I Don't Belong To You

Chapter 35

She had mocked Becky for all her prepping and vigorous planning but when she's jolted awake in the middle of the night by a sharp pain in the middle of her spine, she becomes grateful for all the run throughs.

Dr. Wilkinson had been very upfront with Becky about how flexible she would need to be day of because "when it comes to kids, nothing ever goes as you've planned" but Becky had simply made it her personal mission to prove her wrong.

So they'd done dress rehearsals every which way, from every place they could possibly be, Becky's, Freen's, Rawee's, their favorite Trader Joe's, even Irin and Belle's which was especially absurd given that they lived in the same building. But she had smiled and done it, with next to no complaining because it was cute and it meant everything to know just how much Becky cared.

And now, she's eternally grateful because this feels like a walk in the park now.

Their outfits are set aside where they have been for the last two weeks, Elle's bag is packed by the door, and to make things even easier, it's 2:38am so Becky is already awake and this is the day that the doctor had said to start expecting contractions.

It all goes so smoothly that she half expects to arrive and learn that it's just Braxton Hicks but the nurses look her over and confirm that "This is it."

They smile eagerly and she tries to match that but it all just feels too easy.

And, while the actual labor does last about three hours and she threatens to kill Becky a dozen times, even that feels like nothing at all once their baby has arrived with a wail.

She comes into the world crying and gasping but perfect.

Except...that she isn't a she at all.

The entire time she had expected something to go wrong but she never expected that something to be the miscalculation on the baby's sex.

But sure enough, Dr. Wilkinson holds up the screaming infant, and tells them congratulations on their beautiful baby boy. And somehow it's the most frightening moment in this entire four hours.

So she does the sensible thing. She passes out.

###

It's frightening and it's easy and despite how she loses feeling in her hands and forearm from Freen's impossibly tight grip, their little girl arrives on August 12 just as expected at 6:03am just as the sun is rising through the window and she realizes she's never loved anything more.

She smiles through her freely flowing tears, doesn't even try to stop them from falling off of her chin and onto Freen's hospital gown.

The doctor announces six pounds, three ounces and she beams proudly, knowing how perfectly healthy and average that number is from all the reading.

She announces 21 inches and she knows that's on the taller side of average. She wonders if they'll have a volleyball or basketball player on their hands.

She asks if Becky would like to come and cut the umbilical cord and at Freen's light squeeze (that she barely feels at this point), Becky moves forward.

"Come meet your baby boy!"

Becky freezes.

"I...what?"

"Congratulations moms! Come on over, Becky!"

"I...it...," she's stuck halfway between Freen and Elle when she realizes that Elle isn't...Elle at all?

It's only the nurse frantically approaching Freen behind her that jolts out of her internal panic as two nurses attempt to wake her.

And because of the chaos, as quickly as Elle comes into their lives, she's whisked away.