We Are Free

Baby?

*July 4th*
*30 Weeks Pregnant*
Emily turns 11 today, Ava is coming to the party as well. We are not going to the parade but we are going to the fire work show. I have a huge idea for her birthday. I printed off a bunch of pictures and we have tons of balloons.
I wake up at 5:30 in the morning and grab all of the things. I hang balloons on her bed posts and tape them to the wall where posters don't cover it.
I hang pictures on the walls as well. I hang them on balloons by taping them and on her bed post head. I put some presents she can open by her bed all around it. I let some balloons go against the ceiling with pictures hanging from it as well.
I hang lights up around her whole room. They shine low so they won't wake her. Her curtains are dark so it is dark in the room. When I am done I turn the lights on and open her curtain just far enough that the light shines through.
I leave and go back to bed. I wake up again at 8:00 to Halo shuffling around the room. She is getting big and wants Scarlett out already. I look at her and she looks at me.
       "You okay?" I ask her.
       "Yeah, my back hurts, and she keeps kicking me." Halo says.
        "I'm sorry. I wish I could help." I say.
        "Just 10 more weeks." She says.
       "Yup, and if we don't want to have another then I will go snip it." I say and she looks at me funny.
       "How about I just get my tubes tied, then no period." She raises her hands up.
       "What ever works for you." I say.
       "I want a boy though, so maybe one more."
        "Okay, that works for me. Let's try to space them out a little more though."
       "I agree." She says and we laugh. Emily comes to my room. She has her hair up and short shorts with a tank top for pjs.
       "Yes, my princess." I say to her.
       "What did you do?" She asks me.
       "I have no clue about what you are talking about." I say and she gives me a seriously look. She hugs me.
        "You are the best brother ever." She says.
       "I know, now go open your presents, if you want bring them to the table and I will make you breakfast."
      "Can you make pancakes?" She asks me.
     "Whatever you want."
     "Yay!" She goes to her room to get the four presents I laid by her bed. I go to Rebel's room to get her. She is standing in her crib.
      "Daddy!"
      "Hi princess."
      "Up." She says.
      "Okay, we need to get you a new diaper."
      "Yes!"
     "Okay, go get a diaper." I set her down and she walks to the box under her changing table. She grabs a diaper and hands it to me.
      "Thank you."
      "Welcome." I put her on the changing table and pull her pants off. I grab the wipes. I hand them to her and she opens the container. I taker her old diaper off.
      "Wipe." I say and she hands me one. I clean her and she hands me a new diaper. I put it on her and put her pants on. I roll up her diaper, take her down, and hand it to her. She throws it away. I pick her up and we go downstairs.
      "Do you want to help me make Auntie Emily's breakfast?"
      "Yes!" She says.
      "Okay." I place her in her high chair and Emily comes downstairs with a couple boxes and bags. She sits at the table and Andrew comes down half asleep in just shorts. He sits at the table.
      "Can I open these?" She asks me.
      "Well, yeah." I say as I watch Rebel mix the pancake mix best she can. Emily tears the wrapping off one present. Halo sits at the bar on a stool.
      "Jace, can I use your pocket knife?" I hand it to her from the counter and she opens it before slicing the tape off the big box. She opens the flaps. This is a good present and I wanna watch it. I give Rebel a small bowl of pancake mix and water.
      She mixes it. I put the good stuff up. Inside the box is another box. She unwraps it and opens the box. Three boxes later they are getting smaller but she is still pulling them out.
"Who wrapped this?" She asks. Halo starts laughing.
"Thanks for blowing the cover." I say responding to the drop of the whisk on the ground.
"Your welcome." She says to me.
"I got a bag." She says and she opens it. Inside is something wrapped once again. "No wonder we are out of wrapping paper." She says as she pulls later after layer of wrapping paper off the present.
"Holy crap I finally broke some sliver!" She says and we laugh at her.
     She tears the last piece of paper off. She looks at the device in her hands. She smiles at me. She looks at Halo. She gets up and hugs me. She almost makes the bowl fall as she pins me on the counter in a huge hug.
"Thank you Jace!" She says then she hugs Halo and thanks her.
"What is it?" I ask her.
"It's an iPhone 5." She says.
"Yup. The charger is in the box on the counter as well as some ear buds. It's is all new and hasn't been set up, it is connected to the calling plan. After breakfast I will take you to the electronics store to get a case, maybe even a couple."
"Okay, I will put it in the box." She says.
"Sounds good, you can keep your iPod as well. You just did so well with that I thought it was time to get you a phone." She nods her head I continue with breakfast while she opens the others. Of course I have a whole closet full of stuff and Zac will bring a basket full.
