It can't be more than a little half past two. I'm shaking my husband awake while my hospital bag sits slouched against our bedroom door frame. The bedsheets are wet, like I wet myself, and I can hardly stand up straight.
"We need to go to the hospital," I tell him, shaking his arm vigorously until his eyes groggily open up. He's clearly only semi-awake, but labor waits for no one.
"Huh?" Vylad questions, placing his head back onto the pillow, wrapping his arms around it to cage himself.
"Vylad, it's time."
His eyes willingly open on their own, lingering over my hunched figure. The sheets are thrown into the air in a flash, and he's slipping a shirt on over his head. "It's time? It's time! Shit, it's time."
I hide my giggle in my hand before letting out an audible groan. "We should time these."
Vylad nods his head, nudging me towards the door with a pair of my shoes in his hand. They're placed on the ground, and keys are shoved into my hands in order to get me to the car. I look back to him, but he's hurrying to get his own shoes on and grabbing the hospital bag.
"I've heard too many horror labor stories to take any chances."
There are more people on the road at 3:00AM than I thought there would ever be. You don't realize how many people are out and about at this time until you're flying down the road to make sure you're having your baby in the hospital and not in the passenger seat of your car.
I've taken it upon myself to try to contact at least one person to let them know that my child is about to be born, but most people are sleeping at this time. My father? Sleeping. Zianna? Also sleeping. Garroth sleeps like an absolute rock, so he'd snore through the phone car. Zane turns his phone off at night. My best chance is Kandi and Laurance because they both, strangely, don't sleep at night.
Vylad glances over at me when I pull my phone out, turning the brightness all the way down before going through my contacts. If I ever lose these numbers, I'm absolutely screwed. In the midst of pressing the call button, another contraction hits and thankfully ends on the last ring.
"3:18."
Kandi picks up.
"Hello?"
"I'm in labor."
"The fuck?"
"Don't act like it's surprising. We're on our way to the hospital. Call Zianna or something. Wake up your brothers too while you're at it. I'm about to call Laurance."
I don't give her much time to give me a response. If I'm leaving in my pajamas and messy hair, she can see her brothers the same exact way as I look like now.
Vylad places his hand on my knee and squeezes it gently. I weakly smile at him before dialing Laurance's number and hoping for the best.
"Alex, it's three in the morning. Something big better be happening."
He's met with silence because this annoys me.
"Alex? Al? . . . Is the baby coming?"
"Yeah."
"I'll call dad and meet you at the hospital."
Another contraction hits.
"3:23."
°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
They cleaned up my baby and placed her on my chest. After seven hours of me screaming and crying in the delivery room, my baby was born. The moment she was taken out of my sight caused a twinge of pain within me. I had grown so used to having a child within me for as long as she was that the idea of her being away from me for even a minute almost hurt.
I held her in my arms. She's so small. Ten fingers. Ten toes. Two arms. Two legs. Two feet. Two hands. One body. One head. One nose. One mouth. Two eyes. Six pounds eight ounces. Nineteen inches. She's everything I thought she'd be and so much more.
Though, she was born with blue eyes. Blue eyes are common in my family, but she makes it appear like I had an affair with Garroth with her blonde hair and blue eyes. Vylad is not concerned in the most obvious ways, and it was explained to me that there is still a possibility of her eyes changing. The idea is both nerve racking and exciting. While it sounds selfish to admit, I've been wanting my baby, regardless of gender, to have Vylad's eyes.
"Chérie, everybody wants to come in and meet our new little angel."
I smile up at Vylad and then stare down at the baby in my arms. "Let them in."
He walks off for a moment, leaving me alone with our baby for a brief moment. I'm so afraid to move in the slightest in case I hurt her, but I know I won't. She's just so small, it makes me think she's fragile.
Vylad walks back in, little gasps following behind. Zianna looks like she's on the verge of crying, and Caleb sleeps peacefully in Lisa's arms.
"Do I really look that bad?" I joke, looking up at the group of family members walking into my hospital room.
"My baby girl has her own baby girl."
"My baby boy has a baby girl."
I hand Vylad our baby and watch him walk over to the others. I'm tired, but I want them to have a few minutes with her before I fall asleep.
"What's her name?" Jeffory asks.
"Paris. Paris Rose Ro'meave."
