Hey guys! Sorry for the lack of updates recently, I have been without a computer.
The sound of the door closing wakes Hanna who squints as she opens her eyes. As they meet the light, she peeks over to her side and sees Caleb. He looks exactly the same as he did before, but now he glows with pride as he feeds their newborn daughter
Damn. New daddy glow looks so good on him. I wish I looked that good.
She thinks with the slightest smile plays on her lips. As she starts to roll over and speak she stops when she hears him clear this throat and start to speak.
"Your mom loves you baby bug. She's gonna be so upset that she is missing all of this. I would wake her up but she did a lot of work to bring her into this world, so we're gonna let her sleep..."
Stilling herself she lays there pretending to sleep, she listens to Caleb's declaration as images of their birth experience flash through her mind. Once she remembered hearing everybody screaming her name as she fought to keep her eyes open. Once she was awake again, she looked around the room in panic for Caleb and the baby, but they were nowhere to be found. She panicked thinking that something had happened to Kenzie during labor; nurse Natalie noticed her panic and informed her that everything was fine with the baby. Once the tension in the room calmed down, she had asked Natalie where they were and if she could see them. "We will get them in here as soon as we get you all situated, I promise" Those words had lifted the elephant off of chest and as they worked all around her checking screens and adding monitors to her she felt herself calm and pretty soon she was back to sleep before she ever saw them.
First Mom fail Hanna! Before you ever even leave the hospital.
She thinks as she lays there, perfectly still with her eyes screwed shut just listening.
"One thing you will learn about your mom is that she is strong and she is hard headed. She's beautiful and loving. She is going to be a great mom to you and I'm so lucky that I have both of you."
She smiles inside as she hears the sounds of his sweet voice and the sounds of their daughter sucking on the bottle as she eats. She can hear the faintest sound of him bouncing the baby in his arms.
Oh, you are so scoring brownie points..
"I love you so much Kenzie I always will and I want you to know that I will always love your mom. I promise I will learn more from her, and I will try to be the best dad I can be. But just know this, I will never leave you. I promise you that I will never, ever leave you."
She has to concentrate to be perfectly still to keep from crying. She swells with pride inside listening to the words as they roll off his tongue.
In just in the matter of hours since she was born, he is already a better one than he had - than I had...
She hears him stand and his footsteps as she walks past the bed. Once she hears him over on the other side of the room she opens her eyes. Drinking them in as he stands next to the window with his back to her, pink burping cloth draped over his shoulder and hanging down his back. She can see the top of her pink toboggan peek over his shoulder as he bounced her to soothe her. Kenzie makes fussy noises she can barely hear as he shushes her.
Is this even real life? How did I ever get so lucky?
Finally deciding that she had enough observing, she quietly pulls herself up in bed.
"First lesson for daddy, baby girl ALWAYS has to have a big bow."
Her voice stills him for a second, before he whips his head around to her. He stands there and she can finally see Kenzie's face as he holds her extra carefully in his arms. She can't help but smile at him. He blinks once, twice, and on the third time his eyes close they bring a smile with them when they open.
"Good morning handsome"
He clears his throat "Afternoon now, actually." as he paces towards the bed.
"Well, good afternoon handsome. Now, come here and lettme see that baby." she exclaims playfully
He smiles down at the tiny baby as he walks towards her bed. Sitting down just on the edge of the mattress "Fashionably late to the party as always, but Kenzie look mommy is up." he says with a giggle as he hands her over to Hanna.
Taking the tiny bundle into her arms, she stares the newborn as tears well up in her eyes. She looks down at her face, her eyes are closed and cheeks pink. She pouts and then pokes her lips out over and over again, making a smacking noise as she does. This makes Hanna giggle through her tears. Caleb sits beside her just staring at the two of them, leaning over he kisses the side of her head near her temple.
"Hey beautiful" she whispers as she touches the tiny pink cheeks of the newborn "Oh Caleb, she looks so much like you."
"You think so? I think she looks like you, myself." he says as he wraps his arm around her and rubs her back.
"No, she definitely has your nose." she says as she looks up and him and then back down to Kenzie "Same perfectly shaped nose." she says and she runs her fingers lightly down Kenzie's nose letting her finger rest on the tip. "Does she have any hair? Please say she has hair." she asks excitedly as she reached up to pull the hat off of her head.
Caleb laughs, "Yeah, she has some."
Hanna pulls the hat off to reveal a small mass of messy almost white curls on the very top of her head. She smiles and squeals and she runs her fingers over the curls ."Oh this means real big bows!"
"Oh geez," Caleb playfully responds as he looks down at Kenzie "Poor daddy Kenz."
They share a laugh as they stare down at their daughter. Soon a very small knock at the door breaks the comfortable silence. The nurse walks in looking down at the chart in her hand.
"Mr. Rivers how are you two doing?" she asks in a whisper before looking up to see the family of three all sitting in the bed. "Oh, Hanna! You're awake...good! I am Stacy, I am your nurse. Natalie will be back tomorrow morning, but she has gotten me all up to date on your chart. How are you feeling?" she asks in a cheerful voice as she writes down the numbers from the monitor in the chart she's holding.
