Jiley Oneshots

Lives Changed Forever (ii) [f]

As each contraction came and went, Riley felt more and more pain. Some time later, her waters broke naturally and from then on everything seemed far more intense.

"You're ready to push" the midwife smiled after checking her for a final time. Another midwife entered the room, already dressed for delivery. "When you feel your next contraction, I want you to push long and hard into your bottom, okay?"

Riley nodded, her grip on James' hand tightening as she felt one coming. She pushed as hard as she could, raising her head so her chin touched her chest. She was vaguely aware of James coaching her on, but had truthfully tuned him out.

After another couple pushes Riley threw her head back onto her pillow in exhaustion.
"I can't do it" she cried, feeling a midwife wipe the sweat off of her forehead. "It hurts"

She felt stupid stating the obvious, but wanted everyone to remember how much pain she was in. She was met with several sympathetic looks.

"You can do it and your are doing it" her midwife reminded her, "baby's almost here Riley, just one more big push and you'll have them in your arms"

Riley looked at her husband and found the strength to push again, rocking her head forwards and probably breaking James' hand as she clenched it in her grip.

Then, all of a sudden the unforgiving pain ceased and a high pitched wail echoed around the room.
"Congratulations" the midwife cheered as she cleaned the baby, "you have a baby girl!"

James choked back his tears as he was handed the cord clamp and was shown how to cut it, freeing his daughter from her mother. As soon as he did that, the screaming newborn was placed on Riley's chest.

He snapped a picture, the very first picture, of their daughter as she settled on her mother. Riley looked up at him with tearful eyes and he bowed his head to kiss her lips firmly.

"You did it" he mumbled when they parted, "I'm so proud of you"
Riley smiled fondly, hardly tearing her gaze away from her tiny daughter. The newborn looked around the room with wide, grey-blue coloured eyes. Her head was adorned with a few tufts of light brown hair.

"She's beautiful" she breathed, struggling to comprehend that the beauty was her daughter. That she was going to walk out of the hospital with her and take her home and raise her.

"I can't believe she's ours" James croaked, voicing Riley's exact thoughts out loud. He took another photograph and then a selfie of the three of them.

"Shall we find out what she weighs?" The midwife suggested, breaking their family union and walking over. Riley was reluctant to give up her baby so quickly, but released her grip and watched her child be carried across the room to a scale.

"7 pounds 16 ounces" the midwife read, scooping the little girl and walking back to the couple. "Does dad want a hold?"
James looked at his wife and nodded, holding out his arms to cradle his daughter. Any control he had left over his emotions was destroyed as he looked at the infant and his eyes welled with tears.

Unbeknownst to him, Riley snapped a photo of her own, capturing the heartwarming moment forever.

What seemed like hours later (it wasn't), the couple were finally moved to a new room and were left alone. Riley unlocked her phone and opened her messages, selecting her family group chat and attaching a photograph that James had taken of the three of them. She paired the picture with
'Baby girl born healthy at 5:24 am'
and sent an identical announcement to her other family group chat with James' family.

As soon as she had sent the messages, Riley found her mother's contact and pressed to start dialling. After a few rings, she picked up.

"I just saw the photograph! Congratulations darling!" The maternal voice rang down the phone. "How are you feeling? When can we come visit? Have you picked a name yet?"

As Riley continued to speak on the phone, she heard James' phone ring and smiled as he picked up to his own mother singing down the phone.

When both conversations had come to an end, James perched next to Riley on her bed and they both stared at their sleeping daughter in the hospital cot.

"She's completely perfect" he whispered, looking between his girls with the overwhelming feeling that he was the luckiest man in the world.
Riley used an outstretched hand to gently caress her daughter's cheek. "Welcome to the world, Ava Rose"