Dear James

Welcome James Antonio.

I've been in labor for over six hours now. Six hours of pure discomfort, agony, tears and yelling at anybody who even looks at me the wrong way. My mom was by my side holding my hand and occasionally my head when I asked her to. She used to do it when I was a kid, it helps calm me. Brandon was here but I kicked him out after we got into an argument. I HATE that our relationship is the way it is because I want him to be apart of everything, including this. Our son is going to be born either tonight or tomorrow morning and I don't want him to miss it.

Slowly, but painfully another contraction came upon my body. My whole body tensed up. I gripped onto my mother's shirt because I knew her hand was probably numb by now. I buried my face in her shirt as I screamed for mercy. This was horrible.

The contraction faded eventually but I still had pain. I hadn't eaten a thing and physically, I was drained. Doctor Marx came in and stood by the left side of the hospital bed while the nurse checked my rates.

"How are you Ms. Nylah?" He asked like he didn't know how bad this was. He's saw plenty of women to know that, that is the dumbest question to ask.

"I feel like I have to throw up." My eyes shot toward my mother as something crossed my mind. "Momma where's Kim and Kaiden?" Curiosity filled my voice.

"Their here baby, just in the waiting room." She took her thumb and rubbed it on my hand.

"Go get them I want them in here with me. And if Brandon is still out there get him too. I need them in here." I sounded like a demanding little kid but I do need them. Each one of them helps me in a different way. Brandon, he's the baby's father and he should be in here regardless. Kaiden, he'll support me and say things that I'm too scared to say sometimes. Kim, she's always been there and she always assisted me when I needed her most.

"While they're out I'm gonna go ahead and check your cervices. When we measured you last you were only four centimeters so lets hope that the baby is ready, okay?" I nodded as I got prepared for what he was about to do.

Once he was finished I returned to my normal position and just before Dr.Marx was going to tell me what the deal was, in walked my family. My mom, Kim, Brandon, and Kaiden last. I smiled to them and Kim wasted no time to rushing over to my side. She kissed my face repeatedly and laughed in the process.

"So, baby has been moving quite a bit, you're now at seven centimeters so hopefully you will have a baby by tonight." Dr.Marx said as he left out of the room.

"You okay?" Kim asked me. I nodded slowly. "Does it hurt?" This time I nodded faster, causing us both to laugh. Due to another contraction the laugh was cut short and I gripped onto one of the bars on my right side.

"Ah!" I yelled. I tried to hold it in, but it was something different about this one. This felt five times worse than any of them did, I thought it would go away but it didn't. It stayed in that exact same spot for another twenty minutes before I finally pressed the remote to alert one of the nurses.

"What's going on?" She came in almost instantly after.

"There's this pain. Its not a contraction though. It hurts like hell."

"How long has it been there?"

"Twenty minutes." From the look she had on her face I knew something wasn't right. She looked scared. She ran out of the room and I instantly went into a panic. She left me there, unanswered. What's going on?

"Calm down Grace. He's gonna be fine." My mother tried to rub my head but I swatted her hand away. The look she had on her face told me otherwise and I don't know what to think.

Kaiden walked over to me and held my hand. He didn't say anything he just looked at me. I waited there anxiously waiting for the nurse to got back. Another five minutes went by before she finally returned. When she got in there she was out of breath and I could barely understand what she was saying.

"Okay. Nothing to panic about but Dr.Marx wants us to try and get that little guy out of there, okay?" She and another few nurses came in and put the gloves on.

The got me into a comfortable, yet exposed position. Avory was on my left, my mom on my right. Kaiden was holding one of my legs back while Brandon was recording. I took a deep breath like the nurses started telling me. They also instructed me on what to do and when to do it. Everything was happening so fast I could barely think straight. All I could focus on right now was getting my little man out safely.

Two hours into it and my little boy still wasn't here. Push after push my body became weak. I was growing tired but they wouldn't let me give up. Kim and Brandon would occasionally tell me what a good job I was doing, while Kaiden would chant, 'go go go'. My mom was just crying and telling me to keep going. Finally, I felt his bare down to the edge of my birth canal and all I could do was scream. I could feel my intense heartbeat run through my whole body as I continued to push.

"Oh my gosh, Gracie!" Kim cried, "he's got so much hair."

I wanted to look down and see but the nurses assured me that I couldn't stop I have to keep going. I cried as the pain became unbearable and I could feel him being ripped from me. Something isn't right.

"One more big push Nylah."One nurse said. I did as told and he was out.

I heard my mother gasp loudly and began to cry, so did Kim. I looked up as she held my baby boy in the air and place him on my chest. He started to cry but when his eyes locked with mine he stopped almost instantly. I gave him a little kiss before the nurse took him away to be cleaned.

"Brandon go with him." I noticed they were taking him out of the room.

"You did so good Nylah. I'm so proud of you." My mom leaned over the bed and hugged me.

"Grace he's so cute." Kim said as she wiped her tears away.

"You okay?" Kaiden noticed my facial change. He walked over and put his hand on my aching legs.

"No I'm worried about my baby."

"He's good Grace, Brandon is with em."

I brushed the feeling off and waited for them to bring my baby back to me. An hour passed and no word from anybody, not even Brandon. Just as i was about to call him, he walked in the door.

"James is okay. They doing tests on him. The lady said he should be up soon." Brandon took a seat in one of the chairs my the window and rested his head on his arm.

I noticed he used the name I wanted. I smiled and now I really couldn't wait to see my baby boy. Another ten minutes went by and the nurse finally brought my boy to me.

"Here ya go." She handed him over to me. "James Antonio. Six pounds, three ounces. Congratulations."

"Hi James."