Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 86632 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 433(@200wpm)___ 347(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86632 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 433(@200wpm)___ 347(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
“It’s too late for an epidural,” Dr. Lark said.
For a brief moment, I wondered who’d called her.
“What do you mean, it’s too late?” I cried out. “Gavin?”
“I’m right here, Bry. I’m right here.” He took my hand in his.
“It hurts!”
Leaning down, he kissed me. “I’m with you, baby. I’m not going anywhere.”
Dr. Lark said something to the nurse, who quickly rushed out of the room. Turning back to me, I could tell by the look on her face something was wrong.
“Oh, God, what’s wrong?” I asked.
“Your contractions are very close, but your cervix hasn’t opened enough for the baby to pass through the birth canal. We’re going to have to do a C-section.”
“What?” Gavin and I both said at the same time.
“I’m sorry. I know this isn’t what we’d planned, but if we wait, it will stress the baby, and we don’t want that. The easiest and safest thing to do is operate.”
I swallowed the sudden lump in my throat. “Can Gavin come?”
“As long as you don’t want a general anesthetic, yes.”
“No, I want to be awake.”
A nurse gently tapped Gavin’s arms. “Come on, let’s get you changed and scrubbed in.”
He turned back and quickly kissed me. “I love you. It’s going to be okay.”
I nodded. “I’ll see you soon.”
“See you in a bit.”
Before I knew what was happening, they took me out of the room and down a hall.
“My family,” I whispered.
A male nurse glanced down at me. He smiled reassuringly as he said, “I’ll make sure they’re updated. Don’t you worry, Momma. Everything will be okay.”
I nodded and looked straight ahead—and for the briefest moment, I swore I saw Evelyn and Denny.
It felt like it took forever…but at the same time, it was only moments. Before I knew it, I was looking down at the baby girl lying across my chest, crying before she found her thumb. Gavin was crying and smiling as he leaned down to kiss Lily.
“She’s beautiful,” he said, wiping the tears away.
“She is,” I whispered as I kissed her head. “Welcome to the world, sweet pea.”
I looked up and met Gavin’s gaze. He smiled and said softly, “Here we go.”
“Here we go!”
“How are my two favorite girls doing today?” Gavin asked as he walked up and kissed me, then kissed Lily on the head. “Hi, my little bean.”
We were sitting on the back patio enjoying the beautiful day.
“We’re wonderful. She loves to be outside. I think she likes the sounds of the birds and that wind chime your dad gave us.”
He removed his belt and laid it on the table in the middle of the back patio. “The other day when I had her out here, I swear those chimes put her to sleep.”
I smiled at our precious baby girl. It was hard to believe she was nearly a month old. “How do you think she’ll do with the fireworks?”
“Bet she sleeps right through it with her noise machine.”
Lily loved her noise machine, and I guessed that was because I had a thunderstorm going on mine every night when I was pregnant, and she got used to it. We put one in her room on her first day home, and as of yet, we haven’t had any issues with her sleeping.
“Let me go change and shower quickly, then I’ll take over.”
I rocked gently as Lily nursed. “No rush, Daddy. We’re just enjoying our dinner and fresh air.”
He kissed me once more and went back into the house.
I started to hum a song as Lily drank. Her little gray-blue eyes looked up at me, and a sweet smile appeared. “You like that? Your mom used to sing that song all the time. It’s Kelsea Ballerini, and the song is called ‘This Time Last Year.’ It was one of her favorites. Should we play it?”
I grabbed my phone, opened Spotify, and selected the song. As it played, I stood and danced slowly with Lily. She stopped nursing and stared at me with the cutest face.
“You like that, sweet pea? Should we play more Kelsea?”
Gavin walked up and buried his face in my neck. “You look beautiful with her in your arms like that.”
I laughed. “It’s all her.”
Turning, I handed Lily to him. He promptly put her over his shoulder and lightly patted her back. When she let out a loud burp, we both laughed.
“I didn’t really think I could ever be this happy,” Gavin said as he swayed to the song. “Today was hard.”
Gavin had been off work for the last month with me and Lily, and today was his first day back.
“It was hard not having you here.”
He sighed. “Did you stop by the store today?”
I nodded and turned down my phone. “I did. Upstairs looks amazing. The nursery is adorable, thanks to Harper and Aurora.”
“I got the background checks done.”
Rolling my eyes, I sat on the outdoor sofa. “Gavin, you cannot be running background checks on everyone.”