Page 147 of The Forever Vault

“I texted him, but I can go look-”

“No!” She grabbed my shoulder with her other hand. “You’re not going anywhere!”

“Alright, Erika, he’s crowning. I’m going to need you to push gently, until you hear me ask for suction.”

Erika nodded, but I could tell she was fighting back tears. “He’s going to miss it,” she whispered to me.

I leaned forward, touching our foreheads together. “He’ll make it.”

As if summoned, the door opened and Isaak was finally here.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I went down to get everyone some coffee and snacks. I just dumped everything when I got Cam’s text and ran.”

I could tell. He was out of breath. Isaak dashed to the other side of the bed and took her other hand.

“Suction!”

“He’s almost here. He’s almost here,” Erika panted.

“Thank you for doing such an awesome job for our baby.”

Erika flinched, her hand crushing mine and I reminded her to stop pushing. “Deep breaths, deep breaths.”

“Fuck, I wanna push so bad. It’s like fire.” I saw her glance down, between her legs, then she clamped her eyes shut and threw her head back.

“Okay, Erika, one last push.”

Erika exhaled like a dragon and screamed. I was about to ask if everything was okay, but I heard the crying.

Dr. Cosgrove said, “Four minutes past two. Looks and sounds perfectly healthy.”

“Congratulations, you two.”

Erika had tears in her eyes and was at a loss for words, but she pulled my hand up to her mouth and kissed it.

“Thank you for being here, Camden,” Isaak said.

I watched as the doctor passed the red, slimy, crying bundle into Erika’s arms. Of course, his parents were enamored, while the nursing staff kept busy, coming in and out to clean him up. I took a few photos of them all together, and a few minutes later, I heard the placenta was delivered.

“No circumcision, correct?”

“Correct!” both Erika and Isaak said in unison.

“Less work for us.” The doctor laughed, then asked, “Dad, would you like to cut the cord?”

“Su-sure,” Isaak answered. “Just tell me what to do.”

While the nurses helped Isaak, Dr. Cosgrove spoke to Erika. “Just continue to relax. The contractions will still be coming, but they’ll be less frequent and less painful. Your body is recovering now, and the whole process went great. Whenever you’re ready, the nurses can clean him up a little better, weigh him, and a few other things, then we can get him back to you and you can try to nurse if you like.”

A few minutes later and a nurse was back with the little guy, wrapped in a clean white blanket, his little hands covered in tiny mittens. He was precious. Erika let go of my hand to receive him in her arms.

“You don’t need to officially name him right away, but we do need something to put on his tags and crib,” the nurse explained.

“It’s okay. We already have the name,” Erika said. “Johan Camden van der Berg.”

“Very well, thank you.”

Through the tears that had started, I could see Erika had looked my way. “Seriously?” I asked.