A Father's First Steps

"I'm gonna be a dad! I'm gonna be a dad!"

Sam remembered shouting that out on New Year's Day as his girlfriend, Gluntz, entered her third weekmester. In the intermediate days, they received the ultrasound of their baby. However, they wanted the baby's gender to be a surprise to themselves in addition to everyone else.

Now today that surprise was gonna be revealed.

It was after midnight when Gluntz suddenly started shaking his arm, yelling, "Sam! The baby's coming!"

His eyes snapped open at once. "Oh my! We better get moving!" At once, he carried their suitcase in one hand and Gluntz in both arms as he raced out of the house.

Sam was in a hospital ward with Gluntz on the bed. She was taking quick breaths, occasionally stopping to shout when another contraction hit her.

"You're almost ready, Gluntz", the doctor said. 

"I hope so", she said, half worriedly, half tiredly.

Sam cupped her hand in both of his. "I'm here for you, Gluntz."

She turns her head and smiles at him.

"GAH!", she cried out. Her grip tightened on Sam's hand, going from zero to one hundred.

"Okay. You're fully dilated. It's time."

Sam gasped in excitement. He tapped his palm on the back of her hand.

Gluntz did not feel the same enthusiasm as Sam. She kept her eyes closed tightly, breathing in a rapid and panicked manner.

Sam wanted to say It's gonna be okay, but that was such a cliché. He simply brought Gluntz's knuckles up and kissed them.

"Push", said the doctor.

And she did.

——

Gluntz only screamed whenever she had to. A lot of her lower body and abdominal strength went into pushing out that baby. She exerted a smidge of her upper body strength squeezing Sam's hand, and if that was just a smidge, who knows how strong her grip could really be if she wasn't holding back. However, she was squeezing his right hand, which had the missing finger.

"Sorry, Sam", she said through gritted teeth.

"It's fine. I understand."

Gluntz almost said No you don't!, but she knew Sam was just trying to be supportive.

"All right, Gluntz. You're almost there. Just a few more", the doctor said in an encouraging tone.

Gluntz didn't think she had any strength left in her. She was almost ready to call it quits. But that's not how she does it. The BADGUYS don't give up until the job's done. Even though her job was protecting endangered animals, everyone knew her drive to the cause was unbreakable.

This was just another thing to drive for, but this time, for a personal cause. And she was gonna uphold her indestructible values.

Soon after, she let out another "GAH!" and it was all over. As she let out a long, quavering sigh, there was the sound of a baby crying as it took its first breaths.

Gluntz opened her eyes at last to see the doctor wrapping the baby in a blanket.

"Congratulations, you two. You have a baby girl."

——

As Gluntz held their newborn daughter, Sam could feel tears overflowing in his eyes. He tried to talk, but couldn't trust himself not to scream out in pure joy.