Gone

Chapter 6

The farther along in her pregnancy that she got, the less and less morning sickness would affect Brexley. One day, after Ben had left for work, Brexley began her daily routine. She woke up, took a shower, got dressed and ready, and stood in front of the mirror talking to her baby, as she had done many, many times before. This time was different though. After Brexley had been talking to the baby for about five minutes, Brexley began to feel something. It started as a trickle and then all of a sudden she was standing in a puddle of water. Oh...was that my water? Did my water just break? It must have, what else could it have been? I need to get to the hospital. Grabbing the suitcase that she and Ben has packed, Brexley hurried to get in the car and call Ben. "Hey..um..my water just broke and I'm on my way to the hospital." Brexley said, after Ben had answered the phone. By the time Brexley had parked her car and made it into the hospital, her contractions were extremely close to one another and the nurse admitted her and brought her into the labor unit, right away. The doctor measured her contractions and checked to see how dilated her cervix was."Mrs. Erling, we are going to get this baby delivered tonight, is anyone joining you during the delivery?" Dr. Thomasina asked as she attached different ivs and gave different medications to Brexley. "No, I'm here alone." Brexley answered as she began to have yet another contraction. "Alright then. Let's get this baby delivered." About nine hours later, Brexley had delivered a beautiful baby girl, named Kinsley Joy, and was watching as Ben was holding her. "She's beautiful." Ben said as tears glistened his chocolate brown eyes. "She is, and she looks just like you." Brexley said groggily, enervated from her nine hour labor. "Why don't you get some rest, you're exhausted." "Are you sure?" "I'm fine. Besides, she'll be here when you wake up." "You're right, thank you."

About a week after Kinsley's birth, Ben and Brexley began to fall into their new responsibilities as parents. When Kinsley reached a week, Ben and Brexley decided that they should probably start bathing their child. Brexley partially filled a plastic baby tub with warm water. As Brexley undressed her to get get her into the bath tub, Kinsley started to scream, but as soon as she was in the water, the screaming ceased. The longer Kinsley spent laying in the tub, the more she calmed down. "Hey baby girl, how is that? Does the water feel good? Yeah. Yes it does, yes it does." Brexley said as she ran some water down Kinsley's small frame. As Kinsley couldn't talk she didn't respond to Brexley, but simply looked up at let out an extremely cute baby coo. When Brexley had finished bathing her, she picked Kinsley up and wrapped her in a towel and just held her as to calm Kinsley down from the quck change in temperature. "Sorry baby, I know it's cold." Brexley said as she walked around slightly bouncing Kinsley in her arms. Once she had calmed down a little bit, Brexley swiftly dried off and dressed Kinsley. Walking into the master bedroom, Brexley laid Kinsley in the cradle and started to gently rock it. Continuing to slightly rock the cradle, Brexley began to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star as Kinsley slipped into a deep sleep that would only last a few hours, until she got up ready to be fed again.

While Brexley was making supper one night, when Kinsley was about a month old, she had Kinsley laying in a baby swing and they were listening to music, more specifically Bon Jovi. "Hey baby girl." Brexley said as she turned around and grabbed Kinsley's tiny hands and pretended to start dancing, producing a small smile from Kinsley. The longer that Brexley pretended to dance, the bigger the smile on Kinsley's face got. "You like that? Yeah. When you grow up, I'll take you to one of their concerts, if they are still playing. How does that sound?" Brexley said as she stood back up to finish supper. Just as Brexley set the food on the table, Ben walked through the front door. "Hi hunny. How was your day today?" Ben asked as he walked over and kissed Brexley on the lips. "My day was actually really good. You'll never believe what happened today." Brexley said as she turned back to putting the dishes on the table. "What happened?" "Kinsley smiled today, her first smile." "Really?" "Yeah." "Oh that's great, maybe I'll be here for the next big thing that she does." "I'm sure you will Ben, I'm sure you will." After Brexley had served the meal, she turned to Ben and said, "Do you think Kinsley could start eating baby food and not just milk?" "I don't see why not, she's almost two months old and she has no problem swallowing." Ben answered, swallowing the food he had in his mouth. The next day when she had gone grocery shopping, Brexley picked up some different types of baby food.