      They are such good kids, Emily has stayed home to watch Rebel when she waned to go to the movies with Ava. Andrew will do the same thing. They don't get much so when Christmas and their birthdays roll around we go all out and spoil them rotten.
      It is like one huge reward all at one time. She opens a bag to find a outfit and some shoes. In the other wrapped box is a Nerf bow with tons of arrows the last bag has some hair stuff in it.
      She puts it in her room and I finish breakfast. I make chocolate chip pancakes with bacon and eggs. We sit at the table and eat breakfast.
"Could you two take Rebel with you?" She asks me. She has a hard time chasing Rebel and being 30 weeks pregnant.
"Sure, maybe she could help Emily."
Halo looks at me with her lips pursed and an eyebrow raised at me. I laugh then get dressed. Halo gets Rebel dressed. Zac is coming with Chloe and they are setting up the back yard. Emily comes downstairs dressed and ready to go.
      We get in the car and I buckle Rebel up. We take the truck. She sits in the front and Rebel sits in the middle. She can see everything because the middle seat in the front goes up and down. It makes it so you can have cup holders and a place to hold things.
      We go to the electronic store. She holds Rebel on her waist and we go to the cases section.
      "Okay, I know how you like to change them and swap them, so I'm cutting you off at three. Plus you are getting a thick as glass protector so you don't crack your screen." I say to her.
      "Okay."
      "When we get home you can put a case and the screen protector on your phone then it's all yours." She nods her head and picks out three cases. She gets the screen protectors and we check out. She choose a snap on for the case at the moment and puts the screen protector on then the case.
     When we get home. We go out side and it is half way set up. Three table line the open part of the yard. One with presents and one with other things. Zac and Chloe hang streamers up. Emily plays with Rebel as we wait for Ava to show up.
     Finally we hear a car pull up and Emily jumps the fence. I hear high pitch screams as Ava and Emily hug each other. With Ava going to a different school they don't see each other often. Emily opens the gate door this time.
       They come in back. Ava is staying for a while due to another court hearing with her dad. Her mom has to go out of state and prefers that Ava stay out of it. Ava takes her bags to Emily's room.
      They will be upstairs until late laughing and giggling. We finish setting up the party then we call the girls down. They are playing with the turtles. They come down and play on the big jungle gym. They do flips on the bars then they do cart wheels.
      "Zac, you ready to light this fire?" I ask him holding a lighter in my hand. I have brats, hot dogs, and hamburgers on a plate in my hand.
      "Hell yeah!" He says. We put the food on the grill. We put corn on the grill. The girls put things in the table as the kids run around and play. We take our shirts off.
       "Uncle Jace, can I help Auntie Halo and mommy set the table?" Ryker asks me. He is now three and Blake is 4. Zane is turning 6 in a couple weeks. Andrew is 8.
"Yeah, go ahead, you know I think you would do a really good job at getting the forks." I say to him.
"Okay, I will get the forks." He says and runs away. He tugs on Halo's shirt before going inside to the kitchen table to get the forks. Once Zac and I get the food going good we all grab a beer except Halo.
"Halo, can you do our nails?" Emily asks her. They are wearing bikinis and jean shorts.
"Go get your things." Halo says and she goes inside with Ava.
"Auntie Halo can you do mine to?" Blake asks her.
"Sure."
"Okay."
"How has everything been going?" Anna asks us.
"Good, we are just waiting for Scarlett to come and trying to get through the summer. We have so many summer birthdays, and Halo is so pregnant we just don't want to do anything. It's hard to plan as it is to." I say and she nods her head.
"Yeah, I understand that." She says.
"I am just glad we could get the girls together for some time. They don't see each other often." Halo says and we all nod.
"Oh yeah." Anna says shaking her head.
"Plus Ava loves it here. They have so much fun and we love having her." I say.
"How is her mom?" Anna asks.
"She is doing good. It's getting a little more complicated because Ava needs to go to the doctor. She needs hormone blockers to stop the male puberty from coming. Luckily their insurance will cover it because that stuff can be life saving.
      So many of kids like Ava kill themselves because they can't get the medicine they need and can't stand seeing or feeling what's going on with them. Having that medicine helps a lot. So they are going back here soon and she is getting the blocker." I say and Anna makes sense of that.
     "That's good. I am happy for her. It's hasn't been easy for them but Ava's mom always just pulls it together." She says and I nod my head. "Kinda like you did." I have to agree because it is true. She makes a good point. No matter what they came first and I fought like hell to get here.
      Emily comes back out and Halo does all the girls nails including Rebel's. When that's done we let Emily open presents. She sits at the table and there is a clear spot for the stuff. She grabs presents as she wants off the table and there is a tote on the ground for her stuff she gets clothes, phone cases, shoes, hair stuff, paint, canvases, nerf guns, arrows, posters, and more.
