AN: Since Eva was born on Christmas Day, I wanted to get this done before Christmas, but I failed to do that. So, here is the last chapter published on the late night of Christmas. I hope you enjoy.
"Good morning, Lea," greeted Shaun with a slight yawn as he heard and then noticed Lea and Lucy step outside. "I didn't expect you to be awake this early."
Lea, wrapped up in her jacket, walked over and sat in the chair next to her husband, Lucy lying down next to her feet. "Well, Lucy woke me up when she decided to lie on top of me. And then, I noticed that you and Eva were not in bed. So, I wanted to see where you two wandered off. Besides, what are you doing out here anyway? It's 54 degrees."
Shaun glanced down at their daughter in his arms. She was bundled up in a white footie with grey and gold bunnies printed on it and her personalized mini quilted pattern green and blue blanket.
"She was still awake after I fed her, and I felt too awake to go back to sleep," explained Shaun, smiling at a slumbering Eva in her blanket. "Also, Alex said yesterday that the breeze should feel nice."
It took a while for Lea to comprehend that Shaun was referring to someone from The Weather Channel and not Dr. Park.
The blanket was a gift from Dr. Lim and Clay. It had rows and columns of baby blue and pale green squares. In the blue squares were rainbows, clouds, and suns, and in the bottom corner of one of the green squares was engraved Eva Victoria and December 25th, 2024. They had just given it to them on New Year's Eve. At their baby shower, they had gotten them a few receiving and swaddling blankets and then told them that they would be making a little blanket for the baby and wouldn't give it to them until the baby had a name and a date of birth.
With detail, the new parents remembered the day Eva was born. It will always be marked as the best Christmas of their entire lives.
It all commenced on the evening of December 22nd when Lea and Shaun were informed at an appointment that she had dilated one centimeter (yet barely any contractions) and the mucus plug had come loose, meaning that this baby could be coming soon, or it could take a week.
Lea's parents arrived in San Jose on the 21st. They would stay there for two weeks in the guest room while Donnie and his fiancé looked after his and Lea's ailing grandmothers. Pam and Mike hoped the baby would be born by January 5th because that was when they were going back to Hershey. Even though Mike recently retired last year and Pam had been working remotely since COVID, they both had elderly mothers in their 90s (one of them was turning 100 next month) who they needed to care for.
For the first three days when Lea's parents were in San Jose, they all had lunch or dinner with them at the hospital or a nearby restaurant (her parents really seemed to like that Mediterranean place), had video chats with Donnie and Raul as well as Pam and Mike's mothers, played Tombola, finished wrapping the rest of the gifts, and did some of the usual Dilallo family Christmas traditions. However, Pam and Mike weren't doing their Christmas Eve Feast of Seven Fishes this year because seafood was one of the foods their daughter couldn't stand when pregnant. However, Lea did enjoy baking many different Italian and Greek Christmas cookies with her parents in her kitchen, something she often did when she was a child with her grandparents and hadn't done in a long time since she moved to the other side of the country.
But most of all, she was tired and achy and just wanted to lounge on the couch or in bed. Besides snuggling up with her, Lucy and Poppy often kneaded her back, which felt nice.
Lea entered labor for real around 2:00 pm on the 23rd while she and Shaun watched Elf with her parents when she started to have regular contractions. Shaun, who had to work on the 21st and the 22nd but was off for the entire 23rd (as well as Lea), was scheduled for an important surgery earlier tomorrow (yes, on Christmas Eve) with Jordan and Danica, so he called Dr. Lim, telling her that Lea was in labor and he couldn't attend the surgery. Hence, she needed to find another attending to take over the surgery. Lim said Dr. Andrews was available to take over and wished him and Lea good luck plus an easy, smooth delivery.
Throughout the rest of the day, they did some things that would pass the time while they waited for Lea to progress. First, Pam took her daughter out to treat her and herself with some mani-pedis. After that, Dr. Glassman stopped by and then accompanied Lea and Shaun for a walk around the neighborhood with Lucy. Then, for the rest of the evening, while laboring at home, Shaun and Lea watched TV, nested, practiced breathing exercises, took warm baths, ate light meals, talked with Margo and Imelda about when they should come to the hospital, and brainstormed baby names before eventually going to bed at 10:00.
However, they only got to sleep for a short time since Lea's water broke all over the bed at 10:45, and then they had to meet up with Margo and Imelda at the hospital, where it was confirmed that Lea was at two centimeters.
