The next morning, Vanessa opened her eyes slowly. She looked around the room and then looked down at her stomach, which was now deflated. Zac was sleeping on the couch that was next to the hospital bed. Vanessa was so happy that Mia was here but also worried because she didn't know what kind of problems were going on with her daughter. Zac turned over on the couch and opened his eyes. He looked at Vanessa and smiled.
"Hey mommy, how did you sleep?" Zac asked getting off the couch and sitting on the edge of Vanessa's hospital bed.
"Alright. I have stitches so it was hard to fall asleep. Plus I am worried about Mia" Vanessa said.
Zac smiled.
"Mia is going to be fine. She just needs to grow a little more" Zac said.
"I want to see her" Vanessa said.
"Let's call the nurse and tell her" Zac said.
Vanessa nodded. Zac pressed the call button, which was on the side of Vanessa's bed. A couple minutes later, a nurse came into the room and smiled.
"What can I do for you Vanessa?" the nurse asked.
"When can I see my daughter?" Vanessa asked.
"You can see her whenever you want to. We just need to get you into a wheelchair" the nurse said.
"Okay" Vanessa said.
"I will go get one and come back" the nurse said.
The nurse left the room. Zac looked at Vanessa and smiled. A couple minutes later, the nurse came back into the room with a wheelchair. She then helped Vanessa get out of bed and into the chair. The couple and the nurse left the room and went down the hall to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Mia was in ICU because she was born premature. The nurse wheeled Vanessa into the ICU and stopped at an incubator that had the name "Efron" written across it. She then left the room. Vanessa looked at her daughter and smiled. Zac pulled up a chair and sat next to Vanessa.
"She's so small" Vanessa said.
"Yeah. But she will get bigger" Zac said.
"I wonder who she is going to look like" Vanessa said.
"I hope she looks like you" Zac said.
Vanessa looked at Zac and smiled. She leaned in and kissed Zac's lips.
"I love you" Vanessa said.
"I love you too baby" Zac said.
Vanessa entwined their fingers together.
"I can't believe we are parents. I never thought it would ever happen" Vanessa said.
"Yeah" Zac said.
"I can't wait to hold her" Vanessa said looking at her daughter.
Zac smiled.
"I know. I can't wait either. We should get you back to your room. Our parents will probably be coming soon" Zac said.
Vanessa nodded. Zac stood up and pushed Vanessa's wheelchair out of the ICU and down the hall to her hospital room. Zac helped his girlfriend get back into bed. He tucked her in and kissed her forehead lovingly.
"Do you think that Mia will love us?" Vanessa asked.
Zac looked at Vanessa confused.
"Of course she will love us. She has a mommy that loves her very much" Zac said.
"And a daddy that loves her too" Vanessa added.
Zac smiled.
"She's going to be loved by everyone" Zac said.
There was a knock on the door. Starla and Gina peeked into the room.
"Are you up for visitors?" Starla asked.
Vanessa smiled.
"Of course. Come on in" Vanessa said.
Starla and Gina came into the room.
"Where's the baby?" Gina asked.
"She's in ICU. She was born four months early and needs to grow a little more" Vanessa explained.
"Have you seen her?" Starla asked.
"Yeah. We just saw her" Zac said.
"She's beautiful" Vanessa said smiling.
Zac smiled.
"Why was she born so early?" Gina asked.
Zac and Vanessa explained to their mothers why Mia was born early. The mothers stayed for a little while longer until they ordered Vanessa to get some rest and left. Zac looked at Vanessa.
"You should get some rest sweetheart" Zac said.
"But I'm not tired" Vanessa whined.
"If you sleep now, morning will come faster and we will go see Mia" Zac said.
Vanessa smiled.
"Fine. I'll go to sleep. Sleep up here with me?" Vanessa asked.
"I don't want to mess up any of the wires baby. I would if I could" Zac said.
"Okay" Vanessa said.
