(April 21st, 2002 – DC Show
‘Celebrity’ Tour)
JC was pacing back and forth backstage.
Laurie had been having Braxton-Hicks contractions for the last two days and he
was getting really concerned. She was due in ten days and he was ready to rip
his hair out.
"How many times do I have to tell
you – you are not allowed to have this baby until the tour is over!"
"Josh," Laurie said calmly
while she rubbed her belly. "With all due respect, I have no say in when
the baby wants to be born. He or she is going to join us when he or she feels
like it."
JC groaned. "Well he or she can
obey their father and wait at least a week to join us! There’s only a few shows
left to do."
Laurie pushed herself off the sofa in
the Toy Room and waddled over to where JC was rubbing his forehead.
"Honey, you have to relax. If you’re going to be this uptight when I give
birth, I’m going to give orders to the nurses to not let you in the delivery
room."
"You wouldn’t do that." He
looked at her and frowned.
"I just might if you don’t
relax." She started rubbing his arm. "Josh, you’ve been absolutely
wonderful during my whole pregnancy and you’re going to make a wonderful
father… you’ve been with me the entire time and I wouldn’t deny you watching me
give birth. I’d let you do it if I could."
"I bet." JC muttered.
"Listen, you go on and get ready
before you get yelled at. I’ll still be pregnant when you guys finish your
set."
"Are you going to be all
right?"
Laurie rolled her eyes. "I’ll be
fine. I’m just going to go out and sit with your family… I’ll see you in a few
hours."
JC hesitated.
"Go!"
When he left the room, Laurie shook her
head and rolled her eyes again. It had been a rough two months since she and JC
had exchanged their vows. They had spent numerous meetings with Johnny, trying
to make the decision about announcing their marriage to the press and the fans.
Laurie was more than content to stay out of the spotlight, but JC felt it was
better to be honest with the fans in case they found out some other way.
The rumors about Laurie’s pregnancy
however, still persisted in the press and on the internet and they had made the
same decision as Chris and Michelle. Don’t comment, change the subject when
asked and even though they were both on tour with the group, stay out of the
public eye as much as possible. So far, the plan had worked.
And as much as JC protested, Laurie was
tired of being pregnant and it was no secret to anyone who was close to her.
JC’s family had been wonderful and supportive and his parents couldn’t wait to
meet their first grandchild. They had loved Laurie on sight and even though
they were disappointed that they hadn’t been there for the wedding, they agreed
that it was probably for the best. Both JC and Laurie had had large first weddings
and neither had worked out.
She looked at her watch and sighed. The
guys would be taking the stage in a few minutes and she needed to get to the
VIP section. Michelle was already there with Bev and Laurie idly wondered if
she might need a crane to get off the sofa again.
**********
(A week later – April 28th,
2002 – Orlando ‘Celebrity’ Show)
“Is it just me or are you kind of glad
this is the last show?”
“I’m kind of glad,” Hannah
replied. “It’s kind of upsetting too
though, because Lance is leaving for Russia in a couple of weeks and I’m really
going to miss him.”
“I think we all are.” Laurie squeezed
Hannah’s arm sympathetically and suddenly gripped it more tightly.
“Laurie?” Hannah looked at her with
concern. “What’s wrong?”
Michelle had overheard Hannah say this
and turned away from her conversation with Stacy. “What’s going on?”
“I just… my back just really hurt for a
minute. I think I’m all right… it was
probably just a spasm.” She replied.
“Ok…” Hannah said slowly. “Just let us know if that happens again.”
The guys were halfway through the
Temptations Medley when Laurie grasped the arms of her chair so hard that her
knuckles went white. This did not go
unnoticed.
“Laur?” Michelle asked.
“Just another spasm,” she responded
through clenched teeth. “I’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure it isn’t labor? Sometimes women feel it in their back.”
Stacy suggested.
“No, I don’t think…” Laurie stopped and
shifted in her chair. “I think my water
just broke.” She said and stood up carefully.
“Umm yeah… it did.”
“Shit…” Hannah stood up. “JC is going to kill you for going into
labor now.”
Laurie glared at her. “Like I had a choice!”
“Ok you guys, stop it.” Stacy
requested. “Do you want me to go and
get Lonnie or someone?”
“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.”
Michelle rubbed her forehead. “Laur,
maybe you should sit down.”
“No, because then I’d only have to get
up again when Lonnie or whomever gets here.” She frowned. “I don’t want to interrupt the show… it
wouldn’t be fair to the fans to cancel the very last show of the tour halfway
through it…” Laurie looked at Michelle.
“Johnny can tell JC as soon as he gets off the stage… right? That way he doesn’t have to worry and he can
finish the show… meet us at the hospital.”
Michelle’s mouth was agape. “If that’s what you really want to do, it’s
up to you. I mean, you have a point,
but I don’t think JC would be very happy.”
“Or I could just wait on the bus and
time the contractions… then we can go to the hospital together… but he still
wouldn’t know until after the concert.”
