"Should you really be doing that in your condition?"

Hannah looked up as her neighbor walked toward her, but she continued dragging the lawnmower across the lawn. "In 'my condition?' What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Hannah, you're like six months pregnant. You really shouldn't be pushing a lawnmower around, especially not in this heat. Isn't Olli around?" Brandon added, looking concerned.

Hannah sighed and cocked her head so she could look up at Brandon from under her hat. "He's in Finland fulfilling some of his military obligation."

Brandon's mouth fell open in surprise. "And he left you here alone?"

"What? It's just for a month, and Kasperi and Finn are around, and you're just down the road. I'll be joining him in Finland in a few weeks."

"Can't you hire someone to mow your lawn for you? I'll even do it if you want," Brandon offered.

"I can't stand sitting around doing nothing; I have to do something!" Hannah was frustrated.

Brandon tried to loosen her grasp on the lawn mower, and eventually she let him pry her fingers away from it. "I understand completely; Rachel went through all of this too-"

"-Well she's obviously handling it better," Hannah interrupted.

"Everyone handles things differently," he tried to calm her down. "How's the nursery coming? Last time I saw it was when Finn was visiting last fall."

"We still need a few things, but we have all of the essentials."

"Why don't I put this away, and maybe you, Rachel, and I can go baby shopping? She's convinced we'll never have enough stuff for this guy." He took the lawn mower away from her and waited for a response.

"'Guy'? So you know it's a boy?"

"No, but I think it is. She's positive it's a girl."

"Isn't she due, like, really soon?"

"Yeah, she's ready to pop." Brandon smiled.

"Please don't say that. I don't need that image in my head," Hannah put her hand on her stomach, reminding Brandon that eventually she too was going to 'pop.' "But, I guess I'll go shopping with you guys. I have to get a birthday present for Finn, his party's tonight. "

"Wow, I can't believe the little guy is turning one already! That's awesome, wait here, and we'll be right over to pick you up."

"Nonsense, you live like 2 minutes away, I can walk." She waved him off and began walking toward his house, hands on hips, so Brandon quickly put her lawnmower away and caught up with her. Hannah was independent and wouldn't let anything hold her back- not her husband (who was all the way in Finland), not the fact that it looked like she was smuggling a watermelon under her shirt, and certainly not her overly passive neighbor and best friend Brandon Sutter. This summer was going to be interesting and life changing for them, and whether or not Hannah was ready for it, it was happening.

*

Finland wasn't supposed to be this hot; it was too hot, but that wasn't what kept Olli up. August 17 had come and passed, and still no baby. August 20th was just a few hours away, and every minute that ticked by Olli grew more concerned that something was wrong. Their doctor said everything was alright, and due dates were really just educated guesses.

Hannah wanted nothing more than to have this thing out of her, and she made sure to tell Olli how much she hated being pregnant. He felt guilty for getting her pregnant and wished he could help her in any way, but everything he did seemed to make her more mad. He knew it was just hormones, but every day it got worse. The fact that they hadn't settled on any names seemed to irritate her more than anything else.

Olli really wanted to pick a Finnish name, and Hannah agreed. However, she insisted it was something 'normal' and 'easy to pronounce.' He knew he shouldn't take that as an insult, but the way she said it made it sound like she didn't appreciate his culture.

"The random dots over letters, and the Finnish pronunciation of the letter 'j' confuses Americans!" She shrugged. "I'm not having my kid made fun of because he has a funny name."

"That's.... a valid point, but we both agreed not to call it 'he' or 'she' until it was born." Olli tried to stay calm.

"Okay, fine! Elsa/Ukko isn't getting beat up for having a stupid name."

"A stupid name?!" Olli was shocked, but he tried not to get mad. His wife was just a little out of her mind right now, and he was willing to let it slide, this time.

"Ukko means 'old man!' I'm not naming my child old man."

"What about Urho? It means 'Brave,' that's a good name."

Hannah took a deep breath. "In through the mouth, out through the nose," she said quietly. "How about we wait until after this thing is out of me and he stops kicking me in the ribs," she winced and sat down.

"Hannah, what did we say about using gender specific pronouns?"

"Hey, the nurse called him a 'little guy' at our last ultrasound. I think she knew what she was talking about."

"It's just an expression. Are you okay?" His anger subsided quickly, Olli knew Hannah wasn't one to show pain and couldn't ignore her grimace. "Do we need to go to the hospital?"

"No, not yet, I'm fine. I'm just going to lay down." Olli helped her off the couch and into bed. They were staying in the first floor guest bedroom because the stairs were too hard for Hannah, even though she would never admit it.

As Olli lay beside her, listening to her gently breathing, he tried to fall asleep.

But does a guy really sleep when his wife is two days past her due date?

No, not really. The heat kept him up, that's what he told himself. Finland was having a 'heat wave' that no one was prepared for. 85 wouldn't be considered too hot for most people but it seemed to be causing quite a stir here in Finland.

"Olli," Hannah said suddenly and put her hand on his arm.

"What?" He jumped. "Is it time?" He started to get out of bed.

"No, I just wanted to apologize. For saying your names were dumb. I like them and their meanings, I'm just," she took a deep breath, whether to calm down or because she'd been kicked in the ribs again Olli wasn't sure. "I'm scared. I'm terrified, really. This is by far the hardest thing I've ever done, and the fact that any day now we are going to have a baby scares the shit out of me."

Olli rolled over and gently put his arms around her. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared too, but I know we can do this. You have the hardest part, really. After everything we've learned in birthing class I'd be terrified if I had to do that."

Hannah shook her head. "That's not even hard part. I mean, it'll be hard and damned painful, but at least I know what to do: push. That's easy. It's what comes after that gives me nightmares. What if I drop it? What if I forget to pick it up from school? What if our child is a dick because we're not ready to be parents and we raise it wrong?"

Olli snickered at her last comment and rolled over to look at the ceiling. "It's not going to be like that, don't worry. I know you are more than ready to be a mom, even if you don't see it yet. You've read more than enough parenting books, and once this," he reached over to rub her stomach, "is out of you, you'll see it the way I do. You're just a bit distracted right now."

"Distracted is an understatement. I can barely think right now."

"Don't worry, you won't have much longer. I will be here by your side the whole time; we'll do this together, and we'll do it right. Hannah, I hope you know I would give up hockey to be a stay at home dad."

"Absolutely not. How would we make money? We can't both give up our jobs. No, we'll just have to find a nanny, like Kasperi. If he can do it by himself, then we can do it together," Hannah relaxed a little at that thought. If a cocky 19 year old kid could raise a baby, so could she and Olli.

"See? Everything will be okay. We'll just go to sleep and not worry about it," he was slowly starting to drift away.

Hannah was kept up by the constant kicking. "I swear this kid's going to be a soccer player," she said to Olli, but he didn't respond. "Olli?" She looked over at him only to find him asleep, mouth open and drooling on the pillow. She smiled and closed her eyes, hoping to find some rest from the baby doing parkour in her stomach.

But the baby had other ideas, as if it knew Hannah was ready and mentally prepared for this. At three AM she awoke with something much stronger than a kick that sent her heart racing again.

"Olli!" She shook him and he groggily sat up.

"What?" He mumbled.

"Olli, it's time!"

A/N: Want to keep reading? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00Z7DW6JS?*Version*=1&*entries*=0

And check out my new book: https://www.amazon.com/Meet-Saxons-Oxterionn-Lila-Smith/dp/1520497636/ref=bseries_lb_1520497636

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