Part II:

30 Weeks

I rubbed cocoa butter on my tummy in short, slow strokes, trying to cover the whole surface of my hugely expanded stomach. "I can't believe how big my belly is," I said, looking over at Edward. We were both sitting propped up in bed, him reading some files for work and me trying to prevent further stretch marks. It was a little routine that had started a few weeks ago, and now I look forward to this quiet time together.

"You still look perfect," Edward said lightly, looking up for a minute and smiling at me. "You make thirty weeks look pretty damn good, Bella."

"You're a little biased," I said, but leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "But thank you."

He reached over and laid his large hand over my stomach, waiting to feel a kick. Our baby was active, especially at night. I could hate that he or she wanted to play soccer at night when I was trying to sleep, but I was trying to look at the few negative aspects of my pregnancy with a positive outlook. At least the baby was healthy, even though I wasn't getting all the sleep I wanted. And my stretchmarks proved that the baby was growing nicely, so I tried not to mind.

"Down further," I said, putting my hand over Edward's and moving it lower on my abdomen.

The huge smile on Edward's face made me grin, and I looked down at him and my belly with joy.

"Hi, baby," Edward cooed, moving his hand slightly to keep up with the kicks. "We can't wait to meet you, but no rush. Keep cooking."

I laughed, smacking his arm gently. "I'm not cooking our baby," I said. "But keep talking; it's the cutest thing I've ever seen."

He rolled his eyes on me, but continued talking to our baby. I eventually picked up one of my books while he continued, filling baby in on how we were decorating the nursery and what he had done that day at work. He continued until I turned off the lamp on my nightstand, and then he put his arms around my shoulder.

"I love you, Bella," Edward said, kissing me on my lips. "And I love you, baby," he added, patting my tummy one more time.

I just smiled and returned the sentiment, thinking about how I was probably the luckiest woman alive.

37 Weeks

"It's finished, mom. We don't need anything else," Edward said as we stood in the doorway of the nursery with Esme. She continuously came over to check on me, which I really did appreciate, but she also wanted to buy endless things for the upcoming Baby Cullen, and it was unnecessary.

"You can never have too many things for a baby, Edward," Esme said, shaking her head.

I just shrugged my shoulders at Edward behind Esme's back, and he rolled his eyes.

"Well, I think we're getting pretty close to that. Come on, let's go downstairs. Bella made some amazing muffins earlier, you should try them."

Esme finally agreed to leave the nursery and head downstairs, where Edward served all of us some of the muffins I had made this morning. My maternity leave had officially started a week ago, and I was already getting a little bored, hence the baking. I loved my work, and even though they had been more than supportive, I had really been struggling with the long hours. But I still missed it, and I was going a little crazy just waiting for the baby to be born.

"I saw the most adorable little shirt and tie at Barney's the other day," Esme was saying, looking between Edward and me. "So… should I buy it? Or should I be looking at little dresses, instead."

Edward and I shared another look, and I spoke up. "We really don't know, Esme," I said, probably for the millionth time. She just couldn't wrap her head around the fact that we hadn't found out the sex of our baby, and sometimes chose to believe that we did know, but were refusing to tell her.

"It's the twenty first century; why not find out the gender?" Esme asked, shaking her head. "You're putting a damper on my shopping, you know."

"Your credit card, and Carlisle, will probably thank us for that," Edward teased. "We want to be surprised, mom. It's exciting. The nursery is gender neutral, and there are plenty of newborn clothes that will work for a boy or a girl, too. When the baby is born, then you can go buy whatever clothes you deem necessary for a girl or a boy. But really, mom, you don't have to. We're more than capable of getting him or her clothes."

"But I want too," Esme said. "It's my grandbaby; I want to buy things for him or her, and baby clothes are one of my many weaknesses."

I laughed at that, understanding what she meant. I had spent hours in baby clothes stores, much to Edward's dismay, totally enchanted by tiny baby socks and adorable little clothes.

This baby was going to be very spoiled, not just by Edward and me, but by everyone else in our circle.

39 Weeks

"How far apart are the contractions?"

