Femme Empire

The Baby Nightmare

No matter how much you think you are prepared for it, the coming of a baby hits you with the force of a running train.

Your world is turned upside down.

You kiss goodbye to eight hours of sleep.

Relaxation is a thing of the distant past.

Work-life balance can kiss my ass because the way it was going, I would not get rest until I dropped unconscious.

All this was topped with Josh returning home from the hospital on the condition that a full-time nurse was going to be with him to take care of him.

We had to fix the ramp at the entrance to get his wheelchair up. Everywhere, I looked around my own house, I saw a death trap. There were too many sharp edges a d architectural calamities that could hurt Esther.

It had been years since Joshua's birth. The rooms were not baby-proofed since Josh had not been born in this house. In my tiny one-room apartment, I hadn't had to worry about all of that as the space was too little to actually let him do anything wild.

This house was a monstrosity. My mind went to all the gothic novels that I had read about children falling from the stairs or windows.

Fuck!

I was too young to die of a heart attack.

"Stella, my darling Stella, this house is a baby nightmare. I ABSOLUTELY CANNOT RAISE A CHILD HERE. This place is giving me the heeby-jeebies. ", I said to my housekeeper.

" I couldn't agree more, ma'am.", she said buying her lip as if to stop a smile from taking over.

"What do I do?", I asked, horrified that I hadn't had the foresight to think my decision of bringing Esther to this house.

" Luckily for you ma'am, you have a checkbook and a bank account with enough zeroes to hire an architect or a dozen. Perhaps, I should ask your assistant Lola to draw up some names.", she suggested.

"Ah! Can't forget the billions.", I said.

"Oh! We also need to set up a nursery and a guest room. Simone will be moving in to help me with the kids.", I said.

"Simone LeBlanc, ma'am? As in Mr. Andre's ex-wife, god rest his soul?", she asked wide-eyed.

"Yes, she is apparently bored with the high life in Paris. When she heard about Isidora, she squealed. She wanted to help me raise her and proposed to come to LA. Something about having grandchildren. I offered her a room in this colossal monstrosity. It's not like I don't have enough on my plate.", I said.

"It's a good thing, ma'am. You will need all the help you can get.", she said. " I will inform the staff to get it ready."

"One more thing, ma'am. Do you want me to hire a nanny for Isidora?", she asked.

"No. No nannies. I was going to go on maternity leave after Isidora came home but Simone insisted that she wanted to help and the time was too crucial for me to actually take a break. I needed to be in action."

She nodded.

"Since breastfeeding is not an option for her, I have asked Jules to pump it out and send the bottles from the rehab centre. Ask Myers, to pick it up routinely.", I instructed.

"Also get the diapers, feeding bottles, clothes, milk, wipes and powder, toys and some formula for tonight. The list of medicines, I have emailed to you. Set up the nursery. Get William to help you. Jesus! People have nine months to prepare for the coming of a baby, not nine hours!"

She nodded and left.

I had taken the day off from work.
Now time to rest.....eh! I mean work.

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