Capri and I had come up with names for both boys and girls since we hadn’t found out the sex. Since we had a girl, she had Capri’s mother’s middle name. If we’d had a boy he would have had her dad’s. She missed her parents and it was a way to honor them and feel like they were still with her in a way.
“Oh my, she is precious,” Gemma gushed, rushing to Capri’s side. “And her name is beautiful. Eek, I have a niece.”
Peyton and Piper stood next to the bed, staring with cute smiles on their faces, Bodie’s hands on each of their shoulders.
“You’re okay,” Piper said. “I told you that you would be okay.”
She said it as if reassuring herself and relieved all at once. Bodie lifted his hand off her shoulder and rubbed the top of her head.
“She is more than okay, sweet girl,” her dad told her.
After that, they oohed and awed over the baby. After they left we had a revolving door as each one of our friends made their way in to see the new addition to the group. It may have been bright and early in the morning, but that didn’t stop any of them from being there to welcome baby Italia.
Once the room was clear, I took the sleeping baby wrapped up tight like a little burrito and laid her in her portable bed.
“Darlin’, you need to get some sleep.” I knew she was going to argue with me as she looked over at our daughter. “I promise, I will keep an eye on her.”
With a chair next to the bed, I sat down, and grabbed Capri’s hand, rubbing my thumb back and forth over her palm.
She eyed the baby again and I saw the love for our daughter shining in her tired, heavy-lidded gaze. When she looked back at me, she agreed.
“Okay, maybe just a tiny nap.”
Once she gave in, she was out within minutes.
Keeping my promise, I watched over my baby girl and wife.
The two most precious people in the world to me.
ChapterThirty-Five
CAPRI
One minute everythingwas wonderful and then it crumbled.
“Sweetheart, Italia will be okay.” Paxton sat on the edge of the bed later that evening trying to soothe me. “You heard the nurse, babies get jaundice, but they will treat it.”
They were going to do some phototherapy, but it broke my heart to pieces knowing she was sick at all and having her taken away from me. Italia had only been a little jaundiced at first but it seemed to get worse throughout the day. I was assured that it wasn’t as bad as it seemed and if things went well it would hopefully only be for twenty-four hours.
I knew it would be twenty-four hours too long when they took my baby from my arms and I felt my heart being ripped away.
After a few hours without her, I was going crazy. “Pax, please go check on her?” I pleaded.
My husband looked torn and I knew why. He wanted desperately to go look in on our daughter, but he didn’t like leaving me.
“Babe, I will be okay. I am just going to lay right here in this bed until you get back and the nurses will be in to check on me. I am safe.”
Pax looked to the door and then at me, struggling with his decision. “There is only one nurse out there right now until reinforcement comes in," he said. “It doesn't feel right leaving you.”
“Please,” I begged again, almost desperately.
I wanted to go too, but I was instructed to stay in bed and rest until the next day, after just having a baby. But come morning, I didn’t plan on letting anyone stop me from seeing my sweet girl.
“Okay, but don’t move until I come back and hit the call button if you need the nurse.”
“Yes, sir,” I sassed.
“I love your smart mouth,” he teased, taking said smart mouth with his own. “Be right back with my report on our beautiful princess.”