“I think that’s probably a better idea
that way if something does happen…” her voice trailed off. “I’m just glad we aren’t far from the
hospital.”
It was at that moment that Stacy
returned with Lonnie.
“I want all of you to come backstage
with me.” He said, quickly assessing the situation. “Laurie, are you all right to walk or do you want me to carry
you?”
“Umm… I’ll walk.” She tried not to
laugh. “Exercise should be good for the
contractions… right?”
Lonnie just gave her a ‘look’ and
escorted the four of them into the Toy Room.
“Stay here.” He ordered. “I’m
going to let the other members of security know what’s going on and we’ll formulate
a plan.” He shook his head. “Hometown
concerts are the worst for getting the guys out safely.”
“Lonnie?”
“What?”
“Shouldn’t Laurie be out in one of the
vans that are waiting to take the guys back to the hotel?” Hannah asked. “Isn’t that directly where they’re going to
be going? Not back here?”
“Hannah, with all due respect, I’d
rather be comfortable for the time being.” Laurie told her as she stretched out
on the sofa. “We’ll be able to hear
when they start ‘Pop’ and then we’ll make our way out to the vans.”
“She’s even the voice of reason when
she’s in labor,” Michelle muttered and sat down in one of the overstuffed
chairs.
“What was that?” Laurie looked over at
her.
“Nothing.” Michelle shook her head and
closed her eyes. It was going to be a
long night.
**********
“JC.” Johnny caught his arm as he ran
by.
“What’s up?” JC asked as he started to
towel himself down.
“Laurie is in labor, she’s waiting out
in one of the vans… it’s going directly to the hospital.”
“What?” JC hollered. “Fuck.” He started running toward the back
exit and Johnny was hot on his heels. “How
long has she been in labor?”
“She said she felt the felt the first
spasm during the Temptations Medley… then she had another one and her water
broke.”
“She’s been in labor that long and no
one told me?” He exclaimed and pushed open the exit door. There were two vans. “Which one is she in?”
“The first one. Lance and Hannah are in there with Laurie
and the rest of us will follow in the second van.”
“Got it, thanks boss.” JC jumped into
the van and it started moving the minute he closed the door. Laurie was sitting on the middle seat with a
smile on her face. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” she told him. “I haven’t had a contraction in about
fifteen minutes.” She leaned forward and kissed him. “You guys put on a great show… it’s too bad it was the last one.”
JC sat down beside her and pushed his
sweaty hair out of his face. Her
touched her belly gently. “Right now
I’m kind of glad it was the last show.”
**********
“…five and a half centimeters dilated…”
JC heard the nurse say. “She’s right on
schedule.”
They had been at the hospital for
almost three hours and JC was amazed at how calm Laurie was. She slept when she wasn’t contracting and
she was very coherent when she was. It
made him love her more than ever… he just wished things would move along a
little faster.
JC occasionally left Laurie’s side to
go into the private waiting room the hospital staff had set the others up in to
give them updates. Joey and Justin were
propped up against each other and snoring while the others casually chatted or
flipped through magazines.
“No news yet?” Lance asked.
“Nope.
She’s only five and a half centimeters dilated. She was sleeping when I left the room.”
“She was sleeping?” Michelle repeated.
“Yeah… why?”
“She’s probably not in any pain either,”
she growled. “She must have had the
easiest pregnancy known to man. With my
luck I’ll be in labor for three days.”
“Aww, no you won’t honey… they’ll do a
C-section on you before they let you go that long.” Chris tried to placate her
and she just glared at him.
**********
It was almost four o’clock in the
morning when Laurie finally went into hard labor. JC had a cup of ice ready and
slipped pieces into her mouth when she needed it. Most of her hair was tied back except for loose tendrils that had
fallen out of the ponytail that hung in sweaty strands around her face.
“The baby is starting to crown,” the
doctor told them. “I need you to push
and hold it for ten.”
JC was rubbing her back and kissed her
temple as Laurie pushed. “You’re doing
great honey… come on, you can do it.”
“Great.” The doctor said. “Rest for a second and then I need you to
push for fifteen.”
Laurie took a deep breath and started
to push again. She had known that
getting the baby’s shoulders past her cervix was going to be the worst of it,
but she concentrated on the hand that was rubbing her back and she thought
about how much she loved JC and how things had finally come together for
them. The next thing she knew, the
doctor was telling her to rest again.
“You’re almost there,” JC whispered in
her ear, his breath warm against her already heated skin. He took a cool cloth and wiped the
perspiration off of her face. “Just a
little bit more.”
Laurie gripped JC’s hand tightly as she
pushed for the last time. They heard their
child cry for the first time after the doctor cleaned out their mouth.
“Congratulations,” the doctor
said. “It’s a girl!” He passed the scissors to JC. “Would you like to cut the cord?”
JC nodded with his eyes full of tears
and took the scissors. He cut the cord
and the doctor placed the baby onto Laurie’s stomach. JC leaned down and rested his head against Laurie’s.
“Welcome to the world, Jaimie Shannon
Chasez.”