Chapter 50
Fitz took a deep breath and said, "Olivia what did you say?"
"I'm in labor Fitz. I'm sure of it. My water has broken also. It doesn't hurt yet and Neeka says there's no need to hurry but we…"
"I'll be right there." He dropped the phone in his jacket and ran up to Tom. "Can you grab Teddy and take him back to the nursery? Have Roberts get the drone. It's Olivia, she is labor. Meet me at back entrance of the residence with engines running. I think we are following the Operation Pregnancy Protocol. Whatever we are calling it I want to be ready to leave here heading to the hospital in no more than ten minutes. I have no fucking idea what stage we are in right now. My wife seemed to be talking nonsense. She is in labor yet we don't need to go to the hospital? I will meet you out back okay?"
"I understand Mr. President. I will have Roberts grab Teddy and the toy. I can imagine your anxiety Sir, but I must stay with you. Give me a couple of minutes to get things in order and we can take off. Do you understand Mr. President?"
"I understand what you are saying Tom. Please let's just do this.
Tom turned his head and spoke into his device. The President couldn't hear what he was saying he didn't have to. Tom would make sure Teddy was alright. The child had been running back and forth between Fitz and his detail playing with his Christmas present. Teddy had just raced away from him minutes before Olivia had called. His son would be safe. He needed to get to Olivia!
Tom turned back to the President and said, "Teddy will be fine. Saltzer and Roberts have this situation out here. They will get Teddy back to the nursery. They will also notify Miss Karen that Mrs. Grant is in labor. I have told them that you will specify when and if the children can come to the hospital. Let's go Mr. President."
The President took off at the speed of light running back to the residence and Tom was right beside him. They got in the elevator and it seemed as if it would never start moving. He was on the other side of the White House for heaven's sake. He was still going to have to walk two wings and a floor away to get to his wife. He had known in his bones that Olivia was off. She was always sleeping and he had initiated the last two sexual encounters between them. She was still his Olivia but she was in slow-mo. They were so happy and things were going so well he was just rolling along in harmonious bliss. Their lives were perfect and because it was so perfect he had developed tunnel vision. His wife was pregnant for goodness sake. After a nine month gestation period one gave birth to a baby!
What the fuck was wrong with this elevator? It was moving at a snail's pace. Finally he arrived at the residential floor and the door opened. He took off running. He was in good shape and so was Tom. They arrived at the door of the Residence barely winded. The agent standing guard there had been waiting for them and unlocked the door and let the President in.
"Olivia where are you," the President shouted out?
She walked out of the bedroom pulling her overnight bag. She wasn't clutching her stomach or screaming or doing anything he was expecting. "I'm right here Fitz. Could you get the bag for the baby? I'm all packed and ready to go. I think I have been in labor for my first hour now. I'm getting anxious."
"You have been in labor for an hour Olivia as is sixty minutes? You just called me ten minutes ago. There is something fundamentally wrong with this picture. I asked you to call me as soon as anything happened!"
Olivia walked up to her husband and cradled his precious face in her hands. "Fitz I'm alright. I just wanted to make sure I was really in labor before I called you. Neeka has gone over all of this with us. I could be in labor for hours. My contractions are at minimum fifteen minutes apart. Of course things will change I expect them to. You have missed one hour Fitz of mild contractions, only one hour. Don't be angry with me on our special day. We are about to have our baby, the baby you and I made because of the love we have for each other. It's going to be our day of perfection right?"
"Forgive me for acting like such a beast. I lost it when you told me you were in labor. I expected you to be…"
"I know what you expected Fitz and we have every reason to believe that expectation is coming. I intend to share every minute of it with you believe me. We just aren't there yet. We are in the early stages. Remember I'm a first time mother we don't know exactly what my body will do but we are ready right? Just like everything else in this world we are in this together. Get the other bag Fitz and just take a calming breath. I assure you I'm okay."
"I'm sorry Livvie for acting like a fool and sounding like one too. Forgive me for overreacting and talking to you like that. I'll get the other bag. The car is ready to take us to the hospital. Be right back."
