47
Ryder - Want to Play Catch?
“What?!” I scramble into a kneeling position behind Denise, like Gladys said. “What do you mean ‘catch’?”
“Pay attention, dumbass.” Gladys smacks me on the head for looking at her instead of Denise. “That baby is coming now. And you’re going to catch it when it does. Just put your hands here.” She moves my hands into position, where I can see something is already making its way out of Denise. Holy shit, is that the top of the baby’s head? “And just let it happen, dad.”
I focus my attention on Denise while Gran, Gladys, and Lana scurry around, coming in and out of the room for a moment, before Gladys gets down in front of Denise.
“Alright sweetie,” she says in a calming voice. “On the next contraction, you’re going to push for all your worth. We’ve got you. Everything is going exactly as it should. Are you ready? Now push.”
Denise bears down, pushing with no sound, and suddenly there is a tiny head resting in my hands.
“On the next one, the rest of the baby is coming out,” Gran says quietly in my ear. “You’ll use one hand to hold the head and the other to cradle the body, OK? Then you’ll bring that baby right up to your chest and hold her there until you hand her to Denise. You’ve got this. I’m so proud of you.” Gran kisses my temple.
“Denise, babe, you are so amazing. You’re the strongest person I’ve ever met. I love you so much baby, you’re doing great.”
“Ryder,” Denise yells. “Shut the fuck up.”
“OK Denise,” Gladys says. “This next one could be the last. I want you to take a deep breath, hold it, and push like you’re pooping the biggest poop of your life. Don’t worry if you shit on Ryder. Skin washes. He’ll be fine.”
Denise huffs out a laugh. Leave it to Gladys to add humour to the situation.
I hear Denise take her big breath, then she tenses and starts pushing. Gran reaches near my hands and pushes around where the baby’s coming out. A moment later a baby is sliding into my arms and I’m pulling it up to my chest, like Gran said.
The sounds of relieved sobs echo through the bathroom, coming from both me and Denise. Her shoulders have slumped a little.
Gladys comes to me and checks over the baby, making sure everything is as it should be.
“It’s a girl, babe. We have a beautiful little girl,” I say through my tears.
Gran and Lana busy themselves tidying around us and laying towels out. Denise turns over carefully, with Gran helping her keep her foot from catching the umbilical cord.
“Ryder, come here.” Gran directs me to slide the baby into Denise’s arms, and then to move behind Denise so she can lean against me while she lies on the floor.
Gladys takes over my position between Denise’s knees. “You aren’t quite done, love,” she says to Denise. “You still need to deliver the placenta, but the good news is that the hard part is over. You should be able to relax a bit and let your body do the rest.”
Lana is using a cool washcloth to wipe Denise’s brow and telling her what a great job she did.
Gran leaves the bathroom and comes back with a soft blanket to drape over Denise and the baby and an extra one to wrap around my back. I guess going from being nice and warm inside your mom to freezing out here in the open air would be quite the shock. At least the hot water from our shower warmed the bathroom a bit before this all started. There’s still a little steam on the mirror, too, which gives me an idea just how fast this actually went.
Gran helps Denise get the baby latched on for her first feeding and then stands beside us admiring the baby.
“Oh, isn’t she just a beauty,” Gran says, with a hitch in her voice. I don’t even have to look at her to know she’s crying as much as I am.
After a few minutes, Gladys wraps something in a towel and places it on the counter above our heads. Gran, Gladys, and Lana each take turns kissing me and Denise, and then they leave the room.
“I just gave birth on our bathroom floor,” Denise chuckles.
“That was definitely not in the birth plan.” I laugh, kissing her cheek. Denise’s control freak tendencies were in full swing when she wrote that birth plan. It’s probably good for her that the birth didn’t stay on plan. I’m sure it’s just the first of many times she’ll need to go with the flow where the baby is involved.
“Definitely not,” she agrees, looking down at the baby. She has chubby little cheeks, and a shock of black hair just like Denise that will probably stick straight up once she’s all bathed. “So what are we going to name her?”
“Cole,” I say without hesitation. “I see all that black hair and that’s all I can think of.”
“I like that. Cole Delanys. D-E-L-A-N-Y-S. After your Gran, Lana, and Gladys. Thank god they showed up when they did today.”
I tilt her face toward me and kiss her on the mouth, awed that she would name her baby after three of the most important women in my life.
“Knock, knock,” someone says at the open bathroom door. “I hear someone and their new baby need a quick checkup and a ride to the hospital. We’d be happy to help with that.”
Two female paramedics walk in and start fussing over Denise. I take the opportunity to get up and find some clothes, because I’ve only just realized that I’ve been naked this entire time.
I refuse to take the warm blankets away from Denise and Cole so all that’s available to cover myself with is a hand towel. I do my best to cover my dick with it and head into the bedroom to get dressed. While I’m there, I get something for Denise as well.
Once the paramedics are finished up, Denise gets dressed, and we take the ambulance to the hospital while Gran, Gladys, and Lana follow in the car. Denise checks out fine, but they want us to go to the hospital so that she and the baby can get checked out by a doctor. Often the doctor will want a first time mom to stay overnight there too, so we’re not sure if we’ll be getting back home tonight. I don’t care either way, as long as they know I won’t be leaving my girls’ sides, so they’d best be prepared for me to stay, too.