       Zac hands her a present and it is one of the last ones. She gets a wide eye and tears the wrapping paper off the square box. Her eyes get wide when she sees the box and what it contains. I glare at Zac and Chloe.
       "She is my sister to. You can get her an iPhone but I can't get her that?" He says.
       "Okay, okay. You win, it's her birthday." I say putting my hands up.
       "I got her a case to." He says whispering it to me. I nod my head.
       "Actually the kids picked it out."
"It will work." I say.
"What is it?" Chloe and Halo ask her. They take pictures.
"It's an iPad!" She says. We finish presents and eat food. We have cake and get our things in the car. We wait until sun down. The kids play in the back yard until the bugs come out and force us to clean up and go inside.
      Misquote bites cover our skin. Everyone got bit at least once. When 8:30 comes we lather up in bug spray and go to the docks. They are lighting fireworks off on the water. We sit down and get ready.
      We wait a couple minutes and put glow sticks all over the kids, on their ankles, wrists, necks, heads, and waists. Finally we all sit down and the fire works start. We watch the display and clap when it is done.
       We go home and all the kids take a bath. The girls get rest for bed and they go to sleep really quick. By the time Halo is out of the bath all of the kids are sleeping and in bed. I take a shower and when I get out Halo is sleeping as well. I lay down in bed finding a sense of warm comfort in my bed next to Halo. I fall asleep fast.
*September 8th*
Halo is due any day now. We have the bag packed and ready to go. It's Friday. The kid just started school. They ride the bus home now and stay for a few minutes by themselves unless we have to go to the grocery store.
      Rebel still goes to Anna's house though. They have been behaving themselves really well and call if they need anything. They eat a snack and do their homework. Zane started 1st grade today.
     Next year Blake will start school. I can't believe it. Halo can't work at the shop but she has a small part time job to keep money in the house at a local Culver's. She doesn't work much but she brings home money and that's what matters.
      There is going to be a huge storm tomorrow that is going to start tonight. Tornados in different areas but not close to here. Heavy rain and winds going 70 miles an hour. It's is a recipe for disaster, power lines can be knocked down and trees.
      We are taking cover and if the storm is bad enough the kids may not have school if the buses can't get to where they need to go or the cars. Halo is very uncomfortable and just wants the baby out. Her room is complete.
      Clothes, bed sheets, stuffed animals, we didn't spend much. We just stocked up on diapers and wipes. Rebel has noticed Halo's stomach and asks what it is. When we tell her it's her sister she smiles. She will be 2 next month. She is getting more vocal and saying 2 word sentences.
      Andrew turned 9 and he is getting huge as well. He is in 4th grade this year while Emily is in 6th. Emily went to the middle school this year and she is a little stressed out about it. The cool thing is, after she gets picked up, the same bus gets Andrew.
      They ride together home. Halo has been feeling contractions every now and then. Pressure and some discomfort. She will feel better when she is here. The storm has just started and we can hear the rain. The kids are all in bed. She squeezes my hand lightly as a contraction tightens her stomach. She lets go. They are 20 minutes apart and Scarlett keeps kicking her. We go to bed as well.
*Next Day*
The storm keeps getting worse and Halo's contractions have gotten to be 15 minutes apart by now. She is feeling some more discomfort but marching on and working through it. It is now Saturday September 9th and we are all home for the day.
      Over the day the storm picks up and gets worse. We can hear the winds howling and taunting us. The kids have been at the window singing old songs like the itsy bitsy spider, it's raining it's pouring, and rain rain go away. We take videos and send them to Zac.
      His kids are doing the same right now. We laugh at each other. We lay around and watch tv. Halo doesn't want to do much and there isn't much to do. The kids built a fort out of chairs, tacks, bed sheets, and pillows. They climbed inside and colored for about an hour.
      They then took their largest stuffed animals and all the empty soda boxes we have. The stacked them up like towers and destroyed them before playing Mario Kart on the Nintendo 64 for 3 hours straight with no intermissions or food breaks.
      Then they complained they were hungry so I fed them and then Rebel took a nap while Emily and Andrew did some crafts with Halo and I did dishes and laundry.
      Rebel gets up and I give her a snack. They watch cartoons and I make dinner. Halo's contractions keep getting closer and closer. She is having them more frequently and I make her sit down. When we finish dinner Emily and Andrew do dishes together then we watch a movie. The Emily and Andrew stay downstairs for a little bit. I take Rebel to her room.
"Daddy, mommy kisses." She says.
"But you already gave mommy kisses three times." I say. She shakes her head no.
"Okay, one more time." I say and we walk downstairs. I hear Halo let out a yell and and grab Rebel and go down.
