Part I - The Early Phase

Month 9
Week 36

Seohyun ran, feeling the soft breeze blowing into her curls. Her steps were light and for a moment she thought that she was bouncing on large clouds. Large fluffy ones, which would never hurt her even if she were to accidentally fell.

She stopped running the moment she reached the end of the beach. She smiled. Finally, paradise! She closed her eyes as she sniffed in the smell of the sea. The scent lingered somewhere in her mind. It was indeed familiar. It reminded her of the first time she came to Busan to visit her mother in law. It was Yonghwa who introduced that scent to her, Yonghwa, her husband.

Suddenly she felt warm hands circling her waist from behind. She smiled wider. She knew those hands fully well. Tilting her head a little to the back, she saw his gentle smile. He was her love, he was her life, he was her heartbeat, he was her Yonghwa.

Yonghwa pulled Seohyun closer towards his chest, embracing her tighter before burrying his face into her wavy brown locks. She felt his love, his strong love for her. And she wanted to return the same feelings. Slowly, she turned around, wrapping her arms around his neck. Looking up into his face, she smiled as she leaned in to kiss his lips.

The kiss was slow, almost deliberately. Seohyun sighed when she felt Yonghwa nibbling gently on her bottom lips causing her to open further to allow his tongue to explore hers. She moaned in protest when she felt him onto her tongue but never had the least intention to pull back from the kiss. They kissed deeper, holding onto each other desperately, never wanting to let go. Seohyun felt her knees gave in, almost losing her balance. But thankfully, Yonghwa skillfully held onto her tight, pulling her even closer to him. Their heartbeats soared, joined together as one. But still they fell onto the damp sand. Seohyun could feel the water of waves hitting her feet. She was getting wet.

The next thing she suddenly realised that she was alone. Yonghwa was nowhere to be found. She was all alone, laying wet by the beach. Seohyun closed her eyes, crying softly, hugging her own body. She was still getting wet. That was all she remembered. She was wet, too wet... It was really wet...

Seohyun opened her eyes, suddenly sitting up. It was pitch dark. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she was able to see roughly where she was at that moment. Seohyun heaved a sigh of relief. She was in her bedroom and Yonghwa was sleeping soundly beside her. Whatever happened earlier was just a dream. The beach, the breeze, the kiss, all of it had happened in her dream. The waves and the sea water soaking her wet were also a dream... Wait! A dream? Then why was her thighs wet? It's impossible that she had wet herself right? For God's sake she was a grown woman, a wife and a mother-to-be! She can't possibly be wetting on the bed could she?

Seohyun groaned as she the side table beside her bed and the lamp. It got brighter suddenly that she just had to squint her eyes for a moment before they adjusted themselves yet again to the brightness. Her eyes managed a glace at the alarm clock on the table, which showed the timing, four in the morning. Feeling a bit irritated, Seohyun got out of bed. But the moment she stood up, she could feel water running down her legs. It was a waterfall!

Seohyun gulped. Was it what she thought it was? Was she in labor?

"Yeobo-ya..." Seohyun called out to Yonghwa who was still soundly asleep. "Wake up please..."

"Hm...?" Yonghwa replied, his eyes still closed.

"Can you please wake up?" Seohyun asked again, turning to look at her husband.

"Hm... Hyun-ah, it's still early..." Yonghwa groaned. "Come back into bed will you? Here..." Yonghwa pat Seohyun's side of the bed as a sign for her to climb back in.

"I can't." Seohyun said, rolling her eyes.

"Aish! Why is it wet here?" Yonghwa squinted his eyes, trying to defend them for the brightness. He held up his hand to his nose, smelling the liquid which he just touched ealier.

"That's what I was trying to tell you." Seohyun sighed. "I think my water bag broke."

Yonghwa sat on the bed, with his legs crossed. His eyes were still half-closed as he looked up at Seohyun. He gave his head a light scratching. "What water bag? We don't have a water bag in bed."

Seohyun slapped a hand on her forehead. Her husband could be so silly sometimes. "My water bag, as in my water bag as in I am pregnant, with your daughter. Does that ring a bell?"

Suddenly, even before you could finish saying 'Dae-Han-Min-Guk', Yonghwa was already out of the bed, his eyes wide, as he stood in front of Seohyun, holding onto her shoulders.

"Are you hurting? Do you want to lie down? Should I call a doctor here? No! We should go to the hospital right away!" Yonghwa started saying. He was in a state of panic. "Wait! I should wake ommoni first!"

