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I anxiously paced outside Latoya's ICU room, my shaky hands running through my hair as my heavy sighs mingled with the distant echo of beeping machines. I was so sick of it. I'd been in this waiting room for so long, the potent scent of antiseptic detergent was beginning to irritate me.
When Latoya gave birth two hours ago, the nurse practitioner informed me that it wouldn't be long before I got to see her and the baby. "Both mommy and baby are okay, you don't have to worry," she'd said, but until I saw it with my own eyes, all I could do was worry.
"I need a distraction," I thought to myself, stepping away from the room, towards the elevators that would lead me back down to the waiting room where Valerie and Rufaro sat with Ashley and Andrew. Maybe finding out progress about my niece would help me calm my anxiety.
Almost as soon as I got there, Alex left Cheyenne's delivery room with a proud smile on his face. He looked exhausted in his black scrubs, but there was relief and affection in his eyes as he walked to where we sat.
"Is she here?" Ashley and Drew asked at the same time, their childish 'jinx, you owe me a soda' putting a smile on my face. My first smile in hours.
"She's finally here," Alex happily announced as he tickled Rufaro's cheeks.
"Mama's new baby?" she asked, her tired eyes looking into Alex's with unfiltered curiosity.
"Yeah, your baby sister," he chuckled as Valerie stared on quietly. She seemed to be mesmerised by the father-daughter connection between the two of them.
"Happy for you, man." I told Alex, my hand lightly smacking his shoulder as Ashley and Andrew congratulated him too.
"I'm happy for you too," Alex grinned at me, his words reminding me of my current plight. My face visibly fell, a sight that made Ashley stretch out her hand and pat my knee.
"Don't worry, Note(d)," she encouraged with a genuine smile. "You'll be with them soon."
I gave a half-hearted nod as I slumped back into my seat, my drooping shoulders feeling like they weighed a ton.
"Hey, man," Alex encouraged in a comforting tone. "Ashley's right. This will all be over soon. Hang in there."
I was trying. I really was, but the stress that came with Latoya's unexpected delivery was overwhelming me. I wondered if they really were okay. What if things were taking so long because they weren't?
The questions kept coming. I feared that my head would literally start to spin if I didn't distract myself somehow.
"Daddy, what does the baby smell like?" Rufaro asked when I decided to focus my attention back on the people in the room with me.
"I don't know yet," Alex answered gently. "We'll find out when she's all clean and ready for you to see her."
"Okay," she agreed, resting her head on her dad's shoulder. "I hope she smells like strawberry yogurt, and I hope Toya's baby smells like custard."
