Our Life Together

Birthday Boy

"Do I have to go to school?"  Liam begs to stay home "It's my birthday!  It's not fair to make me go."

"Sorry, dude.  You know you can't miss that test."  I hand him his bag as he walks to the door "Have a good birthday.  I love you!"

"Maybe we should have just let him stay home."  Brad walks up next to me "He could have always made up that test."

"I know."  I sigh watching him walk to the bus "We need to make sure they know they can't just stay home whenever they want though."

"I just can't believe he's already 10."  Brad walks over to the couch "I feel like we're too young for that."

"Just think, we're married almost 12, and I was 27 then." I sit with him "I'm getting really old.  I'll be 40 in less than a year."

"It doesn't feel like it's been that long."  He admits "I can still remember everything perfectly.  Even how scared you were to tell me you were pregnant."

"It was a surprise." I laugh "I wasn't sure how you'd react."

Flashback- Jen's POV

I stare at the two positive tests scared out of my mind.  Brad and I are nowhere near ready for a baby and I have no idea how he's going to react.  The most we've talked about kids is just saying that we want them eventually, not this soon.

"Jen!"  Brad runs up to our room "Are you okay?"

It's then that I realize I forgot to lock the door and he walks in.  He walks right up to me after noticing that I'm crying, and pulls me closer for a hug.

"What's wrong, babe?"  He asks "Did something happen?"

I break away just long enough to get the tests and hand them to him.  He studies them carefully before looking back at me.  I watch his facial expressions, hoping that he's excited.

"Are you mad?" I finally ask "I know it's a surprise, but it's good, right?"

"Of course it is!"  He puts them down and walks over to kiss me "This is the best surprise ever.  I can't wait to meet our baby."

"Thank God."  I smile kissing him back.

---------

"Do you remember the day he was born?"  I ask "When you freaked out because you thought he'd fall out or something?  We were in the hospital hours longer than we needed to be."

"Well sorry."  He acts hurt "I just wanted to make sure you were okay.  You were also really bitchy."

"I was in labor!"  I defend myself  "It's a little painful."

Brad's POV

"I can't believe you made me leave already."  Jen complains moving around in her bed "I could have slept longer."

"You weren't sleeping, you were bitching."  I defend my decision "If I had to hear you say the words 'It hurts' one more time I was going to leave until you called to tell me he really was about to fall out.  Just go to sleep now."

She falls asleep for a while until she wakes up to what she calls an unbelievably painful contraction making me want them to give her the epidural more than ever.  I can't stand seeing her in pain like this.

"They said they would be here 20 minutes ago."  She breaths between contractions "I needed it like 5 hours ago."

"Jen, I can't do anything."  I hold her hand, trying to help take away any pain that I can "They'll be here as soon as they can be."

She finally gets the epidural and less than 30 minutes later starts to push.

"He's almost out, babe."  I encourage her, hardly containing the excitement of being minutes away from meeting our baby.

She takes a deep breath, sits up, and pushes as hard as she can.  My hand gets crushed in the process from her death grip, while I continue to support her.

"One more, Jennifer."  The doctor says.

Pulling all her strength together, she pushes again.  She doesn't give up until the doctor is holding him up for us to see.

--------------

"He looked so much like me."  Brad says "He was such a good baby too."

"Probably because he's the only one that got to have all our attention."  I laugh "We were constantly holding him.  After he turned one I don't think he slept in his own bed for like a year."

"He didn't.  That's why Gabe is almost 3 years younger than him." He thinks back on things for a while "When we told him about Gabe I thought he would never stop jumping around.  I didn't think he would be that happy."

Brad's POV

"Hey, Liam, can you come over here?"  I ask from the couch where Jen and I are sitting "Me and mommy have to tell you something."

We found out a few days ago that the baby is a boy, and now that it's more noticeable, we decided it's time to tell Liam he'll be a big brother.

He runs over to where we are and sits on Jen's lap. 

"What, daddy?"

"Do you wanna know a secret?"  Jen asks.  He nods his head, so I decide to tell him.

"You're going to be a big brother!"  I tell him excitedly "There's a baby in mommy's belly right now."

"Really?!?"  He turns to Jen inspecting her enlarged stomach "In der?"

"Yeah,"  Jen laughs as he puts his hands all over her belly "Do you feel him moving?"

He shakes his head 'yes' excitedly and starts to bounce around.  We laugh at him, but secretly we're just happy that he isn't upset about this.

"He wuv me!"  Liam decides.  He gets off the couch eventually and jumps around all over the room.  Jen and I watch, hoping that this excitement lasts once the baby gets here.

-------------

Just as we get back to reality, Olivia runs up to us with her toys and Jack follows quickly behind.  We look at the time and see that Liam and Gabe will be out of school soon too. 

"Mom!  Dad!"  They walk in the house "Can we go now?  I'm starving!"

We go to the restaurant that Liam picked out and all crowd around a table.  He gets to pick where he sits, and if he has to be next to his siblings. 

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you."  Liam looks over at us excitedly "They cancelled my test, and all we did in 2 of my classes was watch movies!  I actually had fun at school on my birthday!"

"That's awesome!  What classes did you watch movies in?"

"Science and math."  He answers "The math one was boring but in science it was funny so I liked it."

"Well I'm glad you had a good birthday."  Brad says "You deserve it."