MAYHEM

⇒ TWENTY FIVE

Reid||

About two weeks after the baby was born, the doctors finally cleared him for me to be able to take him home. He had spent his time here in the nicu and he surprisingly was getting better a lot quicker than expected. Anastasia had some drugs while she had him so there were some drugs in his system. He does something that makes him shake, they called it tremors. It pains me to see him this way but I'm sure this is the worst of it all.

I spent my time here getting cozy with the other mothers who also had babies in the nicu. Some of them weren't first time parents like I was and were able to give me some pointers. Apparently I have to feed the baby even if he doesn't cry.

My first time seeing the baby was like heaven. I was scared to touch him, but I wanted to squeeze him really tight and kill him with kisses. I had to be gentle though as he would cry at the slightest inconvenience. The doctors said that he'll cry more than usual since we're getting him off the drugs. They gave me medicine to give him every night to help with the pain.

I sat inside the small chair in room they had given me to sit in. It was sort of like a delivery room except there wasn't a bed here, not that I needed it anyways. I gently rocked the baby inside the chair as a nurse came in. They made sure to be extra quiet, fearing they'd set him off.

"How's everything going, dad?" She asked, walking in with her gloves and scrubs on. I shrugged and sighed as I looked down at him. We had to have skin to skin contact, it was the only thing that calmed him down. For some reason I didn't even care about the nurses seeing me with my shirt off, I felt okay.

"His poops are the worst". She chuckled at what I said and nodded.

"Yes. Pretty small but beware. May lose a few nose hairs". She walked closer to me and gestured for me to give her the baby so I did. He whined a bit but she held him close. "Now I have to swaddle him up. Pay close attention". She laid a small cover inside the basinet he was kept in and placed him on top. With a bunch of pulls, my baby was looking like a burrito.

Once she was done she handed him to me. "You picked a name yet? You have to name him before you leave" she giggled.

"I think I like the name Archie. Spelled A r c h i e" I held my baby close as I looked at her. I looked down at him and smiled. "Archie? Yeah you seem like a Archie".

She nodded. "That's my sons middle name. I love it"

I looked up at her and raised my eyebrow. "See, Archie. People like your name already".

"And for his middle name?"

I sighed. "Edward. Archie Edward Ramiando. I think my girlfriend would like that name".

She nodded as she wrote it down. "You have a girlfriend? Well why isn't she here to support you?" She asked concerned.

"She's been supportive throughout this entire journey. In fact she's at my house now. She says she wanted to do a bit of cleaning before I brung the baby home" I assured her. She nodded.

"Well if you remember everything you can take him home. How has he been doing with his car seat?" She asked.

I smiled. At first he didn't like the fact that he had to lie down inside so he would cry, and his cries are pretty loud since they are abnormal. "He's doing good. He sat there when I went to use the restroom".

She nodded before telling me most of the stuff I needed to know. Feeding, diaper changing, and giving him his medicine. I'm sure I had this stuff engraved in my brain by how many times they told me.

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Making it home I was a bit exhausted. I pulled over twice to feed Archie and keep him from crying which took ten minutes in itself. His cries weren't one to ignore. I held the handle of his car seat as I pushed the front door open, immediately being overwhelmed.

There were blue balloons that flew to the ceiling and a container that held blue cup cakes inside. I just knew Aurelia invited people over but it's not what I wanted at all.

"Baby?" I yelled, making sure to keep my voice quiet enough so I wouldn't wake the baby. He had just fallen asleep the last five minutes of the ride from the hospital.

She walked from inside my room and squealed, soon frowning at how loud she was. I smiled at her to assure her that she was fine, I was just as excited as she was. I gently sat the baby down and frowned as I looked at her, making her look to my eyes with concern.

"There's no one here is there? I'm just a bit overwhelmed and I don't need to be rushed with people-"

"Of course not, babe" she came closer to me and put her arms around my neck. "I can't imagine how tired you are. I bought these balloons myself and I baked cup cakes for you to have something sweet to eat."

I nodded as I hugged her tight. "I have someone for you to meet". We both kneeled to the floor as I slowly pulled the car seat cover back to reveal him.

She pouted. "What did you name the little guy?". She gently lifted her hand to touch his hand to which he immediately gripped on to it.

"Archie. Archie Edward Ramiando" I smiled.

She looked up at me before looking back down to him. "Hey Archie. I hope you start to like your new home. It's filled with love".

I hummed as I stood up. "Especially when you're here, which brings me to ask if you are staying the night?".

She nodded. "I have clothes in your room..can I hold him?". Without saying anything I moved the car seat towards the couch where I took the small child and and placed him in her arms. He whined for a bit but once she held him close he calmed down. "Where does this blonde hair come from?" She lifted his hat a bit.

"Anastasia was an original blonde before she dyed her hair. Hopefully he'll have black like me some day". I sat next to her and looked over at Archie. I got side tracked in what I was going to say next as I smelled fresh cleaning products all around. "Thank you for cleaning. I really appreciate it".

She smiled as she touched Archie's chin. "Well I didn't do it for you. I did it for this cute little guy". I nodded as I knew that if she hadn't already, she would eventually fall in love with him as I did when I first saw him.

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"Even when I'm not there you still get aroused at the thought of me. Spread your legs..are they spread? Now put your phone on speaker."