Plan B ✓

Our Very First Night

Chris carried Indie into our apartment the next day after the doctor gave us both a clean bill of health. I was moving slow, still sore form the delivery. "Welcome home!" Our families cheered as we stepped inside. Indie fussed a little but otherwise remained calm with the sudden loud intrusion.

"Thank you," we both say quietly.

"We brought dinners for the next couple of nights. And more diapers because you can never have too many diapers." Lisa says, pointing to the table.

"And onesies because babies spit up a lot." My mom adds.

"Thank you. We got this guys. You can go home now." Chris says and I nod in agreement.

"Remember we're only a phone call away if you need anything." And then we're alone, really alone... with a newborn.

I let out a shaky breath. "We can do this, right?"

"Of course we can. There's 2 of us and only one little baby. How bad can it be?"

*24 Hours Later*

"Why hasn't she stopped crying?" I ask, tears falling down my face as I try to rock Indie to sleep. Our daughter, it appeared, had a set of lungs on her.

"I don't know. We did everything. We fed her, changed her, burped her, held her. She just won't settle."

"What are we going to do? We're going to get evicted for noise disturbance." Instead of answering, Chris grabs the keys and takes the baby from me.

"Let's go."

"Go where? It's the middle of the night."

"The only place I can think to go right now." I don't ask any more questions and just follow him out to the car. I lean my head against the window as he buckles Indie into her car seat.

"You want to tell me where we're going?" I ask when we've been on the road for 10 minutes, Indie still regaling us with her screams.

"Your mom's."

"Chris, no. She's our daughter. We're supposed to have this figured out."

"Do you think our moms didn't ask for help? We need it Pres, or else we're never going to get any sleep." The mere thought of that almost makes me burst into tears.

"Ok, you win." I sniffle.

We knock on my parents' door 5 minutes later, I'm cradling Indie to my chest, trying to keep her quiet while we wait for someone to open the door. "Presley, Chris? What are you doing here at midnight?" Dad asks when he answers the door.

"Daddy, we need help." I cry out, exhaustion causing my already messed up hormones to overflow. I must have looked pretty pitiful because Dad didn't hesitate to step aside and let us in.

My mom's coming down the stairs, tying her robe around her as she does. "Oh goodness. Has she been like this..."

"Since you guys left, yes. We fed her, burped her, changed her. Nothing is working Mama."

"Give her to me." I hesitate for just a moment before the look on my mom's face pushes me to listen. "Both of you, go shower and change. You stink. I'll see what I can do for this banshee here."

Twenty minutes and a hot shower later and I was about to pass out in my childhood bed. "Are we sure we can do this?" I ask Chris sleepily.

"We don't really have a choice babe."

"I know. It'll get easier, right?"

"I mean it can't get worse."

"I love you." I mumble into his chest before sleep takes me.

*The Next Morning*

I woke up at 8:00 the next morning feeling more rested than I had in weeks. Between being uncomfortable from the pregnancy and then the baby screaming her head off, I hadn't had a decent sleep. But the house was too quiet.

I crawled out of Chris's grasp and made for the door, hearing my parents talk in hushed voices downstairs. "They're in over their heads." I hear my mom say.

"They're kids themselves. It wasn't going to be easy. You remember what it was like when we brought Elvis and Presley home from the hospital."

"Yes but we were older."

"And there were 2 of them. It was a learning curve for us and it will be for them."

I decided at that moment to make my presence known. "Morning. Where's Indie?" I ask, looking around.

"She's sleeping in our room."

"How on earth did you manage that?"

"She just needed to be swaddled Presley."

"Swaddled? All she needed was to be swaddled?" My voice cracks and I start crying. "I already knew I wasn't ready but I couldn't even figure out that my baby needed to be swaddled."

My dad gives my mom a look and she sighs. "It's going to take time Presley. There's no manual for babies."

"I couldn't make her stop crying Mom. How do I ever hope to be as good as you are if I can't even get my daughter to stop crying?"

"It will get easier. You just brought her home. By the time she's a year old, you're going to look back at this and smile because you'll have gotten this figured out."