Mary had slept amazing. After they had washed their faces and curled up in bed to watch episode one of Game of Thrones, she fell asleep on Matthew's arm. She had woken up twice to pump and called the hospital from the bathroom to check on Olivia. Matthew had slept the entire time and she felt bad making noise and risking to wake him up. Still, with waking up twice she considered the night to be great. As much as she missed her baby, spending the night with Matthew had been a bit of a relief. She hadn't realized that she missed him, being just curled up with him. They had found ways to be close in the hospital bed, but nothing compared to being int heir home. Together. Even without anything being sexual, they were able to have intimacy. It was intimate when they laughed or curled up and watched something on the television. Now, she was sitting back in the hospital with her baby girl and she felt a new kind of complete. Matthew and Mary had been excited when they arrived. Dr. Lee had greeted them to let them know that Olivia was completely breathing on her own and had graduated from experiencing apnea. They were no longer concerned about her breathing stopping. It hadn't happened since the first forty-eight hours after birth. She still had one heart monitor, just for tracking purposes. Dr. Lee explained that she would take that off in a few days, but wanted to leave it on as a precaution. Still, she explained that the news about her apnea being gone and her heart performing well was amazing news. There weren't a lot of other major updates except that she encouraged Mary to continue with skin on skin as it would lead her to feed naturally. Her temperature was stable and her skin was growing more which meant she would be able to wear clothes soon. The only way that she could be happier was if she could breastfeed or at least give her baby a bottle. Feeding her child, would help her gain the weight she needed to. That was the part moving too slow for Mary's liking. Still, Olivia was doing amazing and it meant Mary was now motivated more than ever to help her baby move along. So now, she was rocking her slowly as she held the pacifier against her lips, moving it around her mouth as Dr. Lee instructed. She wasn't catching on yet, but when she did it, Olivia just watched her so intently. It was like she was trying to listen and communicate with her, so Mary would just keep looking at her. Not that she would prefer to do anything else. She could look at Olivia all day and in her eight days of life, she was sure she already had. "Matthew, will you hand me the blanket with the ducks on it from the bag?"
"What's wrong with the blanket she has?" Matthew frowned as he reached for the black leather tote Mary had brought along with her.
"I don't think its warm enough." Mary replied, looking up at him as he dropped his shoulders. "What?"
"I'm sure that blanket is fine." Matthew laughed, but still gave her the soft blanket, helping her swap it out with the blue and pink striped one. "Although you know how she feels about being cold."
"Olivia, you'll only be uncovered for a half of a second." Mary giggled, taking the blanket off and in a split second, Olivia curled her body, her face scrunching as a light wail escaped the infant's lips. Matthew had already replaced the blanket as the first wail escaped Olivia's mouth. She followed Dr. Lee's advice, immediately grabbing the pacifier again to introduce to Olivia. She said it would help her associate it with soothing. As she ran it across her small lips and the little one moved her head a little bit, still never removing her eyes from Mary's. "You are so dramatic. That was one little cry for cold air."
"Like her mom." Matthew joked, moving to sit back down next to her, leaning over to stroke the baby's head. "You hate being cold too."
"You don't like it either." Mary looked over at him with a smile on her face, then holding up the pacifier. "Maybe she doesn't like this. There are other kinds of these pacifiers, if you can hand me my phone, I will order new ones."
"I hardly doubt that it is the pacifier." Matthew replied, looking over at the counter where her phone was. "Dr. Lee said it could be a couple of more weeks before she picks up on what to do."
"Yes, but she said that we could practice." Mary sighed, her stomach aching with guilt. "She said practice may actually urge her along and help her develop a stronger interest, increase our chances in breastfeeding and…Matthew she has so much weight to gain."
"I know." He nodded, taking her hand and squeezing it and she just knew that he was right there worrying with her. That he wanted to help her more than he could. "She'll figure it out. You will too."
"Maybe she'll only bottle feed." Mary shrugged, surprised that something like that would make her feel overwhelmed. "I would like to feed her myself, but if I can't. I'll settle for feeding her from a bottle. As long as she eats and gains weight."
"I have a feeling she's going to start eating the way you want her to." Matthew replied, giving her a wink. "Then we'll be home and up all night, wishing she would just sleep instead of wanting to eat."
