Alaska

Chapter Forty-Three

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

Lexi's eyes brimmed with tears and she exhaled sharply, not able to tear her gaze away from the crying baby in Dr.  Splinter's arms.  Her baby.  Splinter rocked her for a fraction of a second, then accepted a pale white blanket from one of the nurses in which she wrapped the infant in.  Gently, she leaned forward and placed the little human being on Lexi's chest, a pristine smile crinkling her blue eyes.

"Congratulations Alexia.  You have a little girl," Dr.  Splinter beamed.

For a moment, the entire world drowned out from Lexi's mind.  All that existed was her and her daughter who was now spluttering jovially in her arms.  She was warm, just as Lexi had pictured her to be and her delicate arms and legs were tiny.  Suddenly, the enigmatic baby's eyes fluttered open and Lexi's heart skipped a beat.  She was beautiful.  Little round pools of blue, just like her mother's eyes.  Lexi's finger traced the bridge of her daughter's button nose, now being seen for the first time away from a computer screen.  She had done it.  She had given birth to a bouncing baby girl and she was all hers.  She was now a mother...

When Lexi's baby was taken away from her, it felt like a part of herself was wrenched away as strange as it was.  It felt like a century until she was returned, clean and pristine and wrapped in the onesie that Ashton had packed inside the baby bag.  When Lexi first caught a glimpse of her baby draped in a onesie, a specific onesie, her heart stopped and she burst into fits of ecstatic sobs, unable to contain herself.  It was Angel's onesie.  The onesie she had gotten for Christmas, the first piece of clothing that really confirmed that she was having a baby.  And now here, ironically enough she was sitting in a hospital bed with her baby wrapped in the onesie as though it had been a millennium ago that it had been given.  It felt right.

"Your baby girl is seven pounds and eleven ounces," a curly-haired nurse said.  "She's in tip-top condition.  Congratulations."

Lexi sniffled and nodded her head, still scrutinizing the small bundle of life that was attached to her.  She wasn't aware of her mother crying beside her, or Katya taking her phone out of her pocket and snapping pictures of the adorable moment.

All that mattered was that she was finally united with her daughter.  She had expected to feel somewhat scared or frightened at the thought of carrying a vulnerable and very delicate baby in her arms, but now it felt natural and right.  Her pink eyelids drooped, her long eyelashes flickering and twitching, cutely.  A nurse bustled by with a small bottle of a white liquid.  Milk.

"Would you like to do the honours or shall I perform the first feed?" She asked, politely.

Lexi shook her head and reached out for the bottle.  She knew she needed to this herself.  She remembered from Science class that the baby's first feed was the most important as it created a bond between the infant and mother.

Without really knowing what she was doing, she lifted the bottle and positioned it just outside the crevices of her daughter's pink and perfectly outlined lips.  Gently, she pushed it forward and the baby opened her mouth naturally, allowing the bottle to intrude into her tiny little mouth. 

Lexi was overwhelmed with an intense feeling of accomplishment as she stared down at her creation, watching as she suckled through a bottle of milk as though it were the most casual thing in the world.  Finally, Lexi looked up to see the reaction on her mother's face.  Patricia was beaming and tears were staining her heavily caked face.

"Well done, Alexia," she sniffled, whilst dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief.

"She's gorgeous, Lex.  Well done!" Katya cooed, gently stroking the baby's silky brown hair.