"Fitz! Fitz! Come here! Come here quickly!"
He ran back out into the foyer quickly his eyes honed in on her and he was literally frightened to death. "Olivia what is it? Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. Put your hand here and feel the contractions. They are back. Our son is going to be born today. You are going to get the Christmas present I promised Fitz." There were tears in his wife's eyes as she stared at her husband so full of love and hope.
He went to his knees and placed his hands on her distended abdomen and he could feel it harden. "May I see Olivia?" She nodded and he raised her blouse and replaced his hands on her hardened stomach. He watched until the contraction ended. It was obvious as he watched her stomach now softened that his wife was indeed in labor. He kissed her abdomen softly and sweetly. "We are about to witness a miracle today Olivia and I am here for it. However can we please go to the hospital right now?"
"Of course you worrywart. Let's go." They drove to the hospital with Olivia wrapped in her husband's arms. They talked during the fifteen minute ride about their hopes and dreams for their baby. Olivia refused to have a police escort with lights and siren as Fitz wanted to do.
Some of the dreams for their son were reasonable and others were outright foolishness. Her husband had lost most of his anxiety by the time they reached the hospital because of his wife and her seemingly laid back attitude. She made him promise not to have a heart attack because she needed him to raise their children. She made him promise not to worry her friend Neeka to the point where she would refuse to be her friend anymore after she delivered their baby. He agreed to everything she put out there because he knew he was a bit over the edge.
In his heart of hearts Fitz knew what had really calmed him down was the antiseptic smell of the hospital and seeing a doctor that he knew loved his wife almost as much as he did. Neeka wouldn't let anything happen to his wife and his baby. He was the leader of the free world but it didn't mean shit today. He was just a man that wanted his wife safely delivered of their child.
Neeka assured Fitz he would get back to him after a routine exam of her patient. The President was sitting in a waiting room with Tom and another agent. Secret Service was everywhere and they should've been. The wing had been designated specifically for the Operation Pregnancy Protocol. If you weren't part of the medical team that was to deliver the newest Grant or Secret Service you were in for a rude awakening. The President felt his family was safe enough. He just wanted an update on his wife. Where was Neeka? He looked at Tom shaking his head.
"Sir they just left here six minutes and thirty six seconds ago. Take a deep breath and relax. The First Lady and the baby will be fine. I know there are no plans to have the children up here but Miss Karen has sent me a text to ask you if she can come up after the baby is born. I promised I would ask. She said she knew you were an emotional wreck."
"I am an emotional wreck Tom. I'm probably too old for this but I want a family with Olivia and she wants that too. This isn't even going to be our only one. Olivia refuses to let this baby grow up without another genetic sibling. I agree with her of course but I need to see this one through first. I plan to allow the kids up here once the baby is born and he and his mother are declared A-okay. I will speak with Karen. Damn, are you serious it hasn't even been ten minutes yet?"
"Not yet sir."
Olivia had been stripped of her clothing and shaved down below. Her bowels had been evacuated and an IV placed in her arm. Her belly was encircled with a monitoring strip to keep tabs on the frequency and strength of her contractions. She was lying in bed waiting for Neeka. This is it she thought as she lay there. She was now experiencing a slight discomfort with the contractions.
"Well Olive let's see what we have here. I understand you want to have a baby on Christmas day. It's some sort of sick Christmas present for that husband of yours. I hear it is allegedly for his marrying you, treating you like a Queen, and being the best lover this side of the Rockies right?"
"All that and more Neeka. I know we calculated Christmas day but to be honest I wasn't sure when I conceived but having this baby on Christmas day is an omen and a blessing."
"Well let's see if you are having this baby today or in the wee hours of tomorrow morning." Neeka checked her patient and ascertained that she was indeed in labor. She was in the latent stage or stage one of the delivery. Olivia was dilated just over 3 cm which was good progress from when she had first called. "Its official Olive little Fitz Grant ain't playing he is going to be born today I suspect. It's one o'clock in the afternoon I think you can push this one out before midnight."