I could hear Alice over speakerphone, and Edward looked at me anxiously as he replied to her. "Seven minutes," he said. "But her water hasn't broken yet."

I closed my eyes as I paced back and forth in our entry way, trying to speed things up a little bit.

"Well, want until either her water breaks or the contractions are closer apart," Alice said. "Just let me know when you leave for the hospital. Tell Bella good luck for us!"

Edward hung up the phone, and I noticed he still had his car keys in his hand. "Are you sure you don't want to leave yet?" He asked, and I shook my head vehemently.

"It's too early," I insisted. "I don't want to be tied to a bed until it's really necessary," I explained. "I'll go crazy if I can't move around, and I'll feel cooped up in the hospital room. Plus, I don't want to be there any longer than necessary."

…

"You're doing so well, Bella," Edward said, pressing a cold washcloth to my forehead. "I'm so proud of you." We've been at the hospital for almost ten hours, and things seem to have slowed to a crawl even though it really hasn't; and I'm nearing ten centimeters dilated. I'm nervous and anxious, but Edward is about ten times worse than me. Plus, adding in Alice and Esme, it was getting a little overwhelming.

Luckily, Esme and Alice had retreated to the waiting room, where they would stay until the delivery. I wished I could get Edward to relax, but I knew he wouldn't until we had our baby in our arms.

The nurse popped back into the room, pulling on a pair of latex gloves. "How're we doing in here?" She asked, smiling at us. I knew the routine by now, and held Edward's hand tightly as she checked my progress. "Well, Bella, you're about ready to go," she said cheerfully. "We're going to go ahead and get you ready to head to the delivery room, okay? Dad, why don't you come over here and I'll talk to you about what's going to happen, and then you can head out with us."

I nodded, and Edward kissed me sweetly before stepping away from me for one of the first times we've been at the hospital.

Twenty minutes later, we were in the delivery room and then shortly after that, we had our baby.

…

"What do you think?" Edward asked softly, staring down at our baby in wonderment. "What's her name?"

Originally, we had wanted to pick our boy or girl names before the baby was actually born, but then quickly learned that it was difficult to name a baby that we hadn't even met yet.

I looked down at the beautiful baby in my arms, studying her intently. She was still so new- less than an hour old. Her skin was pink, and her rosebud lips were puckered slightly as she slept serenely. I marveled at the thick, reddish blonde hair that peeked out from underneath the little pink hat she wore, and I recounted all of her tiny, scrunched up fingers for what was likely the twentieth time. I had been analyzing her pretty much since the moment she had been cleaned up and placed in my arms, and I had yet to find a flaw.

"I think she's a Charlotte," I said finally, looking up at my husband. "What do you think? It's harder than I thought…naming a little person that I just now finally got to meet."

"I feel like I've known her my whole life," Edward said thickly, making me tear up a little. He leaned over and kissed her forehead, and when he looked back up at me, his eyes were glistening with tears as well.

Before I could say anything, he kissed me, cradling my head in his hands as he did so.

"She's a Charlotte," he agreed after our kiss ended.

I nodded, smiling down at her again. "Charlotte Amelia Cullen," I said, testing out how the name felt and sounded on my lips. "Do you want to hold her again, Edward?" I asked, shifting the baby in my arms. I scooted over on the hospital bed to make a little more room for him.

"Of course," he said eagerly, and we fumbled for a minute as I handed Charlotte over to him. He held her close, and it looked like she belonged in his arms. He smiled and put his other arm around me, holding me tight, as well. "Wow," he breathed, looking down at her with a whole new look on his face. "She's really ours, isn't she? I can't believe she's finally here."

"I know," I said quietly. "I've been dreaming about holding her for months, but now that she's here…it's even better than I could have even imagined. She's our baby, Edward."

"Now we just have to hope we don't screw her up," he joked.

I rolled my eyes but kissed him softly, loving that suddenly, we were parents.

My entire life had changed in a very short amount of time, but looking over at my husband, holding our newborn baby, I was thankful for every single even that had transpired to lead us to this exact moment.

It was heaven on earth.

…

Thank you so much!