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Vince
“You’re doing amazing, babe.”
Maia is sitting cross-legged on the bed, breathing deeply. She’s an absolute badass when it comes to labor and delivery. Of course, this is her third time through. She’s more comfortable with it now—well, ascomfortableas one can be with labor. She’s used to it, I guess.
When our son, Jax—our first child together—was born two years ago, I was surprised how nervous she was about going into labor. But it had been nine years since she’d had Harper. She was worried she’d forgotten how to do it, or it would be more difficult since she was older. But once it happened, some kind of muscle memory took over.
“Thanks,” she breathes. “But where the hell are—”
Braden skids into the room, Harper at his heels.
“On time as usual,” I deadpan.
Braden shoots us his signature troublemaking smile. “Sorry I’m late.”
“He was flirting with a girl in the cafeteria,” Harper says, amused.
“Seriously?” Maia says.
Braden strides over and kisses her forehead. “You jealous?”
“Crushed,” she groans.
“She kissed him!” Harper volunteers as Braden shoots her aknock-it-offlook. Harper is in full pre-teen mode now. And whew, she is a lot some days. Her dad’s spunk and her mom’s sass make for a deadly combination. Thankfully, her baby brother is her favorite thing in the world, so when she’s really flipping out, we just send Jax in to calm her down.
Leigh rises from the couch she was sitting on. “What? Who is she? Do you know her?”
“No. I just met her. Her name’s—”
Before he can say anything, Maia lets out a loud cry as another contraction hits. I let her crush the bones of my hand and softly rub her back with the other one.
“It’s time to push!” she yells.
“And that’s our cue,” Nick says. He survived Hunter being born, but he still doesn’t like the thought of all the gross things that come out during labor—minus the baby.
I was a little nervous before we had Jax, but it didn’t end up scaring me—or turning my stomach. It was beautiful. And Maia was an absolute warrior.
“Remember, ferocious mama bear,” Leigh says, resting her head against Maia’s.
“Rawr,” Maia says with a smile.
“Rawr.”
Nick claps a hand on my shoulder, then kisses Maia’s head. “You’ve got this.”
Maia smiles at him, then clutches her stomach and groans.
“We’ll see you when the baby is on the outside,” Nick says. Leigh rolls her eyes and waves at us as they walk out of the room.
Braden looks at Harper. “Are you sure you want to stay in here?”
Harper nods firmly.
When we told her Maia was pregnant again, she insisted she was going to be in the delivery room with us. She doubled down on that as we got closer. The doctor said it was okay, so we agreed that as long as everything goes smoothly, Harper can stay.
I’m thankful that everything went well with Jax and seems to be going well this time. But I also know that things can change quickly. Pregnancy and delivery aren’t a sure thing. When we first started trying, Maia had a miscarriage at eight weeks. It was hard on us, and we stopped trying for a little while to let ourselves heal. With both Jax and this pregnancy, we didn’t fully relax until the second trimester. Even then, with both of us dealing with anxiety at times, the fear of losing another baby was always in the back of our minds.
“Okay,” Braden says. “I’ll be right outside if you need me.”