"How crass doctor. That's the best you got for bedside manner? Really Neek my baby's coming?"
"Yes Olive he is coming. Let's get that man of yours in here and tell him what is going on. He didn't look too happy to be separated from you. He's a nervous wreck."
"I know Neek please be gentle with him. He is worried to death that something will go wrong. Tell him the truth but please be gentle."
"Will do Olive. Now have you had any pain at all with these contractions?"
"Just within the last fifteen or twenty minutes have I had discomfort. I don't even want to call it pain really."
"Seriously Olive it is going to get worse and probably in short order. I need to know when your real pains start. We are going natural if you can that's the plan. However listen to me if you change your mind and you need pain meds don't hesitate to ask. Are we clear missy?"
"I don't want my baby coming into the world drugged so we are clear."
"Girl let me get your husband in here and you stop talking crazy. Pregnant women take pain meds all the time and their babies are fine. This isn't the middle ages Olivia. There are meds that help the mother and have absolutely no effect on the baby so stop it. I'm going to get the President.
"Mr. President thank-you for being patient. Olivia is progressing fine, to be sure though she is in the early stages of labor. The bag of waters has broken and little Fitz says he wants out. She is dilated not quite four centimeters which means she has almost seven more to go before your son will be ready to emerge into this world. Being as how Olivia is a first pregnancy things could go a little longer but usually a patient will dilate at about ½ centimeter per hour. If that is true for Olivia it means the EHA for your bundle of joy could be any time between seven and midnight. Your wife seems determined to give you another Christmas present Sir!"
"How is she? Has the real contractions started yet? I don't want her to be alone and in pain. Thank-you Neeka for coming out so quickly to tell me what was going on. This pregnancy is going to be the death of me. Olivia wants to do this again. I'm not sure I can. Will you please take me to her? And Neeka I have asked you before to call me Fitz. The President was left back at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. I am just a man, a father, and Olivia's husband today. Sally Langston is in charge of the Presidency for now."
"Of course Fitz you are right. Let's go and make our girl smile. She is more worried about you right now than herself. She hasn't started to experience hard labor yet. When she does we will know it. By the way Fitz we must keep an eye on Olive. We have practiced for natural childbirth and of course that may be our final outcome. Nonetheless I don't believe in needless and extended pain for my patients and that goes double for Olivia. She is like a sister to me and I love her. I won't be in the room with you every minute. I will be right next door and I will be coming in periodically checking on her myself. Once she is ready for delivery the team I have on stand-by will be called in. Everything we need to facilitate the birth is in that birthing room. I don't expect complications but we are prepared. I have the Pediatrician the two of you have chosen on call and she will handle the baby once delivered and Olivia will remain my primary concern. So let's get you to your wife."
Olivia had started to really feel the contractions now. She wasn't ready to scream but she was definitely at point where she now knew she was going to have a baby. She was breathing right along with the contraction which wasn't really lasting that long and was still more or less around fifteen minutes apart. Neeka's nurse was on the job monitoring everything and putting the results in the computer. Neeka had but to push a button on her laptop and she was updated on her only patient of the day. Olivia smiled brightly when her husband entered the room. She was dressed in a hospital type gown but needless to say it was designer. Her hair was pulled back neatly atop her head in a pony tail. She was void of all make-up. Today was baby day.
"Fitz did Neeka tell you he will be here probably before midnight if she is right. We are going to get to hold our baby in our arms soon. I'm so excited and thrilled."
"Livvie are you alright? Are you in pain?" He sat down beside her and took her hand and kissed it.
"The actual contractions have gotten stronger and I can actually feel them now. I'm breathing through them though. But I'm glad you are here. My feet are cold. Would you get me my socks out of my bag? Once my feet warm up I will be fine."
