Fate and Fortune Cookies

109 - Waltz Right In

After a total of 16 hours of labor, literal blood, sweat, and tears, Rylee laid back into the hospital bed, beyond exhausted. Sebastian still had a hold of her hand and was squeezing it himself, "God, mama. You did so great. I'm so proud of you."

He leaned down and pushed hair back off of Rylee's sweat covered forehead to kiss her as she continued to catch her breath.

The last hour had been chaotic to say the least. Doctors and nurses ran around, and at some point, Rylee wasn't even sure who was saying what anymore. Being told to push. And wait. And push. And wait.

But the one constant person she could always tell was talking was Sebastian, whispering into her ear about how good she was doing, and how close she was to done and how much he loved her. And that was all she needed to get through it.

Rylee was surprised that once she started pushing, the epidural did make it harder to feel when to push, but god did it make it hurt a hell of a lot less than she imagined it would have.

At 8:13 AM on Saturday, June 17th, Sebastian and Rylee became a party of three.

As soon as the baby made her appearance into the world, Dr. Williams immediately placed her on Rylee's stomach, to get wiped off and get that skin to skin contact Rylee had read so much about.

Rylee always joked that newborns were never cute and they always looked like little aliens when they first come out but oh my god, was their baby the most beautiful little thing she had ever seen. She figured she was probably biased. But she didn't give a damn.

She had beautiful brown hair, and her scrunched, pouty-lipped face was tipped towards Rylee's, laying peacefully on her stomach as they continued cleaning her off.

Rylee felt Sebastian lean closer again, pulling her hand up to his lips, "She's so beautiful, Ry..."
He put her hand up to his cheek where she was surprised to feel it was a bit wet. She looked up from the baby to see Sebastian's face, filled with so much love, adoration, and emotion, that all he could do was let the tears flow.

"We did it, Sebby," Rylee said, tears starting to flow over as well.

"You did it, Ryles. It's all you, mama. Thank you," Sebastian sighed as he sniffled, "God, I love you."

"I love you, Sebs," Rylee replied, squeezing his hand as he leaned down to kiss her forehead again. They watched as Lacey and Dr. Williams finished cleaning the baby off.

"Alright, cord cutting time, Dad!" Dr. Williams said as she looked up at both Rylee and Sebastian with a pair of medical scissors.

Sebastian stepped closer and took the scissors from her hand, a little bit nervous at the thought.
While the baby wiggled a bit on Rylee's stomach, Sebastian saw they had prepped the area to cut between two clamps, and clipped between them.

And just like that, after 9 long months, Rylee and the baby were separated. What a weird feeling.

"Alrighty, you hard working lady, little miss is going to pop over there with Lacey and get a few pokes and prods and then she'll be right back okay? Sebastian can go over with her while she does if he'd like."

Sebastian looked down at Rylee as she looked up into his bright blue, hopeful eyes and nodded.
He nodded back in return, leaning down to give her a kiss and then patted her hand before he walked with Lacey and the baby over to the other side of the room.

Rylee watched from across the room, taking in Sebastian with their little girl. The baby started whimpering eventually turning into a light cry as Lacey completed the Apgar assessment, measurements, and blood tests. Sebastian put his pointer finger into the baby's palm and she immediately wrapped her wee little fingers around his.