"What's wrong?" I ask her.
"She is coming now!" Halo says with panic in her voice. I instantly jump into dad mode.
"Andrew take Rebel and put her in her crib. Grab a towel while you are there as well. Emily, grab some pee pads from the pantry and some plastic hair barrettes." They listen and Andrew goes upstairs with a screaming Rebel in his arms scared of what is happening to her mommy.
     I go to Halo. I help her get her pants off. Emily's comes back and we lay 4 pads down and Halo gets on them. She hands me the barrettes and Andrew comes down with a towel in hand.
"Andrew go make sure Rebel is okay, Emily hold her hand please." They listen yet again, they know it is serious. I have ever delivered a baby before but my dad/husband skills kicked in. She can't do it alone and if I look scared then this whole thing will fall apart. I am terrified.
"My water broke!" She says.
"I can see that!" I say.
"Jason this isn't the time for jokes." She says as she breaths deep. Her body pushes for her and she goes with it. She pushes hard and I see the baby's head. She pushes yet again and the head is out.
      "Stop pushing!"
      "Why?" Her voice fills with panic.
      "The cord is wrapped around her neck!" I say. She starts panicking. I grab the cord and carefully unwrap it from the baby's neck. She pushes one last time and I help the baby's shoulders out.
      The next thing I know a loud cry fills the room. Our baby! I hold her close and go to Halo. My shirt covered in blood and other fluids. I lay her on the towel and we look at our baby my hands shaking. A tear rolls down my face.
"Halo, it isn't a girl, it's a boy!" I say.
"What are you talking about?" She asks me.
"Look." She looks at we start laughing. It's a boy, Ethan! Emily starts laughing to. Ethan keep crying. I clamp the cord. Emily calls 911 and we wait for an ambulance in this storm. She calls Zac and Anna.
      She tells them the news and the kids get Rebel ready. They pack bags for themselves and grab Halo's. Finally the Ambulance arrives. I change my shirt as they get Halo and Ethan on the gurney. I ride to the hospital and the kids go with Zac who has showed up.
      We all get there and they make sure we are all okay. An hour later once everything has been cleared we all go back to see him.
      "Wow, little sneaker, just like you Jace." Zac says and we laugh.
      "Yeah, but oh well. We just have to fix the room up some." I say and he nods his head.
      "I was thinking that what if I stay at the house with the kids. They don't have to travel far and they can keep their regular schedule."
      "Sounds good." I say. It makes sense to me. Once everyone leaves Halo is sleeping and I am alone with Ethan. I hold his small body. He has Halo's lips, nose, and forehead. He has my eyebrows, and eyes. He is perfect in every way shape and form.
      "Okay, look, I am going to tell you the same thing I told your sister little man. You won't remember this talk but I will. I will have to give it to you again in a harsher way that rips your heart up but it is the harsh reality of the world we live in. I just want you to know that your mommy and I love you very much.
      You have so many people in your corner, this includes people you won't meet for a very long time." He makes small noises and I smile at him. "Your grandma loves you very much. She will watch over you each and every day and watch you grow, play, laugh, smile, and eventual move away.
      Your grandpa I hate to say is a lost cause. I tired real hard bud, I tired to change him so he could see you grow up. So he could see your sister grow up, your aunt, your uncle, and me grow up. He didn't want to and I don't know why.
      It is a question you will ask a lot and I will never have an answer to. Your cousins, your uncle Zac and aunt Chloe will always be there for you. When you feel sad and alone I just want you to know that you aren't and you have so many people that love you for who you are.
      No matter who you are I will love you because you are my son. I won't ever turn my back on you and make you feel like I don't care like my dad did. My mom wants to be here I know that for a fact.
     She couldn't help what happened to her, sometimes I wish the driver would have killed me, but then you would never be here. Your mommy would never be here, your sister would never be here. God did it for a reason.
      He did it to show he only breaks your heart to prove he only takes the best. Your grandma had a hard road and now she gets to watch her grand babies grow up from the sky where she won't ever feel any pain ever again.
      She will never shed another tear of sadness, and most of all she knows, and I know that waiting to meet you is definitely worth the wait. Now when you get older and you start asking questions I will tell you this all over again.
      I will tell you how I survived everything from the time I was 15 until now. I will tell you how I met your mom, uncle, and aunt. I will tell you how I was beat, how I had to drop out of school. I will tell you how I was never left alone and I alway had someone in my corner to help me.
      I will tell you how I went back to school, how I graduated, and how I got married. I will tell you how I got here in this room holding you in my arms tonight. I will tell you about this talk and all this means.
     Most of all I will tell you how I survived this crazy hell stricken roller coaster called life. We did it buddy." A tear rolls down my cheek as I look at him. "We Are Free."