~Three Years Later~

I'm lying in bed, trying to get as comfortable as possible, hoping to drift off quickly. Exhaustion has been the status quo for the past several months. It takes a lot of effort to haul around the extra 50 lbs. that have been added to my petite frame over the past nine months. Two babies, lots of cheeseburgers, and a ton of water weight.

Yes, two babies. It didn't take long for Harry and me to discover that we had no problem conceiving. We found out we were expecting shortly after our second anniversary.

I roll my gigantic belly over to the side and try to adjust myself so that my back, knees and hips don't hurt. This is not an easy task since everything is weighed down by the babies.

Harry reaches over to rub my back for a few minutes. "Can't sleep again, hey?"

"Never," I respond wearily.

After ten or fifteen minutes of desperately failing to get comfortable, I hoist myself out of bed and lumber to the bathroom.

Even using the toilet is an ordeal at this stage of the game. Once I've positioned myself accurately, I take care of business quickly. But as I'm standing up, trying to pull my pajamas and underwear up, I have a bizarre sensation in my pelvis and then I feel a giant gush. I remain seated for several minutes, trying to process what has happened.

Oh, my. This is the real thing.

My water broke.

I'm not quite sure how to put myself back together enough to make it back to the bedroom. Thankfully, Harry's robe is hanging on the back of the bathroom door. I strip off my pajamas and throw on the robe in order to hobble back to the bedroom.

Harry is still awake. "Everything okay?"

"Well, no," I laugh nervously. "My water just broke."

I've never seen him move so fast.

"Slow down, Baby," I laugh at his clumsiness as he scrambles for his crutches and then his clothes. "These babies are going to take their time, I think. You know what the doctor said about my first time in labor. I haven't even had a contraction yet."

That fact changes as Harry and I descend the stairs in our house. I stop on the third step and groan with the discomfort. The pain definitely feels different than all the little cramps and tightening sensations I've had for the past several weeks. The contraction lasts only a few seconds and I laugh as it subsides, but the look on Harry's face is priceless, something between confusion, happiness and terror.

"It's fine," I reassure him. "It was a small one, but I'm pretty sure it was real."

I fully expect to go through many hours of labor. I've heard every horror story about endless labors and hours of pushing for hours to deliver first babies. I also fully expect to feel every single bit of it. There is no way I'm getting a needle shoved into my back after watching what Harry went through. I realize that spinal surgery is much different than a simple epidural, but I'm not taking any chances. These babies will hopefully arrive within a day. I can endure anything for a day. I survived when Harry almost died, so I'm pretty sure I can survive anything.

I have a few more contractions on the way to the hospital, short and strong enough to make me whimper. Harry reaches over to rub my arm, my hand, my back or whatever he can reach. I laugh and tell him to keep his hands on the wheel. But in my head, I'm rehearsing the breathing patterns that we've learned in our childbirth classes. I'm not going to admit it to Harry, but the first few contractions have been far more intense than I expected. And I'm pretty sure they're not very far apart.

Harry stops in front of the emergency entrance at U of M Hospital. He races around to my side of the car. He swings the door open and I grab his wrist, "Baby, look at me." He locks onto me with those beautiful coppery eyes. "Please be careful. I can't have you falling and breaking a leg while I'm in labor. This hospital visit is about these babies, not you escaping to a hospital bed and watching cable TV while I bring our children into this world!"

His face lightens and he laughs into the kiss he places on my lips. "You are going to do great," he assures me.

The ER transport has already arrived with a wheelchair for me to climb into. They direct Harry to the parking area, which he already knows. He started medical school at the University of Michigan in the fall, and he has familiarized himself with the hospital quite well.

We moved to Ann Arbor two summers ago for Harry to study medicine at the University of Michigan. He's done quite well so far, but it will definitely be a challenge to see him through medical school, especially now that we will have children.

I was able to take one semester of classes and get my Associates Degree at nearby Eastern University. But now that the babies are coming, I will take some time off from my career pursuits in order to be mom. We are blessed that Harry's settlement money from the accident will help us during this tight financial time.

The contractions have remained regular since we left the house. So much for our doctor's admonitions about labor beginning slowly. This one is wasting no time becoming honest-to-goodness labor.

Harry finds me mid-contraction. I'm beginning to pant and his eyes become wide. Once it subsides, he says what has been on my mind for the past hour, "This is really happening, isn't it?"

Dr. Kilgard joins us shortly afterward, and she wastes no time in checking my dilation. With a hint of surprise in her voice, she reports that I'm already at 5 cm. "Things might move faster than we expected," she smiles reassuringly. But suddenly, I don't feel very reassured. Instead, I feel a bit of panic. So far, the contractions have been manageable, but they have admittedly gotten more intense since we arrived at the hospital.

"It's not uncommon for labor to kick in pretty fast when your water breaks. I'll be checking on you regularly, so just do your best to relax and get ready to meet your babies." Dr. Kilgard exits the room and I look at Harry with the newly realized fear in my eyes.

"I'm scared."

Harry nuzzles my face with his and strokes my hair. "You can do this, Katie. I know you can," he whispers. He's still leaning close when the next contraction begins. I grab his arm and start to squeeze hard because this one is the most intense one yet.

He props himself next to the bed, freeing at least one hand from his crutches so that he can be available to me. After several more intense contractions, and a growing red mark on Harry's arm, I begin to worry about him.

"You can sit down for a bit if you need to," I tell him. "I'll be okay. I don't want you to get too tired out." He moves to grab his crutch and thinks twice when I grab his arm one more time. This contraction has me moaning, and when it's over, I can tell he doesn't want to leave my side. But I convince him I'll be fine. "It's not like you're leaving me. You'll be just over there." I motion to the chair across the room.