Yonghwa headed towards their bedroom door in a flash. But he suddenly stopped and headed back towards Seohyun. "Do you want to lie down?" He asked again, a worried look on his face.

"Ani. Just go and wake ommoni first. I'll be fine." Seohyun told him. As much as she herself was in a worried state, she was still able to keep her cool. She had read it before, in her pregnancy books. She was sure she was in her first stage of labor. But it did not mean that she was about to give birth anytime soon. She had not had her contractions yet. But she was sure she would feel it soon. Very soon.

"Okay, you-you just sit first." Yonghwa helped Seohyun back to the bed, allowing her to sit. "Don't think of even standing!"

"Ah! What is wrong with you?" Seohyun almost let out a laugh upon seeing the panic-stricked look on Yonghwa's face.

"I'm going to wake ommoni. If you feel pain or anything while I'm gone, just shout okay?" Yonghwa said, holding onto Seohyun's hand tightly.

"Ah sinchia! Ommoni is just next door!" Seohyun shook her head, smirking.

"But still! Anything can happen when I'm not here beside you!" Yonghwa told her, his eyes misty with tears. Seohyun bit back a smile, suddenly feeling very guilty for making fun of him.

"Ahrasso." Seohyun nodded, looking down. "Pali, go and come back!"

"Wait for me." Yonghwa said before he ran out of the room to wake his mother up.

******

"Let's just get you to the hospital, just to be safe." Mrs Jung said as she helped Seohyun change into something dry.

"Yes, let's do that. Come Joohyun-ah." Yonghwa slipped one of his hands around his wife's waist and the other holding onto her hand. He slowly led her out of the room, towards the front door.

"Ommoni, you stay at home. Call aboeji just in case." Yonghwa managed to say as he helped Seohyun into the backseat of the car. As always, he never forgotten to put on the seatbelt for his wife, even if it was during an emergency such as this. "Call Joohyun's mother and father as well!"

"Ne. You just go first." Mrs Jung said waving her son off. "Give me a call if there's anything."

Yonghwa nodded his head before slipping into the driver's seat and soon he had driven his car out, quickly heading to the hospital.

"Hyun-ah, how are you feeling?" Yonghwa asked as he looked at Seohyun through the rear view mirror.

"I'm fine actually yeobo. There's no need to worry." Seohyun managed a smile.

"Yah! Don't lie to me. I know you're in pain there!"

"Aniyo! Sinchia! I have not felt any contractions just yet." Seohyun told her husband. "I believe I'm still in the early phase on my labor. Even if we go to the hospital now, the doctors will just send me back home later. I bet on it."

"Ah wae? Your water bag broke!" Yonghwa exclaimed. "From my understanding, if a womman's water bag broke, it means the baby's coming. That's what they've been showing on television!"

"Don't believe them. They're just creating a story plot to make it more realistic." Seohyun shrugged.

"Sinchia? Then when are you going to feel the pain?"

"I don't know. Maybe later?" Seohyun grinned. "That's why I have to count the length of the contractions. If it's still between ten to twenty minutes apart, I'm still in the early phase, so I'm not ready for birth yet. But once I get to my active phase, the length of my contractions will get closer, then that is when I really have to get ready."

Yonghwa nodded his head. "Um love, don't mind me saying this. Whatever you just told me just now, I really had no idea what you were talking about." Yonghwa said calmly, his eyes still fixed on the road ahead.

"Ah! Sinchia!" Seohyun shook her head, laughing.

******

"Have you felt any contractions yet Mrs Jung?" The nurse staff from the childbirth division asked.

Seohyun smiled and shook her head. "Aniyo. There's no contractions yet. But there are a lot of water."

"Not too worry Mrs Jung, you're doing fine." The nurse said again. "Your cervix dilation is about one centimetre. There's still a long way to go. And after doing a thorough check-up on you including the ultrasound scan, we could see that your water bag is not dried up totally. There is still about two centimetre of water left, so your baby will be fine."

"Are you sure it's perfectly alright for her to go home?" Yonghwa asked, his face serious.

"Yes, I'm positively sure Mr Jung." The nurse replied, her eyes were strangely fixed on Yonghwa. But of course he was totally oblivious of it. "Okay, let's go Hyun!" Yonghwa helped Seohyun up. They said thank you to the nurse who attended to them and left, to head straight home.

For now.