Be With Me

Chapter 30

"James...James..." Rafaela called while dialing her mother's number.

"He doesn't stop crying." He said.

"I'm calling my mother." She said back.

James appeared in the living room holding the baby in his arms. "Hurry... he doesn't shut up."

"Mom!" Rafaela exclaimed as her mother answered the call.

"What is it?" Cynthia said noticing her desperate voice.

"Can you come down here please? The baby... he's been crying for quite some time and we can't calm him down." She explained. Her mother sighed.

"Is he hungry?" Cynthia asked.

"No... we fed him. He's changed, we even changed his clothes to see if he was uncomfortable or something, James rocked him, I did too...he doesn't shut up mom." Then she went silent watching James trying desperately to calm the baby down. "We don't know what to do..." She finally confessed to her mother. "Can you come here? I promise it's the last time I ask."

"I'm going." Cynthia said hanging up the next second. Rafaela looked at the phone surprised and then put it down.

"She's coming here." She said walking up to James.

"Here..." He said giving her Liam. "You try now..."

James opened the door to Cynthia who ran to the couch where Rafaela was with her son in her arms.

"Give him to me." She ordered and Rafaela did so looking into her mother's criticizing eyes. "It's his belly for Christ sake." She exclaimed the second she held Liam and saw how he positioned his legs. "You two... two kids! Two kids who can't look after their own baby." She shot at them.

"Don't say that mom!" Rafaela felt offended.

"Am I lying? How many times did I have to come here to assist you guys for the past two weeks?" Cynthia asked them. She was visibly irritated.

James looked away and so did Rafaela. Ever since the baby was home that it hadn't been easy for them. They were unable to recognize what the baby's needs were, apart from the obvious and mainly they just got scared whenever he didn't stop crying.

"It's been hard mom. He doesn't let us sleep at night. It's been two weeks that we have been able to sleep no more than two or three hours a night. We're tired and yes... sometimes we don't know what to do but we're doing our best ok?" Rafaela argued.

"Babies cry a lot!" Cynthia said. "I've told you this many times."

"We know that and sometimes we manage to keep him quiet, but now... now he was just yelling and yelling." James added. "We tried everything, and he just kept crying."

"Whenever he positions his legs like this..." She pointed. "It's because his belly is hurting. They swallow a lot of air while they're sucking and this air gives them pain, so they cry because they don't know how to say they're hurting, are you guys hearing me?" Both nodded. "All you have to do is massage him like this or lay him down on your arms on his stomach." Cynthia explained.

"And then what?" James asked.

"And then wait... he's a baby.... wait until he calms down." Rafaela's mother added.

"He takes hours sometimes to calm down. "Rafaela said.

"Because he's a baby." Cynthia said running out of patience. "There's no need to run to the hospital as you've done five times already. There's no need to call me three times a day to come down here. He's acting like a baby. You guys are driving all of us insane! CALM THE HELL DOWN!" She yelled at the end.