BREAKING | rafe cameron

TWENTY EIGHT

I woke up to a cramping sensation in my stomach, it was the morning before Christmas Eve, "Are you for real this time Josie?" I whispered to my belly, last week we thought it was time but that was just Braxton Hicks. I groaned, no, it's time. "Rafe, wake up!" I shook him, he hummed, "it's time." He practically jumped out of the bed, "are you sure?" I gave him a death stare, "Yeah okay, you're sure." He mumbled to himself, forgetting everything I told him to do when this happened. The contraction stopped, "get dressed, and grab the bags." I talked calmly, standing up and beginning to slip some sweatpants on, I couldn't care less about what I was wearing, they were just going to put me in a gown anyways. I tried to get as much done as I could before the next contraction came, six minutes apart, I went from none to six minutes apart. Fantastic.

Rafe was running around like a crazy person, panicking, I stood against the door way perfectly fine since the contraction had passed. "How are you so calm?" He called, walking out of the nursery, bags in tow. "Well it still hurts but not as bad." I told him, hobbling my way towards the door, "here we go." I whispered as he helped me to his truck. The car seat was already in there, we've been ready for a while now, but now that it's here I'm kind of freaking out. Rafe let out a nervous laugh as I clenched my hands on the edge of the dashboard. "Don't laugh, please, it hurts." I whispered, shakily breathing through the pain. "I'm sorry." He gently reached over, putting a hand on my back as it started to pass. I just hummed I'm response.

"Yeah, Sarah, yes I know, listen I've gotta go." Rafe sighed through the phone, he called Sarah once we got into a room, telling her that they admitted me, I was already five centimeters dilated, which was extremely impressive to the doctor. So that was nice, but the contractions were closer and closer together, and stronger, I was currently waiting for an epidural, because let's be real, I was not going to do this without drugs. "You're doing good, Charli." Rafe assured me as I stood next to the side of the bed my arms on his shoulders. "Doesn't feel like it." I moaned in pain, there was a knock on the door. "Charlotte, are you ready for the epidural?" My nurse asked, "yes please." I sighed in relief as Rafe helped me sit on the edge of the bed. He squatted down in front of me as they got the needle ready, I winced slightly when they stuck it in, "good job! You should start feeling that in a minute, let's get you laid back." Rafe helped me lay in the middle of the bed, it was odd, not really being able to feel the lower half of my body, it was kind of just like a pressure now, rather than a pain.

"Okay, Charli! Just a few more pushes!" My doctor encouraged me, a nurse on one side of me, helping to hold my leg back as Rafe stood on the other, one of his hands on my leg, the other intertwined with mine. "Come on, you're so close." Rafe muttered, every time I started pushing his face would scrunch up like mine, unsure of what to say aside from encourage me. I was covered in sweat, panting in between pushes. "Ten, nine, eight, seven, I've got her shoulders! Six, five, four, three, two, one!" The doctor counted down as I pushed with everything I've got. "One more big push!" Rafe was staring at me, "come on, baby." He kissed my sweaty forehead, I took a deep breath, pushing as hard as I could. "Oh my god!" Rafe gasped, I looked in front of me and saw Josie, they through a blanket on my chest and put her on me. "Oh my god!" I cried, watching as they sucked the mucus out of her throat, her loud cries filling the room. "She's beautiful." Rafe stared at her, "I know." I whispered, in total awe of the baby in front of me. "Dad, do you want to cut the cord?" The doctor interrupted us, Rafe took the scissors, snipping the cord and feeling relieved. "You did it, oh you did so good." Rafe kissed me as they took Josie away to be cleaned up. "Charli? Charli, can you hear me?" The room started going dark around me, "Charli!" Rafe shouted before my eyes shut.

RAFE'S P.O.V (surprise!)

"Charli!" I shouted as her eyes shut, she went limp, the nurses pushed me out of the way, rubbing her chest and shaking her, but she didn't wake up. "What's happening?" I asked, the doctor shot up from her seat at the end of the bed, "she's losing a lot of blood, we need to take her for an emergency transfusion." Everything was happening so fast, they were rolling the bed with her on it out of the room before I could even process anything. One nurse stayed to finish whatever she was doing to Josie, "is she okay?" I asked, watching as she wiped Josie down, she was crying loudly and it was killing me. "She's fine, just testing out those powerful lungs!" The nurse shot me a smile as she placed Josie on the scale, my heart was torn in two, my daughter laying there crying and my wife being wheeled away for an emergency. "Nine pounds even! Twenty inches long." The nurse shook me from my thoughts, she had swaddled Josie up. "Want to hold her?" I hesitated, I was scared, I was certain that Charli would be the one handing me our daughter, not a complete stranger. "Here, sit down." She directed me to a chair in the empty room, I couldn't help but stare at the spot that Charli should be. "Support her head, there you go." The nurse set Josie in my arms and the feeling was surreal, I couldn't help but let a couple of tears fall from my eyes. "Can you check on my wife? Please." I asked, barely looking away from the baby in my arms, "of course, I'll be back as soon as I can."

Josie opened her eyes for a moment, just long enough for me to see that she's got the same blue eyes as me, she had a lot of hair, or so I was told, I didn't know what was a lot and what wasn't. It was dark, like Charli's. "You're so pretty, my baby girl." I whispered as Josie slept peacefully in my arms, my eyes shot up at a knock on the door, it was the doctor, "Charli is doing good, we've got her in recovery, we're going to move you and the baby there to be with her." The doctor spoke softly, "thank you." I sighed in relief, she had me put Josie in the rolling crib, as I grabbed our things, a nurse came and wheeled Josie for me while I followed with our things.

"She's going to be sleep for a little while, but we'll be in to check on her in an hour, just push the button if any of you need anything."

I sat in the chair, directly next to Charli, I had Josie right beside us as well. My little family, I took a picture of Josie, sending it to Sarah, I told her what happened Charli and asked her to fill everyone in for me, and that I'll talk to her later once we're more settled.

Charli's P.O.V (aka the normal)

"Shh, baby girl. I've got you." I heard Rafe whispering, I could hear Josie whining, I fluttered my eyes open, Rafe's back was towards me as he gently rocked Josie. "Hi." I whispered making him turn around, his face flooded with relief. "Oh my god, thank god you're okay. Baby you scared me so bad." He came over to me, holding the baby like a pro already. "What happened?" My voice was hoarse, he handed me a cup filled with water, "you lost a lot of blood, you had to have a blood transfusion, but they said you're going to be just fine." He sat on the edge of the bed, "you wanna hold her?" He asked softly, I sat myself up in the bed, wincing at the soreness. I reached my hands out for her, happily taking her into my arms, "hi, baby." I cooed running my thumb across her tiny cheek. "She's nine pounds even, twenty inches long." Rafe told me with a smile as I stared at her, he slid her hat back, revealing dark hair just like mine. "Oh my god." I laughed, "she's got so much hair." Rafe chuckled, "everyone keeps telling me that."

He filled me in on everything that happened, apparently I was out for almost two hours, Josie has passed all her tests with flying colors, Rafe gave her her first bottle, filled out the birth certificate, all that kind of stuff. I was so lucky to have him.