Fitz got his wife her socks and he got right back to her side and took her hand again. Neeka excused herself. She reiterated that she was right next door and that the nurse was simply off to the side in the birthing area. She was there to monitor Olivia's vital signs and she would assist Neeka during the evaluations that she would do personally herself. The doctor then left the room.
Fitz was watching Olivia like a hawk. Olivia couldn't hide her discomfort from him because he was looking right at her during every contraction. As the afternoon progressed and the contractions became stronger so did the clutch on her husband's hand. Neeka wanted Olivia to walk if she felt like it so she walked the area of the room for a while as opposed to staying abed the entire time. Just as she said Neeka was in and out of the room. When Olivia was last checked she was six centimeters dilated meaning she only had four more to go. Olivia unlike most of Neeka's first time moms wasn't wasting time. If she continued to progress like this she would have her baby around ten o'clock tonight. It was now about four-thirty pm.
By six-thirty Olivia could no longer mask the pain she was in. The contractions were flat out the worst pain she had ever known. She was still doing the breathing patterns and holding her husband's hand but she was now crushing it, literally impeding the blood flow. Her husband however didn't flinch. He was just there for her encouraging and loving her. It was hard for him though watching the tears leak from his wife's eyes during the contractions. At this point it was tearing him up watching her in so much pain.
Goddammit! He wasn't sure he could keep this up for what another four hours maybe? Olivia was in a lot of pain and she was trying to hide it from him and from Neeka. He looked at his hand where the fingernails of his wife had gouged him during her last contraction. His palm was reddened but she hadn't broken the skin yet. She had asked him not to bring up her being medicated for pain. She could bear it she said. But could he? During their last walk around the perimeter Olivia had bent over in pain and screamed out. It was the first scream he had ever heard from his wife that wasn't in the throes of passion. There was a very distinct difference and he didn't like it. He offered to pick her up and put her in the bed. She would have none of it. Once the contraction ended they walked on!
Next time Neeka came into the room Fitz told her that the pains were getting harsher and perhaps Olivia needed some medicine. Olivia wouldn't hear of it. There was a squatting pole in the birthing center because some mother's actually birthed that way. It was also used by mothers in labor because the squatting position helped some mother's during contractions. Olivia had practiced the maneuver so she tried it. If it would help her through these god awful pains she would try anything. Her husband in the meantime was right there with her through each and every pain. It was hurting his heart though. He would bear the pain for her if he could and he told her so. He kept her brow wiped, rubbed her back, held her hand, and told her how much he loved her during it all.
Around eight Olivia was literally exhausted and Neeka told her not walk any more. Her pains were worsening and she was letting the pain out with some god-awful moaning and screams. Neeka on her last visit had checked Olivia and suggested they didn't have long. His wife was eight millimeters dilated meaning she only had two to go. The last time Olivia had let his hand go and she seemed to be sleeping Fitz said a silent prayer. He couldn't take much more of this. Olivia was suffering and he knew it. She was hiding what she could but when she could no longer hold the screams in she would let go.
She had turned to him during the last contraction she had minutes ago with tears streaming down her face and finally told him that she hurt so badly but she wasn't going to take anything. She asked him not to leave her as if he could. She would be so peaceful and the contraction would come and Olivia couldn't hold back her screams. He wanted siblings for his namesake but they were going to have to talk about it. They called this labor for a reason.
He thought of his first wife he couldn't help himself. Mellie didn't want him in the room when she had their children and he hadn't wanted to be. She had insisted she be medicated when she delivered. She had often thrown in his face the pain she had gone through to give him children and he had minimized it because of her actions after the children had actually been born. The doctor had called him in to hold Jerry and try and bond with him because his wife had refused to. She had held Karen for all of two minutes before asking anyone to take her. She had refused to hold Teddy at all. She had called him Olivia Pope's baby. However he could no longer minimize the fact that she given birth to three of his children and no matter why she had done it, it should have meant something to him. He at least now knew he owed her an apology of some kind.
