Chap 32 – last POB

Welcome to the last chapter of Player On Board – Graduation. There will be a second book, I’m pretty certain. If you have a name suggestion, please comment or send me a private message. Thanks!!

---Oliver’s P.O.V---

Hurry up May! You went to pee like 10 minutes ago! I’m currently standing up on the stage. There’s a row of footballers sitting on seats in front of me. The stage is really filling up and if she doesn’t get up here fast, there won’t be any time to squish past people and ask them to move so she can actually get up here. Serves me right for not waiting and just letting Crayna go with her.

The principal starts to walk to the stage. I look around nervously.  Come on honey! Waddle your butt up here already!

I see her in the distance at the back of the room and let out a breath. I study more closely and wait for her to head this way.

She’s gripping onto the top of a chair, doubled over. Crayna, Payton and her mum are patting her back. I see pain written all over her face, which has gone red. Sh*t! Something is wrong.

She straightens up and puts a hand over her stomach; they start to help her walk out the entrance. I’ve got to be with her! What is happening? She’s only 32 weeks!

I look around for an exit. Both sides of the stage are blocked and the row of footballers are tightly packed with chairs. Sh*t!!!

The principal steps on the stage and I lose sight of May. Without thinking, I back up as much as I can and jump over the seats in front of me. There are multiple inhales of shock. I don’t care. I have to get to May.

I jump off the front of the stage, hurting my ankle slightly but I don’t take notice. I run down the center of the pathway, almost hitting multiple people.

Suddenly my mum is at my side, “Oliver! What are you doing?”

“May, I, I have, sorry mum. I’ve got to go.”

I run and run until I see May and the others. May is leaning against the car, her hands balled into fists with her head down. She inhales deeply and moans in pain.

“May,” I huff. Everyone else turns to see me with shock on their faces. May stay where she is. “What’s wrong?”

May’s Mum speaks, “Her water broke. She’s in labor Oliver. We need to get her to the hospital, help us get her in the car.”

“B-but she’s too early. She’s only 32 weeks.”

Payton steps in front of me, “Oliver, stop, breathe, think. She’s early, but she’s having the baby. Her water broke. Now, you need to keep calm and help us. You are going to get May in the back of the car. Give me your keys, one of us will drive and you will sit with her. Okay?”

F*ck! Keep it together! She’ll be fine. F*ck! What if she’s not? What if the baby’s not? Sh!t! No! I wipe a tear and hand her the keys, “Yes.”

She turns to Crayna, “Do you want to drive and I’ll get her things and meet you at the hospital?”

Crayna nods, “Do you know what to get? Do you want me to go instead?”

“Its ok. I’ve done this before. I’ll meet you all there.”

I gently grab May’s hand. She snaps it back and growls. “Don’t.”

“May, honey, you have to get in the car. We need to make sure the baby is ok.”

Her shoulders drop, “I do don’t I. Oh god. I’m early Oliver. What’s happening?”

“Mayarna, focus. The best way this baby will be ok is if you get in the car now and don’t stress.”

“Oliver’s right baby girl, you need to get your freak out on hold. I’m worried too but we need this to go as smoothly as possible.”

We get her in the car and I sit on one side, her mum on the other. Crayna starts the car up and we start the drive. May squeezes my hand so hard it might not function properly ever again but I don’t care, with the amount of pain she’s in, she could cut my d!ck off and I still wouldn’t be able to complain.

She clings to my arm tightly, “Ollie, I’m scared and it hurts.”

“Everything is going to be fine,” I tell her but more myself.

“I-If anything happens, I love you all.”

May’s mum hits her arm, “Stop it! Lots of people are… 8 weeks early, it will be fine.”

8 weeks early…. Damn it.

“Are you two ready to take home a baby? You need to be.”

I’m going to have a baby by the end of the week…. Wow, I’m so not prepared! I don’t even know how to hold a baby! What if I drop it? “No!” I reply.

Mayarna grits her teeth, “You’re a flipping natural Oliver, but I can’t stroke your ego right now… A baby is about to come out of my v*g!na, so shut it!”

I sit up and close my mouth.

We get to the hospital and get to reception. Before long we’re in a hospital room. A nurse comes up to check on May, who is remarkable quiet considering what’s happening.

She groans a little, I stroke her hand. “Honey, are you ok?”

“Mmmm, contraction.”

