Undead

22; acceptance

Ra

"Babe!" Melissa greeted, her cheeks pink with excitement, eyes wide as saucers. She hauled in a couple bags of purchased items and dumped them onto the kitchen table in front of me. "You'll never guess what brilliant idea I got today."

Her smile was infectious, and I grinned, plucking the earbud from my ear. "Does it involve food?"

My humor didn't make her smile falter, in fact she giggled but shook her head. "Close, but no. I have no clue what to make for dinner." She pressed her fist into her hip and thought for a moment before shaking it off - the grin reappeared. "Don't get me sidetracked, this is important!"

I laughed as I headed to the fridge for a refill on my koolaid. "Aight, aight, what's up?"

She dug through one of the bags and handed a book to me. I read the title and looked up at her in confusion. "Isn't it great?"

"A home birth?" I asked. "You wanna get your blood and amniotic fluid or whatever it's called all over our shit?" I flipped through the pages, which gave very detailed diagrams of a baby moving through the birth canal, and all the pros and cons. I cringed.

"It's not just a home birth, Jermaine," she pouted, pointing to the picture on the front cover. "I do it in a kiddie pool of water."

"You gon' have to elaborate on that, baby girl," I set the book aside and dug through the contents of the bags, searching for any source of food I could snack on. When I came up fruitless, I frowned just like she did only moments ago. "You really didn't bring your baby daddy any snacks?"

She blushed sheepishly, "Oh stop it! You're not listening to me, you goofball." She slapped my arm, and I playfully flinched. "Just think about it Jermaine. You know how I am under pressure, and being yelled at by some stranger doctors telling me to push when they want me to won't make things any easier. I want to do this on my own time."

"What does this...process entail?" I licked some excess koolaid from my lips.

"Just you, me, a midwife and a nurse," she answered, a sliver of hope in her eyes. "In the comfort of our own home. I want relaxation and I want our baby to be welcomed into a familiar atmosphere, not some dry ass hospital - excuse my language." Melissa wasn't too fond of cursing and I was always scolded for doing so, especially around our unborn. So for her to use such language, I knew she was passionate about whatever she was talking about. The twinkle in her eye warmed my heart - that little puppy dog look. She got whatever she wanted.

"Why don't you want to have our kid in a hospital, Lis?" I asked, swerving around her for a glas of water for her to drink. "That way if anything goes wrong, they'll know what to do. God forbid you need a surgery or somethin'."

"A c-section, Jermaine," she corrected quietly. "The midwife is experienced, though, so if anything does go wrong she can do what needs to be done. Even if that includes calling an ambulance at the last second. We only live twenty minutes from the nearest hospital anyway, so everything will be fine."

I don't know, but the idea of her going into labor and something going wrong with us stuck at our home made me itch. I didn't want any of that to happen. I didn't even want to think about the pain she would experience for the contractions and actually pushing my big headed ass baby through her canal or whatever it's called. No father wants to see their girlfriend go through any ounce of pain. And if something actually goes left - shit is over with.

"I don't know, baby girl," I murmured with a sigh.

She took a sip of her iced drink and followed with a sigh. "You're so practical, Jermaine. Live a little. It'll be fun!"