April was growing closer to an end and I began getting sick and tired from the littlest things so I found myself staying in bed or on the couch many days. The nights Lance and the guys had rehearsals and concerts Lindsay came over and helped me out in the final stage of my pregnancy that until now was rather passive.
May 3rd. It was a night like any other for the past week. I was laying on the couch watching tv while Lance was about 15 minutes into the concert. Lindsay and I were talking when all of a sudden my water broke and practically scared the crap out of me. Lindsay assured me it was all right as the contractions became apparent to me in the pain I was feeling. It was happening right now, all of a sudden my joyful thoughts of having a baby and a family burst as fear set in as the intensity of the pain grew.
"All right honey it's ok, I called the hospital. Let me get your bag and we're going to go ahead and go." Lindsey said heading upstairs.
"What about Lance. I can't go through this without him. He's gotta know at least."
"The phone is right beside you if you can manage go ahead and try to call him." She insisted.
I picked up the phone and tried to call his cell phone which began to ring.
Meanwhile at the venue the wardrobe manager, Kim, heard the phone ringing. At first she was just going to let it ring thinking the person on the other end would hang up but when it continued to ring she decided to take initiative and answer it.
"Hello?" She answered.
Unfamiliar with the voice I asked who I was talking to.
"This is Kim, the wardrobe manager backstage." She answered.
"Oh my god, Kim, It's great to talk to you. It's Jen, remember me?" I asked.
"OF course sweetheart I'd never forget you."
"Ok great. Listen is Lance anywhere around?" I said rather irritated by my pain.
"No, actually they're only about 30 minutes into their performance. You don't sound good is something wrong." She asked in a concerned tone.
"Well not really wrong but I just wanted to let him know that my Aunt is taking me to the hospital and that the baby is on it's way now." I said as tears began to form from the pains.
"OH dear. Listen I'll let him know. He should be back here in 5 minutes for a quick change. I won't hold you up any longer. I'll tell him sweety you just get to the hospital and he'll get there soon, I promise."
"Thanks so much Kim I appreciate it, Bye" I said hanging up as Lindsay helped me up from the couch and out to the car.
"She's going to let him know. He's performing right now so I don't know how long he'll be." I told her as we drove to the hospital which thanks to my luck was a mere 5 minutes away from the house. We checked in and got me into a room immediately.
Back at the venue the guys were coming offstage for a 5 minute intermission while a video played and they changed wardrobe.
"Lance, Jen just called about 10 minutes ago to let you know her Aunt's taking her to the hospital and she's getting ready to have the baby." Kim said quickly.
"She's having the baby? Now? What am I going to do?" He asked himself.
"Do about what?" JC asked as he grabbed his shirt from where Lance was standing.
"Jen just went into labor."
"You're kidding. Well she's probably ok for a little while if you finish up maybe 3 more songs we can do the other 3 or 4 without you."
"Ok are you sure? How am I going to get there?"
"I can be waiting out the back entrance in my car for you and I'll drive you there." Someone said. Lance turned around to see one of their opening acts again, Jordan Knight, standing there.
"If you could drive me there I'd really appreciate it." He said
"No problem. I'll be out at the back entrance waiting when you're ready."
"Ok thanks"
"All right guys, you've got approximately a minute and a half to get ready. Get those shirts on and get moving" Kim said instructing them to get ready.
Lance's cell phone rang seconds later and he walked over to the table it rested on and picked up.
"Hello" he said quickly.
"Hey there it's Lindsay just thought I would go ahead and let you know that when you get here go to the third floor and we'll be here in room 344."
"Ok thanks, I just got the message and I'm leaving as soon..."
"OH MY GOD THEY'RE COMING CLOSER TOGETHER, AH" I was screaming on the other end of the phone in the background.
"Is she ok? Listen I'm on my way now. I'll be there in 15 minutes or so"
"Ok, remember it's 344."
"OK bye" he hung up.
"JORDAN!" Lance shouted as he was walking away. "I've gotta go now. You ready?"
