Put A Little Love On Me ~N.H~ *Completed*

90

Niall

I've never seen quite anything like what I witnessed today.

I got to watch Aliyah go through the most pain she's ever been in. I got to watch her birth a small human. It was the most amazing, but also scariest thing I've ever seen. She went through 9 months of pregnancy and 25 hours of labor to give us our baby. I could never thank her enough for what she went through for this to happen. For us to have a baby together.

As of now, it was almost 5 in the morning. Aliyah had been sleeping peacefully for the past hour. She really needed the rest she was getting.

Me, however, I'm still wide awake trying to process everything that has happened in the past day. I think I'm running on adrenaline at this moment. I hadn't slept since I got woken up to Aliyah being gone from our bed. I didn't care that I wasn't sleeping because I got to let Aliyah get her much-needed sleep and I got to spend time with our new little family member.

Before Aliyah fell asleep, we got to see how much Aven weighed and how long she was. She was quite a small baby. She was 5 pounds 6 ounces and was 18 inches long. She was so tiny. 

It felt weird now that she had a name. We didn't have a name for her the entire time Aliyah was pregnant with her and now she had one. And it was the name that I came up with. I really didn't think that Aliyah would like the name I suggested, but it turned out she like it a lot. Enough to name our first child it.

I must've gotten lost in my thoughts because I got pulled away from them by small cries. I got up from the chair next to the window and walked over to the small cart containing a crying baby. I picked her up and began rocking her in my arms. She instantly stopped her crying.

"Hi Aven, I'm your daddy," I smiled down at her. "I can't wait to watch you grow up," 

She began wiggling around in my arms as I spoke to her. "Your mom went through hell and back to get you here, so you be good when you're with her. Go ahead and cry all you want with me, but please be very considerate of your mom," 

"Ni?" I heard from the other side of the room.

I looked over to see Aliyah awake. Her eyes were barely open. She was very exhausted. 

"Do you need anything?" I instantly asked.

She shook her head no as I walked over to her. "How long has it been since I fed her?"

"About 2 and a half hours," I answered looking at the clock on the wall.

"I need to feed her again then," she said reaching her arms out to grab her.

I carefully set her down in her arms and helped her get adjusted to feed her. Aliyah's doctor helped her learn how to feed Aven almost instantly. She would need to be feeding her every 2 to 3 hours for the first week or so to help her grow. After that, she could try and get her on a better schedule to feed her. 

"Why don't you go and get our parents," Aliyah said to me.

"You sure?" I asked.

"Yeah. I'll be just fine until you get back," she nodded. "Can you get me something to eat? I'm starving,"

"I'll be back in 5 minutes with some food and our parents," I said heading to the door.

I left our room and silently shut the door behind me. I walked down the familiar hospital halls u til I got to the waiting room. I saw both of our parents seared together and chatting. They all looked up to see me coming over towards them.

"Aliyah is awake and feeding the baby so you can all come and meet her now," I smiled.

"Has she eaten yet?" Marie asked.

"Not yet, I actually have to get her something," I answered.

"We'll wait until you get her food to go back with you,"

"Okay, I'll be quick," I said leaving them to go to the hospital cafeteria.

There wasn't much to choose from because it was the early hours of the morning. The only thing they really had was fruit and oatmeal. I grabbed a bowl of cut-up fruit and headed back to the waiting room.

"You ready to meet your granddaughter?" I asked them all.

"I'm so excited," my mom said.

"C'mon," I nodded my head in the direction of the hallway.

They followed close behind me the whole time. We made it outside of the room. I lightly knocked on the door before opening it up. Aliyah was laying down with Aven sleeping in her arms. She smiled at all of us as we entered the room.

"Did she not eat that much?" I asked Aliyah at the sight of the sleeping baby.

I placed down the bowl of fruit on the table next to the hospital bed. Aliyah instantly began eating from it. It made sense of how hungry she was because she hadn't eaten since before we left our house to come here.

"No, she didn't," she answered with a yawn. "I'll have to try again soon,"

"She's so tiny," my mom said when she first saw Aven. "What's her name?" 

I reached down to grab Aven from Aliyah's arms. I began rocking her to keep her in her sleeping state. "This is Aven Mae Horan," I smiled.

"That's such a perfect name for her," Marie said with a huge smile. "Can we hold her?"

Instead of answering, I walked over to her and gently placed the sleeping baby in her arms. She began swaying back and forth as she admired her new granddaughter.  I made my way back over to Aliyah. She stopped eating and looked up at me. She smiled with her tired eyes. 

"I got you something," I mumbled.

"What did you get me?" she was quite confused.

"I did some research and found out that some husbands get their wives a present for having a baby," I started. "I know I didn't have to get you anything, but you gave me a daughter so I wanted to get you something as well. Besides having Aven," I smiled.

"When did you have time to do this kind of research?" she asked.

"We had a lot of time on our hands waiting for her to join us," I answered as I went down to find the bag containing the present I had gotten for Aliyah.

"This better not make me cry," Aliyah said. "My hormones are all over the place and I'm going on very little sleep,"

"I don't want to make you cry, but I think it may make you tear up," I said placing the bag next to her on the bed. "Go ahead and open it," 

She lifted up the bad and began opening it up. She pulled out the small box that was inside. She opened it slowly to prepare herself for what was inside. She pulled out the necklace that was inside. Her eyes instantly began watering. 

"This is the best present I've ever gotten," she choked out.

I had gotten her a small necklace that said 'Mama' on it. I thought it would be the perfect thing to get her because of the situation at the moment.

"Does that mean you like it?" I asked.

"I love it," she answered. "Can you put it on me?"

"Of course I can," I said taking the necklace from her hands. 

She leaned forward in the hospital bed. I took the necklace and put it around her neck. I clasped the back of it and made sure it stayed around her neck.

"I love you," I heard Aliyah mumble.

"I love you, too," I said leaning down to kiss her.

Today has been the greatest day of my life. Not only was it my birthday, but I now shared this day with my daughter. It was now my new favorite day, to say the least.

***

This is the last chapter, sadly, but there is still more to come.

The bonus chapters will be starting next week Monday!