For the entire Christmas Eve, Lea was in labor. Since she was still at risk for uterine rupture, the fetal heart rate had to be monitored.
She progressed to three centimeters by midnight and was in active labor by 4:00 am. She contracted, dilated, whimpered, groaned, moaned, huffed, puffed, grunted, screamed, breathed, and even vomited during transition for the next 19 hours while Pam, Mike, and Dr. Glassman waited in the waiting room for their grandchild to be born. While Shaun (unless he needed a break) and Margo stayed with Lea the entire time, Pam, Mike, and Glassman took turns keeping them company.
Since she entered active labor, the contractions became so painful and unbearable that she needed to grip Shaun or Margo as hard as she could. They would help her change positions and move around. Shaun, who would have struggled five years ago, bit through his empathy pains, gritting his teeth as Lea dug her nails into him and left marks. Sometimes, he would massage her back, let Margo take over, or respect Lea's wishes to not be touched at all.
"Shaun!" Lea, who was in a hospital gown and maternity robe and at four centimeters, yelped as a contraction hit her hard, letting out a quiet sob as she squatted on the floor against the side of the bed, squeezing Shaun's hand while Margo massaged her back. This was like her period on steroids, and she dreaded that the pain would get worse. "It hurts!"
"Breathe, Lea," instructed Margo softly, imitating a breathing pattern for Lea to follow.
"Increased oxygen provides more strength and energy for both you and the baby," added Shaun. "And you can curse if needed because swearing is a good way to cope with pain."
Shaun's comment managed to get a laugh out of Lea, who squeezed her eyes shut and sucked in a deep breath, and blew it out. Then, when the contraction passed, she decided to tell her husband something.
"I'll be pushing a human out of my vagina, so I'll cuss whenever I goddamn please. Also, we're not having another baby after this," she sighed. "I'm serious. I'm not going through this again. This baby will be an only child."
"Okay," agreed Shaun immediately, whether or not she was being serious or just getting caught up in the moment of being in so much pain.
Margo just shrugged her shoulders and smiled awkwardly as she didn't want to make any remarks.
When Lea was five centimeters dilated at 9:00 am, she decided to have an epidural so she and Shaun could nap for a few hours and have some moments of peace. She originally wanted to try a natural birth, but she just wanted some sleep and to save some of her energy for the pushing stage.
At that point, she preferred a large needle going into her spine over her labor pains.
"How does the epidural feel?" Shaun asked his wife as he lay on the couch, watching The Weather Channel. Margo was sitting in a chair next to Lea's bed, taking a small doze, while the laboring mother was lying in bed with her AirPods in, calmly jamming to Death Cab for Cutie. Although the process of receiving the epidural wasn't fun, she was enjoying the effects.
Since Lea had her AirPods in, she didn't heed what Shaun had said. "What?" She asked as she removed the buds.
"How does the epidural feel?" Shaun repeated.
"Oh, glorious," smirked Lea, gingerly rubbing her belly. "But I'm numb down there, which feels weird."
"That's what it was meant to do," reminded Shaun as he reached for the remote and turned off the TV before grabbing his pocketbook off the side table. "We should probably brainstorm baby names."
Lea chuckled, nodded, and then pulled up the Notes app on her phone. "We could do that. I already came up with a list."
"That's good. So did I," beamed Shaun, opening his pocketbook.
As they waited for Lea to dilate more, she and Shaun debated baby names and tried to narrow them down. Their finalized options ended up being Aaron, Benjamin, Calvin, Declan, Ezra, Felix, Finn, Henry, Jasper, Luca, Steven, or Theodore for a boy and Aurora, Bianca, Clementine, Eleanor, Eva, Iris, Natalia, Noelle, Nora, Ophelia, Vera, Victoria, Violet, and Willa for a girl.
However, by 7:00 pm, Lea's epidural had worn off, and she was already at eight centimeters and in the transition stage. It was intense and painful for Lea as the contractions were closer together and much more frequent, and they were so intense that they made her vomit. She decided to have her epidural readministered, but it didn't work this time. And by the time the anesthesiologist tried to administer the pain relief again, Lea was already fully dilated.
It was announced at 11:05 pm on Christmas Eve that Lea was ready to push.
With Lea positioned on her side, Shaun pulled Lea's leg back behind her knee while he held her hand. The labor and delivery nurse, Nurse Strickland, supported Lea's foot while Margo massaged her back.