While Olivia was resting during her last contraction he had called Neeka back into the room and said, "My wife is totally exhausted and she's in unbearable pain. I think you should give her something for it. She is going to literally split her mouth from the screams. She is about to lacerate my hand but I don't dare let go. She shouldn't have to go through this carrying one hundred percent of this pain it isn't right. It's killing me to watch her."
"I know how much you love her Fitz and if you could you would bear all her pain, but you can't. She will get through this because that is what women do. She doesn't want meds and I will try and honor that. If she needs them I will step in I promise. Try to relax and just be there for her. Olivia is one of the strongest women I know. I think you know that. She has loved you for what eight years and she never faltered in that love even though at times it broke her heart. So Olivia can do pain. Just be patient if you can."
Fitz looked directly at Neeka then and though it hurt to hear someone else voice the pain he knew he had put Olivia through he knew she was right. Since they had been married they discussed everything and not just their future. They discussed the past. They both had hurt each other. Olivia had left him more times than he cared to remember. Nonetheless when she had left him she had every right to do so. He had been married to another woman and he had children. She always came back to him though because she loved him.
He had walked away from Olivia on his own twice and both times were misguided. There was the time he had walked away because Olivia didn't try and stop him. He had thought she would. She hadn't though and he had gone off to the G2 Summit lost, hurt, and alone. It was a miserable ten days and he had planned to try and reconcile with Olivia on his return. Then fate had stepped in and the failed assassination attempt happened. He had survived that and somehow it had brought them back together.
The other time he left her was after he found out about Defiance, Ohio. It was according to Olivia the worst day of her life because he had been so brutal to her that day at Verna's funeral. He had wanted to hurt her and he knew that he had succeeded. He was still ashamed of himself for that fiasco. There had to have been a better way. That harsh cruel side of him Olivia had never seen and it had floored her. She thought that they were done forever and that he would never forgive her. She told him that she hurt so much from his total rejection that her sanity was tried.
For almost two weeks she just about lost her mind. If Neeka hadn't stepped in and made her go to a therapist she may have broken. It was a low and painful time for Olivia but she had shared it with him just as he had shared how Jerry's murder and her leaving him had almost broken him. And now Olivia's doctor and friend was reminding him that his wife was one tough cookie. She'd had pains before from a severely broken heart because of him and she had survived. And she would survive this.
He got the point Neeka was making quickly. Let Olivia do this. If it is too much she will let them know. And Neeka her friend as well as her doctor wouldn't let her go further than she needed to. She was a skilled physician that had been practicing Obstetrics for years and he needed to step back. He needed to be there for his wife and be her biggest supporter.
He had texted Karen with an update and suggested that she and Terry wait until tomorrow to come to the hospital. He was sure the baby was going to be born tonight but their presence here wouldn't be helpful to Olivia. Karen understood right away. When she had her babies she sure as hell didn't want an entourage. She and Teddy would see them tomorrow.
Olivia was jolted awake by a pain so god-awful after her few minutes of peace and relief that she was sure her insides had been ripped from her. This contraction was her strongest one yet. She grabbed the sides of the bed and screamed for her husband who was simply over to the side in the shadows. "Fitzzzz," Olivia screamed, where the hell are you? You promised you wouldn't leave me!"
"Rushing to her side he said, "I'm right here baby. I would never leave you ever."
"Oh my god Fitz it hurts so much." Olivia had her hand in her mouth and she was biting it hard. Her eyes were wild and frenzied. She was moving her legs up and down on the bed. Her husband took her other hand and was wiping her brow with a cool cloth. The contractions which were more frequent and harsh were like a knife to the private parts. Olivia's one cognizant thought was that it shouldn't be this hard to bring a child into this world. It wasn't that she had underestimated the birthing process it was just that up to her first contraction it had been a cake-walk.
Neeka had told her everything including showing a reel of the actual birth of her first child in living color. Hell Neeka was a doctor and she was screaming like hell. Giving life to child was a sacred process and women had been doing it for years. Her and Neeka ancestors had squatted and given birth in the corn, cotton, and tobacco fields of America and had gotten right back up sometimes placing the newborn baby on their backs or sides and continued working in the fields. Olivia knew she had the blood of warrior women cursing through her veins. She was indeed made of sterner stuff. She needed to tighten up!
