My Best Friend's Baby

Chapter 9

Xavier POV

5 months later

I'm now seven months pregnant, and I have a bump. Never in my life did I think I would be pregnant, but I am and it's a girl.

We decided to name her Stella because we had fallen in love with the name back in college when we had to take care of the robot baby.

My husband, Alexander comes in and wraps his arms around me, and rests his hands on my baby bump.

I smile up at him and kiss him sweetly, which he returns. "Can you believe that I'm pregnant?"

Alexander smiles. "No. I cannot, but I wouldn't change it for the world."

I look back at the mirror and then turn away and get changed into a green t-shirt and black shorts.

I go downstairs and head to the kitchen and make breakfast for myself and Alexander. Once breakfast is done and eaten, I put the dishes in the sink and wash them. After I put the last dish away, I feel a sharp pain followed by a gush of water.

I hold onto the counter and yell for Alexander. "Babe! Come here! I need to go to the hospital!"

Alexander comes in and helps me to the car. He then puts the hospital bag in the car and gets in the driver's seat and drives to the hospital.

We arrive soon after we leave our house, and we are immediately given a labor and delivery room. After several hours of pushing, I give birth to our daughter, Stella.  She can breathe, but not very well. Alexander cut the cord, and then Stella was taken to the side to be cleaned, weighed, and measured. She weighs 2 pounds and 7 ounces and measures 14 inches.

She is taken out of the room and we watch as our daughter is taken to the NICU. Alexander and I are taken to a recovery room, and I wait for our daughter to be wheeled in, but as night falls, I accept that she is not coming back to us tonight.

The doctor comes in and I sit up carefully to listen, and Alexander sits down beside me.

Doctor. "Hello. I'm Doctor Sarah Jones. I'm the night doctor. Your daughter is in the NICU due to her breathing difficulties. Since she is so small, she'll have to stay here for quite a while and will have to be tube-fed. That means that Xavier, you're going to have to pump your breast milk and give it to us to put in the tube. Once she is big enough and strong enough, we will allow you to breastfeed directly, but until then, she is strictly on tube feeding. If you would like, we can take you to your daughter, but Xavier has to be in a wheelchair for four weeks. This is so he can recover and heal from giving birth."

Alexander and I quickly agree, and I am put in a wheelchair. Alexander wheels me to the NICU, and we go inside. We stop at our daughter's bassinet, and I do everything in my power to keep from crying. She has wires and tubes stuck to her body and face, and she is so small.

I stroke her tiny hand, and she holds my finger. Alexander strokes her hair and we both watch our daughter for a while. Eventually, we return to our recovery room. Alexander packs our bag, and he makes himself a bed on the couch while I sleep in my bed.

The next day, we get a shower and get changed into clean clothes, we visit our daughter, I pump breast milk for her, and then we leave. When we arrive home, we set everything up and make sure that nothing is missing or out of place. We also make sure that the entire house is baby-proof. Alexander makes lunch, and we have a bologna sandwich with water.

After a while, I go back and give our daughter more breast milk that I pumped. I watch her for a bit and then go back home. Once I get home, I go to my room and cry. I can't help but feel terrible, because we're here at home, and our daughter is in the NICU alone. She is being fed my breast milk through a tube, I can't hold her, and we can't have skin-to-skin contact.