Baby May

A/N: I mentioned this a couple of chapters, but I have no set hours with this new job which is why I will tell you in the last chapter of each week what days I will be updating, however, there's always a possibility of that changing.

I.e. I was meant to update tomorrow, but I've now picked up an extra shift meaning I won't have time to update tomorrow, which is why you're getting this update today instead.

So I apologise if updates are all over the place, but I will always try to update three times a week unless I tell you otherwise.

Once Alyssia is settled in her hospital room and all baby May's checks are done, Megan brings her back to her mothers awaiting arms wrapped in a pink blanket, "Here we are, a beautiful healthy baby girl."

"She looks just like you did," Anita smiles seeing the face of her first granddaughter, "I'll go ring your dad, give you two a bit of space. Toby, did you want me to ring Sarah?"

"Yes, please but tell them not to tell anyone else. I'll send out a message in a bit to everyone, I think grandparents should be the first to meet her."

Anita leaves them alone and Toby sits on the bed beside Alyssia, wrapping an arm around her shoulder, "She's smaller than I thought she'd be but she's..."

"Perfect," Alyssia finishes his sentence thinking the same thing. She could hold her daughter forever, but she also wants to sleep, "You want to hold her?"

"Of course," He slips an arm under Alyssia's, transferring his daughter into his arm then brings his other hand up to move some of the fabric aside.

Her tiny hand breaks free from the blanket and wraps her hand around his thumb. He can't fight the tears at that point, he kisses her forehead gently.

Content, Alyssia rests her head on Toby's shoulder dozing, "She needs a name," He mutters eyes entirely fixed on his baby girl.

She doesn't lift her head, but nods against his shoulder, "She does. We agreed on either Ivy or Olivia..."

They wrote down names on a whiteboard on the fridge every time one came to mind, if ever they later went past and they changed their mind on a name then they'd rub it off. Ivy and Olivia were the only two names that stayed on it without being removed once.

"I think Ivy," Ivy was Alyssia's choice and Olivia was Toby's so that surprises her.

"Your reason? I love both names and I hope one day we can use both but I don't want you picking Ivy just to please me."

"They say that certain names suit certain people and I don't think Olivia suits her as much as Ivy," That's the truth behind his reasoning.

"What do you think?" Alyssia asks her daughter, "Shall we call you Ivy?"

Their baby girl happens to open her eyes at that point showing her icy blue eyes, Toby's eyes.

"We'll take that as a yes," Toby grins then hands her back to Alyssia.

"Where are you going?"

"To give Megan her name for the birth certificate and to grab a coffee then when I come back I'll hog Ivy for a while so that you can sleep."

He leaves and Alyssia takes this quiet time to look her daughter over. Along with icy blue eyes, Ivy has brown wispy curls on her head, not as dark brown as Alyssia's hair but not quite as light brown Toby's. Cute button nose and of course, ten perfect fingers and toes.

------

Alyssia didn't recall falling asleep, but when she wakes, Brian, Anita, Sarah and Jenna are in the hospital room, baby Ivy is currently in the hospital crib.

"Hey," Toby mutters when she stretches out her arms.

"Hey, how long have you guys been here?" She sits up and Toby adjusts the pillows to prop her up, "You should have woken me."

"Nonsense we've only just got here," Sarah mutters, "You earned the sleep, Anita said it happened rather quickly."

"About an hour, Megan said it's the quickest natural labour she's ever seen. Now that aside, who's having the first hold?" Alyssia mouths something to Toby when no one steps forward right away.

Lifting his daughter from the crib, Toby walks over to Anita, "How about the grandma she shares a name with?"

"What?" Anita takes her granddaughter but stares at Toby then Alyssia in disbelief.

"We had two names in mind for a girl," Alyssia starts to explain, "Olivia Sarah May or Ivy Anita May. We loved both and couldn't decide so we agreed to wait till she was born to see which name suited her more, Ivy was the winner."

"It's a beautiful name," Brian comments looking at his newest granddaughter over Anita's shoulder.

"We do hope to use Olivia in the future," Alyssia clarifies for Sarah's sake.

"Don't worry," Sarah wouldn't care if her name never got used, it's having a granddaughter that matters to her, "As Brian says it's a beautiful name, they both are but Ivy does suit her more than Olivia."

Sarah holds Ivy next then it's Brian's turn. He loves being a father but he loves being a grandfather even more, "Look at these curls," He grins, Ivy is the first of his grandchildren to have curly hair.

Emily and Alyssia were the only two to inherit his curly hair, Jimmy and Louisa have straight hair like Chrissie and neither of their partners has overly curly hair so neither Jimmy's son nor Louisa's daughter has curly hair.

"Got to keep the May curls in the family," Alyssia smiles, glad that Ivy shares this family trait.

"Can I hold her now?" Jenna asks quietly after a few minutes.

"Of course," Brian hands her over.

"How does it feel to be auntie Jenna?" Toby sits on the sofa beside his little sister.

In the last year, Jenna's childlike behaviour has started to fade away into a mature teen. Being an auntie seems to suit her, "I love it, you'll have to send us lots of pictures of her once we're back in Australia."

That is something Toby and Alyssia had neglected to think about, it will be sad that Jenna and Sarah won't get to see Ivy as much, but they'll visit as often as possible and Toby and Alyssia will take Ivy to Australia once she's a little older.

After their visitors left, Toby sent a photo of Ivy with the message, Introducing baby Ivy Anita May, born at 5.25pm on the 31st of January 2012, weighing 6 pounds 3 ounces, to all friends and family.