I manage to control my noise during the next several contractions. At first Harry can't keep his eyes off me, and I can tell he tenses up every time another one hits. But eventually, he leans back and relaxes. He even manages to doze off a bit, which is fine with me. I know that I can't take a break, but if he's able to re-energize for a bit, then he will be more ready to help me when I really need it.

I breathe through an hour of contractions, or maybe two hours. I waffle between watching the clock and trying to find something else in the room to distract me. The TV remote comes into view, so I switch on the TV and lower the volume. Nurses come in and out, offer me popsicles and ice chips, and encourage me repeatedly, telling me I'm doing "a great job." I'm sure they have to say that to everyone, even if their heads are spinning around and they're screaming profanities.

After more contractions than I can count, I'm sure things are moving along. I'm no longer successful at keeping my noise down as I pant, moan and even grunt through the contractions. Just when I'm starting to get really irritated with Harry for sleeping so long, he wakes up and joins me. A few more rounds of groaning and pulling out chunks of Harry's arm hair, I'm ready to be done.

"I'm getting so tired," I tell him. "How long is this going to last?"

"I don't know, Katie. I wish I could do it for you. I hate seeing you like this." He strokes my cheek and whispers, "I'm here, baby. I'm here."

I have no time to respond to his sweetness because the next contraction barges in and stays far too long. I pass the moaning and groaning stage and head straight into crying out in pain. One contraction subsides and another comes along way too fast. The nurse had given me a small pan in case I felt the need to vomit. With the next contraction, I grab the pan just in time. Luckily Harry is quick at pulling my hair out of my face. He finds a hair tie in my bag and ties it back as another contraction squeezes me.

"Harry," I whimper. "I just want to be done."

"I know, Katie, I know. You are so heroic. It will be over soon, just keep it up, okay? You're doing great." He starts to stroke my hair again, but I fling his arm away as the next contraction begins. I vomit again and the nurse switches out my pan for a clean one.

"You're handling this so well," she encourages me.

Oh, shut up!

As the next contraction takes over, I'm crying out while yelling for Harry to find the TV remote. "Turn the stupid thing off! Turn it off!" I scream as the pain is now almost relentless with one contraction ramping up before the previous one even finishes.

I barely notice, but a flurry of activity takes over the room. I see a nurse switching on bright lights on two tiny warming tables. Dr. Kilgard is back to check my progress and reports that I am almost ready to push. I hope she will tell me when I should start because I'm so ready to give up right now.

Then she doesn't even need to tell me. I start to feel intense pressure and I know I'm ready. Dr. Kilgard tells me very carefully how to push, touching me, telling me where to focus my energy. With the next contraction, I give it my all and end up screaming in the process. I scream through three or four more rounds of pushing when Dr. Kilgard tells me that the first baby is almost here.

I cry with relief. I have just enough courage to push with all my might on the next contraction, and our baby girl enters the world. They hand her to me and Harry leans over with tears streaming down his face. He strokes her tiny head, and cries softly next to me.

I have a few minutes to relax and adore my baby before another contraction starts. It's not huge, but the nurses take the baby to the warming table so that I can receive the next one in my arms.

The next contraction makes up for the minor one that preceded it, and I'm screaming again. I'm pushing with everything I've got, but it doesn't seem to be happening as fast as the first one. After several pushes and what feels like no progress, I'm sobbing. "Why won't this baby come out?"

In a very brief moment between contractions, I hear the tiny cries of our little girl being cleaned up by the nurses. She gives me just enough courage to face the next contraction. And the next. And the next. Finally, Dr. Kilgard tells me that Baby #2 is almost out. I give one more gigantic, screaming push and our son is born.

More tears follow from both of us as our baby boy is placed on my chest. Shortly, he is whisked away to be cleaned up and they bring our little girl back. Harry and I are besides ourselves, weeping and sobbing in complete joy. His face is so close to mine as we marvel at our sweet baby. His tears are mingling with mine and streaming down both of our faces.

"Harry, we have two babies! We have a son and a daughter. We have two!"

Harry leans in close to my face and kisses me through all of his tears. "You did it, Katie! I'm so proud of you."

I can't believe I did it. Even more, I can't believe these two perfect little babies that are going to call me "Mommy."

And they're going to call Harry "Daddy."

Our little girl is Anne and our baby boy is Edward because the names seemed to be embedded in our families. His mom's name is Anne and it's also my middle name, while Edward is my father's name and it's also Harry's middle name. They were simply meant to be, our little Annie and Eddie.

I'm enthralled as I watch Harry enter the adventure of fatherhood while studying his tail off in med school and offering me the new mom support I need. It's not the first time he has amazed me, and I'm sure it won't be the last.

I have come to believe that Harry Styles can do anything he puts his mind to.

And so can I.

With God's strength.

THE END.

* * * * *

There will be a bonus chapter after this - a more mature chapter of Harry and Katie's wedding night. I saved it for the end so that those of you who don't want to read it will not miss out on any of the story :)

Thank you SO MUCH to all of you for loving and supporting my story. Don't forget to check out Brave if you haven't. It's another story about overcoming disability.

Also, I will be publishing a new book, a non-fanfiction, entitled "Til Life Do Us Part." I would love for you to check it out.

We all know the wedding vows that end with "Until death do us part."  Well, what happens when two people are perfect for each other but it's LIFE that comes between them?

Jake Bellamy wasn't always in love with the enthralling Dylan Porter, although he'd noticed her the very first day she came to visit her Grandma in Five Oaks about fifteen years ago. And he'd been noticing her every summer until she finally moved to Five Oaks with her mom. And he continued to notice her while at the same time keeping her at arm's length, afraid to let his longtime reverie be crushed. By the time Dylan was ready to return Jake's affection, he had one foot on an airplane to move halfway across the world.