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I collapse against the pillows sobbing.
My baby. My miracle. My daughter.
“Do you want to cut the umbilical cord?” the doctor asks Ryder.
He looks to me. I’m sweaty, crying mess, but I manage to nod. “Only if you want to.”
He takes the scissors from the doctor and cuts. They then lay my daughter on my chest. I’m still crying, shaking with the sobs, and I press my hand to her warm, sticky body. She cries, her lower lip trembling. There’s a tuft of hair on her head, but it’s so covered in goo I can’t tell what color it is. It doesn’t matter. She’s perfect. Absolutely perfect.
“Hi, Ava,” I say touching her tiny hand. “I’m your mommy.” She wraps her fingers around mine and holds on.
I look up at Ryder. “She’s amazing.”
He stares down in wonder. “That she is.”
“I loved her so much already while she was inside me that I didn’t think it was possible for me to love her any more, but I do,” I sob.
Ryder reaches out and rubs the tuft of hair on her head. He looks pretty close to crying himself. I guess the miracle of life gets to everyone.
“So, Mommy, what’s her full name?” One of the nurses asks.
I touch my daughter’s plump cheek. “Ava Benny Carter.”
Her middle name is untraditional, but I wanted Ben’s name in there somehow.
“Cute,” the nurse says. “I’m going to take her and weigh her. Clean her up a bit too, but I’ll bring her right back,” she promises.
I reluctantly let her take Ava from me. “Go with them,” I tell Ryder. “Stay with her. Please.”
He follows my order and goes to stay with Ava. She just came into this world, and I don’t want her to be alone.
They clean her up and wrap her in a blanket. They even put a cute little hat on her head.
“All right, dad, you want her?” the nurse asks.
Ryder looks shocked and he opens his mouth, probably to protest, but I speak up and say, “Hold her.”
The nurse hands Ava to Ryder and she busies herself with clearing things out of the room. Ryder slowly makes his way back to me as the room clears of everyone but us.
He rocks Ava in his arms and smiles down at her.
A grin splits my face seeing the man I love love my daughter.
“You, me, Ava, and Cole. We’re a family, aren’t we?” I ask him.
He glances away from the baby in his arms and down to me. “We’re a family,” he concurs.
I know we still have so much to talk about, to discuss and figure out, but for now, I’m content to enjoy this little piece of happiness.
“Oh, Blaire,” my mom breathes as she and my dad rush into the hospital room, luggage towed behind them.
Ryder sits beside me with Cole in his lap while Ava sleeps peacefully in the bassinet.
&nbs
p; Ava came into the world nearly twenty-four hours ago, and I still can’t believe how much my life has changed in that span of time.
“I’m so sorry it took us so long,” my mom sighs, setting her luggage in the corner. “Everything that could go wrong did go wrong.”
