AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Owen
One Month Later
The sterile roomwas bright and probably not how Carolina pictured giving birth. One of the babies was breech, and they couldn’t get it to turn in time, which meant arranging a cesarean birth.
After injecting her with an anesthetic and arranging her on the surgery table, I sat at her head, taking her hand.
“Ready to become parents?” I stroked my thumb over her hand as I stared at her, willing that I could erase her fears at this moment and fill her only with love.
“I’ve waited for this my whole life. I’m just so happy I get to do it with you.”
“Me too.” I leaned down and kissed the top of her head while behind the curtain between us, they got to work removing our babies safely from their mother.
“Here’s baby A.” The nurse passed the first baby, laying her on Carolina’s chest as she let out a happy sob, touching the crooning infant’s face carefully before twisting her head to look at me. “Our daughter.” She grinned before shifting the little girl to her breast, putting her on to suckle.
She looked calm and collected, but I knew she was still feeling nervous. There was no sound behind the surgery curtain to indicate that our son was alive and well.
I stroked her hair gently, leaning down to kiss her. “Everything is okay. They’ve got to get him out and then check him. It’s fine.”
“I know.” She spoke softly, her eyes betraying her fears until we both heard it. The soft caws of the second baby as the pediatrician looked him over. We simultaneously released our breaths and smiled at each other. Everything was going to be okay. We had everyone.
“And here is baby B. Everything looks great.” The nurse handed the baby to me, and I looked down at my son, my heart filling with more love than I thought was possible. I stroked his sticky, small face and marveled at this tiny bundle of perfection that we’d created. Not intentionally, hell, not even knowingly, but it was meant to be, and I felt that right to my very core.
“Here’s your son, Mama.” I tilted him for her to see, and love filled her eyes as she reached out to stroke him gently.
“Let’s switch so he gets a chance on my breast too.”
“No need to switch. I can hold him while he sucks.” I shifted my seat to face her better, moving him to his mama’s chest and helped her position him in a way that he could drink. He took to it immediately, clinging to her with his mouth. And she looked like such a natural. Finally, the mother she had always dreamed she’d be.
“We’re just going to wheel her into recovery while we get the room ready. Can you take one of the babies for us?”
The nurse smiled at us, and I looked at Carolina to see which one she wanted to take.
We ended up swapping, our son cradled in her arms and me holding our daughter as they wheeled us from the operating room and into recovery, where we’d left our things.
“We’ll get a porter to take these up to your room for you, and someone will be back soon to take you up there too.”
“That’s great, thank you.” Carolina spoke, but her eyes were glued to our son.
I reached out, stroking his head gently before looking at her. “Have you come up with names?”
Since I hadn’t been in the picture when she was trying to get pregnant, it only felt right that she still got to make all the big decisions she would’ve made on her own. I only gave my input when asked. We’d share the responsibility for the babies now that they were here, but the names were something I wanted her to have.
“I think I have. I wanted to stick with the location theme my parents did, if that’s okay with you.” I nodded, encouraging her to go on. “This is Dallas.” She looked down at our son and smiled. “And that’s Virginia.” She nodded at our daughter.
“They’re perfect.” I leaned down and kissed the top of her head. “Hello, Virginia. I’m your daddy.”
I looked over at Carolina again, shifting closer as I helped put Virginia back to her breast and gently stroked her head. “How are you feeling? You just had major surgery.”
“I’m good. I don’t feel a thing, which is a bit weird. I know my body is there, but I still can’t see it.”
“They said it could be a few hours. Does this mean I can tickle your feet, and you won’t feel it?” I grinned teasingly before holding my fingers up like I was going to tickle her.
“Don’t! I’ll still know you are doing it!” She shook her head, smiling at me before laughing. “It’s so strange, I’m trying to move my feet, but it’s not working. It’s the oddest sensation.”
“I can imagine. The doctor said you need to take it easy for six weeks, too, so I guess I’ll have to stay home and wait on you three hand and foot.”
“Aren’t you used to that by now?”