Zac leaned in and kissed Vanessa's lips softly.
"I love you" Zac said.
"I love you too" Vanessa said.
"Get some sleep" Zac said kissing Vanessa's nose.
Vanessa giggled and nodded. The couple fell asleep. The next morning, Vanessa woke up and saw Zac sleeping. She smiled. Zac started moving around on the couch until he finally opened his eyes. He looked at Vanessa.
"Good morning" Zac said.
"Good morning" Vanessa said.
"Do you want to go see Mia?" Zac asked.
Vanessa nodded.
"I was waiting for you to wake up. I didn't want to go by myself" Vanessa said.
"And you shouldn't go by yourself. You have stitches that can't be messed around with" Zac said.
Vanessa smiled. Zac got off the couch and walked over to the bed and kissed Vanessa's lips. He helped Vanessa get into the wheelchair and pushed it out of the room to ICU. The couple went to Mia's incubator and looked at their daughter's body.
"Good morning baby girl" Vanessa said softly.
The couple spent some time in ICU with Mia until they decided that they should go back to Vanessa's room. Zac pushed Vanessa's wheelchair back into her hospital room and was met by Dr. Berry.
"Hi guys. You are just in time. I'm going to discharge you Vanessa" Dr. Berry said.
"What about Mia?" Vanessa asked immediately.
"Mia needs to stay until she gains enough weight and her organs develop more" Dr. Berry said.
Vanessa sighed sadly. Zac put his hand on Vanessa's shoulder.
"But we can still come back and see her right?" Zac asked.
"Of course. She's your child" Dr. Berry said.
The couple smiled at the sound of that. Zac helped Vanessa get back into bed. Dr. Berry did a head-to-toe exam.
"Alright Vanessa. I will see you soon" Dr. Berry said.
"See you soon" Vanessa said.
Vanessa changed out of her hospital gown and into some comfortable clothes. The couple then walked by the ICU and waved goodbye to their daughter and left the hospital room. When they arrived home, the couple walked into the living room.
"When do you go back to work?" Vanessa asked.
"I haven't decided yet. Now that Mia was born early and that she is in the hospital, I want to be here. I am her father and I need to be here" Zac said.
Vanessa smiled. She leaned over and kissed Zac's lips.
"I love you" Vanessa said.
"I love you too" Zac said.
"Will it be a problem if you push back your filming time?" Vanessa asked.
"No. I'm going to call my director and explain what is going on" Zac said.
Vanessa nodded.
"We need to figure out how Mia is going to be able to see you when you are filming" Vanessa said.
Zac nodded.
"I will have breaks between filming. You guys can come to me or I can come home" Zac said.
"I just don't want you to miss anything important" Vanessa said.
"I know and I hope I don't" Zac said.
"Will you have a lot of breaks?" Vanessa asked.
"I don't know yet baby. Once I find out, I will let you know" Zac said.
Vanessa sighed.
"Do you think she's going to be okay?" Vanessa asked.
"She's going to be fine. You need to stop worrying about it. You are going to drive yourself crazy" Zac said.
"It's hard not to think about" Vanessa said.
"I know it is but you can't do that to yourself" Zac said.
Vanessa sighed. She put her hand on her deflated stomach and closed her eyes. Zac leaned over and kissed her forehead softly.
"Everything is going to be okay baby. You can't stress yourself out like this" Zac said.
"I'm just worried about her" Vanessa said as tears fell from her eyes.
"I know you are sweetheart. But worrying so much won't solve anything" Zac said softly as he wiped the tears that were streaming down her face.
"It's just scary not knowing what's going to happen. This is our first baby and something bad happened" Vanessa said.
"We have to be strong for her Nessa" Zac said.
"I don't know if I can" Vanessa said.
"I know you can. That's the only way we are going to get through this" Zac said.
Vanessa nodded.
"I think I'm going to go to bed" Vanessa said.
"Alright" Zac said kissing Vanessa's lips.
