“What? Oh no… no, no, no, you have to push him back in! I’m not ready yet. ” Panicking, I looked over at Jeff and my mother, who both had goofy-ass smiles plastered on their faces.
“I wish I could, Ari, but it looks like your little guy is ready to make an appearance. ”
Then, another contraction hit me. Oh god.
“Jeff, come on over to the right hand side of, Ari. You might want to take her hand. ”
Jeff let out a laugh. “I think I’ll pass. ”
I snapped my head at him, and he stopped laughing.
“I’m only kidding, baby. ” He took my hand and kissed the back of it.
My mother was on the other side of me, stroking my head.
“Are you really sure you couldn’t just push him back in enough for me to get the epidural?”
Dr. Wyatt just laughed and winked at me.
Does he think I’m kidding?
“Alright, Ari, I need you to give me a good strong push when the next contraction starts. ”
***
Motherfucker. If I was told to push one more time, I was going to scream.
“One more good push, Ari, and I think we’ll have it. ”
I leaned up and pushed as hard as I could.
“Shit,” Jeff muttered.
I realized I was squeezing the hell out of his hand.
Good. I hope it broke.
Then, I felt an instant relief.
“Here, Jeff, time to cut the cord. ” Dr. Wyatt said.
Lying back down, I looked up at Jeff and saw he was crying. The moment I saw him cry, I started to cry. The nurse laid a towel on my stomach and then placed our son on me.
He was perfect.
I glanced at my mother, who was crying like a baby. Then, I turned my head back to Jeff. He looked white as a ghost while he watched whatever Dr. Wyatt was doing.
Then he looked at me and our son.
He leaned down and kissed me so sweetly.
“I’m so proud of you, Ari. You did it baby. ” He looked at our son and smiled.
The nurse leaned in to scoop up our son, and then she walked with him over to a table.
“Can I go with him?” Jeff asked me.
“Of course!”