She took her husband's hand that was gently patting her face and she kissed it. The contraction was easing up and she was sucking in oxygen readying her body for her next one. "Two more centimeters Fitz and I will be ready. It hasn't been easy but I am here for it. I know it hasn't been easy for you watching all of this but thank-you for not bolting on me. I couldn't make it without you."
He sat down and took her hand. "Livvie I would never leave you, not even for a minute. This is our baby. We made him together. I know you are doing all the work today; I praise you and thank you for it. You are such a trooper. I can't bear this pain for you Olivia but I want to. You are so brave to do this for us. Don't hold back baby. Do what you have to do to get through the contractions and I can assure I will be right here okay?"
"Good. Because Fitz our baby must have a sibling that looks like him, it's important. We are going to have to do this again."
Fitzgerald Thomas Grant III looked at his wife that had been in labor since about one o'clock this afternoon and he laughed out loud. "Mrs. Grant you are such a prize, you are such a natural woman and I am so glad you are mine. Whatever I did to deserve you I am so grateful. I do love you Olivia. And yes you are right we are going to have to do this again. Rest up Livvie the contractions are getting closer. The last one were less than five minutes apart."
"Our goal is two minutes apart Fitz. When they are two minutes apart we can start looking. Are you sure you are ready to see your child being born? It isn't going to be pretty from what we saw in that video."
"Olivia this is going to be the best day of my life watching our son being born. I wouldn't miss a minute of it. Neeka has it set up so you will see it also. This is a special day Livvie and we are in it together."
The next contraction came right at the four minute mark and as Olivia expected it to be it was worst than its predecessor. All she could was try to breathe through it as long as she could and then she would just let go. Thankfully just before ten o'clock PM on Christmas day Olivia's contractions were now two minutes apart and she was ten centimeters dilated. Neeka was pleased with how things had gone basically just like clockwork. She advised Olivia and Fitz that their baby seemed to have a head full of hair. Olivia had begun the process of crowning. Neeka didn't tell them the hair was blond; let them be as shocked as she was. The doctor was going to suit up and they were going to bring the newest Grant into the world!
Olivia assumed the position with her legs raised in the stirrups. Her body below the waist was now draped in sterile coverings. Fitz had stepped away and donned the appropriate garb. He was holding his wife's hand and had one hand on a raised leg. A nurse stood to her other side as Olivia was getting ready to do her very first "push" with a contraction. Neeka said it was time to push and she was in between Olivia's legs on her swirling stool. Her body was draped from head to toe in sterile garb. Fitz was standing to the left side of Olivia giving her encouragement. He told his wife how much he loved her and whispered in her ear, "This is it Livvie. I promise we can do this. Are you ready?"
Olivia looked up at her husband and said she was ready. She sucked in the oxygen and let it back out. This is it, let the games begin. The process of delivering her son had begun. The contraction came with a vengeance. Olivia concentrated and she pushed. It was an exercise that came again and again. Olivia Pope-Grant prayed between contractions for God to help her. It was like the process had somehow stalled and she just kept pushing and nothing was happening. Olivia was looking at the process through the same mirror as her husband. She saw her baby's hair appear during the contraction and then he seemed to be sucked back inside of her. At least she thought it was the head. Was that blonde hair? Her husband said he had been blonde as a toddler. She had seen the pictures but with the pain she was in she could have skewered her vision right now.
Olivia was already tired and she had just begun this last phase. She wanted this to be over. It was hard. It was so much harder than she had imagined. She felt as if she was being destroyed down there. As she rested during this latest contraction she thought back to the first time with her husband. He was well endowed and when she had first seen "it" her eyes and demeanor had betrayed her. Her husband saw her amazement and the worried look on her face. She remembered she didn't think there wasn't any way she could accommodate him and she had said as much. He had looked at her with such love in his eyes and said, "Olivia I promise you we will fit and I would never ever hurt you. Trust me." And she had.
