Skinny Love

July, 1973

Lowkey want to do an "about the author" but I don't want to be a narcissist lol. I also want to answer questions, so leave some in the comments -- if you want to, maybe this'll flop.

July 1, 1973

Freddie
"Are you sure that you're ready to hold Remy?" I asked, softly, and John nodded with a small smile- he had started to feel better a week after waking up, and he was finally stable enough to go and sit with Remy for a little while. They were officially two weeks old, so thirty-two weeks, and the doctors felt that it would be beneficial if we got to hold them for a little while. "Be careful getting up, please." I murmured, then I helped him off of the bed and I held his hand and I started to lead him down to the NICU.

John had met Remy, but he was still a little spaced out when he saw them for the first time. The doctors still weren't sure what happened during the C-Section, but I had my boy back and that was all that mattered.

"Are you ready to meet your little peanut?" Nurse Barbara asked after walking into the room- I wanted her to be there with us when John met Remy, so I told her when we were planning on going so she could make a break in her schedule. "They've been waiting for you both, so I think they'll be pretty excited to see you." She smiled, rubbing John's shoulder and making him giggle a bit.

"I'm pretty excited." He smiled, his voice still a little rough from not being awake for several days at a time. "How... how have they been? Have you seen them yet?" He asked her and she nodded with a small smile.

"They're doing just fine, their breathing is fine, and their heart rate has been steady since the C-Section, so I think there was something wrong while they were inside of you. Sometimes babies just can't handle being in the womb, so your body tries to get rid of it." She explained and John nodded a bit, holding me a tighter while I led him down the hallway.

Barbara took us into the room, and we slowly made our way to Remy's incubator. I knew exactly where it was, but I didn't want to rush him because it was his first time meeting his new baby while being completely lucid- I was excited for them to meet for real, because the last time was kind of awkward. Once we were at Remy's little bed, John let out a little coo and I smiled, wrapping an arm around his waist. They still had a tube in their nose, and the heart monitors on, but they graduated from needing to be under the heat lamp to regulating their own body temperature.

"Do you want to try skin-to-skin time?" Barbara asked and John nodded with a huge smile.

I helped lower him onto the chair, then I took his shirt off for him and he smiled while he waited for his little baby. Remy was passed to him, and the infant made a little squeaking noise while they rested against their daddy. John let out a little noise and his eyes started filling with tears before kissing the baby's head.

"Hi, Remy." He whispered, tearfully, then he looked up at me with a small smile. "I love them." He giggled and I nodded with a small hum. "When can we... when can we take them home?" He asked, looking up at Barbara.

"Well, we have a couple more tests to run with them, but we're thinking that it should be in two to five weeks- when they're thirty-five to thirty-eight weeks gestation." She explained and we both nodded. "They have to be able to breathe on their own, and have their sleep apnea controlled, and we have to be able to feed them with a bottle, and they have to be at a certain weight before we can release them." She continued and John hummed while he stroked Remy's back.

"Keep growing, little peanut, then we'll get to go home." He whispered against Remy's little hat. "When do we get to go home, like, Freddie and I? I-I want to see Lennon." He looked up at me and I nodded with a small smile. "I miss her, and I'm sure Roger and Brian want to be alone for a while before their baby comes." He chuckled, accidentally jostling Remy a bit.