Chapter TWENTY-THREE
Emma drew in a deep breath. This was it. When it came down to pushing, it was the real deal.
“Okay, Emma, if you’re ready,” Annie said.
She nodded, and using her hands, she pushed herself up in the bed.
“If you don’t object, we’re going to put up a mirror, so you can watch Noah be born. Is that okay?” Annie asked.
“Sure. I want to see him.”
“Um, where can I stand to ensure I won’t be seeing Em’s vagina?” Connor asked. Emma shot him a look, and he held up his hands. “I love you, darlin’, but I’ve made it eighteen years without seeing your vajayjay, and I’d like to keep it that way.”
Annie chuckled. “Stand there behind the bed, and you won’t catch a glimpse or a reflection,” she instructed.
“Thank you so much!”
Annie then motioned at Aidan. “If you’ll take one of her legs and,” she paused to look between Casey and Connor. Immediately Connor shook his head. “Like I said, I’ll be back here in the corner.”
Casey laughed. “I would love to help.”
Aidan took Emma’s left leg while Casey took her right. “Okay, Emma, breathe normally, grab the backs of your legs, and push down while we count,” Dr. Middleton instructed.
Emma sucked in a deep breath and then started pushing as hard as she could. She barely heard Dr. Middleton and Annie counting to ten. “Good. Stop.” Emma had just caught her breath when Dr. Middleton said, “Okay, again.”
Pinching her eyes shut in concentration, she went through three more exhausting rounds when Annie exclaimed, “Open your eyes, honey. He’s crowned.”
Emma’s eyelids flew open, and her expectant gaze honed in on the mirror, peering in wonder at Noah’s tiny head. “Aw, Em, it looks like he’s got strawberry blonde hair!” Casey commented.
Aidan grinned. “Nah, I think it’s redder, and he’s more of a Ginger.”
She gritted her teeth at him. “Don’t you dare call our son a Ginger!”
Connor and Casey laughed while Aidan leaned in and kissed her cheek. “I’m only teasing you, babe. I just hope it will darken up and be as beautiful as yours.”
Emma opened her mouth to thank him, but Dr. Middleton interrupted her by saying, “Okay, now another big push.” When Annie got to ten and Emma started to relax, Dr. Middleton shook her head. “Keep going, keep going.” Just when Emma thought she couldn’t go anymore, Dr. Middleton said, “Okay, stop.”
Emma’s head fell back against the pillow from the exertion. She didn’t know if she had any strength left within her to push again. Closing her eyes, she drew in a few deep breaths to try to dispel the exhaustion.
“Just one more big push, Emma,” Dr. Middleton said.
Gripping her hands tight into the backs of her thighs, she put everything she had left and then some into the push. Dr. Middleton’s voice echoed over the loud groan emitting from Emma’s lips.
“And here he is!” she exclaimed, holding a wailing and bloody Noah up for both Emma and Aidan to see.
The world around Emma shuddered to a stop, and all she could focus on was Noah’s strong cries. It was as if every molecule, every cell, and every fiber of her being hummed and buzzed with the new life in front of her. Noah—flesh of her flesh and bone of her bone—was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen or heard for that matter. Tears stung her wide eyes.
“My, my, he’s still a big boy for being three weeks early,” Dr. Middleton remarked with a smile.
Unable to speak, Emma reached out her arms for Noah, desperate to hold him. He wouldn’t feel real until she could put her hands on him. “Hang on, Mama. Let’s get him cleaned up a bit,” Annie said.
A towel was placed on Emma’s belly, and then Noah was laid in it. He continued to scream as Annie toweled him off. Once he was cleaner, she wrapped him in a blanket. An eternity seemed to pass before she handed Noah into Emma’s waiting arms.
After kissing the crown of his head, Emma gathered him against her chest. His wailing immediately ceased. His eyes, once pinched shut in anger, popped open, and he stared up at her. The moment their eyes met, Emma’s heart stilled and then restarted. Her emotions spiraled out of control, and she wasn’t sure if she could keep them in check. “Hey my little angel. I’ve been waiting for you for so, so long,” she murmured.
When Aidan leaned over the side of the bed to rub his thumb over Noah’s cheek, Noah kept his gaze on Emma. “Looks like he only has eyes for you,” Aidan mused.
She didn’t bother wiping the tears streaming down her cheeks. Glancing up at Aidan, she asked, “He’s beautiful, isn’t he?”
Aidan smiled. “He’s the most amazing and beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life,” he replied, his voice choking off with emotion.
“Daddy, are you ready to cut the cord?” Dr. Middleton asked passing Aidan a pair of surgical scissors.
Emma watched with amusement as Aidan’s shaky hands took them from her. “Um…where should I…?”
Annie motioned to an area, and Aidan hesitantly cut Noah from Emma. “Good job.”
“Okay, Mama, I hate to take him away, but we need to weigh him and get his PKU done. Then you can have him back for awhile.”
After kissing each of his cheeks and his tiny button nose, Emma reluctantly handed Noah over to Annie. Craning her neck, she watched as they set him down on the scales. “He’s seven pounds, seven and a half ounces.”
“Imagine if he would have stayed in cooking for another three weeks or longer,” Aidan said.
Emma shuddered. “Don’t even joke about how big he could have been. He was plenty big enough!”
With a chuckle, he kissed her. “Speaking of amazing and beautiful, can I just say how proud I am of you?”
