Nervousness having taken away my ability to speak, I nodded.
"Elora, you grab the back of your thighs, just like in the Lamaze class, okay?"
She nodded.
"I heard someone is ready to make their arrival." The doctor entered with a large smile and a nurse following him. He sat down on the stool and pushed the sheet up over her knees.
Perspiration began beading along my hairline. My palms grew damp.
"Ready?" The doctor looked expectantly at Elora.
Elora nodded.
"Alright, when I say push, you push. When I say to hold it, I need you to try very hard to not push. We want to avoid tearing as much as possible."
Tearing? What the hell was going to tear? The room started to shift and I waivered.
"You okay James?" Dixon looked me over.
I shook my head.
"I don’t know if I can…I don’t think I can do this, watch this—"
"Too late now." The doctor announced. "Push."
Elora grunted and pulled at the back of her thighs. Dixon had her left knee. I held tight to her right.
"Keep pushing," the doctor instructed. "Okay, now the next contraction will be coming quickly, take a deep breath and push hard into your bottom…..Now."
"I can see the head." The doctor informed.
I couldn’t take my eyes from Elora. Her forehead sweaty, cheeks red, and she still smiled.
"James." Dixon drew my attention. "Look dude, there’s your baby."
Taking a deep breath, I looked down.
"Oh my God." I exclaimed.
"You don’t have to look." Elora panted, clearly thinking I was disgusted.
"You’re doing it, baby!" I shouted.
Excitement replacing my nervousness, adrenalin coursed through my veins. I took a quick glance at Elora, catching a smile on her face before I turned back to the birth of my kid.
"Push," the doctor instructed
"You are doing great baby. It’s coming. I can see it!"
"Aahhhrrrhhhggg." Elora released a guttural moan.
A tiny head emerged. I sucked in a breath, holding it.
"Hold it." The doctor stood quickly. "Don’t push Elora, hold on for me."
The doctor worked quickly, and then he started to rotate the baby just like the video from Lamaze.
"You're doing fantastic Elora." The doctor praised. "Give me one small push, just a small one." He continued the rotating movement. "Perfect! And……there we go!"
He pulled the baby free and wrapped his hands around a gooey screeching child. Dixon moved fast, placing a large cotton blanket across Elora’s stomach. The doctor laid our baby on her.
"You have a boy! Congratulations!"
My son, I have a son. This little person was mine, ours.
"We have a son." I said the words barely a whisper.
Leaning down, I kissed Elora’s head.
"Yes, we have a beautiful son." Elora choked out between tears of happiness.
"Would you like to cut the cord?" The doctor held out a pair of scissors.
"Um…I don’t know. Uh…" I looked to Elora for direct, but she was mesmerized by the tiny bundle in her arms. "Okay." I said firm enough to convince myself to do this.
He held up the cord and I cut where he instructed.
Warmth trickled down my cheek. I'd started crying with her.
"You…you are amazing." I stared at my wife. She was so much stronger than me, it was undeniable. I was so proud of her. She smiled and then turned back to our son.
"I hate to do this, but give me fifteen minutes to check this little guy over." Dixon said, as he reached down and picked my son up into his huge arms. "I promise he'll be back soon."
Dixon took him to a large table and began doing some tests on the tiny little DNA cocktail Lor and I created. Unable to look away from my son, my heart swelled.
Elora had given me something I never realized would mean this much in just a matter of minutes. Leaning down again, I took her mouth – firmly.
"I love you so much! Thank you!"
"I love you too." She whispered, pressing her forehead to mine.
The doctor interrupted with some directions for Elora on the final stages of the birth. Apparently, she has to deliver something else. Not wanting to know what else women have to deal with during childbirth, I went over to watch over my boy as he wiggled and screamed.
Once Dixon finished, he picked up the boy, handing him to Elora.
"You're a lucky man." Dixon stated, watching Elora with the baby.
"I swear to god Dixon, if that’s a crack about you seeing Elora—"
"Calm down James. I was referring to your family." He motioned to Elora and our son.
Feeling brave, I spoke without thinking.
"Besides, you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all, huh?" I chuckled, nudging his arm.
"No way, Elora was especially—"
"Shut up."
Dixon turned to face me.
"Don’t start shit about my job then dickhead." He smirked, and then winked, heading for the door. Before leaving the room, he turned. "Oh by the way, you have a waiting room full of family."
Looking at the clock, I realized we'd only been here for about six hours. Wow, Elora’s labor was actually pretty short – intense, but short. After kissing Elora once more, and placing a soft kiss to my son's head, I went to inform the masses about their new family member.