Daddy's Girl

(Chapter Nine: Anticipation)

Olivia stood in the baby's nursery folding little pink sleepers and hanging up little lacy dresses. She smiled as she felt a strong kick from her daughter and smoothed her hand over her belly. Today she was now four days past her due date and in just a couple of hours, Olivia would be heading to the hospital to have her labor induced. They had tried everything they could think to try to bring on labor naturally with no results.

She exhaled softly as she finished putting away the gifts from her baby shower and neatly fixed the little green and yellow floral embroidered quilt in the baby's crib. She wound the mobile and watched as the little bumble bees, butterflies and dragonflies began to dance to the soft tune of a lullaby. This was the perfect room for their beautiful new baby girl.

Olivia made her way into the bedroom and smiled at the sight of her husband still sleeping soundly. The alarm clock was set to go off in just a few minutes, but in her excitement for the arrival of their little girl, Olivia had woke up a couple of hours earlier and not been able to go back to sleep. Instead she took a hot shower and double checked her hospital bag. She made sure there were fresh batteries for the camera and made sure the house and nursery were ready for them to bring the new baby home. She finished sterilizing baby bottles and repacked the diaper bag with the clothes and items they would need to bring the baby home.

She walked over to the little pink bassinette on her side of the bed. She neatly draped the little pink, yellow and green receiving blankets over the side of the bassinette as the alarm clock sounded.

Elliot groaned as he reached over and hit the snooze button.

"No, El. You have to get up. We are supposed to meet my doctor at the hospital so we can have our baby girl."

Elliot rolled over and smiled at his wife sitting on her side of the bed.

"How long have you been up?"

"About three hours," Olivia laughed.

"A little excited, huh?" he asked combing his fingers through her hair and kissing her tenderly.

"I got up to pee and couldn't go back to sleep. I am so ready to get this delivery over with and finally get to hold my daughter."

"Alright," he said climbing from the bed. "I'm up. Let me hit the shower and I will be ready to go."

"I'll start some coffee."

"That would be amazing," Elliot said with a wink.

Olivia walked into the kitchen and started the coffee. She quickly threw together a hot breakfast for the daddy to be.

"That smells great," Elliot said sitting down at the counter as she sat the plate and cup of coffee down in front of him. "Are you going to eat something?"

"I think it would be better if I didn't. Some women get sick during labor, breakfast probably wouldn't be a good idea. But I figured this could be a long wait and I don't want you skipping out on me to go eat," she laughed.

"I wouldn't do that," he said with a smile.

"I know," she replied.

"I would just order a pizza and eat right there in the delivery room," he joked.

"Ha ha. Save the pizza until after the baby is born. By then I am sure I will be starving."

"Honey, after the baby is born and you can eat again I will buy you anything you want to eat," he said kissing her again. "Do you have all of your stuff together?"

"Yes. Diaper bag is packed and sitting by the door with the car seat. I repacked my bag three times. Made sure there were plenty of camera batteries. Cell phones are charged. The house is spotless, nursery set up and all of the gifts from the shower are finally put away. I also finished sterilizing all of the bottles."

"This would be the nesting stage, right?"

"I just want things to be as easy as possible when the baby comes home. I'm not going to want to be cleaning house and all of that, so I just figured I would do it now."

"Liv, I can clean the house."

"I guess I'm just nervous. It is like I can't stop moving, I have to be doing something."

"Well, it wont be long and you will be wishing you had the energy to do something."

"You are probably right. After a couple of weeks of being up all night and all day with this kid, I am going to be wore out. But I have waited for this my entire life. I am finally going to be a mother. We are finally going to meet our daughter."

"I love you baby."

"I love you too," she said kissing him. "Now hurry and finish eating so we can get to the hospital."

"Okay," Elliot laughed.

Two hours later, Olivia checked in and settled into her room. Her doctor had examined her and decided to attempt to start her labor by breaking her water.

"I called Kathy and let her know we were settled into your room."

"Okay."

"She said the kids want to come up and be here when the baby is born. I promised Elizabeth I would call when we went to the hospital. They are all so excited about the arrival of their new baby sister."

"Yeah, me too. I am not however excited about starting to have contractions," she said as she gripped the rail on her bed.