Now a child he had planted inside her was seeking to come out of that same space with the circumference of his head entirely different from the head of a penis. She was thinking she was in deep trouble. She looked at her husband who was trying to help and encourage her. Could she do this? Yes she could. As best she could she smiled at her husband. She could tell he needed some encouragement too.
"I'm okay Fitz. Are you okay? Promise to stay with me no matter what. And Fitz I may curse a little and even blame you. So you just remember how much love you." Just as she finished that sentence the labor pains came back again with a vengeance.
"Okay Olive we have stalled just a bit. The little one is taking his time. You are doing a great job I assure you. This is exactly how it is supposed to work. Your contractions now have one purpose to expel your baby from the vaginal canal. You must help him Olivia and push him out. Every contraction you have must now be accompanied by you steadily pushing. Don't think of time Olive just push. I don't want you straining with the muscles and veins exposed in your neck. That's not what we need. When the contractions start you start Olivia. Use the muscles down there and gently push. We want to avoid tears if at all possible. Remember just push with the contraction and when it is over relax and get ready for the next one. We can do this Olive. We can do this Fitz."
The last minutes of a delivery are hard and fierce. It is a great day for the mother and it is also a bad day, usually a very painful day. It was no different for Olivia Pope-Grant. She pushed and she screamed. She continually asked her husband to help her as the contractions seemed to intensify with each new wave. Olivia was totally exhausted after each one. No sooner than a look of serenity would cover her face the contractions would bring her awake and in full agony. After the last excruciating contraction she looked at her husband and said, "I'm not sure I can do it Fitz, I'm so tired. I'm letting you and our baby down."
"Stop that talk Olivia, you aren't letting anyone down. This is hard work but you can do it. I'm here to help you. Plus Neeka has said with the next push she expects the head to emerge fully and then the rest will be a piece of cake. I've got your back Sweet Baby. During this next contraction scream all you want but really push. Push our son out into this world Olivia. You can do this and I'm right here beside you. Do your breathing, pull in all that oxygen and be ready. Can you do that Olivia?"
Olivia didn't answer her husband but with the next contraction she pushed with all she had left and for the love God she prayed it was enough. She knew that sometimes a mother just became so exhausted she could no longer push and assist her baby. Neeka had told her if that happened she would have to have a C-section. That wasn't going to happen. Olivia was pushing with everything she had!
Neeka was right there guiding this precious life into this world. The head finally emerged covered in a sandy-colored blonde hair. The mouth was suctioned first and then the nose. The little fellow had opened his eyes already. Neeka applied just a small amount of pressure and the baby's shoulder dropped and then out he came with a swoosh of residual fluid and blood. He was covered in vernix from head to toe. The baby was actually looking right at Neeka but had yet to cry. She knew Olivia was listening for that cry. She wiped the baby down just a bit before she placed him on his mother's chest. That wipe down provided the baby with the stimulation it needed to take its first breath. The baby started screaming and inflating his lungs. After placing the appropriate clamps on the umbilical cord she told Fitz where to cut. He was so wrapped up in watching his wife and son at first he didn't even hear her. She told him again and he cut the cord.
Olivia had tears streaming down her face as watched her son calm as she called his name and rubbed her fingers across his precious face. The baby was looking at his mother as if he knew her. "Fitz look at him, our baby is here!"
"I see him he's perfect! Thank-you Olivia for this precious gift, you were magnificent. You can't imagine what today means to me. I love you Livvie and our baby so much."
"I love you too Fitz. Of course he's perfect. Look him, he is going to look just like you I know it. Look his hair it's blonde and his eyes they are gray. He is such a big boy. Did you see how he stopped crying when Neeka placed him on my chest? He knows I'm his mother!"
