Taken by a Stranger (Meadema)

Chapter 40 - An Unfinished Chapter 🔙

Beth had finally found her rhythm after the first few days of being upset, scared, insecure and above all completely in panic at any moment that Viv wasn't reachable due to training or other commitments. She heard Viv say it several times, that babies sense their mother's emotions and often mirror them. So it was no wonder that Viv often had Beth crying on the phone in the evenings, with a crying Maeve in her arms, both in a panic state and Myle who she could hear squeaking somewhere in the background, also a bit lost in her emotions. 

Beth, who suddenly seemed to have completely lost control, had no idea how to take care of a baby on her own. Secretly she knew she could do it, of course, she hadn't suddenly become incapable of taking care of a baby, it was purely her self-confidence that she couldn't find. Viv found it horrible to see, Beth making one confession after another about what had gone wrong, while according to Viv not that much had gone wrong. It was purely Beth who couldn't control her emotions and lacked self-confidence, afraid she failed, which also made Maeve upset.

She saw the tiredness flow from Beth's face when she called her for the umpteenth time in four days. Beth appeared on her phone screen, trying to feed Maeve, but she continuously refused to drink from her, who in addition to breastfeeding also started to refuse the bottle feeding. The little girl was upset, in panic and hungry at the same time, and therefore kept crying, who started suffering stomach cramps, because she didn't get enough food and moisture.

For Viv it was a matter of taking Beth all the way back to the beginning, to just start over again. It was a matter of approaching Beth very calmly, coaching her through everything and especially boosting her self-confidence. And slowly, call by call, Viv saw a more and more self-confident Beth appear on her screen. It was suddenly so, after eight days, that Viv called herself because Beth hadn't called all day. And to her great gratitude, as most of the times, Beth appeared on the screen, with Myle lying against her side and Maeve drinking calmly in her arms.

And now, after eleven long days, it would be a few more hours before she would be sitting next to Beth in their bed again, watching live how their daughter was drinking in Beth's arms and feeding her daughter herself with bottle-feeding. Now that she had won her matches and would be flying home today, she couldn't wait to hold her family in her arms again. And every second that was unnecessarily postponed according to Viv, was one too many. She actually thought it was nonsense that they had to stay here yesterday to soak up some culture. She just wanted to go home, to be able to hold her daughter and girlfriend in her arms again.

Beth had woken up after a rough night. Despite the fact that Maeve and she herself were doing better and better, it was tiring to do all the feedings herself during the night. Especially because Maeve had exhausted herself quite a bit in the first few days without Viv, it was a matter of catching up on sleep for the little girl, which resulted in very long night feeds for Beth, during which Maeve very often fell asleep at her breast while drinking. She had to wake the girl up continuously, who sucked on her breast three times and fell asleep again, which resulted in about 1.5 hours of sleep between feeds. But she knew that it had been the last night and that she would have her girlfriend in bed with her again tonight who could take over some feedings.

'Good morning mommy's little girl, you hungry again from the sound of your voice? Come here, mommy must have some nice milk for you. It won't be long before you can enjoy a bottle of milk while lying in mama's arms again'. She picked up the crying girl, who was almost eight weeks old, from her crib and placed her against her chest to let her drink comfortably. 'Hmm, that's nice, isn't it? You're quiet right away. Should we check in the meantime if mama is awake yet? You know what's so nice? Mama is coming home today. I think she can't wait to see you again'. Beth picked up her phone, pressed Viv's contact and before it could even ring, Viv appeared on the screen, who seemed to still be in bed. 'Hey my girls, did you have a good night?'.