A/N – Inspired by a fact I just found out about newborn babies. Just so you know – I generally don't like gender-bending China, but for the purpose of this fic, I needed him to be female so that I could make him give birth to a blue-eyed baby and so that England would question the baby's real father. This fic was meant to be humorous, particularly the last part, but like I said in one of my earlier fics, I'm just not a funny person :(
Chun Yan was currently in labour. She had been for the past 8 hours, but her cervix hadn't been dilated enough for the baby to pass through, and had only just become fully dilated for a natural birth to occur.
Chun Yan had been taken to the delivery room, where she would deliver the baby. She cried out as another contraction hit her – this was going way too fast for her liking. She was expecting a mid-July baby, but it was only the first day of July and it looked like the baby could not wait to come out.
Thankfully, Chun Yan wasn't alone. Arthur, the doting father, had been by her side throughout the past 8 hours. He was holding her hand as she struggled to catch her breath and relax. She was also awfully hungry, and didn't know if the lack of food to her system would affect her ability to give birth to the baby. Earlier on, Arthur had offered to get Chun Yan something to eat and drink, but feeling nauseous from the pain, she declined. Chun Yan had also been given a mild epidural to help with the pain – it helped during the early stages of labour, but now, the pain seemed to surpass the effects of the epidural.
Not long after, Chun Yan's gynaecologist, a friendly-looking doctor by the name of Dr. Tino Väinämöinen entered the delivery room. He glanced between Chun Yan's spread legs and gave a nod in approval to the nurse on duty. "Hello," he greeted Arthur with a handshake and a wide smile. "Your wife is ready for childbirth now," he informed Arthur.
Arthur nodded. He leaned forward and kissed Chun Yan on her sweaty forehead. "It'll all be over soon, okay?"
Chun Yan nodded weakly and tried to smile at Arthur.
"Okay," said Dr. Tino as he settled himself between Chun Yan's legs. "Chun Yan, I want you to push with all your might," he told the Asian girl.
It was easy to push, seeing as Chun Yan had been feeling the urge to push since she was wheeled to the delivery room. As she pushed, her grip on Arthur's hand tightened. It got to the point where she was grasping on to Arthur's hand as if her life depended on it.
Meanwhile, Arthur felt as though his hand was going to break from the pressure Chun Yan was applying on it, but decided to bear with it and not say anything. After all, the pain Chun Yan was feeling must be a lot worse than the throbbing in his hand from being clenched ever so tightly.
"I can see the head!" exclaimed Dr. Tino excitedly. "Keep on pushing," he encouraged. "You're doing excellent!"
Chun Yan gasped as she felt the pressure building up between her legs. She wasn't aware that tears were streaming down her face until Arthur reached out to wipe them away. Chun Yan could feel the baby slipping out of her, but why the hell was it taking so damn long?
"OK, stop pushing for a while," commanded Dr. Tino. "I want you to take short, panting breaths for the next two contractions."
Chun Yan did as she was told.
"Keep on pushing – the shoulders are coming out now."
Quickly, the nurse on duty injected some sort of liquid into Chun Yan's thigh.
"What's that for?" Arthur inquired. He was uneasy about seeing some unknown drug enter his wife's body.
"This?" asked the nurse, smiling gently. "It's called a 'managed third stage'. Basically, it helps the placenta exit the body without having her to push it out. I'm sure she must be tired from all the pushing."
With a loud cry, Chun Yan gave an almighty push. Once the baby's shoulders were out, the baby slipped out pretty easily.
"It's a boy!" exclaimed the doctor. He passed the crying baby to the nurse. It still had its umbilical cord attached to it.
Through the haze, Chun Yan nodded weakly, smiling. She had known it was going to be a boy somewhere in the third month of her pregnancy (call it mother's instinct), but Arthur wanted it to be a surprise, so she remained silent about it. Momentarily, she thought back to finding out she was pregnant, the morning sickness, telling their friends, Arthur's attempts to placate her every craving (regardless of how unreasonable they may have been), the doctor's visits, the ultrasounds… She smiled fondly at those brief memories.
Chun Yan was jolted back to reality when she felt something in her stomach collapse. Dr. Tino pulled on the baby's umbilical cord while pressing on Chun Yan's tummy above her pelvis, and the placenta keeping Chun Yan's baby alive eased out of her.
The doctor proceeded to cut the umbilical cord away from the baby, who was covered in some sort of whitish-clear slime. Once the cord was cut, the nurse brought the still crying baby away to be cleaned.
Arthur looked at Chun Yan's tired face. Nevertheless, her eyes were sparkling. "It's a boy!" he cried happily and clutched Chun Yan's hand.
"I know, aru," Chun Yan said. "I heard Dr. Tino when he said it the first time."
Arthur laughed and kissed Chun Yan's hand. "I love you," he told her. "Thank you for this gift of life," he murmured, planting yet another kiss on Chun Yan's lips.
It was then the nurse returned with a clean baby wrapped in a blue towel. She handed the baby to Chun Yan.
Chun Yan accepted the baby with both hands, although they were shaking from exhaustion. She brought the baby to her chest. The baby had stopped crying and was now curiously gazing at his mother. "Hong Kong," she said.
"Hm?" Arthur said.
"Doesn't he look like a Hong Kong to you, aru?" Chun Yan chuckled tiredly.
"I suppose," Arthur replied, peering at the little bundle in Chun Yan's arms.
By then, the nurse had more or less cleaned up Chun Yan's nether regions and Dr. Tino had brought her legs together. "Would you like a sedative so that you can sleep?" Dr. Tino asked gently.
