[justpush]

Nolan caught hold of Thomas to sit gently on the ball. He caught his hands as he balanced his hips on the rubber ball. He breathed deeply. He felt a stinging sensation in his back.
"Oh, shit..." he sighed feeling a sharp pain

[Whoknows]

Thomas took away one of his hands to start rubbing Nolan’s back, “does that feel a bit better?”, he asked.

Around 10 minutes later, Nolan’s midwife finally walked in and greeted them. She began to teach Thomas some ways to perfect his massage so that it would give some pain relief. She also taught him to push down on Nolan’s pressure points.

[justpush]

"It can be," he whispered quietly.

When the midwife arrived Nolan was relieved. He felt secure that there was someone who would take care of him and the baby at the right moment and guide him through this time.
"My waters haven't gone away yet..." he said when the midwife finished instructing Thomas "How long can it take for my waters to go away?"

[Whoknows]

The midwife looked at Nolan and listened intently, she didn’t want him to feel stressed. “Well, they can break whenever but if the doctor feels that they are taking too long then they can instruct me to break it for you. That’ll be done with a little hook that I have but it’s not really sharp and won’t do any damage”, she explained.

Thomas sat and listened, wanting to understand what his lover might have to go through. It was also interesting as he never knew that could happen.

[justpush]

Nolan nodded as he listened to the woman. He was bouncing slightly on the ball at that moment.
"I see," he whispered quietly and looked at his stomach, breathing deeply "And are there any other methods to speed up the process faster?" he asked her and took a deep breath through his nose. He gripped Thomas' hand tighter as he felt a strong contraction.

[Whoknows]

The midwife sighed and thought for a second, “there’s no proven methods”, she started, “but you can encourage it by using the ball that you’re already on, go for a walk, climb some stairs or try doing some squats”. She looked at Thomas and then back at Nathan, “you could always get Thomas to hold you as you squat so that you don’t fall and if you go for a walk and experience a contraction try rocking together as it helps soften the cervix”.

[justpush]

Nolan nodded, understanding that he didn't have many options. He sighed deeply and looked at the woman again.
"Can you check how many centimeters of dilation I already have?"

[Whoknows]

She nodded and smiled, “of course, I just need you to lay down on the bed for me”, she instructed. Thomas and the midwife each grabbed an arm and help lift Nolan off of the exercise ball and then watched as he laid down.

The midwife got some gloves on and spread Nolan’s legs, easing her fingers inside him. “I would say you are about 5 centimetres dilated already, which is quite good”.

[justpush]

Nolan looked at Thomas and quietly sighed.
"Will the pain be worse?" he asked quietly as he felt the midwife remove her fingers from his anus. He quietly whimpered. He squeezed his partner's hand slightly. "I'm sorry to agonize like this but it's just hard for me.... Stress has got to me."

[Whoknows]

Thomas frowned, feeling sympathetic for his poor Nolan. “Probably but then you’ll be able to hold your baby!”, he said, convincingly, “that’ll be good”.

[justpush]

Nolan looked at Thomas and thanked him with a kiss on the cheek. He gripped his hand tighter.
"Now massage harder," he asked him and sighed quietly