Aideen screamed loudly as our baby moved through her body.
“Shoulders are out,” I beamed. “Chest ... Torso ... Butt ... Legs ... and toes. You did it, baby.”
Aideen slumped forward against my brothers who supported her. I adjusted my baby in my arms, my heart slamming in my chest as I carefully looked between the chunky thighs. I blinked three times before I realised what I was looking at.
“It’s a ... boy!” I announced. “It’s definitely a boy.”
Aideen gasped and tried to look, but she couldn’t turn to see because I was behind her, and the cord was still attached to her and the baby.
“Are ye’ sure?”
Branna carefully helped Aideen sit down, she leaned over the pool and lifted her leg so I could wind the umbilical cord under her so she didn’t hurt Aideen or the baby. Aideen turned her head, locked eyes on our child, and burst into tears. She was smiling but only for a moment.
“Branna,” she said. “Why isn’t he cryin’?”
“It’s normal. Give ‘im a second,” Branna said then reached over and took the baby from me without asking.
My happiness fled, and overwhelming fear consumed me as I stared at my child, willing him to cry.
“Oh, please,” Aideen screamed as panic struck. “Please, make ‘im cry, Branna.”
Aideen tried to stand, so I grabbed her shoulders to keep her still. She shoved my hands away and tried to move closer to Branna, but I wouldn’t let her. Branna had to focus, and Aideen could have hurt herself so I wrapped my arms around her body, and held her against my chest.
“Come on, baby boy,” Branna cooed to the baby as she rubbed him roughly with one of our baby towels. “Give me a nice big cry.”
Time slowed down, and every moment felt like an hours ... until magic. The loudest wail you could imagine from a newborn filled my apartment, and it was the best sound I had ever heard in my entire life. Aideen cried with relief and so did I. I pressed my face against Aideen’s hair as I silently thanked God for helping my child.
“Ye’ little brat.” Branna tearfully laughed as she finished wiping the baby’s face. “Givin’ your mammy and daddy an awful fright like that.”
“Your fucking uncles, too,” Alec stated and bent forward, placing his hands on his knees, panting like he just ran a marathon.
Branna moved over to us and leaned down. She lowered her arms and gently rested the baby on Aideen’s chest. Both women adjusted Aideen’s T-shirt until our son was underneath it and resting against his mom’s chest. Aideen adjusted him so she could see between his legs.
“It is a boy,” she cried with happiness. “We have a son.”
I wrapped my arms around both of them and kissed the side of her face. “Thank you so much, baby.”
“For what?” She sniffled, looking back at me.
She was sweaty, her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes were red and swollen from crying, but I had never seen her look so beautiful in all the time I’ve known her.
“For giving him to me,” I answered and kissed her lips.
Aideen rested her forehead to mine, then we both looked at our son when he cried.
“Shhh,” Aideen cooed and gently rocked him. “Mammy’s got ye’.”
My heart burst with love at that moment. I was a father, and my girl was a mother.
“He looks just like ye’, Kane.” Branna sniffled. “He’s your double.”
“No way,” I murmured, looking at the baby. “He’s beautiful, so that’s all Aideen.”
My eyes roamed over his face. He had a cute button nose, chubby cheeks, a head full of dark brown hair, and plump pink lips. He was gorgeous, and he was ours.
“I love you,” Aideen whispered to him. “I love ye’ so much, baby boy.”
I repositioned myself behind her by putting my legs on either side of her hips and then pulled Aideen and our baby back against my chest. I leaned my head against Aideen’s, and we both continued to stare at our little piece of heaven. We had waited so long to meet him, and a huge part of me couldn’t believe he was here.
“I can’t believe we made him,” Aideen murmured. “He is perfect.”
“He is,” I agreed.
Aideen rested against me as Branna got her medical bag. I watched her approach the pool but said nothing. She silently placed a clamped on the baby’s umbilical cord, then place a second one about couple or so inches as from my son’s belly. Branna watched the cord, and I found myself watching it with her. I watched until there was no visible pulse on the cord, and when Branna checked it, and confirmed it, she got a scissors from her bag, smiled, and handed them to me.
“Cut between the clamp and my fingers.”
She pointed at the exact point. It was tougher than I expected it to be, but it was an experience I would always remember.
“Ye’ might want to claw me eyes out, but can I have ’im for a few minutes? I’ll dry ’im off and wrap ’im up nice and warm.”
Aideen looked up at Branna and said, “Why?”
Branna chuckled. “I have to help ye’ deliver the placenta, babe, and I want to weigh ‘im.”
“Okay.” Aideen sighed, and carefully handed our son to Branna.
“He will be back in your arms before ye’ know it.”
Branna weighed and measured the baby, and he was ten pounds even, and twenty inches long. After weighing him, Branna then cleaned him up, put a blue hat on his head, and wrapped him in a thick blanket then placed him in his bassinet. My brothers gave us their congratulations and left the room then to give us some privacy. Over the course of the next ten minutes, Aideen delivered the placenta.
“All done,” Branna announced then reached into the water and lifted the clump of bloody placenta, placed it into a plastic bag next to her, and sealed it. Branna removed her gloves, lifted our son from his bassinet, then gave him back to Aideen. She held her arms up to make sure the blanket the baby was wrapped in didn’t touch the water of the pool. I glanced up when I heard a soft click. I noticed Branna had left the room, so it was just Aideen, our son, and me.
“I was so scared there for a second.”
“Me too, sweetheart.” I kissed her shoulder. “My heart stopped.”
Our son wailed, and it made Aideen chuckle when I said, “I love your cry, little man.”
Aideen gazed down at the baby, and said, “Ye’ don’t think the smoke from that night hurt ‘im, right?”
“No,” I replied. “Look at him; he is healthy as can be. Pink and big all over.”
His little face was pressed against his mother’s chest, and his instinct took over. He tried to suckle on her skin, so Aideen nervously repositioned him under her breast. I reached around and adjusted her breast and nipple with my hand until it was close to the baby’s mouth. It took about a minute of adjusting and brushing Aideen’s nipple against our son’s lips, but he eventually latched on and began to suckle.
“Ow.”
I tensed. “Are you okay?”
Aideen nodded but continued to wince. “It hurts a little, but it’s okay. Branna said that some pain was normal.”
I pressed my face to the side of hers, and we both looked down as our son fed for the first time. I heard a little click but didn’t look up. I heard some movement, then the sound of a shutter caught my attention. I looked up and saw Branna smiling apologetically as she tucked her phone into her trouser pocket.
“Sorry, it was too perfect of a moment not to capture.”
I smiled and looked back down at my son.
“How is everythin’?” Branna whispered.
Aideen smiled. “Perfect.”
“Branna,” I murmured. “He latched on.”
“Brilliant,” she beamed as she moved closer. “Are ye’ feelin’ okay, Aideen?”
Aideen silently bobbed her head. I looked down at the baby and noticed he unlatched and smacked his lips together a few times, before just lying on his mom’s chest in a baby drunk daze.