My Life Would Suck Without You

Hairdressers, parents and dogs, oh my!

Jai slowly approached the door and pushed it open. His head was pounding and he had to really concentrate on walking smoothly so as not to jar himself and cause his headache to intensify. Therefore, he entered the room in a slow, sliding gait, resembling an old lady shuffling across the floor wearing house slippers.

Ariana looked up as he entered and softly offered a very subdued greeting. "Hi. How's your head?"

Jai self-consciously touched his eyebrow where three small steri-strips covered the five stitches it took to sew up his forehead. Steri-strips were like super strong bandaids and he could just imagine how it was going to hurt when those things finally came off. Luckily, the cut bisected his eyebrow, so when it was healed, the brow would cover any scar. Unfortunately, that meant that the doctor insisted on shaving off part of his eyebrow before stitching him up which made him look like some sort of mutant from a horror movie. All he needed was a hockey mask and a leather apron and he'd be set. Instead of sharing all these odd thoughts with Ariana, Jai decided that even after his whole head-banging ordeal, she'd still been through more than he had and he responded appropriately.

"I'm fine. How are you feeling?"

"Sore" was her only response and Jai didn't feel a need to ask for details.

He walked up to the bed and realized what, or rather whom, she was cradling in her arms - but not just cradling. She was doing something entirely more intimate than cradling.

"What are you doing?" His tone wasn't accusatory; it was genuine shock.

Ariana gazed down lovingly at her baby and mumbled something to Jai while her lips were pressed against the baby's forehead.

"What?" Jai asked for clarification.

She looked up at him in annoyance. "I said, I'm nursing the baby."

"Why? You said you wanted to bottle feed, so that when you go back to work in six weeks you won't have to mess with switching her." He was completely confused and at the same time, completely mesmerized. Watching Ariana breastfeed their child gave him an unnameable warmth inside him.

Ariana shrugged nonchalantly. "I changed my mind." Then, as if feeling the need to defend herself she added. "It really is the best thing for the baby, you know."

"But won't that make it hard when you have to wean her in six weeks?"

Rather than answer, Ariana looked back down at the baby, deciding that now was the perfect time to switch her to the other breast ... or maybe she was just avoiding the question. She inserted her finger into the baby's mouth to break the suction and quickly moved the tiny body up to her shoulder.

"Wow, you're really good at that."

"The lactation consultant came by earlier and gave me some pamphlets and a little guidance. It's not as hard as it looks."

Jai sat down on the edge of the bed and gently rubbed the baby's back. "I think she fell asleep", he whispered.

"Milk drunk", explained Ariana. "That's what the nurse called it."

"She's beautiful", Jai said gently while continuing to rub little circles on his daughter's back. "I got a chance to see her in the nursery when they were weighing her ... before I got my stitches."

"Does it hurt much?"

After a lady-like little burp, Ariana shifted the baby to her other breast and she quickly latched on.

"Not too bad. Does that?", he asked, indicating the baby currently suckling at her mother's breast.

Ariana smiled. "A little, but it's supposed to get better."