Into the Ether - Complete

Summer of Love: Part 9

"Mama? Would you like to hold Ivan while I help Rose clean up? She wants to have a shower."

Olena beamed at her only son.

"Is that alright Rose?" she checked.

"I think you've earned the first cuddle after Mama and Papa," I said with a smile. "Comrade – take some photos."

Dimitri hovered in front of his Mama taking pictures with the camera as well as with his phone. We'd agreed we'd wait until I was cleaned up and we'd moved across to the room next door where we'd be staying for a few days before inviting anyone else in to meet Ivan. I wanted to look a bit more composed before we took the photos we'd text to all our friends announcing his arrival.

Olena settled in an armchair to have a nice long cuddle with her newest grandson while Dimitri helped me into the shower. My hair was lank, and I could smell the sour slightly fetid stench of perspiration. Celeste had promised me the first shower after I gave birth would be one of the best of my life, and as I stepped under the spray, Dimitri hovering nearby like a mother hen, I had to admit she'd been right.

I lathered my hair, loving the feeling of the water through it as I rinsed it until it ran clear of suds. I used my favorite jasmine body wash liberally until I felt clean again. Turning off the spray, I toweled down, changing into a pair of very comfortable and extraordinarily unattractive granny knickers, topping them with a pair of yoga pants, a nursing singlet top and an open button-up loose shirt.

"I see what they mean about motherhood not being glamorous," I grumbled, putting a sanitary pad the size of a small surfboard into my underwear.

"I don't care. You have never looked more beautiful to me," Dimitri said, stepping forward to embrace me. "I love you so much. You and Ivan. I can't believe you made me a Papa! We're a little family now" he said, wonder in his voice.

I smiled at him. I couldn't believe it either. It seemed completely surreal that when we stepped out of the bathroom, there'd be a baby there we were responsible for. I couldn't wait to see and hold him again, but I also wanted these last few minutes with just Dimitri and me.

"I love you too, Comrade. I know things are going to change now – but that's never going to change."

"Never," he agreed, lowering his lips to mine in a sweet and loving kiss. "Come on milaya; there's a young man who no doubt wants to check out your breasts. Of course, I entirely understand the fascination," he teased.

"You're a pervert," I laughed as we moved back out into the room.

"Are you ready to go across next door?" Olena asked, still sitting in the armchair cuddling Ivan.

"Yes. Let's get out of here," I said, looking at the room. There was blood all over the bed and the towels on the floor; it looked as though a massacre had occurred.

Olena placed Ivan into a perspex crib that sat on a wheeled base, and I pushed him through to the room next door. Where the birthing room had been about practicalities, this room had been set up more like our room in guest accommodation. There was a queen-sized bed, a little table, two comfortable armchairs and even fresh flowers on the table. Dimitri would be staying here with Ivan and I. Babushka had thought it very peculiar and unnatural when we'd told her of our plans; in Russia, the father sometimes didn't get to see his partner or child until a few days after the birth. But Dimitri and I had been adamant - he needed to bond with his son every bit as much as I did.

"You ready to tell the world about our little man?" I asked Dimitri as he fussed with the pillows on the bed, making a comfortable place for me to sit.