"Maybe." Mary sighed, putting the pacifier on the table next to her, before adjusting Olivia against her chest and no longer keeping her in the feeding position. "I'm ready to be done in the hospital and just take her home. We shouldn't be looking at weeks. Why does it have to be weeks?"
"I know." Matthew sighed, moving his hand to her shoulder. Mary moved the blanket over Olivia's back, as she began to rock the chair just slightly, leaning over and pressing a kiss to her head.
"Sans souci, ah…sans souci. They got no room here for someone like me…" She wasn't sure what she was doing or what made her do something she hadn't done in the longest time, but suddenly she found herself tapping her foot and humming. "Oh the mountains start to giggle…"
"You're singing Peggy Lee to our baby?" Matthew giggled, leaning over to kiss her, moving his hands to her messy ponytail. "I forgot how much I love when you sing."
"I forgot how much I like singing." Mary whispered against his lips, before looking down at her baby. "I didn't think about how much I might like singing to her."
"You should do it more often." He smiled, shifting and reaching something from his pocket. "I wanted to give you something."
"Yeah?" She asked, looking away to kiss Olivia's soft head of hair.
"We've been so focused on Olivia and so much has been going on, that it slipped my mind to give this to you." Matthew stood from the chair, before getting down on one knee and holding up a box with a stunning diamond ring sticking out of the black velvet. "I never gave this to you and I can't just hand it to you without properly sliding it on your finger."
"Matthew…" Mary looked down at him as he knelt, taking her hand that wasn't mainly supporting Olivia. "I already said yes."
"I know, which is why I'm not asking you again." Matthew laughed as Mary felt her eyes begin to water. It was a solid reminder that her emotions had not yet returned to normal. "So, I just wanted to ask, if you would wear this ring? If you would keep this ring, I picked out for you. Make more babies with me? In a few years…when we get this one figured out."
"She's proving to be a lot to figure out." Mary giggled weakly as a tear fell from her eyes and Matthew took the ring from the box, lifting an eyebrow to show he was anticipating an answer. "Yes. I will keep the ring."
"Good." Matthew laughed, leaning forward and pressing his lips into hers, deepening their kiss before a small hand caught on his cheek and he pulled away to look down to find Olivia stretching against Mary. "What do you say Olivia, do you think the ring makes this all more official?"
"I think that's a yes." Mary giggled through her tears as Matthew took the ring from the box, before reaching for her hand.
"And from you?" Matthew looked at her, teasing the edge of her finger with the ring.
"It is. Yes." Mary nodded, her hand noticeably shaking as he slid the ring on the appropriate finger, before moving his hand to her cheek, before placing his lips on hers. "Olivia and I can't wait…"
"Neither can I." He breathed softly, lowering his face to kiss the top of Olivia's head. Mary couldn't help but giggle as the baby curled up against her chest, but tilting her nose up as Matthew kissed her dark hair. "Olivia."
"Always interfering." Mary stroked the little one's back, before Matthew moved to sit on the arm of the chair. He moved his arms around her, kissing the top of her head as he rubbed his hands against her arm and continued to give her the reassurance that everything would be okay. The ring had been a nice surprise, because since he had asked her, they hadn't really even discussed being engaged and there was no time or energy to worry about where the ring was. She had no idea when they would get married, but she hoped Matthew would be okay with a small wedding. She had been engaged and married once before, but it had fallen apart. No, not fallen apart. It had been explosive and blew up before the ink was dry on their marriage license. The night of her rehearsal dinner, he had threatened to put her on a very strict lifestyle, because she had admitted that she was nervous. Matthew wasn't like that, but she still didn't want the stress that came with a huge wedding. A small courthouse wedding with her parents, Isobel, Tom and a few other important people in their lives would be suitable followed by a big dinner party with some more friends. The details didn't matter. Not right now. Right now, Olivia was their first priority and getting her to eat from a bottle or her breast instead of a tube that filtered into her stomach was what they needed to focus on. It had to be their number one priority and that meant Mary wouldn't stop until her baby girl was at home with her every night. She was in love with her ring and couldn't stop staring at it as her left hand stayed resting on Olivia's back. It was the perfect sight. Her ring and her baby with the man she loved sitting right at her side.
