Dan lays in bed beside his now 41 weeks pregnant wife. He can feel her shift around in bed and rolls over so that he is facing her. "Fawn, what's the matter?"

She smiles weakly and shakes her head. "Nothing teddy bear."

He slides his hand onto her belly, kisses her cheek and takes her hand in his other one. "Come on I can tell something is wrong. What's up?"

"It's like the fake contractions, but they are worse and-" She doesn't finish the rest of her thought as worry fills her eyes and she looks at him.

He squeezes her hand a little. "And not so fake?"

She nods as tears begin to form in her eyes.

"It's going to be alright my fawn. I'm right here, okay?" He tries desperately not to let the fear and worry he feels get into his voice or his eyes. "Do you want me to call Becca?"

Nodding slightly she snuggles her head into the crock of his neck. Although the pain was an increase from before that's not the source for the tears that begin to fall. She is scared. That's the cold hard truth of the matter. Sure she has helped her cows deliver their calves and her horses with their foals, but this is all her this time. No standing back and letting it happen, this is her baby. The only thoughts that help her keep it together is that Dan will be right beside her and that it won't be long before they gets to meet the little munchkin she has been carrying around for nine months.

She listens to Dan's end of the conversation to try and distract herself from everything else.

"Becca, calm down so I can tell you what is going on." The frustration in his voice is evident. "No her water has not broke, but this is definitely not fake labor anymore." "Yes she does." He takes a breath obviously trying to keep his worry, fear and frustration at bay for Tylee's sake. "Okay you don't have to burn rubber just don't waste time."

He hangs up and places a kiss on Tylee's shoulder. "How, uh, how are you feeling my fawn?" He feels like that is a dumb thing to ask, because the obvious answer would be 'horrible', but he has no idea what else to say or ask.

"Teddy bear, calm down. I'm okay, there is no rush to get Becca out here and there is no rush to get anything. Just don't leave me." Her last sentence she says with tears forming in her eyes.

"Tylee, my fawn, I'm never going to leave you, okay?"

A small giggle escapes her lips. "Not like that kind of leave me. I mean I just want you to lay here with me."

He chuckles slightly his nerves beginning to get to him. "I'm not going anywhere unless you tell me to."

"Hey teddy bear, didn't the book say to time the contractions?" To say neither one knows much about pregnancy or birthing of a human was an understatement. They could both look at a cow or mare and tell you everything you would need to know about how she was doing and when the foal or calf would approximately get here, but babies are a whole different thing.

The one thing that keeps ringing through Dan's mind and causing the most fear to build up was this: if something goes wrong in this pregnancy and delivery it isn't just a cute little calf or strong cow he could loose it is his beloved wife and child. He takes a deep breath and prays for peace and safety.

"Teddy bear?"

He jumps slightly. "I'm sorry, my fawn I spaced out. What did you say? Are you okay? Is our baby okay?"

"Calm down, please. We are fine. Can you get me a bottle of water please?"

"Yes, of course. I'll be right back." He knows that her pain tolerance is unbelievably high so the fact that she isn't saying anything doesn't exactly mean that the contractions aren't long and hard. As he gets back he catches her face scrunched up and knows the baby is getting closer to coming. He stops himself. Are you sure that's what it means? "Fawn, are you okay?" He asks as he settles on the bed beside her.

She lays her head in his lap. "Yeah I'm fine. When is Becca going to be here?"

He looks at the time on his phone as he gently runs his fingers through her hair. "In about an hour. Do you need something? Should we try to get to Amarillo?"

She shakes her head. "No no, I'm good."
***

Not too long later Becca hurried through the door to find her friends snuggling on the couch with a movie playing in the background.

If she is being completely honest she doesn't know what she is doing in this birth anymore than they do. However, she has decided to stay positive, confident and refer to the book often.

She steps around the couch and clear her throat, but the look she gets from Dan almost wants to make her hide in the corner. He shoves his finger over his lips in the 'shhh' sign and then points to Tylee. She takes the hint and settles into the chair across from them to start her study on what is about to take place. 

It isn't long before Tylee begins to stir. She cuddles closer to Dan and rubs her belly.

"My Fawn, is there anything I can do?"

She shakes her head. He begins to gently run his fingers through her hair.

The hours pass by slow and, for Tylee, painful. Finally Becca detects, with the books help, that it is time for Tylee to push this baby out. While this is happening Dan isn't sure if he is being any help to his wife or only adding to the tension in the air.

As she squeezes his hand one more time a cry pierces the room.

"It's a boy!" Becca declares.

Happy tears stream down both Dan and Tylee's faces as Becca hands Tylee their crying little boy wrapped in a towel. She kisses his head and whispers soft words to him and his wails begin to subside. Dan kisses his wife's cheek and then lets his son wrap his tiny fingers around his thumb.

"See Dan? I told you, you had everything perfectly memorized!" Becca teases quietly.

"Uh no. She is not a cow!"
***

After Tylee fed him the new family of three cuddled into bed and slept for a couple hours. Now the sit on the couch, with Becca across from them, Dan's parents on the other end of the couch and Tylee's cousin Brandon in a chair to their right.

Dan looks and Tylee and she nods. "Meet Ben Jackson Hargrove. He weights 10 pounds 2 ounces and is eighteen inches long."

Everyone claps with smiles shining on their faces. The long awaited new member of the family has finally arrived!