Sins of the Summer

Chapter 2

The morning of March fifteenth finally arrives, and mama, Marcus and I are awake and moving by six, and we've arrived at the hospital by six-fifty. I've finished checking in at the desk, and told to wait in the waiting room until I've been collected by a nurse in a few minutes. By seven, my name is being called from a male nurse that walked into the waiting area with a bright smile toward the three of us. Struggling to stand from the chair, I finally relent, and let mama and Marcus lift me to my feet by my hands.

"Morning!" the man cheerfully greets, perhaps a little too cheery for the time of the day, while leading us down a hallway towards a room. "My name is Joshua, and I'll be your nurse until this evening. Are you ready to have your baby?"

"Morning, and yes I am," I softly reply, holding my lower belly, trying to relieve some of the tension on my lower back from the weight.

"Good!" Joshua softly cheers as he turns left down another hallway while walking next to me with mama and Marcus behind us by a couple of steps. "Are both of your parents going to be in the room with you during the c-section?"

"Um, no just my mama," I reply, chewing on my lower lip as Joshua gestures for us to step into a room that I'll be occupying after the baby is born.

"That's just fine, Kai," Joshua assures with a soft nod of his head. "Your dad can wait in here until you return from the operating room with your baby and your mom. I'm going to give you a hospital gown to change into, and you can leave everything in here with him, okay?"

Nodding, I take the hospital gown that he has taken from a cupboard near the door, murmuring; "That's fine and thanks."

"You're welcome," Joshua grins. "I'll come back in about ten minutes to get you ready for your surgery. Oh, here's your outfit to place over your clothing, ma'am."

Joshua had dug into the cupboard again, and handed mama a pair of scrub pants and matching top, and two of the hairnet things, and mama takes them with a thankful smile. Mama hands me one of the hairnets, and I take it with a slightly shaking hand. This is becoming real, that in a few short hours I will be holding my newborn son in my arms. Stepping into the bathroom, shutting the door behind me softly, and striping from my clothing, and slipping on the gown, buttoning it in the front of my body. Gathering my clothes, I exit the bathroom toward the bed where I neatly fold my clothes into a pile, and place these on an empty chair next to the bed.

Carefully sitting on the edge of the bed with my palms lying flat on my belly as we wait for Joshua to return. Mama is already dressed in her scrubs, and Marcus has settled into one of the three chairs when Joshua makes his return.

"Alright, settle back onto the bed, please, and I'll hook you up to the heart monitor. Then we'll get you settled into the surgery room where the doctor is going to meet us, and perform the surgery once you're numb from the waist down, sound good?" he asks, and I silently nod in agreement causing Joshua to smile brightly at me.

Thirty minutes later, I've been wheeled into the operating room, been given the nerve blocker in my back, and settled onto the bed again with the curtain up above my belly, and the doctor begins the surgery.

"You're going to feel some tugging on your belly once I've reached the baby, okay?" the doctor questions, and I hum in acknowledgment.

Several minutes later, I do indeed feel tugging for several minutes, and then a loud wailing from the section of the curtain, and that's when the tears fall from my eyes. My son is out of me, and is letting everyone know that he's not happy with being taken from his warm home, and into the bright harshness of the world.

"Here you go, Kai," the doctor says, grinning as he places my wailing, gunk-covered baby on my chest, and I wetly laugh as I stare down at the angry sounding baby with pure awe filling my body.

Wrapping my hands softly around Kyrie, leaning my face down to gently kiss him on top of his sticky head, murmuring; "Hi Kyrie, I'm your papa. I promise to love and protect you, my sweet baby."

"I'm going to stick you back up while the nurse takes the baby to clean him off, weigh and measure him, too, okay?" the doctor says, and I nod in agreement, and pout a little when Joshua comes over to take Kyrie from me to do what needs to be done.

"I promise to bring him back in a few minutes," Joshua promises, and I nod.

"Mama, will you please go with him?" I softly beg of her, and she silently nods, and follows behind Joshua and the baby.

Ten long minutes later, the doctor has cleaned and stitched me up, the curtain has been removed, and Joshua and mama are returning with a now cleaned baby who has on a pale green hat on his head, and is wrapped in a matching blanket.

"The baby weighs seven pounds twelve ounces, is twenty-three inches long, and he's very ready to be cuddled by his papa," Joshua whispers as he carefully places Kyrie in the crook of my right arm.

"Hello again, my sweet Kyrie," I whisper with a fond smile as I gently kiss his forehead before thanking Joshua and the doctor.

"We're going to take you back into your room, so you and the baby can rest and settle in," Joshua states. "We'll take him later for his testing, and then promptly return him to you, okay, but we want to give you and him some time to bond, and have skin-to-skin and a feeding before we do this."

"Okay," I whisper, my focus still on my baby as I take in his features, committing these to memory.

We're wheeled back down to the room via a wheelchair, and when we arrive at the room, there is another bed there with fresh sheets, and Joshua helps me onto the bed while I'm still holding Kyrie. Once I'm settled, he tells us that he or another nurse will be back in two hours to take Kyrie for his full testing which should take about fifteen minutes. Mama thanks him for me since I'm so focused on Kyrie.