Carlisle's Diary

Sava

Dear Diary: October 10, 2014

We have a new bundle of joy in this supernatural family of ours. A few days ago, Leah gave birth to a little boy. Sue was present as were Keith, Bella, and I as I was to deliver the ball of sunshine. Leah had asked Bella to be present as well since the two have grown as close as two sisters. Sue was holding one of her daughter's hands while Keith clutched the other. Bella acted as both nurse and coach. Rogue was on standby outside the delivery room in the house. Everyone else was close by just holding their breaths, literally. Very soon there would be a wail and some other funny noises we haven't heard since Nessie was born.

It all happened Wednesday night. Leah and Keith were settled in for the night in their own home with Leah trying to get some sleep when she realized her location had turned into a water bed. It took her a few minutes to realize her water had broken. Keith quickly flew her to the main house, hollering all the way. You'd think we were being attacked again or something. But nothing will turn a normally composed immortal into a mess then his wife in labor, Edward remembered wryly. And it was true, Keith—who was normally very put together—was disheveled with his shirt buttoned up the wrong way and also slightly inside out. At least his pants were on the right way.

I hid a smile as he reminded me of a lot of expectant dad's that made their way into the Hanover ER many a night. I've seen some really funny things. No matter what happens, men are almost never prepared for THAT moment when it's time. And Keith was certainly no exception. He paced muttering to himself until Rogue planted herself in his path and in no uncertain words, told him to chill. I meanwhile, was examining Leah who had her mom and Bella by her side. She was only dilated a few centimeters so no one knew how long the whole labor process would take. We did know that the baby was actually overdo by a few days, normal size, and facing head down so a C-Section unless things got out of hand would not be needed.

At first the contractions weren't that bad and Leah was able to talk normally with her husband who looked worse than she did, she even laughed at him a few times. Sue was rubbing her back and shoulders and helped her walk around a bit while Bella told her funny stories about after Nessie was born to keep her mind off of the ever increasing contractions. Finally, it got to the point where each contraction would cause Leah to scream in agony, it took about 5 hours to get there. I had an epidural ready to help her with the pain but it wasn't time for that yet.

Each time Leah screamed, Keith got paler until we were worried he may pass out before his son was born. Alexander and Edward took him outside for a walk to get some fresh air. It was midmorning by then and I was ready for a third examination. Looking at how far she'd come since the start, I told Leah that in another hour she could start pushing. She looked at me like she was ready to eat me alive and I didn't blame her. I'd been the attending physician at many a birth and to this day have no idea how women did it. Especially human women; they were so much more fragile than us immortals and yet they pushed out these not so little humans over and over again; sometimes in multiples. Even as a vampire, I knew that men would have heart attacks from just the pain alone. So I had a very serious appreciation for all women everywhere.

Finally it was time to push and I inserted the epidural into Leah's spine for which I got a grateful thank you that sounded like a mix between a burp and a groan. Keith had more or less revived by then though was still looking a little green around the gills. He was however, going to be by his wife's side no matter what. Even if that meant he would be on the floor holding her hand. Leah started pushing; Bella and Sue started coaching her through breathing exercises.

"Come on Leah; remember hee hee hee hoo!" Sue was coaching as I got Leah's feet into the stir ups with Bella's help.

"Hee hee hee hoooooooly crap.....I can't!" Leah panted as another contraction passed and she was able to speak.

"Yes you can! Honey, you have to!" Sue said encouragingly.

"You make it sound easy mom!! It's really not!" Leah looked at her mother like she had two heads.

"No, I never said it was easy. I had you and Seth remember? It's all worth it in the end, believe me!"

"It better beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee......!!!" The rest of Leah's words were lost as another contraction took over and she pushed as Bella and Sue propped up her back. Keith was praying or muttering or doing something while clutching his wife's hand and watching her writhe in agony with every push and contraction.

"Come on Leah! You got this! Remember how strong you are! Use all of your anger to push this baby out!" Bella was the quiet voice of reason and cheerleading.

Leah looked at Bella and their eyes locked as Leah's eyes went from glazed over to the determination we haven't seen in a very long time. The pissed off at the world Leah was back and with a nod and pursed lips, she pushed with all of her might.

"I see the head!" I said triumphantly.

Leah didn't stop pushing; it was like some invisible force was driving her to get this baby out in one push. Her face was almost beet red but she didn't stop. Finally she gave a long howl and with a last final push, the baby came out wailing into my hands. Leah took a deep breath and Sue pushed down on her stomach as she also had to deliver the placenta and better do all that right away then wait and deal with more pain. The placenta came out a lot easier than the baby did. Meanwhile, the baby was wailing like someone had just turned on the siren for all of the emergency services.

"Oh my God!" Bella said first, tears flooding her eyes.

"Oh my lord! He's beautiful!" Sue cried as she looked at her grandson.

"My son....I have a son....he's here." Keith whispered while tears spilled down his cheeks and he collapsed in a nearby chair that was placed there for him just in case.

I did a quick check to make sure the baby was alright, which he was and weighed him with the help of Bella, cleaned him and bundled him up. Super vampire speed helps in these situations. Before Leah could even blink, her son was presented to her all nice and bundled up. The baby just kept staring at Leah and Keith who were cooing at him. Leah couldn't keep her eyes off of him and vice versa. It was like the baby was understanding that he was inside of this woman and this is what she looked like on the outside. He had deep rich brown eyes just like his parents and a fuzz of brown hair.

"He's staring like an owl. His eyes following all of your movements." Keith said with a little laugh as Leah's eyes lit up.

"Owl! In Native American culture the snowy owl is a symbol of prediction and protection among other things. That would be the perfect name for him....er....somehow." She said thoughtfully.

"A snowy owl? But why snowy?" I asked confused. Leah smiled gently at me and pointed outside. As the rest of us followed her finger, we gasped. It was snowing! In October! Keith looked at Rogue who had entered the room and smiled.

"How about Sava?" He said after getting a wink from her.

"Sava? What's that?" Leah asked.

"That's owl in Russian. Pronounced Sah-Vah. So he would still be following your traditions but with a name that won't be too bizarre or a laughing stock for the kids." Keith explained. Leah thought about it and then smiled and said:

"Sava Mckinley Clark. Has a nice international ring to it. And we cover everything and it's still unique enough but not weird. I love it, honey!" She said excitedly.

"Thank Rogue not me, she's our Russophile." Rogue laughed.

"Nah, just thought of that when I saw it start to snow and you mentioned owl. As for strange names, he joins the ranks with Renesmee." She said winking at Nessie who—along with the rest of the family—joined everyone else in the delivery room.

"I like my name!" She said proudly as we all laughed.

So as we all watched the baby nurse, the snow fall outside, and after an 11 hour delivery we finally had a new member of our very large, very supernatural family.

Welcome Sava McKinley Clark to the world!!!

~Carlisle Cullen