The Lieutenant 🪖

Thirty one

Beep. Beep. Beep.

My eyelids slowly parted, allowing in the harsh light and noise all around me. My tongue felt dry and my stomach felt empty.

My stomach felt empty.

In a heartbeat, I tried to thrust my body upwards but a nurse placed her hands on my shoulders, saying something to me that I couldn't quiet make out.

"Harper, Harper." Her voice tuned into my ears. "You're recovering from a major surgery, lay back down, rest and I'll check your stats."

"Where's my baby?" I demanded, trying once again to sit up even though it caused me the world of pain to move.

"He's fine. He's with his father." The nurse answered, offering me the trace of a smile. I relaxed back into the mattress and breathed.

"He's okay?" Admittedly, I didn't expect him to be.

Alls I remember was my waters breaking and a whole world of pain coming crashing in. Axel stood motionless with shock and so my friends snapped into action all around him.

Nate used Axels phone to call me an ambulance.
Nicole got me off of my feet and kept me calm. Caitlin packed up some bags for the hospital and Holly tried to console Axel.

I don't remember much else, except the ride here. I felt like every tiny bump in the road brought on a new contraction.

I looked up at the nurse, she fiddled with my paperwork and collected up medical items.

"Your baby is stable." She answered. "For now."

That didn't sound too promising.

She wrapped a blood pressure wrist band around my arm and started pumping it to a tight squeeze.

"For now?" I repeated, my whole stomach dropping with dread.

"He's on the NICU unit in an incubator cot. He is eleven weeks early Harper but he came out with a good set of lungs on him, crying, so that's promising.

He does need help with his breathing but right now he's stable. With premature babies this young things can change in an instant but for now he's doing really well and he's getting the best care so hopefully as the days go on he'll just continue down that path."

I tried to get up again, my mind set on seeing him.

"Harper, you can't move yet. You're very heavily medicated and you just came out of surgery a few hours ago. I'll get you a wheelchair and take you down to see them but I have to do your stats first."

"What the hell even happened?"

"Your placenta ruptured and your waters broke. We had no choice but to perform an emergency Caesarean section to ensure the safe delivery of your baby boy. You lost a lot of blood during your surgery and we weren't sure if you were going to make it. Obviously your baby has inherited his strength from his mommy." She smiled warmly at me but I didn't say anything because I felt too guilty.

Guilty for complaining about my pregnancy, about how uncomfortable it was to share my body, how selfish was I?

"Your husband has been quite the meddler." She flicked my drip machine a few times and then smiled at me.

"What?" I asked, my voice expelling out the irritation that I felt for myself.

"Yes, I believe he's been giving the nurses a hard time on the NICU unit. He's very protective and very demanding."

I smiled to myself, "Yes, that sounds like Axel."

"Axel?" My eyes sharpened on her. "The man who has been watching over your baby is named Finley but he calls himself the commander."