"We're making progress."

"What's this we stuff?" she gasped in pain. "How long until the epidural?"

"Baby, you can't get that until you dilate more and are closer to time to deliver. If they give it to you now it could wear off during the really bad part."

"This sucks," she groaned as Elliot kissed her forehead.

"It will be over soon, sweetheart and we will have our baby girl."

"Elliot," she warned frowning at him as she stopped herself from saying anything harsh.

Elliot had been in the room enough during labor to learn when to stop talking. He sat down in a chair beside her bed and placed his hand in hers. He watched as Olivia laid back against her pillow and tried to relax a little before the next wave of contractions set in.

Elliot pulled his phone from his pocket as it buzzed to alert him of a new text message.

"It is Kathleen. They just came in downstairs. Do you feel like having a few visitors?"

"Yeah, they can come in for a little while. But I can't say that I will be very pleasant over the next few hours."

Elliot laughed.

"They know you are in pain. They have seen Kathy in labor before."

"I keep forgetting that I am the only one who hasn't been through this before."

"Not the only one," Elliot said placing his hand on her belly and kissing her again.

He sent a text back to Kathleen telling her the room number and telling them to come on up.

FIVE HOURS AND A HALF HOURS LATER….

Olivia was actually feeling much better since her epidural had been put into place. But she was ready for this mess to be over with. The kids had all moved down to the waiting room and the doctor was about to check her progress once more.

"Olivia, you are fully dilated. Are you ready to start pushing?"

"Now?"

"Yes. It is time to deliver this baby girl."

"Okay."

"On the next contraction, I want you to push."

"Okay," Olivia agreed nodding her head in agreement.

Elliot stood and held his wife's hand. He coached her with each push and contraction, counting with the doctors and nurses for twenty two minutes before they heard the first cries of their little girl.

Olivia watched as her teary eyed husband cut the cord and the nurse picked the baby up and moved her across the room to check her out.

"She is so beautiful," Olivia whispered as Elliot kissed her tenderly.

"She looks like her mama," he replied softly.

"She is a perfectly healthy little girl," the doctor announced. "Six pounds nine ounces and twenty inches long."

The nurse swaddled the baby in a pink blanket and handed her to her mother.

"Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Stabler. She is beautiful."

The baby whimpered a little and stared up at her mother and father.

"Hi there precious," Elliot whispered as she looked at him.

He pulled his cell phone out and took a picture of the baby and sent it to her big brother's and sister's out in the waiting room.

"You have a whole room full of people out there just dying to meet you. But I think we should just take a few minutes with just you, me and mommy. You sure are a pretty girl."

Olivia laid the baby against her knees and unfolded the blanket to look at their little miracle.

"She has all of her fingers and all of her toes, mommy. She is perfect."

"She is," Olivia agreed smoothing her fingertip over the baby's full head of dark hair.

She wrapped the blanket tight back around her and held her tight kissing her little forehead.

"Do you think maybe we should let the other kids come in and see her now?"

"I let Kathleen know it is okay for them to come in now. I just wanted us to have a moment with her before we introduced her to the world, you know?"

"Yeah, I know."

"I love you so much, Olivia."

"I love you, too. Both of you," she whispered.

Elliot kissed her again as they heard the knock on the room door.

"There they are," Elliot said staring down at his newborn. "Your big brother's and sister's. And they are all very excited to meet you," Elliot whispered as she baby grunted and watched him.

Elliot kissed the top of her little head, then walked across the room to let the visitors in.

"Hey guys. Are you excited to see your new baby sister?"

"Yeah, we waited all day," Elizabeth said with a smile.

"Well honey, these things take time. Sometimes it takes a long time for a baby to be born. Let's go see her," Elliot said picking little Eli up in his arms as the bigger kids ran over to Olivia's side with balloons and little stuffed animals in tote.

"Well congratulations daddy," Kathy said leaning in to hug him. "From what I can see in the picture she is absolutely beautiful."

"Oh, she is," Elliot boasted proudly.

"How is Liv doing?"

"She is good. Tired, but good. The delivery went really well. Well, it went a lot better once she got the epidural and wasn't in so much pain."

"Hey, I have been there. Everything before that point is horrible," Kathy joked. "I'm glad things went well."

