The Struggle Of Our Lives

Chapter 20, continued.

"I'm so proud of you, Lotte." I said.

She took long, heavy breaths as she tried to compose herself, still sweating and red in the face. I beckoned Teddy over to the bed, and he came and sat on the bed next to Charlotte. Somehow, he looked more relieved than I did. "You did it.." He began, on the verge of tears. He took his left hand and used it to brush the few tiny hairs on the baby's head out of her face. "She looks just like you." He determined.

I agreed, and once again congratulated her on her success. "What are you going to name her?" Lotte asked me. I leaned back slightly, as if I was too close to hear her properly. "You want me to name her?" I asked, completely shocked. "She'll be your baby, so it makes sense. Plus," she stopped for a second, running her hand over the baby's hair, down to her tiny chin. "You've always been good with names."

I sat still in the white bed, and thought it over. John was born in June, and several years later, I was born in July. Then, 11 years ago, Char and Tedd were born in August, and now it was July again. I thought it over one last time before deciding on a name. "What about September?" I asked. Lotte's eyes lit up and turned to me smiling. "See? I told you."

"I like that name, too." Teddy complimented. I smiled to myself for a moment before Lotte surprised me once again. "Wanna hold her?" She asked, still smiling. I panicked slightly, but agreed, excitedly. She reached over and handed the tiny girl to me. I carefully propped up her neck with the crook of my elbow, and used my forearms to support her body.

She was much smaller than I remembered the twins being as newborns, and I brushed it off as her being smaller due to Lotte's underdeveloped physique. Not long after this, some doctors came in to get fingerprint swatches from Charlotte and September, then asked us what we want to name the baby. I replied with "September" after getting a small nod from Charlotte. They complimented the name, and congratulated Char once again.

After getting their fingerprints, they came back with white medical bracelets with Char and Sept's names, birthdays, and last four social security numbers on them for identification. Some new doctors came in later to give September a vitamin K and hepatitis B shot, amongst other things. Finally, they took the baby's weight and measured her height, and wrote them on a sheet of paper with all of the details on her birth.

The day was beginning to end, and I decided to head downstairs to the cafeteria and get some food for Charlotte and I, and once we got our food, I'd send Teddy down so Lotte is never alone. I took her order, and walked out of the delivery room down to the kitchen. I ended up ordering a personal pizza, a tomato soup, and some grilled cheese sandwiches for us. I got extra in case Teddy wanted the same thing.

I got back upstairs with a plastic tray with all our food on it, and located the new room a nurse put the twins in since Lotte was no longer in active labor. I placed the tray down on a table near Lotte's bed and served it out to her. I turned to the corner of the room and spotted a small bassinet with September sleeping peacefully inside it. I handed a soup and a few slices of pizza to Teddy and he ate it immediately. Char was already half done with her soup and I handed her another slice of pizza.

I asked the twins how they were doing, and asked if they needed anything, but they agreed that they were fine, and just needed some sleep. I laughed and got up to buy us some bottled waters, and blankets for the night. The blankets the nurses ended up giving us were perfect. Not too heavy, and not too light, it almost made the sterile environment semi-comfortable. I came back from a nearby vending machine with three waters, just to notice Charlotte was already asleep.

I sighed, but knew I'd be exhausted too if I just had a baby. I covered her up in one of the blankets supplied by the nurse and tucked her in. I helped Theodore get covered with his own blanket in a recliner in the room. One doctor ordered a cot for me, so I slept on that. It was surprisingly comfortable, and I had close and easy access to September if I needed her. I had trouble sleeping, unsurprisingly, and took some melatonin to fall asleep. Every couple hours or so, someone would come in to check on September and Charlotte, making sure everything looked okay, then leaving for two hours.

Eventually, after a long night of being woken up every few hours, I woke up yet again at six in the morning, but this time, there was no nurse. September was crying, so I got up and picked her up out of the cradle and held her. I swayed to and fro, rocking her and whispering some calming words. She continued crying for a bit before settling, but she did stink. I took her to a nearby changing station and cleaned her up with wet wipes, and patted her bottom with baby powder to avoid chafing with the new diaper, then re-diapered her.

She didn't stink now, and was much more calm. I brought her to Charlotte and asked if she felt she could breastfeed yet. She agreed and the two of us figured out how to get September to feed. Eventually, she stopped suckling and fell back asleep for a bit. I took a sip of water, trying to wake myself up.

"My boob feels deflated; like a sad balloon." She commented. I laughed so hard that the water I was trying to drink came out my nose. "I bet!" I laughed again.