The next few months were filled with chaos. Between moving into their new house, AJ’s obligations to the band, and getting ready for the baby, Dawn and AJ barely had any time to spend together. It was almost a month before they could move into the new house because AJ wanted some additional things done to it and he didn’t want it done when Dawn was there by herself.
He had a recording studio built onto the house. He knew that Dawn wouldn’t be able to get away to do much recording and he didn’t want her to abandon her dream of singing again. He also wanted to start spending more time at home, especially after the baby was born.
They hadn’t yet set a wedding date, but they did decide to wait until after the baby was born. There was too much else going on at one time, he didn’t want to overwhelm Dawn. When they did start planning their wedding, he wanted to be able to put everything he could into it and neither of them had the energy left to do it now.
Dawn’s pregnancy was going smoothly and she was very close to her due date. AJ went to every Lamaze class except one with Dawn. The one he missed, his mother went to with her. It was good in a way, just in case he was out of town when she went into labor, his mother could coach Dawn until he got there. He could barely control his excitement, both at getting married and of becoming a father.
One afternoon, Dawn was taking a nap and he went into the baby’s room and sat down, like he so often did. It amazed him how much his life and priorities had changed in such a short time. He may have been young, but he was ready to be a good husband and father. He just hoped he didn’t disappoint Dawn, he knew she had gone through so much making the decisions that she did, he hoped he didn’t let her down. He was deep in thought when Dawn appeared in the doorway. She looked at him with a smile on her face.
"It’s time".
He shot up out of the chair and ran over to her.
"Oh my god, are you sure??" He asked, panicking.
"My water broke,” she replied.
"Okay, let’s go,” he ran into their bedroom and started looking for a suitcase.
"Where the hell is it??" He yelled.
Dawn followed after him, laughing.
"Honey, listen to me,” she said, walking over to him. "Calm down. My bag is packed and in the closet. All we need to do is get it and go to the car. Do you want me to call your mother to meet us there?"
"No, no time. We can call her in the car on the way. Are you okay? How are you feeling? Are you in any pain??"
"Alex, I’m fine, I think you’re the one who’s gonna need the drugs, not me”, she joked.
He walked over to her and took her in his arms.
"We’re gonna have a baby,” he smiled.
"We sure are,” Dawn replied, "but you may be doing more than you planned bringing this baby into the world if we don’t get to the hospital,” she joked.
He picked up her bag, took her hand and led her to the car. On the way, he called the hospital to let them know they were on their way, then called his mother and told her what was happening. She tried to calm him down, but to no avail. Dawn got on the phone with her.
"Hi sweetie, how are you doing?" She asked Dawn.
"I’m okay, I can’t say the same for your son, though," she laughed.
"Just tell him to be careful driving. I’ll be at the hospital soon. I’ll call the other Boys. Is everything else alright?"
Dawn sighed.
"Honestly, I’m a little scared".
"I know you are. Everything will be fine. You have a wonderful fiancee that, hopefully, won’t need to be sedated and will help you through this. Just keep calm and do your breathing. Just think, by this time tomorrow, you will be blessed with the most wonderful gift in the world."
Denise’s words brought tears to Dawn’s eyes. She glanced over at AJ and took his hand. They arrived at the hospital within minutes. There was already someone waiting there for them. They took Dawn into a birthing room as AJ followed.
"Well, you’re four centimeters dilated,” the doctor said after examining Dawn.
Dawn glanced over at AJ with a scared look on her face. He tried to calm himself down. He knew he had a lot to do. Amongst other things, he had to keep Dawn calm and focused. He tried to remember all the things they went over in Lamaze.
"Just relax and let the nurses know if you want any kind of drugs when the time comes,” the doctor said to Dawn and walked out the door.
AJ went over and sat on the bed next to Dawn.
"By this time tomorrow, we’ll have a little baby,” he gushed.
"We hope,” Dawn chuckled.
They sat and talked for a little while. AJ’s mother, Jessica, and Leighanne visited briefly a couple times.
A few hours went by and Dawn had dozed off. AJ turned the TV on and sat in the chair. It was silent except for the beeping noises the blood pressure machine was making. AJ’s eyes started to get heavy.
‘I can’t fall asleep’, he said to himself.
He let go of Dawn’s hand and got up.
"I’ll just run and get some coffee. I have a feeling this is gonna be a long night".
He walked out and saw his mother, Kevin, Jessica, Brian and Leighanne sitting in the waiting room. They all ran up to him.
"How is she?" Jessica asked.
"She’s sleeping right now. The nurse was in a little while ago and he said she was dilated 6 centimeters."
"What the hell does that mean?" Brian asked, laughing.
"That means it’ could be a while,” Denise replied.
AJ walked down to the cafeteria with Kevin and Brian. When they came back, he noticed that his mother was not there.
"Dawn woke up and she went in with her,” Jessica said, reading his face.
He ran into the Dawn’s room.
"Where the hell were you?" Dawn growled at him, obviously in pain.
"I’m sorry baby, I just went to get some coffee".
A couple hours went by and after much breathing and pushing, they were able to see the baby’s head. AJ tried to be as calm and supportive as he could. He felt terrible because other than be there and stroke Dawn’s hair and feed her ice cubes, there was really nothing he could do for her. He wiped a cool cloth over her face.
"Just one last push, Dawn, that should do it,” the doctor’s words snapped AJ back to reality.
“Come on, baby, you can do it,” AJ coaxed. “Just one more push and our baby will be here”.
Dawn pushed as hard as she could and the next thing they knew, they heard a baby crying.
"Congratulations, it’s a girl!" The doctor said, placing the baby on Dawn’s chest.
AJ just watched, amazed. Dawn looked up at him and they both had tears in their eyes. He couldn’t believe it..he had a daughter. He bent down and kissed Dawn tenderly on the lips, then kissed the baby on the head.
"We have a little girl,” he whispered to Dawn, both of them had tears streaming down their faces.
"We sure do...Arianna?" She asked, looking up at him.
"Arianna Denise McLean......it’s beautiful,” AJ said, smiling from ear to ear as he gently stroked the baby's head.


Chapter 41
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