Miracle (Carmichael Series #4)✔️

Worth the Effort

**NEW VERSION - EDITED**

Brock's POV

Two and a Half Months Later

I awoke to someone abruptly slapping me in the face.

"What? What!" I exclaimed, shooting up in bed.

"My water just broke!" Dani hissed, distressed tone clear as day. I sucked in a quick breath of surprise before darting out of bed to pull on the first pair of pants and t-shirt I saw on the floor. I ran around the bedroom like a chicken with my head cut off, trying to figure out where exactly I'd moved everything to. We'd only just gotten around to completely unpacking the new house about a week ago. And by we, I meant me and the help I'd enlisted from my entire family - I hadn't allowed Dani to lift even a single finger.

True to my word, I'd put in my two weeks notice almost immediately after returning to New York and hired a moving company to get us packed. Despite Dr. Anderson assuring us that Dani's blood pressure had remained under control the last few months, I wasn't taking any risks. I didn't have any issues buying out my apartment lease, and we were moved into the new house as soon as it passed the inspection - which it did with flying colors.

Quiet laughter behind me stopped me in my tracks. "Why aren't you freaking out like I am!?" I demanded as Dani nonchalantly pushed herself out of bed before very slowly waddling herself to our closet.

"Because all I've done the last six weeks of this pregnancy is read books about giving birth and life after the child is born. Most first time moms have extremely long births the first time around, so we don't need to go rushing to the hospital. Besides, my contractions are barely existent right now, so stop stressing me out," she snorted with a shake of her head.

I took a few calming deep breaths before nodding to no one in particular.

We didn't make it to the hospital for another hour and a half because Dani insisted that we stop and get breakfast first - thank God waffle house was open 24 hours, it was what she craved pretty much all the time - before finally making our way to our destination. The nurses had a good laugh at my frantic behavior when we first arrived, saying that they'd never seen such a crazy dad and relaxed mom before.

It was only after they'd gotten her changed, registered, and in the bed waiting for the doctor to come see her that I finally calmed down a bit.

"Thank the Lord you took a chill pill, I thought for sure you were about to have a coronary earlier," she teased followed by a quiet giggle. A smile broke out on my face as I sat in the chair next to her bed, one hand clasping hers and the other resting on her massive tummy. We'd just finished calling the majority of my family and also facetiming her parents. Neither of the two wanted to really speak, they'd stayed in the background the entirety of the pregnancy - only offering financial support, and then nothing when I took over that aspect. As much as I wanted to, she refused to let me say anything and threatened my balls if I did. Safe to say, my lips were sealed.

"How far along is she?" my mom dramatically yelled while storming into the room.

"Is that what I was like earlier?" I questioned as my face scrunched up in embarrassment. She burst into laughter before nodding her head in reply. I groaned loudly before dragging my hand down my face in exasperation.

"She's barely dilated mom. They said it will be hours before stuff really starts to progress," I explained much to her disappointment. She pouted before pulling up a chair on Dani's other side and playfully dancing in her chair.

"I always tell your father this family can't have enough grandbabies," she exclaimed with excitement and a happy clap of her hands.

**

I was on my second cup of coffee while trying my best to soothe Dani. It was twelve hours later and she was only six centimeters dilated the last time the doctor checked her. Her contractions had become unbearable, but, like my sister, had vehemently refused an epidural. The last one, I could've swore she broke my fucking hand squeezing the life out of it.

"Hi Dani darling!" a new voice floated around the room just as her contraction subsided. They were now a solid 10 minutes apart so I braced myself every time I thought they were coming.

"Oh my God, Dr. Anderson! I'm so glad to see you," Dani sighed out, tears pricking the edges of her eyes.

"Yes, well, I'm here now darling. Let's take a look and see how you've progressed shall we?" Dani threw her arm over her face looking absolutely exhausted.

"Ah! Honey, you're so close! You're at eight, almost nine, centimeters now! It shouldn't be but another hour or two before this little one is ready to make her appearance!" she exclaimed happily.

"God, she's already causing me hell and she's not even out in the world yet," Dani sobbed. Dr. Anderson's face morphed into one of sympathy.

"If you can manage, getting up and walking around can help get things moving a little quicker," she ensured before giving me a single nod and going out to talk to the rest of my team of doctors and family members.

"You want to try getting up and moving around?" I questioned.

"If I get up I'm going to fucking throw up everywhere," she gritted out through her clenched teeth. I cleared my throat and quickly agreed with her before continuing to rub her lower back.

Another hour later, when Dani's contractions had moved to be two minutes apart, Dr. Anderson checked her for the final time.

"It's time to push, my dear!" she informed us with an ear to ear smile on her face. Dani cried out a pained 'finally!' before allowing the various nurses to help her readjust into the correct position to start pushing. Dr. Anderson guided her through the entire process as she screamed bloody murder.

"Okay, honey! She's starting to crown, you might feel some burning! I want you to bear down with your chin to your chest and give us one last, big push on the count of three okay? One, two, three!" The room exploded with noise as Dani's sounds of pain filled the room. Seconds later, the sharp and distinct sound of a baby cry echoed through the space.

My heart jumped to my throat as I loosened my hold on Dani's hand and directed all of my attention to the purple-tinged body in Dr. Anderson's hands. I felt like I couldn't breath as I watched them roughly clean our child off. They cut the umbilical cord and lifted Dani's gown to place her against Dani's chest so they were skin-to-skin. Dani was still sobbing, but it was from happiness now.

"She's so beautiful," she stuttered out between gasps for breath.

"She's perfect," I rasped out, unable to stop my own tears from slipping out of my own eyes as I reached my hand down and stroked my finger over my daughter's tiny head.

"Now that you've gotten to see your beautiful daughter, we're going to take her for just a moment to get her measurements, weight, and footprint," one of the nurses told us before carefully picking our baby up walking over to a corner of the room. White noise was all I could hear as everything around me had become muffled. My vision had tunneled, only focusing on the nurse as I waited for her to bring my child back. It felt like I had to wait hours before she returned with a bundle of pink cradled in her arms.

"Mr. Carmichael, would you like to hold-"

"Yes," I cut her off, my heart kicking into overdrive as it pounded rapidly in my chest. She chuckled before gently placing my daughter in my arms. My breath caught in my throat as my tears began trailing down my face uncontrollably.

She's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my entire life. I sniffled while just barely bouncing my body up and down, staring intently at my daughter's perfect face.

"I didn't think I'd ever see that look on my brother's face," Ellie teased as everyone that had filtered into the room within the last few minutes laughed.

"She's quite the miracle," Dr. Anderson stated confidently.

"Our little miracle," I murmured just loud enough for those around to hear as I didn't want to startle the baby.

"I think we've finally settled on the name," Dani murmured.