"Better now." she says as she smiles down at the baby "I do have to pee though." She looks back up at the nurse offering up a sympathetic smile
The nurse laughs as she sits the folders down on the table beside the bed "Well come on, let's get you up and to the bathroom."
Handing the baby back to Caleb she moves her legs so that they hang off the side of the bed "I can go by myself, I just wanted to make sure I could." she says as she starts to slide herself off the mattress.
"Well, you can go but due to blood loss from delivery, it's best that I at least help you to and from in case you feel faint. Don't worry, I won't stay in there with you." she says with a wink and a smile. Grabbing Hanna's arm she helps lift her weight off of the bed
Wincing as she stood up. she finally felt the full effects of labor on her body.
Oh man, this hurts. Maybe I don't have to pee as bad as I thought. That bathroom door is a long ways away.
"Han, you okay?" Caleb asks with caution in his voice.
"Yeah, just out of shape, is all."
He watches as they make their way towards the bathroom door as Stacy tells her that once she gets moves around a bit and gets a good night's rest she wont be as sore "More like a hard day at the gym" she said as Hanna laughs.
Oh Stacy, if you only knew Hanna Marin
He thinks as she sits on the bed watching them. As they open up the door and both walk in he can hear their muted voices behind the door. He looks back down at Kenzoe who is now fast asleep.
"WHAT?!" Hanna screams from the bathroom, startling Caleb.
He gets off the bed and walks over to the bathroom door. He can hear Stacy telling Hanna that it is perfectly fine and not to freak out "Everything okay in there?" he asks through the crack in the door. Seconds later Stacy walks out and smiles at him as she turns back to the door.
"Just let me know when you're done and I will be back in to help you." she calls in as she shuts the door and turns back to Caleb "Yes sir, everything is fine. She just wasn't aware of the shower protocol."
In the bathroom Hanna listens as Stacy talks to Caleb outside the door.
Ugh, I can't even shower by myself...does a girl get no modesty around here.
She thinks as she stands to make her way to the sink and begins washing her hands. Looking at her reflection in the mirror she huffs to herself. Her hair pulled up on top of her head is pulled into a messy ponytail with stray strands falling down around her face, sweat making them stick to her face. The remains of her eyeliner from the day prior are smudged underneath her eyes that are puffy, mascara flakes on her cheeks. She grabs a paper towel from beside the sink and wet it wipe her eyes off.
I know I took my makeup off before I went to sleep yesterday, how did I manage to give myself a really bad smoky eye?
A knock on the door makes her roll her eyes as she hears Stacy call for her on the other side of the door.
"Hanna, are you okay?"
"Yeah, just washing my face." she calls back as she pulls the tie out of her hair and lets it fall around her face. Pulling it back up and securing it with the tie again she decided that it would have to do until she could get a shower.
"Okay, I'm done." she calls out to Stacy who immediately opens the door and makes her way in. She can see Caleb pacing the floor in the room with Kenzie as they slowly make their way back into the room and to the bed. She looks up to Caleb who is watching them cautiously.
"Okay so Mr. Rivers said that your mom is still here so if you would rather have him or your mom help you with the shower you can do that, but I will have to stay in the room, just in case. Would you feel better that way?"
"Um, yeah I would actually…if that's okay."
"Yes ma'am. Just as long as a nurse is nearby, it will be fine. Shall I go get your mom?"
"Actually, I will go get her. We have some friends still in the waiting room and I need to let them all know she's awake." Caleb steps in.
"Very well. I will go turn your chart in and I will be back in just a few." Stacy says with a smile as she opens the door and walks out with the chart in hand.
"Everybody is still here?" Hanna asks, shocked as she reaches for the baby in Caleb's grasp
"Well of course they are, you know them. I told them to go on home and I would call them once you were awake but they all stayed." he replies as he lays the baby into her arms.
"We got such good friends, you know that."
"Yeah…I know…." he says as he rubs the hat on Kenzie's head. "I will run down there and let them all know you're up and send your mom in so you can shower." He says with a kiss on her forehand. He bends down and kisses Kenzie's hat before turning to make his way to the door.
"Caleb?" Hanna calls after him.
He stops and turns back to her "Yeah?"
"I love you."
"I love you too."
They exchange a smile and what feels like a silent thank you to each other as he turns and walks out, shutting the door behind him.
As he makes his way down to the waiting room, he peers in at their friends, all sitting on the back row of chairs. They talk to themselves, some of them scrolling through their phones, others on computers. He knows how bored they must be, they have been here for several hours. He looks down at his watch, seeing the time as 3 PM
Geez, 10 hours they have been here…
He thinks as he pulls open the door, catching all their attention. Everybody looks up and stands as he enters, Ashley walking up to him first.
"Caleb, is she awake?" she asks anxiously.
"Yeah, she woke up about an hour ago. She wants to take a shower and she won't let the nurse help her. She wants either me or you to help her."
The girls laugh, as they aren't shocked.
