I woke up to find that my wife was already conscious and staring at me. "Shizuru, do you want something?" I asked with a hint of worry in my voice, fearing of what she was about to say.
"I… want… some… yogurt," she simply whispered, "with pickles," she said at the end. All her cravings seemed to have pickles in it. I guess this was a downside of getting your spouse knocked up. Shizuru was already 5 months pregnant, her belly showed it all. "Fine," I said, I mean how could I ignore her? She'd literally kill me if I did.
I slowly made it out of the room towards the kitchen. There was still some yogurt left in the fridge and an unopened pickle jar. She's probably going to mix them together, or something. I returned to our bedroom,Shizuru was still in bed but this time sat up. Those crimson eyes looking into my emerald ones, for a moment, all I could see was love. I sat at the side of the bed holding the food when she snatched them from my hands. Typical.
I just kissed her forehead and said, "Enjoy your food, honey." My feet started to saunter to the bathroom. I look like a mess. Splashed water hit my face, the cool of it started to calm my nerves.
"Na-tsu-ki," a voice called out from the bedroom. This voice, she sounds angry. As alluring as it would sound to other people, I, for one, knew what it meant. Disaster. I peeped out of the wash room to look at Shizuru. Her pickle jar was empty. I was sure it was full before I gave it to her. She couldn't have eaten everything all at once, I wondered. "Y-yes?" I could hear the fright in my voice as the word slipped out of my mouth.
"Get me some more," she quickly said. Luckily, I always kept spare jars, in case there were situations like this. What could I say? This is my wife we're talkin' about.
This continued on for the next 3 months and a couple of weeks. Shizuru would throw all sorts of tantrums at me, like when I wasn't paying attention or if I didn't get the right food or if the phone rang for too long. I was deep in hell until one night…
I was in my office/game room, playing Final Fantasy XIII. It was one of the awesomest games I've ever played. My wife was asleep in the room; at least I thought she was, when I heard a suspicious noise. As I entered the room, Shizuru was awake. She was saying something but I couldn't understand what it was. She seemed to be breathing quite heavily. My senses finally kicked in, I think her water just broke. My eyes widened in horror. I didn't know anything about childbirth. The first thing I did was call the hospital and inform Shizuru's doctor that she was ready. Immediately, I carried my wife bridal style to one of my cars. I debated whether I should use my Hummer or my Audi. Whichever would get us to the hospital faster. So I chose the Audi. It was a shade of dark blue and always attracted a lot of attention every time I drove it. I placed her in the backseat to let her be able to lie down. I took a look at Shizuru. She was in a lot of pain. "Deep breaths," I said as I remembered birthing class. I revved up my car and left the driveway.
Getting to the hospital was easy… All I had to do was break a million traffic laws and drive past all the other cars. They kept honking their cars at me; it's not my fault that my wife is about to give birth. Wait, it kinda is my fault. I impregnated her.
I stopped in front of the hospital doors. I got out of the car to see that the doctor was already waiting by the entrance with a nurse and an unoccupied wheelchair. It must be for Shizuru. Quickly, I rushed to Shizuru and placed her on the wheelchair. "Let's go," the doctor said but my attention was being called by a guy who drove an ambulance. Apparently, my car was blocking the opening of the hospital for the ambulance to park. Shizuru looked back at me to see me running in the opposite direction that she was going. "Natsuki!" she called out to me.
"I'll be right there, I promise!" that was all I was able to shout. Of course I'd be there. I'm not missing out on our first child being born.
I drove the car out of the way as fast as I could without bumping into the other vehicles. I rushed out of my car, not even bothering to lock the doors. My legs ran as fast as they could to find the room she was placed in.
"Room 406," I muttered under my breath as I carefully eyed each room on the fourth floor. Here it is! As my hand stretched out to reach for the doorknob, I hesitated for a moment. Was I ready to become a parent? Damn! Why did this have to come out now? I have to be by Shizuru's side! Slowly, I opened the door; my wife was on the bed with her back arched, screaming in pain. Shizuru, quickly, I seized her hand. She was sweating like crazy. I did what I could to let her remain calm but what exactly was that? My wife gripped my hand so hard that I thought it would break if she held on to it tighter. This pain must be nothing compared to what she must be feeling right now.
The doctor was in between Shizuru's legs mumbling something like, "Open your legs some more so I can see into your 'yayna-banayna'!" I must be imagining things but hey, that's for my eyes only. I couldn't help but glare at the doctor. "Shizuru, what you're experiencing now is contractions. I want you to push as hard as you can, okay?" she gave a quick nod as she squeezed my hand again, ready to feel some more pain. "Natsuki," she said, it was barely a whisper but I could hear it, even with all the noise around us. "Don't worry," I wiped the sweat off her forehead, "I'm not going anywhere."
A couple of hours later and I heard a baby crying. My baby. "It's a girl!" the doctor proclaimed and gestured for me to take the infant into my arms. "She—she's beautiful," I said with tears forming in my eyes. "And she's ours," Shizuru interjected gently. I brought her to the bed and placed her in her mother's care. We took a few minutes to stay in this first family moment.
"I love you," I said as I kissed her cheek. She smiled wearily due to all the hours of labor but knew it was worth it. "I love you too." The nurse came inside the room to take the baby away. I sighed and waved goodbye to her. My wife was already fast asleep, we can name her tomorrow, and I yawned. I too succumbed to my own exhaustion and dozed off.