Mended(57)

Oh Lord! His knees buckle, but he senses Savannah is watching him, so he pulls it together…somewhat. Her eyes lock onto his, showing terror and excitement all at once.

“You will feel some pressure,” Dr. Brown announces, and suddenly Savannah is being moved about, but she doesn’t seem to notice too much.

Something tells him to look, and before his brain can catch up, he glances over and sees his daughter as she is pulled from her mother’s womb.

Air, movement, chatter, heartbeat, everything stops when his eyes land on his little girl.

“Oh my god!” he whispers in awe.

“No matter what,” Savannah makes him look down at her, “you don’t leave her side. Promise me, Cole.”

“I promise.”

Savannah’s chin starts to quiver, and she bursts into tears when she hears their baby cry for the first time. Cole has to agree, it’s the best sound in the entire world.

He kisses her hand. “I’ll be right back.” He steps up next to the nurse, who is cleaning the baby’s skin and clearing her lungs. She’s crying hard, and his hands itch to scoop her up. He bites his cheek. He wants to yell at the nurse to be careful. Lord, she’s only seconds old! Let me hold her, damn it! His blood pressure is through the roof, and he’s sweating from the damn full body outfit they have him in. All he wants is…

“Here you go, Daddy.” The nurse turns, holding his daughter bundled up like a burrito. “Seven pounds, one ounce, and she has a great set of lungs on her.” She places her in his arms.

As soon as she’s nuzzled up next to his chest, she immediately stops crying. Her little black eyes open and stare at him. Tiny pink lips just like her mother’s latch onto her fist, and she starts to suck.

She’s perfect.

“Hi,” he whispers, feeling tears slip out of his eyes. “I’m your daddy.” He raises her to his face and breathes in her smell, embedding it in his memory. “Let’s go see Mommy.”

Savannah cries again when he holds her out close to her chest. Her arms are still strapped down, so he lifts her up to her face, letting her have skin to skin contact.

“Hi, baby girl.” Savi smiles. “Oh! She has your eyes, Cole.”

Cole grins, thinking everything about their baby is Savannah. That’s why she’s perfect.

After a rather rough bath, so Cole thought, finger and footprints are done, and everything that can be measured and poked is complete, and he finally gets to hold her again. He’s told to hang out in the room in a rocking chair to wait until Savannah is moved to her room.

The wooden rocking chair has a soothing a creak to it, and soon he finds a rhythm she enjoys and they both settle in.

Her little hands are free, and one is jammed in her mouth, making the cutest sucking noise. The other rubs his shirt back and forth. He sticks his finger into her palm, and she quickly latches on, making an adorable coo sound. This breaks the dam, and he starts to cry. He’s emotionally exhausted, something that never happened until Savannah came into his life.

“You have some guests.” The nurse points to a viewing window.

Cole carefully stands and brings her over to window where his mother, Abigail, and June are pressed against the glass. He laughs as they all melt over her.

“Oh, sweet one, you are going to be so loved,” he whispers into her tiny ear. “Mostly by your mother and me.” Her dark eyes peek up at him, almost like she understands. “Daddy’s little girl, aren’t ya?” She makes a tiny squeak, making his heart squeeze.

Savannah is staring out the window when he returns to her room. She looks beat, but when she spots them coming in, her face lights up.

“How is she?” she whispers, holding out her arms.

“Perfect, of course.” Cole waits for the nurse to park the rolling cot next to Savi, then places her in her eager arms.

“Oh,” she sniffs, “hello, my little girl.”

Cole sits so he’s next to them, wrapping his arm around her back. He holds out his finger to the baby, pressing it back into her grasp and loving the bond they already have.

Savannah looks up at him, showing him her beautiful face. “We did it, Cole. We made it to the other side. We’re going to be okay now.”

Cole kisses her shoulder and looks at his little family. “Yeah, baby, we’re going to be just fine.”

She beams, taking a long sigh and relaxing against him.

“Savi?” he whispers, “I think I have the perfect name for her.”

“Oh?”

He leans in and whispers. She suddenly turns into his shoulder and breaks into another sob. He knows they are happy tears. It’s the perfect name for her…the perfect name to remember.