She grinned up at him. “Really?”
He bobbed his head. “I just saw life come out of you. It’s…well, it’s f*cking intense!”
“You know, some men have a hard time ever looking at their wives or girlfriends the same way again after experiencing birth,” Dr. Middleton said, finishing up with Emma’s post delivery care.
“I can see why,” Connor murmured from his corner perch.
Aidan shook his head. “She might be a mother now, but she’ll always be my Em,” Aidan replied.
“Damn, Big Papa, that was sweet,” Casey remarked, swiping the tears from her eyes. She leaned over to brush the hair out of Emma’s face. “That was both exhilarating and terrifying. But I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.”
Emma kissed Casey’s cheek. “I’m so glad you were here with me.” Glancing over her shoulder, she smiled at Connor. “And you too.”
“I’m just glad I got to see it all without having to really see it all…if you know what I mean,” Connor replied, with a wink.
Emma and Aidan laughed while Casey shook her head. “I can’t believe you’re so scared of a vagina.”
“I’m intimate enough with Emma without having to get up close and personal with her vagina!” Connor countered.
Emma turned her attention away from Casey and Connor’s bickering and back to Noah. She watched as he had his footprints taken, screamed as he was stuck for the PKU, and then finally was swaddled into a blanket and a cap placed on his head. “Ready to hold him, Daddy?” Annie asked with a smile.
Emma’s heart melted a little when Aidan glanced back at her for her approval. She grinned and bobbed her head at him.
“You don’t want him back first?”
Although she wanted nothing more than to have Noah in her arms again, she wanted Aidan to have his first moment as a father. “No go ahead. It’s time you held your son.”
“Okay,” he said.
As Annie passed Noah into Aidan’s waiting arms, tears welled in Emma’s eyes at the look of absolute and total wonder that came over Aidan’s face. He stared down at Noah, unblinking and unmoving. Finally, he shook his head. “He kinda looks like a glowworm all bundled up like this.”
“Keeping him swaddled makes him feel like he’s back in the womb,” Emma replied.
Aidan continued staring down at Noah. One tiny fist escaped his tight bindings, and he thrust it up at Aidan almost defiantly. It caused Aidan to smile broadly. “Ah, there’s that Fighting Fitzgerald spirit coming through. No one ties you down, right Noah?”
Emma shook her head. “You’ll be changing your tune about that defiant spirit when he gets to be a teenager.”
“Nah, I like him tough and feisty.” Noah’s response was to stick his tongue out, which made Aidan chuckle. “Yep, see, already a cocky little thing like his Old Man.”
Casey took a hesitant step towards Aidan. “So we know he’s got his daddy’s douchenozzle personality—”
Aidan arched his brows. “Hey now.”
Casey grinned and patted his back. “Just teasing you, Big Papa. My question is who does he look like?”
“He looks just like you, Em,” Aidan noted as he took in Noah’s tiny features.
“Hmm, let me see,” Casey said, peering over Aidan’s shoulder. She squealed and clapped her hand to her chest. “Oh my God, that face! He’s so handsome and adorable!”
Emma beamed from ear to ear at Casey’s compliment. Connor walked over to them. “Between Aidan and Emma it was a given he’d be good-looking. But is he really Emma’s mini-me?” Connor questioned.
Casey cocked her head. “No, he’s got a lot of Big Papa in him, too.”
Aidan threw a glance over his shoulder at Casey. “Really?”
She nodded. “He’s definitely got Em’s hair and mouth, but he’s got your nose and eyes.
Aidan grinned at Emma. “He got some mighty fine genes that’s for sure.”
She laughed and rolled her eyes. “Uh-oh,” Aidan murmured as Noah’s face clouded over, and he appeared ready to cut loose with a giant scream.
“Looks like right now might be a good time to see if he wants to latch on,” Annie suggested.
“He’s already hungry?” Aidan asked incredulously.
“Some come out of the womb ready to eat, others it takes hours,” Annie replied.
“If he’s hungry, I want to try,” Emma said, holding her arms out for Noah.
“Yeah, um, on that note, I think I’ll head out,” Connor said, starting for the door.
Casey laughed. “Why don’t we go out and tell the rest of the waiting crowd that Noah’s here.”
“There’s a crowd?” Emma asked in surprise.
Casey nodded. “Nate texted me that the waiting room is full with yours and Aidan’s families. Patrick’s out there, and Grammy and Granddaddy just walked in. He said Becky’s boys made her promise to bring them even if it was the middle of the night. “I’m sure they will all want to get a peek at Mr. Handsome.”
Emma felt slightly overwhelmed at the prospect of all the visitors, especially with her post-delivery exhaustion setting in. But a sense of renewal filled her at the thought of all the people waiting to see and love Noah. It made her feel very grateful and very loved. “Okay, that sounds good.”
Once Casey and Connor left, Emma slid her hospital gown down on one side and took Noah from Aidan. As she brought him to her breast, apprehension filled her that she might not be able to do this. What if her milk wasn’t strong enough, or they had to seek out a Lactation Consultant? She had heard from her friends as well as reading in books how breastfeeding was tricky business.
But miraculously after rooting around for a few seconds, Noah latched on to her nipple and began to nurse heartily.
“Oh you’re so very lucky,” Annie noted.
With tears filling her eyes, Emma glanced lovingly from her son back up to Aidan. A smile filled her cheeks. “Oh, you have no idea.”