Close Your Eyes: Book Three

Chapter Fifteen

The doctors and nurses took him away to check on his lungs and his body and measure him and clean him all up, and I made Liam follow them around. Dr. Wright stayed with me to help me deliver the placenta, and they checked it all out to make sure everything was good with it and none of it was left inside of me.

When they weighed and measured him, he came out to seven pounds, six ounces, and nineteen inches long. He was born at 5:24PM.

According to Liam, that is the exact measurement he was when he was born.

The nurses stitched me up and helped me situate while they worked on the baby, and then they gave him back to us with a diaper on and all wrapped up in a blanket.

Sofie said she was going to give us some time alone and she left.

Now it's just Liam and I, and our little guy.

Liam is sitting in the bed beside me, and we're both just staring at him.

He's fast asleep, his mouth moving as he suckles his tongue. His tiny hand is closed around Liam's index finger.

I study him, drinking in his face.

He has Liam's jawline, that much is clear, but his cheeks are mine. His lips and mouth shape are Liam's, but he has my eye shape. His nose is Liam's too, and I feel my heart swell with happiness.

He looks so much like his Daddy.

I watch him suckle on his tongue and I smile.

He's the best gift anybody could ask for.

I feel Liam kiss my head and I turn to look at him. He smiles at me.

"Can you imagine if Florida didn't get that hurricane? The pill would have gotten here on time."

I look down at our son and frown.

"He was a present," I say softly. I laugh a little and look back at my husband. "God gave us a present."

"We need to make sure to send him a thank you card," Liam grins. I laugh some more and kiss him softly on the lips.

God's gift.

"We should name him Theodore," I tell him. "We can call him Theo."

"Theodore?" he asks. "Why?"

"Because it means God's gift," I murmur.

We both look at our son and I smile.

"Baby Theo," he whispers. "I love it."

"What time is it?" I ask Liam suddenly.

He pulls his phone from his pocket and lights up the screen.

"It's six." He says. "Why?"

It's healthy for a baby to breastfeed within the first hour of them being born, and skin on skin contact is a must because it helps them get used to being outside of the womb. We didn't do it right when he came out because they were weighing and measuring and checking his body to make sure everything was working properly, but we have been so engrossed in him that I forgot about it.

It's been almost forty minutes since he was born.

"We need to do skin on skin with him," I tell Liam. "It helps him to adjust to the real world. Plus, he needs to breastfeed before his first hour of life is up because studies show when they do, they're stronger against diseases and death. And it helps me so I don't start bleeding a lot. Plus, the first milk he has is colostrum which has a lot of vitamins and nutrients and stuff that he can't get anywhere but from me. Some people even call it his first vaccine." I shrug at Liam.