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Just like that, there’s a new person in the room.
Everything that was sped up a moment ago now moves in slow motion.
Sadie’s eyes widen as my heart bursts straight out of my chest. I bolt upright to look and there he is. Small, white limbs stretch furiously as the nurses work to clean his nose and check his heart and lungs. They place him on Sadie’s chest, and he screams in anger.
“Lucas,” Sadie gasps in a small voice from my side.
When I turn my head to look down at her, I feel tears streak down my face, and I hadn’t even realized I was crying.
“It’s a boy,” I say, emotion strangling me as I try to speak. “And he’s perfect.”
Frantically, I look at the doctors and ask, “Is Sadie okay?”
The doctor gives me a quick nod. “Everything went perfectly.”
The feeling of relief after so much terror is almost too good to absorb. There’s still a shudder in my bones like I couldn’t relax if I tried to.
The baby is still vehement as they clean him off and transfer him to a table nearby. I watch as they tightly swaddle him in a blanket and wipe something clear across his eyes. Then, they pop a tiny cap on his head before turning to look at me.
“Congratulations, Dad,” one of the sweet nurses says. “Would you like to take him over to Mom?”
The world stops turning entirely. I’m frozen in place as the nurse picks up the baby and hands him to me. It’s like nothing I’ve ever felt before, to be handed a newborn and feel so incredibly inadequate and unprepared.
But then he’s in my arms and suddenly it’s like the first day of my life.
Holding him tightly to my chest, I carry him over to where Sadie is still lying, strapped to the operating table. She searches for him with her eyes as I lower him toward her.
She turns her head his way, and I swear he does the same, as if they’re looking for each other. They’re pressed together, cheek to cheek, and I’ve never felt anything so raw and powerful in my chest before. She cries and just rejoices in feeling her baby against her skin. Meanwhile, he roots for her like he’s still a part of her.
“Look at him, Sadie. I’m so fucking proud of you,” I cry as I crouch near them both.
There was once two of us, but now there are three.
“Is he okay?” she squeaks. “Everything is okay?”
“Everything is okay,” I say with a weepy smile.
She squeezes her eyes shut with a tight expression of gratitude on her face. Then she opens them and kisses the side of his head.
“Hello, Henry,” she whispers. “We love you so much.”
She looks up at me as if she’s trying to gauge my emotions like it’s not evident by the trails of tears streaking across my face.
“Yes, we do,” I add, leaning down to kiss him right where she did.
Our time is cut short and the nurses put Henry in this tiny rolling bassinet. They invite me to walk with them to the nursery, and Sadie urges me to go. As if she doesn’t want me to let him out of my sight. I’m way ahead of her. I walk protectively behind them as they push him down the long hall to the nursery. Then, they let me watch through the window as they give him a quick bath and do a few more tests.
He gets so angry at them when they unswaddle him, and it makes me smile. I love to see him scream in fury.
As I’m standing outside the nursery, I briefly realize that I left Isaac somewhere in the hospital. And the rest of my family is likely here, too. It’s too late for visitors right now, but if I know my family, they’re here whether or not they’re allowed to be. They’d sleep in the waiting room if they had to.
I feel bad for leaving Isaac to deal with them alone. I don’t know how they’ll react when they see him, but right now, it’s not my priority. My focus is this baby and the woman I love. Everything else is just noise.
Once they’re done with Henry in the nursery, they wheel him to our recovery room. Sadie is already there, sleeping now.
His nurse smiles down at the baby. “Let her sleep for now, but if he wakes up and wants to nurse, we’ll be around to help her.”
“Okay, thank you,” I mutter nervously.