"Thanks Kathy. Would you like to step over here and meet my daughter?"

"I would love to."

Elliot walked over to the hospital bed where his wife sat holding their little girl. He held Eli up so he could see the new baby and watched as he pointed and smiled.

"That is your new baby sister," Elliot said watching the toddler.

"Baby," he said pointing at her again.

"That's right, baby."

Elliot kissed his son and handed him to his mother. He leaned in to Olivia and kissed her, then picked the baby up in his arms.

"Can I hold her dad?" Kathleen asked.

"Yeah daddy, when can we hold her?"

"One at a time. And we have to keep our voices down. Everyone can hold her for a few minutes, then we will have to let Olivia and the baby get some rest. It has been a very long day for everyone. In a few days we will be back at home and you guys will get to hold her more then. Kathleen is first…."

"Dad!" Elizabeth whined.

"I'm the oldest," Kathleen said teasing her sister.

"She asked first," Elliot clarified. "Then Elizabeth and then Dickie."

Elliot handed the newborn to Kathleen.

"Be careful with her, she is very fragile."

"Dad, I have held babies before. Hi sweetheart," she cooed down at the baby in her arms.

"What is her name dad?" Elizabeth asked.

"Kaylee," Elliot said taking Olivia's hand in his. "Kaylee Alison Stabler."

"Alison after Maureen?" Kathleen asked.

"Yeah, baby. Alison, after Maureen."

"That is a very pretty name," Kathy said with tears in her eyes.

"It was Olivia's idea. From the moment she found out the baby was a girl she wanted to name her after her big sister."

"Maureen would have been so proud," Kathy said with a smile.

"Honey, let Elizabeth hold her for a little while," Elliot instructed his daughter as the baby yawned.

"Bye Kaylee," Kathleen whispered as she kissed her little sister on the forehead. "I love you and I will see you soon."

She very carefully handed the baby to Elizabeth. Olivia smiled watching the older kids interact with their her newborn daughter.

After everyone, including Kathy had gotten a turn to hold the infant, Elliot handed her back to Olivia. The children said their goodbyes and Kathy ushered them one by one back to the elevator.

A nurse came and took little Kaylee for a bath and brought some dinner for mommy and daddy.

"What is this?" Olivia asked.

"A complimentary steak dinner for the new parents," the nurse replied with a smile.

Olivia laughed.

"The hospital serves steak?" she asked looking at Elliot.

"I guess so. A nurse came in earlier and asked me how you like your steak. I figured I would let the celebration dinner be a surprise."

"Aww. That is sweet. Thank you," Olivia said to the nurse as she stepped out of the room.

"Well, I would light a few candles and make it more romantic, but there are no open flames allowed because of the oxygen in the building."

Olivia smiled.

"But I have a plan," he said moving across the room to turn off the lights.

"Elliot," Olivia said just as the room darkened to the soft glow of a couple of nightlights and the full moon through the window.

She smiled.

"This is amazing."

"You are amazing," he said kissing her tenderly. "You gave me a gorgeous little daughter today."

"She is pretty great, isn't she?"

"She looks just like her beautiful mother," Elliot replied pouring her a glass of iced tea for a toast. "To the newest addition to our family, little Kaylee Alison Stabler."

Olivia smiled as their glasses clicked.

"And to being the most amazing parents we can possibly be."

"I will drink to that."

"So, you wanna be the first to try the hospital steak?" she laughed holding up a bite on a fork.

Elliot laughed as he leaned in and she fed it to him.

"It actually isn't bad," he replied as he chewed it. "Needs some steak sauce. And some sour cream for the baked potato," he said handing her a small triangular packet. "I opted for the baked potato and salad. Dressing on the side, just the way you like it. I figured you could use the carbs since you dropped about thirty pounds earlier today."

Olivia laughed.

"I still have a little baby weight to loose. But I can make a carbohydrate exception seeing as this is a celebration dinner."

"That's my girl."

After their romantic dinner the nurse brought Kaylee in for Olivia to nurse her. After a little mommy and daddy time the baby fell asleep and the nurses took her to the nursery for the night to give Olivia the chance to rest up.

Elliot kissed his wife and settled into the chair beside her bed to get a little sleep as well.