She breaths deeply out and unevenly, almost sobbing.

 The nurse smiles, “Sweetie, because you’re so early, if things don’t come together really soon, we’ll need to operate. Your baby doesn’t seem to be tiny, but it’s still early. I’m going to check how dilated you are.”

“Oliver, can you see where mum is for me? I really need her here with Crayna.”

I nod, “Will you be ok?”

She nods, “But come back quick. I need you here too.”

I get to the hallway and see Crayna, Payton and May’s mum all heading towards us. “She wants you.”

“I’m so sorry, I had to wait for Payton and they got her room mixed up…”

“It’s alight, the nurse is seeing how dilated she is right now.”

We head up to the room and I knock on the door. I slowly peek my head through and May is breathing out slowly. The nurse looks at us and smiles, “Come in.”

Payton sets the bag on the floor. May looks at me, “I’m 5 centimeters Ollie, 10 is the full amount.”

I nod, “Ok honey. It’s going to be fine,” I tell her and smooth her hair.

She looks at me and slaps my hand away. “Give me space.”

I nod and move back.

She sobs, “I just want this to stop.”

The midwife talks in a soft voice while sitting on the side of the bed, “What you have to remember is our bodies are made for this. Let your body work and listen to it. When you have that baby in your hands, it goes from the worst to best time.”

May nods and wipes her eyes. She looks at me, “Sorry for snapping at you Oliver.”

“Its ok, you’re doing great.”

The midwife leaves to check on other patients and May’s mum sits where the midwife was, “Are you excited? You’re going to have your little baby soon!

May nods heavily. “Yeah… I’m having my baby….”

Everyone laughs, “You are.”

“It gets so painful; you kind of forget that there is a purpose… Oliver! We’re going to be parents.”

I smile, “Its going to be weird putting my hand on your stomach and not finding a baby bump…”

Her mum laughs, “You’ll have a baby to hold instead… You can keep your hands of her now….”

“Yeah… No.”

May breaths out drawing everyone’s attention, “Ollie, we haven’t picked a name…”

I bite my lip, “No. We haven’t. We thought we’d have another 8 weeks….”

Claire’s jaw drops open, “What names are you considering?”

May speaks, “Ah, well... Oliver, if you like it, I mean, you suggested the names, I like Amorette Amadea (Uh-maddy-uh/A-mad-ia) Norman for a girl.”

My eyes widen. “You want the baby to have my last name?”

She looks taken aback. “I… I thought it would be ok… It alright... Forget it.”

“No! I love it! I just thought you would want her to have your name….”

“You’re her dad. I’ll be marrying you…. What would the point be?”

“I-I don’t know…”

“Well, good, now that that’s settled, what if it’s a boy?”

“Conan Jarlath Norman.”

“My middle name? Are you sure? I would love it so much!”

She smiles, “Yup… I thought about it for a middle name for a girl too but it didn’t really work. Amorette Amadea Jarlath Norman… not very pretty... We could put Olive though… Amorette Amadea Olive Norman… “

“It ok, but why not your middle name? Ava? Amorette Amadea Ava Norman.”

“AAAN? Too many A’s…. Let’s just stick with the original for a girl,” Claire says, “you’ve picked out nice names. Wow! I’m going to have two grandkids! You girls are making me feel old…”

“Amorette Amadea Norman… Conan Jarlath Norman…” I say the names out, trying to visualize calling my child those names…

May rolls her head back and grits her teeth, “I can feel one coming…”

Claire hold’s her hand, “Breath honey.”

May whimpers. I hate to see her like this. I wish I could take the pain away. I can tell the others in the room feel the same way.

A few hours later the nurse checks her dilation and she’s up to 8.

“You’re doing so great baby!” I tell her. She has hardly made any noise besides whimpers. Her face shows her pain though.

The nurse looks at me, “We’re moving her to the birthing room. Only two people can come in with her.”

May moans. I return to her side. “I want Ollie and Mum.”

Payton and Crayna walk over and give her a hug. She smile grimaces and says bye.

Crayna takes her hand, “May, you are strong, I know it hurts but it’s worth it.”

Payton gives her a similar speech and soon we’re moved to a room with more equipment.

May squats near the bed, putting her head against the mattress. I pat her back and she breaths deeply. “Ollie…”

I remove my hand and stand back.

May brings her head back up. “Can I go for a shower?”

