Cupid Collections

35. Peyton - 14: The New Arrival

“It’s been three hours,” I complained throwing my hands in the air. The fell carelessly back onto the hospital bed. Nate and I had rushed here because my water had broken, and they wouldn’t let me leave, despite the fact that my baby wasn’t ready to come out.

Nate sat at my side, hunched over in his seat. He had called into work for emergency time. They liked him well enough there to allow it but he was tired of being here too.  At least he could walk around the hospital and eat whatever he wanted. My only food source was ice or water. It wasn’t very filling to say the least.

“He’ll come soon,” Nate assured.

I turned my head and gave him a glare. “If he wanted out, he’d be out by now.”

“Maybe he just likes the home you’ve made for him,” Nate suggested.

I groaned and hit my head against the stiff pillow. My hands rubbed my stomach where no activity was happening. There had been a few contractions that had hurt initially, but now-thanks to the hospital’s medication- the painful ones were far and few in-between.

The doctor walked in and gave us all a huge smile. She checked the clipboard and then turned to me.

“Let’s see how we’re doing, huh?” She came over and I had to put my legs up so she could do her thing. “Well, you are moving along, just slowly.”

Nate sat back in his chair and let out a breath. I agreed with him even though I couldn’t mirror his actions.

“Can’t we just force him out?” I wondered.

The doctor laughed and shook her head. “We’ve got to let him find his own way out. Everything is looking good for you two, he’s just taking his time.”

“Can’t I just go home until he’s ready to come out?”

“Peyton,” Nate called. “We’d never make it through the traffic in time to make it back here.”

I huffed in annoyance. Nothing wanted to work my way right now. If this little guy would just get things moving! The doctor laughed at the two of us and patted my knee.

“He’ll be along. Until then, have you two decided on a name?”

I glanced over at Nate, a bit ashamed that we hadn’t settled on one. The doctor took the exchange of our looks as her answer.

“You all can discuss that if you wish. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

She left the room and I sighed, giving the bulge of my stomach a glare. “Why don’t you want to see us?”

“Maybe because we can’t agree on a name?” Nate offered.

“I told you, we are not naming him Nate Jr.”

“No, no, just Nathan!”

“No,” I denied for the umpteenth time.

“Well, you offer up a name,” Nate suggested. “You know him best and all you’ve done is deny all of my ideas. Why don’t you throw out some of your own?”

I traced a circle over the blanket on my stomach. I couldn’t name him because I didn’t felt like I knew him. He was just this force in my stomach that was causing a lot of pain throughout my body. Still, he needed a name.

“Michael?” I threw out.

Nate’s face scrounged in disgust. “No way. I knew a Michael when I was still working upstairs. He was kind of awful.”

“Matthew?”

“Nah.”

“Daniel?”

“That’s not right.”