"Of course he knows you are his mother you carried him for nine months Olivia. I've been told that blonde hair and grey eyes are a birth trait for most Grant males although Jerry and Teddy didn't have it. I imagine his hair will darken and I suspect his eventual eye color will be blue." Fitz held out a gloved finger and his son actually grabbed it. It was an amazing thing.
"He knows you too Fitz. He knows you are his father. We are so blessed." Olivia had inspected her son for ten fingers and toes. Her son was as white as he could be. Shouldn't he be turning pink by now? He looked dull and grayish to her. She couldn't take her eyes off of him though.
Never taking her eyes off of her baby she asked the doctor, "Neeka is he okay? He seems so white and colorless. Is my baby okay?"
"He is fine Olivia. His APGAR is perfectly normal. I need to take him from you for a few minutes and turn him over to the Pediatrician. He will be gone for about ten minutes and then you get him back okay? When he returns I want to you to put him to you breast. I have given you something that will aid with the delivery of the placenta but junior here can help out also." The baby had been covered in vernix but that wasn't the reason little Fitz was so white. Neeka hadn't wanted to say to Olivia that her baby was White because his father is White so she had let it go.
"I don't want my baby out of my sight Neeka."
"He isn't going far Olivia. The team will clean him up, weight him, record his length, and footprint him, and tag him. He is a big boy Olivia. I think that's why we stalled a bit at the end. He had to maneuver his way out. You are looking good down here girl, no tears so no stitches. Once the placenta is delivered you can get cleaned up. How do you feel? Everything went well to my trained eyes but please anything you deem unusual let me know okay?"
"I feel exhausted but I think I'm okay. I feel sore down there naturally but my stomach feels sore too. And look how huge it still is Neeka; I did just have a baby didn't I?"
"Calm down Miss Olivia. Your baby isn't even ten minutes old. Give yourself and your stomach a few months to return to normal girl. This isn't reality TV and you aren't one of the you know whos! We do things normally around here."
"Olivia you look beautiful and you know that. Stop being silly, you just delivered a baby."
"Did you hear that Little Fitz your momma is being a silly goose? I don't want to let him go Fitz. I have waited so long for him. Fitz just look at him look at our son."
"I am looking at him Olivia and I'm so happy."
Neeka took their precious baby and handed him over to the Pediatrician and nurse. The eyes of both Grants followed the medical team as they took the baby to the other side of the room. Fitzgerald Thomas Grant V started to scream to the top of his lungs as soon as they removed him from his mother's chest. He screamed through every measurement and all the clean up. He came back to his mother and father squeaky clean. The Pediatrician had also given their baby a clean bill of birth. She saw or heard no abnormalities at this point. She advised them that his feet were blackened from the imprint made of his feet and the color would fade naturally. Did they have any questions? If not she would see them in six weeks.
The baby had on a band that matched his mothers' around his ankle. His little foot band said Baby Grant. He had been born on Christmas at eleven forty PM. He had on a diaper and a blue tee shirt and a blue cap. Olivia had removed the cap just for a minute to inspect her son's head. His head had appeared misshapen directly after his delivery. She had been told to expect it so she wasn't shocked but she had asked the doctor about it. It was normal. The skull bones were to a certain extent soft and malleable to facilitate birth. They would eventually harden and fuse together. And of course the soft spot in the top of his head would close. Her son's hair truly was a sandy blonde. It was long and straight on top and long and curly in back.
Fitzgerald the fifth was truly his father's son. The baby had stopped crying as soon as they placed him back on his mother's chest. Olivia placed the newborn to her breast and he latched on and started sucking as if he knew exactly what to do. Olivia couldn't take her eyes from her baby and her husband couldn't take his eyes from them.
The President unlike his wife had not cried when his son was born. He had been very happy though. He had prayed that his wife would be delivered of their son without incident or complications and his prayers had been answered. Now he watched his wife as she looked at her son with so much love in her eyes. He knew that look and it had humbled him. He was watching his son sucking at his wife's breast and it tore at his heart. From the love he and Olivia shared they had created another life. He let the tears fall from his eyes.