The midwife nods, “If you think it will make you more comfortable.”

I go to the built in bathroom on the side with her. She leans heavily against me and Claire holds her hand tightly. Its good that it’s in here because May doesn’t have to put her clothing back on to walk there. That wouldn’t be fun for her considering the pain she’s in without restrictive material on her.

The nurse also follows incase anything starts to happen.

Once May’s done she goes back into the room. With Claire’s help she lays on the bed and the nurse makes sure she’s as comfortable as possible, asking her if it would be better to lie on the side and such.

Suddenly May winces, “I have to push.”

The midwife springs into action. “Ok… I need you to push really hard then… Chin on your chest…”

May does as the midwife says, making groaning noises as she does. “Good May! Come on sweetie! You can do it!” Claire encourages.

I stand awkwardly, not sure of what to do. Its luckily Claire is here.

“Push, push, push,” the midwife tells her.

She produces a real big groan and then takes a big mouthful of air.

Next contraction the midwife and Claire both encourage and I catch on, “Come on May! You’re doing great! Push!”

The next ten minutes go in a blur of encouraging and horrific sounds, plus a lot of pain. I didn’t really want to look down there but the midwife and Claire said It's was better so I know what she’s going through and what she will go through when she has another baby. It was kinda… gross…. But I saw the baby’s head…

Five minutes later a loud scream fills the air. The midwife plops the baby on May’s chest. The next few seconds just slow down, I look at the baby, a baby girl. She’s so tiny… I lean over and give May a kiss. We both have tears rolling. I look at my daughter. Everything is right.  

“She’s beautiful…” May and I both say at the same time. Claire pushes back the sweaty hair off May’s forehead.

“She’s gorgeous…” Claire cries.

The midwife wraps her in a blanket. “I have to take her soon, she has to be weighted and checked out.”

May looks even more in horror then before. The nurse smiles, “You can try and feed her first though and we have all the equipment in this room already.”

I desperately want to hold the baby but I don’t want to take her from May and I’m also scared I could hurt her.

She’s perfect in every way.

---May’s P.O.V---

The midwife puts my baby on my chest. I have a little girl. I am a mother now… I look at my baby and feel the strongest connection. She’s my little dot. She’s my world. Already I know that. My family is perfect now.

I just look at her. Starring at my baby. Oliver leans over and kisses me. He’s crying too.

“She beautiful,” we both say at the same time. Mum moves my hair off my face.

“She gorgeous,” Mum cries.

The midwife wraps her I a blanket and announces that she’ll have to take her soon after they’ve finished doing everything with me.

What?!?! They want to take her? No!

She speaks again, “You can try to feed her though and we have all the equipment in this room already.”

“How do I…?”

---Oliver’s P.O.V---

The midwife shows her how to hold the baby and breast right to feed her. To feed Amorette. I grab out my phone and take a picture. Claire has a proper camera she was using for pictures.

The baby feeds fine and the nurse is happy. Once Amorette stops suckling the nurse gently takes her from May who reluctantly releases her. The nurse weighs her and baths her little baby with gentle hands. She weighs 7 pounds exactly. Born on December the fourth.

The nurse hands the little bundle to me. I hold her awkwardly. The nurse laughs, “Relax, you’re not going to drop her.”

I relax my arms and pull her close to my chest. She moves her little hand and squints her eyes.

After a few minutes I reluctantly hand her to her Granlee. Claire thanks me and snuggles the baby.

The nurse interrupt after a while, “I really have to take her now. She’s a good weight but there is other tests we need to do because she’s a premie.”

May bites her lip and nods. Claire hands the midwife the baby. I wave to my precious baby, “Bye honey. See you soon…”

They move May into a proper room and out of the birthing suite thing. May showers and gets into pajamas Payton put in the bag. She closes her eyes and holds my hand, obviously tired. Claire went home to call every possible person and said she would be back. I also took the time to send some texts to friends and family. Mum replied with ‘FJNVRGV Leaving now! We’ll be there soon!’ I asked all our friends to wait for a day or so to visit though to give May some time for rest.

About an hour’s wait later they bring Amorette back in a movable crib. May is still asleep so they give the baby to me. “Perfectly healthy. She was ready… I mean, she was early, but it’s the 30-32 weeks we are REALLY worried about, I know she’s only 32 weeks but her weight and everything kind of swings her off the danger radar. She’ll still need to be monitored here for a week or so though. If I didn’t know better, she’d seem 34 weeks!”