"Sure come on."
The two got into Jordan's car and drove off as quickly as they could without going too far over the speed limit.
Back at the hospital...
"Come on honey just calm down and breath." Lindsay said trying to calm me down.
"I can't believe I got myself into this mess. How could I be so stupid!" I cried from the pain.
"Just think you're going to have a beautiful baby soon."
"I'm too young to have a baby. I'm gonna ruin it's life."
"Shh.. Don't say that. You and Lance are ready and are going to be great parents."
"I hope so." I said as once again I cringed and focused on breathing and clearing my mind.
A few minutes later in the hosptal parking lot...
Jordan and Lance made their way toward the entrance . The double doors opened and the two got in the elevator located directly to the left. The elevator doors shut and Lance breathed in deeply.
"Are you nervous?" Jordan asked.
"Nervous, excited, worried, and everything in between."
"I don't doubt that. But you get to come away with this with a baby."
"Yea. I'll admit at first I wasn't thrilled about us having a kid but the idea has grown on me, especially since the first time I felt the baby kick. We've been so excited."
"All right we're here." Jordan said as the doors started to open to the waiting area.
"Hey, the room is 3rd door on the right." Alana said as she saw Lance walk off.
"Hey thanks. Umm Jordan you can go ahead and leave. I really appreciate your help."
"I'll stick around for awhile for the excitement."
"Ok what time is it?"
"Umm..A little after 10" Alana answered.
"Ok listen at 11 or 11:30 can you call Chris or someone and get them to bring my car to the hospital for me?"
"Sure. Listen get back there with Jen now don't worry about your damn car, go" Alana insisted.
Lance laughed and quickly walked back to my room. When I saw him peak into the room all of a sudden the pain went away, for the moment.
"Hey, I'm so glad to see you." I said as he came closer.
"How's it coming?" He said with a kiss.
"She's just had a lot of pain. It's all going pretty slow. But she's been progressing. I'm going to say within 3 hours it'll be over." Answered the doctor before proceeding out the door.
"I wish it just would be over now." I complained.
"It'll be over before you know it."
"Jen, you'll be ok for awhile right? I'm going to slip down and get a cup of coffee." Lindsay said.
"Yea I'll be fine for awhile. Take a break." I smiled followed by a deep breath.
"So how much of the show are you missing?" I asked.
"About 45 minutes. But it's more important that I be here." He replied as he held my hand.
I simply smiled.
Back in the waiting room...
Things were quiet as Alana and Jordan watched the Tonight Show on the tv that hung from the wall. After a few seconds into the commercials Jordan looked to a bored Alana and decided to spark some conversation.
"So how long do you think she'll be?"
She continued to stare blankly at the tv, "Who knows maybe minutes, maybe hours."
"Oh" he replied as he thought for awhile of something to get her talking.
"You know you look really familiar, have we met before?"
She looked at him "Yea once or twice I think on tour."
"I thought so. What was your name again?"
"Alana." She replied simply.
"That's right, you were with umm.." He thought
"Chris, I'm Chris' ex but I'm also one of Jen's good friends and I'm friends with all the others too."
"OK, yea I met you when we were like up in DC or somewhere back where you live. What brings you down here now?"
"Oh I moved a few months back, my dad moved all of us down here when he got this huge promotion. So I'm now a resident of good old Florida."
"You still live with your parents?" He asked
"Of course. I'm only 17." She saw his face drop. "You knew that didn't you?"
"No, I thought for sure you were at least 20 or 21."
"Oh well I'm not, You're not the first to think that. I've got a much more mature self that others my age....you know it's no big deal I mean it's not illegal to talk just cause I'm 17."
Jordan smiled and the two continued to talk for another hour or so.
Now in the delivery room the contractions were extremely intense and thanks to the pain killers they had me full of I was remaining completely calm. With a final check from the doctor she gave the word that it was time to start pushing.
