"Danny, I can't," she cried, holding onto his hand as if her life depended on it.
"Yes, you can," he insisted calmly, but firmly.
She squeezed her eyes shut and leaned back against the pillow momentarily. Elise shook her head, disagreeing with him.
"Yes, you can," he spoke quieter this time, kneeling down next to her ear. She concentrated on her breathing: In through the nose, out through the mouth. In through the nose, out through the mouth...
Elise also concentrated on not punching her husband in his beautiful face. That was one thing Hollywood had gotten right about women being in labor. She hated Danny in that moment. Loathed him, even, for putting her through this. It truly was the most mind-blowing pain she had ever been in and hoped to ever experience.
If she wanted to punch her own sweet husband in the face, then she wanted to murder every single medical personnel in the room. They had fed her some bullshit about "not pushing efficiently" and turned her epidural down. Way down. Elise could feel everything now and was not happy about it. Things were progressing faster now, but she would never admit that turning her drugs down had been a good idea.
As another wave of pain washed over her, another thought occurred to her. All of the accounts she had read about on the forums from women who had already "been here, did this" had been true as well: The "ring of fire". It was an oddly apt, if not unfortunate, description. Elise felt like there should have been flames shooting from her crotch. She was sure this fresh new hell would rip her in half at any moment. She was vaguely aware of someone screaming in the background. It took her longer than it should have to realize the cries were coming from her.
The burning sensation seemed to dissipate as quickly as it started. The contractions still hurt, but Elise was surprised to find relief, glorious relief, when she pushed now. After a few more, the doctor had the audacity to tell her to slow down or risk tearing.
"Are you fucking kidding me?!" she came unglued. Even Danny turned away from her momentarily.
Grudgingly, Elise tried to do as the doctor said, focused on her breathing, but there was no stopping. She was no longer in control of her body and their baby seemed as ready to be there as they were.
"Try not to push, Elise," the doctor instructed again from between her legs. She wasn't entirely sure what he was doing down there, but she was about to kick him in the face if he told her to do the impossible one more time.
"You've got this, Elise," Danny spoke soothingly in her ear as he brushed some flyaways from her face. Tears sprung to her eyes and she began to feel hysterical.
"I have to, Danny. I have to push," she cried softly, losing the battle against holding back.
10 seconds later and the nurses were announcing that their son's head was out. Not that Elise needed an update. The immense wave of relief she felt made it obvious enough.
30 seconds later and their son was being placed on her chest, covered in gross baby goo and all. She didn't care. The sheer amount of relief and happiness she felt simultaneously was overwhelming. The floodgates really opened up now as her son began to cry. Elise briefly noticed Danny out of the corner of her eye, also swiping the back of his hand at the corners of his eyes.
"You did so good, sweetheart," he whispered in her ear, his forehead lingering against the side of hers a moment before kissing it.
Elise was exhausted, beyond, really, but couldn't sleep. 17 hours of labor or not, her endorphin levels refused to dissipate enough to let her sleep.
Everyone else in the room slept. Her two boys, Danny and the baby.
Her boys.
It felt weird, the newness of it. Her boys. One, the man she dearly loved and fell head over heels for so quickly. Had it really only been a little over 2 years since they had first met? The insane amount of changes to her life in that time were mind-boggling. From a young single woman living on her own to a married, mother of one in such a short time.
Her other boy, her "one": Parker James. The name Parker had come to them one evening while watching a National Geographic special on national parks not long after they had found out they were having a boy.
"What about Parker?" Danny suddenly blurted out as they sat on the couch together, holding hands.
"What?" Elise was lost.
"The baby," he put a hand on her stomach. "What about Parker?"
She thought about it for a minute, mulled it around in her head.
"I like it," she finally declared.
It made sense. Danny and Elise spent almost all of their free moments outdoors, whether it was hiking, backpacking, kayaking, fishing. It was befitting that their son would have a name that was related to their beloved nature in some way.
As for his middle name of James, it was Danny's father's middle name.
Elise looked down at the sleeping baby in her arms. It was all she could do not to caress one of the cheeks on his irresistibly chunky face. Her mind wandered as she continued gazing at him. Who would he look like?
At that moment in time, baby Parker looked more like Danny as far as his facial features and black hair. But she knew that could always change since most babies were born with dark hair. Elise secretly held out hope that he would inherit her green eyes, though she knew the chances of that were slim. For now, she waited for him to wake and get a peek at his steel-gray baby eyes. Instead, she saw movement out of the corner of her eye.
"Hey," Danny's voice was thick with sleep.
"Hi," she spoke quietly, not wanting to wake the tiny bundle in her arms.
"Have you slept at all?" he came over to her bedside.
"No," Elise admitted, looking back down at their son.
"You have to be exhausted. Why don't you let me take him for awhile?"
"I am, but I'm too wired to fall asleep. You can take him, though," she gently lifted the baby up to Danny's awaiting hands. She felt a deep happiness watching them together as her husband gazed down at their sleeping baby, treating him as if he were a bomb.
"He's so tiny," Danny marveled.
"He didn't feel very tiny coming out. I can assure you of that," they both laughed softly.
"You did great, though. I'm proud of you, Elise."
She didn't know what to say, "thank you" didn't feel right, so she said "I love you" instead.
"He's beautiful, Elise," Danny smiled wanly.
"He gets his handsomeness from his father," she smirked.
"No. He looks like you." Elise rolled her eyes.
"And don't roll your eyes either," he continued without looking up. He knew her too well.
"How about we just agree we make pretty babies?" she asked.
"Agreed."
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