"I love you" Vanessa said.
"I love you too. Get some sleep" Zac said.
Vanessa nodded. She walked out of the living room and went upstairs. Vanessa got into bed and fell asleep. The next morning, Vanessa woke up and saw Zac not in bed. She got up and walked downstairs and into Zac's office. Vanessa saw Zac looking at his computer.
"Did you come to bed last night?" Vanessa asked.
"No" Zac said.
"Why not?" Vanessa asked.
"I had work to do" Zac said.
Vanessa walked over to Zac and sat on his lap.
"You need to sleep too Zac. It's not good to stay up all night like that" Vanessa said.
"I'm fine. You need sleep more than I do" Zac said.
"When do you want to go to the hospital today?" Vanessa asked.
"Whenever you want to" Zac said.
"Zac" Vanessa said.
Zac looked away from the computer at Vanessa.
"Don't be strong for me. You need to deal with this too. I know you want to be the strong one because you are a man, but we need to go through this together. No secrets or hidden feelings" Vanessa said.
Zac bit his lip and looked at Vanessa.
"I just want her to be okay. Like you said last night, she is our first child and she has a problem. It's hard to deal with" Zac said.
Vanessa nodded. Zac took Vanessa's hand in his.
"I want to be the strong one because I know that you feel worse than I do. You naturally worry about things. You always have. I don't want you to feel like you are alone in this" Zac said.
Vanessa had tears running down her face. Zac was right. She was worried and she knew that nothing was going to stop her from worrying. Vanessa didn't realize that Zac had gotten up and wrapped his arms around her. He rubbed her back soothingly as she cried into his chest. Five minutes later, Vanessa's cries turned into whimpers and eventually turned into sniffles. Vanessa looked up at her boyfriend.
"Are you feeling better?" Zac asked.
"A little bit" Vanessa said.
Zac smiled slightly.
"Let's let this conversation marinate in our minds for a little while and come back to it later okay?" Zac said.
"Marinate?" Vanessa asked looking at her boyfriend.
"Let what we have said, replay in our heads and then we can talk about it later. Better?" Zac asked.
Vanessa smiled.
"I love you" Vanessa said.
"I love you too sweetheart" Zac said kissing her forehead softly.
"So do you want to go see Mia?" Vanessa asked.
"Okay. Come on" Zac said taking Vanessa's hand and walking out of the room.
The couple drove to the hospital and parked their car. They saw paparazzi camped out in front of the entrance to the hospital. Vanessa looked at Zac.
"Why can't they just leave us alone?" Vanessa asked as she put the hood of her sweatshirt over her head.
"It just comes with the territory baby. Come on, let's go see our daughter" Zac said.
The couple got out of the car and started walking to the entrance of the hospital. Paparazzi surrounded them and yelled different types of questions at the couple. Vanessa squeezed Zac's hand. Zac and Vanessa walked into the hospital and sighed.
"Are you okay?" Zac asked.
"Yeah, I wish they would stop for one day" Vanessa said.
Zac smiled.
"Don't pay any attention to them" Zac said.
The couple went upstairs to the ICU and smiled at the receptionist as they walked into the room where the incubators were lined up. Zac and Vanessa walked over to the incubator that held Mia and sat down on the chairs that were in front of it.
"Hi baby girl. I love you" Vanessa said.
Zac smiled.
"Hi sweetheart. It's daddy. I love you" Zac said.
Vanessa smiled. A nurse came into the room and smiled.
"Hi guys, I'm Nicole. I am the nurse that has been assigned to Mia's case" Nicole said.
"Hi" the couple said shaking the nurse's hand.
"How is she doing today?" Vanessa asked.
"She's okay. She's stable which is good. We are just concerned with her weight gain" Nicole said.
"Is she not gaining weight?" Zac asked.
"She's gaining a little bit but not as much as we would like" Nicole said.
"So what do we do about that?" Vanessa asked.
