HIS (YOU series #1)

27

Amira

"Akram, get in here right now", I grunt, panting heavily. My water broke about an hour ago, and I'm about 9cm dilated now.

"Mr Kabir, you will need to be in the pool to catch the baby", Clara, the midwife, says to Akram, whose standing in front of me, fear and concern very evident on his face.

He attempts to hold my hand, but the doula swats it away and pushes him over to the size of the small inflatable pool, "please get in before it's too late", she says.

I lift my head to yell at him, but another sharp contraction hits, and I scream in pain. He swiftly moves back in front of me and clutches my hand, I whip my head up and glare at him harshly.

"AKRAM GET IN THIS POOL AND CATCH HIM", I screech.

He winces at my tone before getting up and stepping into the warm water.

"You can finally start pushing now," Clara says.

Remy, the doula, crouched down in front went of me and clutched my left hand, then proceeded to rub soothing circles around my back. They did nothing for the pain I was in right now. This was nothing like when I broke my rib playing basketball.

"Okay, Amira, I need you to push with all your strength now," Clara says.

"You can do this, baby", Akram chirps from behind and a small smile forms at his reassuring words.

Ailah

The room was dead silent. The only sound you could hear was Ammi's soft pacing, we were waiting patiently for news of Amira and the baby.

Akram had called about an hour and a half ago to inform Ammi that Amira's water had broken. Subsequently, we had all gathered in the living room waiting for news.

"The silence is killing me", Fatima blurts.

I was hoping someone would say something, sighing in relief.

"she might not even give birth today, it all depends on the speed of her labour," Ammi says, sitting beside me.

"It's been more than an hour, if she were only having contractions, Akram wouldn't have been giving us live updates", Amina reasons.

We are enveloped by silence once more for another few minutes before a call interrupts, I cringe at the vibration but quickly glance at the phone.

"ya Akram," I say, and everyone huddles up, I answer the FaceTime, and it instantly connects, his face appears on the screen, and his grin says it all.

"where is he" Ammi yells, and he turns the camera over to a sweaty Amira, he is nestled in her chest perfectly, he moves to give us a close-up of his face, and for the first time, we see him.

He was gorgeous, the replica of his father, "Akram ai, this is copy and paste", Hud says, and everyone hums in agreement.

The phone was passed from one person to another as everyone swooned over him. I held Ammi tightly as she cried softly.

"Alhamdullilah" she repeated. After getting the phone back, we spoke to Amira, who confirmed she was doing well, we ended the call by deciding to give her time to bond with him and rest.

5 DAYS LATER

Akram

"How about Akram junior," I say, brushing her hair gently.

"no", she responds, rolling her eyes. I grab the hair tie on the dresser and slide it onto my left hand and begin packing her long hair into a ponytail.