King had been born a week ago. Gwen went home two days after he was born and it had been really hard on her to leave the hospital without her baby.
~
"Gwen he is gonna be ok. We will go see him again in a few hours. I know this isn't how we wanted it to be, but it's the cards we have been delt."
Gwen ignores Blake looking out the window. All she can think is how she failed her son and Blake. She couldn't carry him to term and now look at what's going on, she had to leave the hospital without her baby. When they get home all she wants to do is shower and take a nap in bed, and that's what she does. For the bigger part of the afternoon she completely ignores the rest of the world including Blake. She doesn't even acknowledge that she hears him until he mentions going back to the hospital.
"Yes please I want to go be with King."
"Well lets go sunshine." He opens his arms to her and instead of walking into them she avoids them
Blake couldn't ignore the feelings of hurt and anger toward the way Gwen was treating him, but he just attributed it to the stress of leaving the hospital without their son and hoped that it would pass.
~
"Hi mom and dad. He is doing really great." The nurse says following Gwen and Blake into King's room
"Is he good enough to hold today? I really just want to hold him." Gwen asks barely acknowledging the nurse instead staring at King
"Actually yeah he is. We want to have you hold him today and maybe even try to breastfeed him. That's the next step for him since he is regulating his temperature better."
"Really we can hold him?" Blake asks feeling himself getting excited for the chance to hold his son.
"Yeah Kingston is doing great. We need to get him to start eating by mouth. He needs to be able to take a whole feeding by mouth and show that he can gain weight while eating on his own before we can think about him going home."
"So how long does that typically take? I really want him to come home. Leaving is really hard." Gwen stays holding King's hand between her fingers
"I know it's not easy for any of the parents. Its hard to say but I would guess around three weeks probably. That's just a guess though it could be more could be slightly less."
Blake sees the tear creep down her cheeks. He knows she was hoping for more like a few days not weeks.
"Sunshine its hard I know I want to take him home too, but we will get there soon. Three weeks will fly by." He reaches out to pull her into him but she flinches before allowing him to hold her
Again Blake could tell something was going on but he didn't want to push her. She was dealing with a lot. He was to but he knew he had to be strong for her, so that's what he vowed to do.
"Ok mom are you ready hold him?" The nurse asks
"Yes!" Gwen responds and it's the first time her eyes have lit up since they left the hospital and Blake held onto that
The nurse explained kangaroo care to the parents. Telling them that by holding the baby skin to skin it allowed there bodies to help him regulate his temperature. They had Gwen take her shirt off and put a gown on with the opening in the front. She sat down in the rocking chair and the nurse took King from the incubator placing him on Gwen's chest with his skin to hers. The nurse then pull the gown together and placed a blanket on the King's back. Blake sat on a stool beside them looking at his fiancé holding their son and was completely overwhelmed at the beautiful sight. Tears slip down his face without him realizing until he felt her wipe them away. He looks up at her and she leans forward placing a kiss one his lips. It's not rushed nor is it long, it's just enough to fully covey love and devotion. Little does Blake know how much he will need to remember moments like this. They sit there Gwen holding King with their heads leaned together for what felt like minutes but when the nurse comes in to see if Gwen is up to trying to feed King, they realize it had been close to two hours. Gwen's mind is blown at how perfect this is and how she could literally sit and watch him for hours.
