Georgia was amazing. The warm sunny weather already made me feel so much better. It'd be so great to share it with Owen but that's not how things would be for a while still. Zola and Bailey also enjoyed getting to play in the yard over the weekends and after school. The rental was a three bed, three bath house with a massive treehouse in the backyard.
"Aunt Amy, my mom told me on the phone that you know how to iron. Have you ironed my uniform yet? School is tomorrow."
"That's funny. I don't remember being asked or anyone saying please."
Zola sheepishly smiled.
"Can you please iron my uniform? Please Aunt Amy, my most favorite aunt in the whole world?"
"That's more like it. Yes, I promise by morning it'll be ironed along with your brother's."
Once the kids were tucked into bed, I quickly tidied up our mess from the day and retreated to my room. I got my pregnant self in a position that was decently comfortable to lay in and decided to FaceTime Owen.
"Hey babe. I just got in the car and now heading home... How was your day?"
"Owen you need to be careful. Stay off your phone while you drive."
"My phone is in that mount on the dash. Both of my hands are on the wheel."
"Okay well still be cautious of your surroundings. My day went alright. Zola and Bailey played outside a lot. The design team is truly paying off. The hospital is gorgeous and nearly finished ahead of time. I still wish I could've been more involved with picking out certain looks. It's just too much work for me to do right now while very pregnant and trying to focus on staffing."
"I'm glad to hear it. However it turns out will great I'm certain of that. Are the kids enjoying school?"
"Zola loves her school. I'd even go as far as saying she's obsessed. Bailey doesn't care too much but I know he's homesick and wanting his parents."
"It must be tough for him, being so young and all."
"I know Owen. I don't blame him one bit. I even started to get a little homesick myself. I put the bassinet together earlier which was extremely easy by the way. I can't believe in just a few weeks our little baby will be laying in it."
"I can't wait. She is already so perfect and so loved."
"She definitely is. I will feel more ready to have her once you're in Georgia. It's so weird being on the opposite corner of the country from you. It's lonely being the only adult really here. I even started having Braxton Hick's contractions today so Little Miss may be coming fairly soon."
That surely caught his attention.
"Why haven't you told me? Stuff like that is important..."
"They haven't been steady or too many, just a small handful."
"You're not in labor?"
"Nope."
"Okay. Babe, I have to go. I'll call you back once I'm inside and settled. I want to be able to give you my full attention."
"Sounds good. We'll chat in a bit. I love you very much."
"I know. I love you even more. Talk to you soon."
The call disconnected so I laid there just relaxing. The more pregnant I got, I would get more tired over doing little things. My moment of relaxation was interrupted by the doorbell ringing. It was 8:30 pm. Would would be ringing the bell? Frustrated by having to get up, I took my sweet time going down the stairs. I looked through the peephole and saw Derek, baby Ellis, and Meredith on the front stoop. I quickly unlocked the chain, deadbolt, and door knob.
"You three! What are you doing here?"
"Well we are gonna be living here for a while but you have the extra keys so we had to ring the bell."
I smiled brightly at my brother.
"Right. Come in of course. Who is driving that black car?"
Meredith smiled at me nonchalantly.
"Owen."
"What?!"
The driver's door opened and there he was. If I could jump for joy or even run this far along, I would've. Instead I was frozen in place, watching my knight in a shiny black rental car take long strides over to me. Derek and Meredith went inside to see if the kids had already fallen asleep. He came up, took my face in his hands, and pulled me in for a sweet long kiss.
"You look amazing Mia. Absolutely stunning."
He wiped away a stray tear that went down my cheek.
"I missed you so much Owen. How were you guys able to leave a week early?"
"We trained our replacements and wrapped things up. Derek and Meredith really wanted to get here sooner than later for Zola and Bailey. I of course wanted to be here with you. Our house was always painfully quiet without you. I even left a few kitchen cabinets open to make it seem like you were there."
I couldn't hold back my giggle.
"Hunt got that desperate, huh?"
"Mm you have no idea how desperate I've been to have you."
The way he lowered his voice and spoke just so I could hear him made my heart flutter and all the blood to rush in between my legs.
"Owen..."
"It's my first time here in Georgia. Show me our bedroom. I did tell you on FaceTime that I'd give you my full attention and I'm a man of my word."
.
.
I woke up in the early morning to go to the bathroom. Ruby seemed to really be pressing on my bladder. As soon as I sat down on the toilet I felt a warm gush that wasn't at all urine. I quickly did my business then went to our room to throw on some pajama pants and Owen's t-shirt he had just taken off a few hours ago.
"Babe.. Owen.. Wake up."
"Hmm. You okay?"
Owen stretched and started rubbing his eyes.
"I think my water just broke. I was cramping earlier but I thought it was more Braxton Hick's..."
He shot out of bed like his ass was on fire and immediately scrambled to get dressed.
"Those probably weren't Braxton Hicks. Honey you're in active labor by now... We need to get you to Northside."
"I'm sorry. I thought I'd know. The contractions just weren't that bad."
"Don't apologize Amelia. You're in labor. You're about to give birth to our beautiful baby girl. Everything is fine. We will all be fine."
.
.
"Would Dad like to cut the cord?"
Owen looked at me as if I should be the one to answer. I just pushed a big baby out of a small hole, I didn't care who cut what.
"Go ahead babe, cut her cord."
Owen steadied his shaky hand and cut it perfectly. Ruby was whisked off to be measured and cleaned up.
"Amelia, I love you so much. She's perfect. Ruby is the most angelic little baby."
"She's healthy, that's what matters."
"You're a pro already. Once you were fully dilated, it only took 4 pushes. No pain meds either... You're my hero."
I smiled sweetly at him and squeezed his hand a little.
"All bones intact?"
He made a fist then opened it again with a smile.
"All good here..."
We were interrupted when the nurse brought our little bundle over.
"Congratulations Mom and Dad. Your daughter is perfect. 20 inches long, 8 pounds, 9 ounces, and born at 9:13 in the morning."
She placed Ruby on my chest and I held her close. Nothing else mattered in the world at this very moment. Our sweet baby with strawberry blonde hair looked up at me briefly with sky blue eyes before snuggling closer in her swaddle to rest.
"Owen, we're parents now."
I really couldn't believe it. We had both come so far: me with my unicorn baby, and Owen with the child Cristina aborted.
"Best parents ever. You've given me the best gift in the entire world. I love you even more than I did a few minutes ago. Our little family is everything to me."
"Ruby is everything... Just look at how precious she is."
Owen sat on the bed beside me and gently stroked her chubby cheek with one of his fingers.
"She's so small, just like her mommy."
"She didn't feel small at all coming out."
We both laughed quietly to not disturb our little cherub. Apparently being born is just as exhausting as giving birth because I quickly followed suit.
.
.
Derek and Meredith had already come and gone. They had come to the conclusion Ruby was definitely a Hunt more so than Shepherd. Both of us agreed with them. Owen's really lucky I love him so much because I thought it was a load of crap to carry her for 9 months and endure natural labor just for her to come out a spitting image of her dad.
"Look at her go. She's already eating so much."
"Well there's not much there so she has to get what she can until my milk fully comes in."
"She's amazing. I could watch her every second of the day."
"Well she is about 12 hours old now and I think we've accomplished watching her every move minus us napping."
He was content sitting in the recliner while I did skin to skin nursing with our baby girl. Watching her suckle away was magically. I was so in awe with this tiny human Owen and I made.