"All right sweety this baby is ready to come out so now it all lies in your hands. The more intense you push the quicker it's over. So on the count of three I want you to push. Ok one... Two..three"
I pushed with all I had in me. The sweat started to slowly come off of me and the pain was not eased by the medicine anymore. I didn't see how God could make a woman shove a watermelon out of a coin slot. But this was not the time to think about all the mysteries of life it was time to push. So I did. About 20 minutes of pushing till the doctor shined some sun on this situation.
"All right Jen you are almost there. I see the head. I need a few more good pushes and you're done"
Taking a deep breath and biting my lip I pushed and pushed until finally the baby way out. I through my head back and sighed with relief.
"It's a boy" the doctor announced as they cleaned her off and wrapped him in a blanket and handed him to me.
"Oh my god" I said as held him I felt like I was going to cry. "I can't believe this. Here you've just got to hold him." I said handing him to Lance for a moment. It was just so unreal to see us so young holding our son. But of course I knew it would all grow on me and I guess it's better than having my kids have to push me around in a wheelchair when they're 16. After a really short time the nurses took him away but not before asking us what we were naming him which we had already decided was going to beTristan Hunter Bass. They took him to the nursery with the other babies and told me I should rest but surprisingly I wasn't like dead tired. So Lance and I sat there and talked for awhile.
"What time is it?" I asked.
"About 12:45 am." He replied.
"Do you realize what that means."
"What?"
"You andTristan have the same birthday. Happy Birthday sweety." I said kissing him.
"I totally forgot what today was."
"You know what they might even let us take the baby home tonight since I had her so early. I hope so cause I really don't wanna have to stay in a hospital overnight again."
"We'll get out of here as soon as we can."
Around 4 in the afternoon I was discharged and we took the baby home. Everyone came over and celebrated. After the party had been underway for quite some time the doorbell rang.
"Sit tight and I'll get the door." Lindsay said getting up and going to the front door. "Well look who it is. How are you doing? Come in." She said. "They're right in here."
"Dad" I said carefully handing Tristan to Lance. I gave him a hug. "I didn't think I'd see you so soon."
"Well when your Aunt called with the news Claudia insisted we come down and visit."
"That's right" Claudia said. "Listen Jen I'm sorry for everything I said awhile back. I want you to know we're all behind you."
"Thanks." I said. "Seth, I'm glad you could come too since you're the one who helped me from the start with this."
"No problem. What else is your ex-boyfriend, best-friend, soon to be step-brother here for."
I laughed thinking of how sick that was but gave him a hug in return.
"Well you guys have to meet our son. Lance bring him over here."
I took the baby and placed him in my dad's arms. "This is Tristan."
"He adorable." Claudia said looking at him. "He's got a lot of both of you in him."
The baby got passed around the room and eventualy ended up residing in Lance's arms. It was definitely a Kodak moment with the smile he had on his face. I think he was especially glad to have a son that he could teach and bond with.
Hours past and everyone left and it was now just the three of us. We were now offically a family, and Lance and myself parents. We took Tristan to the fresh new nursery which we had decorated ourselves and laid him down in his crib. We turned on the baby monitor and gazed at him with wonder and amazement. We silently walked out and went to our own room. Where we turned on the other half of the monitor for when the baby would cry.
After changing we got in bed and turned out the lights. Our lives were not ever going to be the same again and we were willing to sacrifice whatever for our baby. With a kiss on the lips we fell asleep.
Only a few hours into our sleep whimpers came across the monitor. I started to sit up and get out.
"You lay down I'll take care of him."
"Are you sure?"
"Yea, daddy will help him." He smiled.
I laid back down and minutes later Lance creeped into the nursery with a bottle. I listened in through the monitor.
"Shhh... It's ok daddy brought you a bottle. Come on." He said picking Tristan up and sitting in the rocker that was in the corner of the room. "Here you go." He fed the baby silently for awhile then he started to sing him a lullaby. His voice was so sweet and it was weird to hear is sweet voice entertaining someone other than a screaming girl.
After putting him back to bed Lance came back to bed.
"That was really sweet. You're gonna be great."
"Thanks."