Page 72 of Resolution
On cue, a nurse whisks our baby girl away.
As I put my other hand in Samantha’s, a contraction hits and the doctor tells Samantha to push. As if his sister has cleared the way for him, with the first push, we can already see the head crowning. When Samantha pushes once more, his entire body comes right along with it.
I stare in disbelief as my naked son in all his glory lets out a murderous scream, much like his sister’s arrival.Holy crap. If we ever piss the two of them off together, we are in for it.I assist in cutting the cord, then the doctor whisks him off with the nurse to get him cleaned up.
As my son is handed off, the nurse introduces her name as Rosalie. She offers to get him cleaned, weighed, and most importantly, into a diaper. Knowing both children are in capable hands, I turn my attention to Samantha.
I look at her skeptically when the doctor says push again.What the hell is she pushing out? There’d better not be a third baby in there.Then I see it… and suddenly, I wish I’d been looking anywhere but at the doctor and her at that moment. It’s fucking disgusting.
“One more push and the remaining afterbirth will be out,” Dr. Allison cheerily announces. How can she be so upbeat after touching that?
Immediately, I blink my eyes a few times, trying to rid myself of the sight I can’t seem to unsee. I may have been in and out of war zones, watched my buddies have some near-fatal injuries, but nothing has prepared me for the strength a woman must have to go through during childbirth. Holy fucking shit. Hands down, Samantha’s the strongest person I know.
I reach down and brush the hair off Samantha’s forehead. “God, you’re incredible, beautiful. I love you so much.”
She pants as the doctor pushes down on her stomach in various places before saying, “I love you, too.”
As soon as I’m sure Samantha’s in the clear, I rush out to the waiting room to tell my parents our exciting news. “Everyone’s perfect!” I exclaim when I see their eager faces. They both nearly jump out of their chairs and rush to hug me.
“How’s Samantha?” Pops asks.
“She’s doing as well as expected, having just delivered babies. That woman is stronger than any person I know. Add to the fact that she’s still smiling. I think she’s a saint.”
Both my parents chuckle as we make our way down the hallway to our hospital room. “I felt the same about your Ma,” Pops whispers once he stops laughing.
I look to Ma and have a newfound respect I’d never known before. She’s done this three times. And that was when epidurals were unheard of. This world would cease and fucking be extinct if men had to bear children.
We enter the room to find a nurse holding one of our children while Samantha has the other. They are in multi-colored pastels at the moment, so I have no idea which child is which. With them being swaddled like little burritos, all you can see are their squishy little faces and mops of golden-brown hair on top. We’ll have to figure out a color system or something.
“Who’ve you got there?” I singsong as I reach down to the baby our nurse is holding.
“This is your son,” the nurse beams. “He’s quite handsome.” She hands him over and I cradle him in my arms.
Ma rushes to my side. “Oh, Enzo. He looks just like you as a baby.”
“God, help him,” I tease as I stare into his big, green eyes. He has the most adorable thick patch of golden-brown hair that’s all clean from his bath. His rosy cheeks pop out of the blanket swaddling him and his mouth is formed into the perfect little ‘O.’
“Oh, hush.” Ma swats at me.
“Do you have names picked out?” Pops asks from my other side.
“Yep. We sure do.” Samantha draws our attention. “Let me introduce you to Lorenzo Dean Harper and Lorainne Marie Harper.”
Ma oohs as Pops slaps me on the back. “You’re straddling him with that name?” Pops asks in disbelief.
“Yep,” I proudly say. “We’ll call them Loren and Raine.”
“How precious,” Ma states as she walks over to see Raine in Samantha’s arms. She reaches in for a hug and kisses Samantha on the cheek after doing the same to her granddaughter. “How are you holding out, Sam?”
“I’m doing as well as can be expected. I’m a bit tired, but I’m not sure we’ll be sleeping much in the near future.” The smile that lights up her face makes my heart clench. I don’t think I can ever love her more than I do right now in this moment. She looks so natural. “Want to hold Raine?” she offers to Ma.
“You bet I do!” Ma almost squeals with excitement.
I look to Pops who’s in awe of Ma holding our baby girl. “What about you, Pops? Want to hold Loren?”
He beams at me with delight and reaches for his phone in his pocket. “Can you get a picture of us?”
I stare at him in disbelief. He of all people is the one to think of a camera. I’d been so out of it, I’d missed everything. Crap, I’m a fuck up as a father already. “Only if you do the same for us,” I say as I try to recover from my earlier mistake.