I smile at my baby and kiss her forehead. I thank the nurse and she speaks before leaving, “Call out if you need anything. You’ll to bring her back in a few hours. You’ll need to wake your wife in an hour or so to feed again but I’ll check in before then.”

“She’s my fiancé actually and thanks.”

She nods, “Sorry. It’s hard to keep track of all that. I’ll be back later,” she turns and leaves.

“Hey Baby. I love you so much, yeah, yes your daddy does.”

May’s head flicks up and her eyes open. She smiles and holds out her hand, she speaks in a tired voice, “Hey, can I hold her?”

I reluctaly hand over over Rettie. May thanks me. She cuddles with the baby and gives her kisses. “Ollie, can you get out some new clothes for the baby? I want to change her.”

I pick up the pink bag beside May’s. I carefully go through it and get out a little purple jump suit with white flowers on it. There’s a few blue things and white as well, but we didn’t get too many gender set things. Most is white. I get out a tiny nappy too.

May looks at me and bites her lip, “Can you change her for me? I don’t really want to get up…”

I nod and take bubby again. I put her on the hospital cot thing and unbundle her. I’ve changed kids’ nappies before but never really a new born. I hold her skinny little legs with one hand and put a new nappy on. I put the purple jumpsuit on and wrap her up again gently. She let out a little cry but it’s only for a moment.

I take her back over to May and sit on the side of the bed as May cradles her. I put my arm around May and kiss the side of her head. “You did awesome honey. Isn’t Rettie just perfect?”

May smiles, “She is.”

The door opens and Claire walks in with a big bunch of flowers and a full gift bag with an elephant on it. She looks at us lovingly. “I need a photo.”

She gets out the camera and takes a photo. The door opens again and Crayna and Payton with Phoebe walk in with flowers too and a bag.

May says hello and speaks to Claire, “Hey Mum! Do you want to hold her?”

Claire smiles and nods vigorously, “Yes please!”

She holds the baby in her arms.

Through the day a few other relatives came by but most of them didn’t get a chance to see the baby because she had to go back to the special care unit.

Payton and Crayna both get hugs while May goes through the bags. Phoebe sits on the bed with May, looking around curiously. The bags contain mostly very cute baby clothes. There are a few blocks of chocolate, some socks, a pair of pajamas and some female items which May must have asked them to get for her.

Phoebe makes a noise, “Aunty Mayu, baby?”

Claire moves the baby to show Phoebe. Phoebe reaches out and slowly touches the Rettie.

“Baby!” she turns to May and starts talking in baby language. May just smiles and nods along.

Once it gets to night May gets her meal and whatnot and a nurse comes in. “Hi! How are you? How’s everything going?”

May nods, “It’s all good.”

The nurse puts a pile of paper work down, “This is for you to read and some things to fill out. If you need help or have questions, just press the buzzer.”

“It should be fine, thanks,” May says.

I start to fill in all the paperwork where I can for May. We head down to the special care unit.

We go to our precious girl and find her sleeping peacefully.

*1week late*

I bring all May’s bags up from the car and race back down to help her. Claire holds Rettie and trails behind while I help May upstairs. She lies down on the couch and Claire hands me the baby. She’s making that little sucking motion with her mouth so I hand her to May to feed her. I sit at May’s feet and massage them while the baby has colostrums or milk.

Claire smiles, “I’m going to head off and let you two have some space. There’s food in the fridge, is there anything else you need?”

May smiles at her, “No, thank you mum. You’ve been amazing. I’ll call if I need anything.”

Claire gives them both a hug and assures us she’ll be over tomorrow.

My mum and Ruby stayed for a while but because May was in hospital they couldn’t really see either of them. They’re coming back down next week. We would have gone down but we didn’t want to travel just yet.

May turns on the TV and lies sleepily on the couch still feeding bub. I get up and start to prepare the finishing things on the baby room.

It has cream walls with little white elephants and monkey stickers. The ground is polished wood with a thick mat covering it. There’s a little wardrobe and the cot is on the left wall in the center. Opposite is the change table.

I get back to the lounge room and find May dosing off, the baby finished feeding. I pick her up and take her into her room and change her nappy on the change table. Once she’s all fresh again I head back into the