Looking down at the stomach, she said, "Alyssa Jane, Mommy would appreciate if you would cooperate with the nice people and come out."
"Hey, she's coming early as it is, give the kid a break," Aaron said.
"Thank God. I don't think I could have lasted another three weeks, Aaron. I think I would have exploded out of my skin."
Three and a half hours later, Julie was dilated and in the throes of intense and frequent contractions. She was pushing, crying, screaming and breathing. The doctor was assuring her that he could see the baby's head and Aaron was anxiously holding her hand while she squeezed his until it was numb.
"It's almost over, honey," Aaron promised her.
Nodding vigorously, she continued to breathe.
"She's crowning," the doctor said, offering Julie a smile. "You're doing great, Julie. I need you to push, we need to get her out."
"I'm pushing," Julie cried, taking a breath and pushing even harder.
Absently pulling her hand up to his lips and leaving a brief kiss there, Aaron offered her a little smile and said, "She's almost here, honey. It's almost over."
"You better appreciate this, mister," she stated, scowling at him. "This whole making you a daddy business hurts like hell. We could've just gotten a puppy, you know."
Aaron chuckled, kissing her hand again and glancing back at the doctor.
"Puppies are cute," she insisted, giving another grimacing push. "They bark," she gasped, "but you don't have to push them out of your body, so… I'm a fan."
Aaron patted her hand as she panted, looking decidedly disappointed that there was still no crying of a baby.
The doctor was concentrating and he looked up at Julie, giving her more directions and telling her he almost had the baby, but he needed one more really good push.
Since she could feel that the baby was coming out, she had confidence in his words and she took a couple of breaths before buckling down and pushing as hard as she possibly could without giving herself an aneurism.
A plaintive, screechy little cry rent the room and Julie fell back onto the bed, panting with her last efforts while Aaron abandoned her hand and turned his attention to the doctor, who was lifting the slippery little bundle and handing it off to a nurse.
"I'm going to clean her up a little," the nurse promised. The nurse asked Aaron if he wanted to cut the cord, and Julie just stared at the ceiling, only dimly aware of anything that was going on.
While the nurse cleaned up the baby, Aaron turned back to Julie, positively beaming at her. "You did it, honey. It's all over."
"Almost," the doctor stated.
Julie blinked at him, then he explained they had to deliver the afterbirth and he began massaging her stomach.
After the decidedly less exciting—and infinitely less painful—second birth, Julie grimaced, saying to Aaron, "This is so gross, you're never going to want to sleep with me again."
Laughing a little, he sat in the chair, kissing her hand again and giving it a little squeeze. "I disagree," he told her warmly. "After this, I look forward to sleeping with you every night for the rest of my life."
She was just about to remark on the "rest of my life" part of that comment when the nurse brought over a swaddled little bundle with pruney little hands and a very red skin tone.
"Who wants to hold the baby first?" the nurse asked. "Mama?"
She did, but one look at Aaron's eager face caused her to smile a little and say, "Let Daddy hold her first."
Aaron lit up as the nurse handed him the bundled up baby girl, and Julie thought a person couldn't possibly look at another human being with more love than Aaron was looking at their baby in that moment.
"She's perfect," he murmured, lightly br
ushing his thumb across her tiny little hand.
Grinning, Julie peered over at her baby and said, "Yes, she most certainly is."
"No other baby that has ever been born could possibly have been this perfect," he insisted. "It would defy the laws of nature."