ah.” The change in position hurt a little, but I did my best.
“Joaquin was m..massaging my feet and legs.” I was breathing through the pain and squeezing my eyes shut. “After that we were talking while sitting on the bed. The babies stretched, and then this pain just hit me out of nowhere.” I could feel tears forming in the corners of my eyes as I spoke to him.
I forced my eyes open so I could look at the men that were in the room. Joaquin was hovering right behind Griffin and looked like he was about to pass out from his nerves and fear. Vincent was still by the door, he looked scared as well, but not quite as scared as Joaquin did. Griffin was doing his best to examine me.
Griffin was checking my pulse, my blood pressure (which he was there to do anyway), he was feeling the babies inside my belly. I couldn’t keep up with everything that he was doing. I watched as his face relaxed a little even as my pain continued. Even Vincent didn’t look as worried as I originally thought that he was. Why were they so calm? I wanted to ask them, but Vincent spoke first.
“Riviana, the pain you’re feeling, does it go away when you move?”
“I don’t know.” I nearly snapped the words at him, but caught myself. “It had just started when you guys got here. I hadn’t moved at all before Griffin had me lay down.”
“I was about to ask the same thing that Vincent did.” Griffin spoke softly. “Can you roll onto your left side for me.”
With Griffin’s encouragement and assistance, I moved onto my side. The pain was still pretty intense so it was hard for me to move at that moment, but we managed to get me there. Joaquin came over and helped to put a pillow under my head.
“It might be wise to put one between her knees as well.” Griffin instructed. “It will alleviate some of the pressure on her hips.”
For a few moments the three of them just stared at me while I was laying on my side. I was starting to feel a little nervous and uncomfortable with them watching me. It was weird having people just looking at me like that.
That was when it hit me. I was only feeling nervous. After a minute or so on my side, the pain in my abdomen had started to go away. It was almost like a miracle.
“It worked.” I was so shocked I spoke without thinking. “The pain is almost completely gone.”
“Oh thank the Goddess.” Joaquin collapsed onto his knees next to me.
“That’s good.” Griffin was smiling now, and Vincent looked as if he were relieved.
“What was that?” Joaquin didn’t stand up, he just grabbed my hand and looked up at Griffin.
“Braxton hicks contractions.”
“Contractions?” Joaquin looked worried. “Like labor?”
“No, think of this like the body going through practice labor. It is likely that you will experience more of these episodes Riviana. Try to lay on your side or move around to different positions to alleviate the pain. Practice contractions will only affect the stomach and not the back. If they ever go all the way around or won’t go away at all, or they get worse over time then you need to call me immediately. That will be a sign of true labor.” I felt my heart speed up a little. It was a little scary but also exciting. It was becoming more and more real now, wasn’t it?
“How much longer do you think we might have?” Joaquin asked the words that I was just about to ask myself. “Do you think the babies will be here soon?”
“I would say that it could be anytime now.” Griffin looked as if he were contemplating what might be happening in my immediate future. “If you were to call me tomorrow and tell me that Riviana was in labor, I wouldn’t be surprised; however it is probably going to be more like a week or two.”
“I don’t want to have them tomorrow.” I could feel the nerves settling over me. “I will settle for a week or two from now.” That made Vincent laugh, but he didn’t say anything.
“Whenever they do come, I will make sure that Lana and I are ready for you.” He was smiling at me.
“Thank you Griffin.”
After that Griffin left. I had a lot I needed to process and think about now. Even Joaquin was having a hard time moving past what Griffin told us so he took the rest of the afternoon off and stayed with me. We didn’t talk about it though, we just snuggled each other on the couch and watched a movie while thinking quietly to ourselves. I don’t think either of us actually watched the movie. We just looked at it while seeing nothing but the thoughts inside our heads.
I can’t believe I had just been complaining about how long this was taking and how uncomfortable I was. Yeah, I wanted to see the babies and all, but I was also nervous about labor and delivery. I mean, I knew women were built to have babies, we have been doing it since the dawn of time. That didn’t make it any less scary though. Knowing that I was built for it didn’t mean that I wasn’t nervous and uncertain about how I was going to do it.
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Riviana
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The day after my little scare with the practice labor Juniper came to see me. She was nearly as far along as I was, but she didn’t have any blood pressure issues and therefore she wasn’t on bedrest. I was actually really jealous of her right now, but I was doing my best to not let it bother me that much. We all had our own struggles in life and right now this was mine.