"Yep, totally Hanna." Emily says to Spencer in the background.
"Yeah, no problem. I will head on back and help her." Ashley says as she turns to the group before heading out the door.
"Thank you. I will be back in there in just a few minutes." he called after her as she paced off to the door. Turning back to the group he says "As soon as she gets her shower, you guys can come back if you want. I know you have all been here all day so if you want to go I am sure she will understand."
"We're not going anywhere." Ezra called back to him with a smile.
"Yeah, we will stay at least until we can see her, than we will go and give you guys some time to yourselves, if it's okay." Aria says, the other three girls shaking their heads in agreement.
"Yeah, that's fine. I just know you guys must be tired so I didn't want sit up here all day if you had other things going on." Caleb says with a shrug.
"It's Hanna, other stuff can wait." Allison reassures him with a smile.
He returns her smile, knowing that they mean what they say, they won't go anywhere.
"I gotta get back in there. Once she's situated I will text and everybody can come on back." he says as he walks back towards the door.
Back in the room, Ashley holds Kenzie as Caleb helps Hanna with her shower. Stacy stands outside the bathroom door on guard.
Once Hanna is showered and back in bed, she takes Kenzie from Ashley as Caleb pulls out his phone to text their friends. Selecting Allison, Aria, Emily, Ezra, Spencer, and Toby in his phone book he goes to his text screen and begins to type.
Hey guys, she's out and ready to visit so just come on back. If they stop you at the nurse's station, just tell them Stacy said it was fine for you to come back.
A few minutes later as Caleb sat in the chair next to the bed, watching Hanna baby talk to Kenzie, a knock on the door grabs their attention. Caleb gets up out of the chair and makes his way to the door, opening to face Spencer first, the rest of the crew behind her. Stepping aside he lets them in as they squeal with excitement at the sight of Hanna.
"Hey guys, we've been waiting to see you!" she calls out as she offers them up a megawatt smile.
Spencer makes her way over to the bed, wrapping her arms around
"Hi Spence." Hanna leans in to her hug "Want to hold her?" she asks
"Duh!" Spence responds as she reaches out and takes the baby from Hanna. She turns and makes her way to the chair, offering Caleb a smile as she passes him.
The rest of the girls stand in a line at the bed, hugging Hanna as they all stand around and talk.
"Hey Han, thank for not checking out on us." Toby calls out with a small laugh.
"TOBY!" Spencer yells at him, embarrassed of his outburst.
Hanna can only giggle as she smiles at him "Spence, his fine. Hey Toby, you're welcome."
The girls move into casual conversation talking about Kenzie and Hanna's birth experience as the guys all make their way to the far corner away from the girls and strike up a conversation of their own.
A few hours later, after they had all said their goodbyes, Hanna sat in the bed holding Kenzie in her arms; Caleb sat with his arms wrapped around Hanna.
"The girls said that they would come by tomorrow afternoon to visit." Hanna said through a yawn.
"Yeah, Emily is going to go by and check on the house on her way here."
A knock on the door disturbs them, Stacy sticks her head in the door.
"Hey guys, it's getting late. Do you want me to wheel you a fold out in here to sleep on Mr. Rivers?"
"Um, yeah if you don't mind. It's hard enough sleeping with this one in a king size bed." he points at Hanna, covering his mouth "She steals covers, and she snores." he says in a mock whisper, making Stacy laugh.
"I do not snore!" she exclaims at him in playful disgust.
Stacy smiles at them, "One fold out coming right up." she says as she turns around, closing the door behind her.
"I do not snore." Hanna says to him, yawning again.
He laughs "I know baby." He replies as he kisses her head "You tired?"
"Yeah, I am kind of tired. Shouldn't be, hell I slept all day."
"I wouldn't exactly call that sleeping. You really scared me you know."
"I know" she whispers "I'm sorry."
Stacy knocks on the door again and slings it open pushing a twin size bed into the room with the linens on top of the mattress. Once she gets it into the room and unlatches the hook and the bed falls open. "There you go." She said and she wipes her hands together.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome Mr. Rivers. Hanna, you would you like for us to take her to the nursery or would you rather have her in here tonight?"
"I think she will be fine in here, don't you think?" she asks Caleb
"I'm okay with it if you are." he says with a shrug
"Well we normally request that you try to keep them in room, but you have had a long day so if you want to let her go to the nursery, we would be happy to carry her to the nursery for you tonight, so that you can get some sleep."
Hanna yawns again "Maybe just for a little while. Can I send for her if I want to?"
"Of course."
Later, after they have said their goodbyes and goodnights to their daughter, they curl up in bed. Hanna is asleep before her head ever hits the pillow. Caleb lays in bed for a while and watches her sleep before finally closing his eyes and drifting.
Hanna wakes with a jolt as she feels her cellphone vibrate under her pillow. Hitting them home button she sees that it is 2:40 AM displayed across the screen.
Who could be texting me this early?
Sliding the phone open she opens up to her text screen
Babies are beautiful, aren't they? Pop Quiz! Let's see if you were paying attention to yours. -A