"We usually suggest for mother's to breastfeed" Nicole said.
"But isn't she connected to different machine's?" Zac asked.
"Yes, but we can use the portable ones that we have available. Do you want to try it and see if it works?" Nicole asked.
Vanessa looked at Zac. Zac nodded and smiled. Vanessa looked back at the nurse.
"I'll try it and see if it works. What is the difference between formula and breast milk?" Vanessa asked.
"Breast milk has a lot more vitamins and nutritional qualities that you can't get from formula. It's a lot healthier" Nicole said.
"Okay" Vanessa said.
Nicole set up the portable machines and connected them to Mia. She then carefully picked up Mia from her incubator and set her into Vanessa's arms. Zac smiled.
"How does it feel?" Zac asked.
Vanessa smiled.
"It finally feels like I'm a mom" Vanessa said.
Zac smiled and kissed her head softly. Nicole taught Vanessa how to breast feed. Vanessa watched Mia latch onto her breast and enjoy her meal. She smiled.
"Does it hurt?" Zac asked.
"No, it feels weird though" Vanessa said.
"A good kind of weird or bad?" Zac asked.
"A good kind" Vanessa said looking down at her daughter.
Vanessa put her hand on Mia's head and kissed it softly. Tears ran down Vanessa's cheeks. She wiped them away with her free hand.
"Sorry" Vanessa said.
Zac smiled and kissed Vanessa's cheek.
"Don't be. I know this is overwhelming" Zac said.
Vanessa looked down at Mia.
"She has your eyes" Vanessa said.
"Yeah, and she has your hair" Zac said.
"Now that I am holding her I don't want to put her down" Vanessa said.
Zac smiled.
"Do you feel like a mommy now?" Zac asked.
Vanessa nodded.
"Yes. I can't believe she was living inside of me" Vanessa said.
"Yeah, it's crazy" Zac said.
Mia pulled away from Vanessa. Vanessa picked Mia up and gently patted her back until she burped.
"Can Zac hold her?" Vanessa asked.
Nicole looked at the couple and smiled.
"Of course. Just be careful handing her off to him" Nicole said.
Vanessa carefully put Mia into Zac's arms. Zac looked down at his daughter and smiled.
"How does it feel baby?" Vanessa asked as she adjusted her shirt to it's previous place.
Zac looked up and smiled at his girlfriend.
"Amazing" Zac said.
Vanessa smiled. The couple held their daughter for a while until they decided to go home. That night, Vanessa walked into Zac's office and saw him on his computer.
"What are you doing?" Vanessa asked.
"Just finishing some things up. What are you up to?" Zac asked.
"Nothing. Do you think she's going to come home soon?" Vanessa asked.
"I hope so baby. Hopefully this breastfeeding method will help her gain some weight" Zac said.
"Hopefully. Have you talked to your parents?" Vanessa asked.
"Yeah, they were asking about her and when they could come see her. I just think that we should be the only ones that see her right now. Once she's out of the hospital and at home, then our families could come see her" Zac said.
Vanessa nodded.
"I agree. Are you going to back to therapy?" Vanessa asked softly.
Zac looked at Vanessa.
"I feel like I should. With all of this stuff going on, there is a lot of stuff swirling around in my head" Zac said.
"Even though you are doing so well, I just want you to maintain this state and not fall back to what you were doing before" Vanessa said.
"I agree with you. I think that Mia is my motivation to stay stable. Both of you are" Zac said.
Vanessa smiled.
"Would you want to go with me?" Zac asked.
Vanessa looked at her boyfriend confused.
"I want you to have a better understanding of where I'm coming from and therapy may give us that opportunity. What do you think?" Zac asked.
"I want to be able to help you in any way I can. I will always support you no matter what" Vanessa said.
"So that's a yes?" Zac asked.
Vanessa nodded.
"Yes" Vanessa said.
Zac smiled. He kissed Vanessa's lips softly but passionately. He knew that everything was going to go up from there.