RAISING SUMMER

SUMMER?

I stood beside Rachel as she pushed for the last time. Her face was bright strawberry red, sweat beads rested on her forehead and tears rolled down her cheeks. She held my hand in a crippling death-like grip. It felt as though my bones in my hands were breaking piece by piece every second that went by. I felt like I was in more pain than her but I knew deep down that my pain was not even close in comparison.

"There she is." The doctor smiled.

"She?" I gasped.

"It's a girl." The doctor confirmed.

"I WON!" I shouted. "You owe me a hundred bucks!" I whispered in Rachel's ear.

"Would you like to cut the umbilical cord?" The doctor asked.

"Me?" I gestured to myself as the doctor looked at me. I glanced over to Rachel as she gave an encouraging nod. I watched the little infant cry in bewilderment. The doctor handed me the medical shears as I cut the cord connecting the baby and Rachel. They wrapped the child up and placed her in Rachel's arms. Tears of joy rolled down Rachel's cheek and onto the blanket the infant was swaddled in. The child's cries instantly stopped when she was placed with Rachel. Rachel stroked her tiny little head of hair gently with the tips of her fingers. She looked at the baby in awe and happiness.

"Awe she is so cute, what's all that white gunk?" I questioned

"That's the vernix, it protects the baby skin." Rachel educated me.

"How do you know all this stuff anyway?" I teased.

"25 books for expecting mothers read them all in 3 months." She proudly announced.

"Nerd." I teased with a sigh "I guess I have to go return that baby boy onesie I got just in case." I smiled.

"You mean the one you stole?" Rachel laughed as the doctor and nurses gave me a suspicious look.

"Ha, ha she's kidding." I lied.

"Summer." She whispered.

"It's not summer, it's spring...." I started to retort.

"Summer Jane Barrett." She repeated without looking away from the eyes of her child.

"Summer Jane Barrett." I repeated again.

"That's her name." Rachel confirmed I beamed at the name, she had named her little girl after me. I knew we meant a lot to each other but I never   imagined the thought of her naming one of her kids after me. The doctors took the Summer from Rachel's arms to clean her up. They placed a name tag on the crib where the baby would sleep during their stay at the hospital. After they were finished they brought her back over to Rachel she was shaking like a leaf.

"May I hold her?" I asked patiently and Rachel grinned, placing Summer in my arms. She had little light brown locks that rested on top of her head.  That would explain Rachel's heartburn she had been complaining about for the last nine months. Her eyes were pools of blue-gray liquid. Her tiny little lips were thin and blush pink to match her cheeks. She looked exactly like Rachel. Her little fingers curled around the pinky of my free hand. Her tiny little legs rested beside each other and her toes wiggled slowly and gently from time to time. She was much smaller than the baby dolls Rachel and I used to play with when we were young and more fragile too.