Stella gave everyone, especially Hammer, a scare when she had braxton contractions that lasted for several hours the week before she was due to give birth. Doc had examined her and became very concerned and ordered her to go to the hospital for tests and they ended up admitting her.
Poor Hammer had been a basket case. He and Stella had been trying for years to have a baby and even though Stella was in good health and a strong woman, Hammer was scared out of his mind that he might possibly lose her now. He had refused to leave the hospital. He couldn't eat, which shocked everyone, and the only sleep he managed to get was leaning against her bed while he held her hand. The nurses tried to be quiet and not disturb him when they came in to check on her and Stella tried to insist that he go home and rest but he refused. He insisted that he had to keep watch over her.
He questioned everyone about what they were in her room for and why they were doing anything to her or the machines she was hooked up to to monitor Stella and the baby. Doc tried to convince Stella to have a c-section and explained to both of them that if she decided to do a vaginal delivery that things could go south pretty quickly. He also warned them that if the baby began to show signs of distress, they were going to do an emergency c-section anyway.
Stella had not been happy about that but finally agreed that they could do it only if the baby was in distress. "I want to give birth normally but I also want the medication so that it's not as painful as I've heard it can be. Will the medication cause the baby to be in distress?"
"Normally no and we can try to let you deliver normally but from what I'm seeing in the tests we have run, a vaginal delivery is not going to be easy on you Stella, and I'll bet my last dollar that you are going to have to have a c-section anyway. Baby is just too big!
Now, I'm not going to be the one delivering your baby. I've called for a specialist who does this every day but I will still be your physician in charge. I won't risk either of your lives when we can deliver the baby with fewer complications by doing a c-section so the second that we see that either of you are having problems, a c-section will be done.
Hammer, I need to know right now that you are going to be able to contain yourself no matter what happens if things start to go south? If something goes wrong, you have to stay out of the way and let the doctor and nurses do what they have to do. Do you agree?" Doc asked.
"So long as they save Stella, I promise not to hurt anyone. I hope our baby comes without complications but I can't lose Stella. If something happens to her, I won't be able to go on." Hammer told Doc, looking him straight in the eye with an expression that made a shiver run down Doc's spine.
Three days later, Stella delivered a 9 lb 11 oz, 22" long baby boy that they named Nicholas James Larsen via a c-section because as Doc had warned, the baby was too large for her to deliver vaginally. He was the spitting image of his daddy with a head full of jet black hair and large striking gray eyes that had the nurses cooing over him.
They both had to spend a week in the hospital and Stella had to remain on bedrest for another week after they got home. It took her almost two months to be able to stand upright and move around under her own power.
She had been very disappointed in herself that she couldn't handle the cramps that trying to breastfeed him had caused but she did manage to pump and give him breast milk in a bottle. Hammer knew she was upset with herself and he reassured her that he enjoyed feeding his son so that Stella didn't have to do it all on her own. She could pump larger quantities of milk to put in bottles than the baby could drink in one sitting, even though he had a very healthy appetite.
Stella had snapped many pictures of her husband wedged into her rocking chair, holding the tiny blue bundle and the bottle that disappeared in Hammer's large hands so it looked almost like the baby was sucking on his finger instead of the bottle hidden in his grip. She had pictures of him asleep with their son on his chest, his head leaned back with his mouth open and his legs outstretched but always with his hand on their son's back so that he didn't fall off his father's large chest.
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The Rescuer's MC Bk 8
RomanceWhen Inker had pulled off his shirt for a friend's client to see his full back tattoo, he had been shocked when it felt like a warm electrical charge had shot through him but instead of hurting, it was soothing to his soul. When he had turned to s...