"Come on, Lea," Imelda urged her again after she had already been pushing for two hours. "Push."
Gripping the pillow with her free hand, Lea breathed heavily and grasped Shaun's hand more firmly. The baby's head was already out, which felt like a burning sensation in her vagina. It was like a painful poop the size of a bowling ball full of knives, except it came out of another hole.
"I can't anymore," she whimpered, her hair plastered to her sweaty forehead.
"Lea, you're almost there," Margo encouraged. "You just need to push one more time."
"Lea, just one more big push. I promise," reassured Imelda. "This baby is ready to meet Mommy and Daddy."
"You can do it, Lea," added Shaun, who was still pulling her leg back. "Our baby is almost here."
Lea exhaled sharply as she used all the strength of her lower body to expel the baby out of her body. She screamed as she gave one more push, feeling her child slide out of her. Before she knew it, she was asked to roll onto her back and pull down her gown, and then a squirming, crying pink baby was placed onto her bare chest.
Before Lea could ask about the sex of the baby, Shaun went ahead and answered her question.
"It's a girl," he breathed cheerily, reaching his hand out to touch the baby's head. Lea was bawling just as much as the baby was.
"Merry Christmas," chuckled Margo, slightly shocking Shaun and Lea.
"It's Christmas?" Lea gasped.
"Yes, it's 1:02," affirmed Shaun as he checked his watch and looked at his newborn. It felt so surreal. After four long years of waiting, he and Lea were parents for real.
"It's a Christmas miracle," exulted Nurse Strickland, reminding Shaun of the moment he delivered a baby in quarantine during Christmas of 2018.
During the delivery of the placenta and the stitching, Shaun and Lea discussed baby names, finally agreeing on Eva, one of the few names on both of their lists. While Lea was thinking of names that meant "life", "miracle", "rainbow", and "sunshine", Shaun had names with Christmas, holiday, and winter-like meanings in mind. Eva sounded like both a name for a baby born on Christmas day and a rainbow baby. Her middle name, Victoria, meant "victory", and this baby was not just a Christmas rainbow miracle, but also a massive victory for Shaun and Lea.
Therefore, those names together fit perfectly.
After an hour, Dr. Glassman and Lea's parents came into the room to meet their granddaughter, which they were marveled at. Later on, others at the hospital stopped by to meet the new Murphy and congratulate the new parents, telling them that after all the crap they went through, they deserved this.
Shaun and Lea stared into the beautiful emptiness of their semi-large backyard, hearing nothing but the chirping of crickets. The only thing there was a memorial garden for Estella. Safely concealed within a small gate, the garden contained lilacs, dogwood, yarrows, roses, and gilia, allowing bees and butterflies to come feed. There were so many things they could put in the empty spaces - a kiddie pool, a treehouse, a swing, a playground set, a sandbox - all of that was perfect for a child and a dog. It is almost like the Dilallo family lake house. She, Donnie, and her cousins always fought over whose turn it was on the swing.
Eva was likely to be an only child with no sibling to be forced to share with (unless she had a friend or cousin over), so her grandparents would probably spoil her with all that stuff. And speaking of siblings, Eva would be getting one either through surrogacy or adoption because Lea clearly did not want to go through pregnancy or childbirth again. Although, a sibling for Eva was still up for debate because, for now, the two of them plus stable jobs, a lovely house, a dog, a cat, and a long-desired baby were perfect.
Although the first month of being parents was challenging due to the sleepless nights, they were happily blessed to have their daughter, the baby they desperately wanted and waited for after they lost Estella. Shaun and Lea didn't realize how bad they wanted a baby until the stillbirth.
They went through so much to have a baby, but they agreed it was all worth the wait.
"I love you, Shaun," Lea said after a few moments of silence, petting Lucy as she saw Poppy staring out the window from the inside.
"I love you, too, Lea," repeated Shaun while looking at Eva, who had woken up again and started to fuss, not liking where she was. "I'm going to take her back to bed."
"Okay," nodded Lea as Shaun stood up from his chair and walked over to Lea and Lucy. He leaned forward to give his wife of two years a kiss on the lips. "I'll meet you inside later."
Together, Shaun and Lea thought about all the perfect future they were about to have as a family.
AN: So, that's the end. Although I highly doubt it, I hope Shaun and Lea are able to have a successful pregnancy in canon with their current one. Anyway, happy holidays!