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Exodus leaned over in the deep freezer, grabbing one of the packages of Siraj's frozen breastmilk. Each time he opened the freezer, there was more and more bags of milk. He didn't understand how she could make them so fast.
He knew that he was about to have his work cut out for him because his baby hated drinking from a bottle, but Siraj was currently asleep and he didn't want to wake her up since he knew how tired she was.
After warming the milk in a bottle in T microwave, Exodus put some on his own tongue to see if it was too hot or not hot enough. It was the perfect temperature, so he took the bottle back towards the bedroom where both Essence and Siraj were asleep.
He didn't want to wake Essence up either, but Siraj had her on a strict feeding schedule that way their sleep schedules would align. It was working out nicely so far.
"I know you don't wanna be up fat ma. Daddy sorry." He chuckled, putting her bottle in her mouth before her cries could get too loud. She still whined as she drunk from it, not seeming like she was enjoying it.
Her cries gradually became louder, and she stopped sucking from her bottle, which caused it to just hang in her mouth. Exodus wiped the spilled milk from her cheek and neck, removing the bottle at the same time.
Exodus climbed back in the bed, and hovered over Siraj while carefully pulling her right boob out of her tank top. He latched Essence onto her nipple, immediately soothing her cries, making him shake his head at her dramatics.
He made sure Siraj remained asleep as Essence helped herself to breakfast, gripping on Siraj's chest with satisfied sighs leaving her mouth every so often.
Laying on the side of Siraj, Exodus remained in that position for a little over thirty minutes, which was how long it took for Essence to partially drain her mother's breast. It would refill on its own within a few minutes, but by the way Essence let her go, Exodus knew she was done eating.
He laid his baby on his chest, softly patting her small back with his hand in order to burp her. Her tiny hands groped at his skin, and she remained quiet underneath his touch; besides the small, almost inaudible and occasional sighs that came from her.
"Damn." He chuckled, finally getting a louder-than-normal burp from her a few minutes later. The movements of her hands stopped, and he realized that she had fallen back asleep.
She was only supposed to sleep for another two hours, and then she would have to be up for a few more until nap time. The two parents were so thankful that she adhered to the sleeping pattern nicely.
Exodus reached over to pull the cover back over Siraj so that she wouldn't get could, but took notice of the way her breasts were now leaking. He raised up from the bed to put Essence in her bassinet, and then he walked over to the dresser where a set of clean pumps were.
When he walked back over to her, he saw her swell her breasts had gotten within just a few minutes of Essence no longer being on them. He knew that they needed to drain as soon as possible, or else it would start to hurt Siraj.