Arthur stole a glance at Chun Yan's face and decided that yes, she needed to go to sleep. 8 hours of labour couldn't be good for her body. "Yes, please," he answered for her. He took Hong Kong from Chun Yan.
Dr. Tino smiled cheerily. "Not a problem at all," he replied. "When you wake, we will have transferred you to a more comfortable ward and your baby will be in the babies' room, and you can go and see him anytime."
"Okay," Chun Yan replied quietly. Dr. Tino injected some sedatives into her and she was out in no time.
Dr. Tino turned to Arthur. "I have another patient about to give birth and I have to see to that," he informed Arthur. "Your wife will be taken to the ward on this floor. She will be cared for before that – she needs a change of clothes and needs to be cleaned up, which the nurses will do. Meanwhile, if you want some bonding time with your son, I won't say no to that," he chuckled. "But a nurse will take him to the babies' room where they can monitor him for any abnormalities or illnesses in 30 minutes. We also need to get the paperwork done – such as the admission forms and the baby's birth certificate. But no hurry."
"Okay, thanks, doctor!" Arthur said gratefully.
Arthur brought his son out of the delivery room so that the nurses could work on his wife and transport her to the ward.
As soon as Arthur stepped out of the delivery room, he was greeted by an obnoxiously loud American. "Yo, Arthur!"
Arthur could feel the beginnings of a headache. His colleagues had come. "Alfred," he deadpanned. It wasn't that he disliked Alfred – he was just too loud and excitable for Arthur, sometimes. "And Matthew," he nodded to the quiet Canadian standing beside Arthur. "Did you just get here?"
Alfred nodded enthusiastically.
"Hi Arthur," Matthew greeted the Englishman with a wave of his hand. "Congratulations on the baby."
"Thanks, Matthew," Arthur replied. He couldn't help smiling at his friends. Today, he was the happiest man in the world! "How did you know we were here anyway?"
"I have my ways," Alfred wagged his eyebrows suggestively. "Is that your baby?" he asked Arthur, gesturing to the bundle in Arthur's arms and jumping around excitedly. "Can I see it? Can I see it?"
Arthur glared at Alfred. "He is not an 'it'," he informed Alfred.
"A son then?" Matthew inquired, his eyes wide and sparkling. "Wow… can I hold him?" he asked bashfully.
Honestly, Arthur trusted Matthew more than Alfred with handling a baby, and was thankful that Alfred didn't ask to hold his newborn son. "Here," he carefully passed the baby to Matthew. "Be very very careful…" Arthur warned.
"Of course," Matthew replied with a roll of his eyes as he took the baby from Arthur. It seemed that Matthew was a natural at caring for babies, for once Hong Kong was in his arms, he didn't have to reposition them, like Arthur did on his first try at holding his son.
Baby Hong Kong was fascinated by the curl on Matthew's hair. He watched in awe as the strand of hair dangled from Matthew's head.
"Hey," Alfred looked at the baby. "He has blue eyes," he observed.
Arthur peered into Hong Kong's tiny face. He did indeed have blue eyes. Which was strange, considering neither he nor Chun Yan had blue eyes. Unless… "Hey, YOU have blue eyes," Arthur pointed out to Alfred.
Alfred looked at Arthur questioningly. "So?"
The implications of Hong Kong having blue eyes dawned upon Arthur. Angrily, he grabbed Alfred's collar, bringing the American closer to him. "Have you been sleeping around with MY wife?" he demanded.
"What?" Alfred lifted his hands in surrender. "I wouldn't do that to you!" he cried. "Chun Yan is a hot chick, but I wouldn't… I wouldn't!"
"Yeah," Mathew piped in. He was now stroking Hong Kong's head of little tufts of dark hair. "Alfred wouldn't do that," he told Arthur. "Chun Yan wouldn't do that either. She loves you too much."
"Well, then explain why my son has blue eyes when neither of his parents have blue eyes!" Arthur had not released his grip on Alfred's collar and was still glaring at him menacingly.
Matthew and Alfred exchanged uneasy glances and shrugged simultaneously.
"Er, excuse me?" a tiny girl tapped Arthur on his shoulder.
Arthur whipped around. "Yes?" he gritted out. He had no mood to deal with strangers now. Not when he had just found out that his son may not even be his son!
"I'm a nursing student… and I couldn't help but overhear your conversation," the girl began shyly.
All three men looked at her questioningly.
"All babies are born with blue eyes," she explained. "This is because melanin, the pigment molecule that colours the eyes, hasn't been fully deposited in the irises or darkened by exposure to ultraviolet light. So… your son is indeed your son, it's just that he hasn't lived long enough for his eyes to develop their colour."
"Oh," Arthur breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks for clearing that up for us."
"Not a problem at all," the student smiled brightly at them before going on her way.
"Well, we learnt something new today, eh?" Alfred straightened his shirt once Arthur had let go of him.
"Yeah, thank god for that girl – Arthur looked like he was going to pummel you into a pulp!" Matthew informed Alfred.
Hong Kong gave a huge yawn and began drifting off to sleep.
Matthew handed Hong Kong back to Arthur, who took the baby carefully into both his arms. "Looks like he wants to go to sleep," Matthew said.
Arthur laughed softly. "Being born takes a lot of effort, you know," he joked. "Sweet dreams, my little angel," Arthur said to Hong Kong, kissing him on the forehead.
Arthur's smiling face was the last thing Hong Kong saw before his eyes slipped close and he was out like a light.