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ALL RIGHTS GO TO CHARLAINE HARRIS!

Chapter forty-nine

Eric's POV

I knew she was in labour, I felt her first contraction the second it happened. The bond tells me everything, I felt her small pain, but I also felt her determination. She didn't want to get married before the birth of our child, she needed to get married. She must have had it drilled into her head that she wouldn't give birth until we were married; I believe she felt that if we weren't married, then we wouldn't be a proper family. This baby would be born out of a true family; I believe she wanted us to be complete in our family formation before Jr joined us. Now it is just the tricky matter of Sookie giving birth to Jr. When she was in labour with the twins, she just about staked me. She gets all hormonal and angry when she is in labour; I had to dodge several attacks that she tried to make on me due to her birth. Whoever said women are harmless, has never met a woman in labour.

"Just breathe" I try to encourage her, which is basically all I could say when she was in labour with the twins. There wasn't much I could do back then than hold her hand and be there for her. Which meant I had to suffer her minor abuse, but that was to be expected. I had read up that many women are remotely aggressive in how they talk or react during the birth of their child. So I prepared myself beforehand.

"I will make you breathe if you do not get this baby out of me!" she screams, Ammy coming to kneel down beside her where she takes Sookie's hand in hers.

"Dad, you need to deliver this baby. Get down there"

"I don't know how to deliver a baby!" I roar; my panic rising as I try to think clearly. I certainly did not read up on how to deliver a baby. I always thought she would give birth in hospital, like she did with the twins. But it would seem otherwise right now…

"Alec, get some warm water, a sponge, a couple of shoe laces, several clean blankets or towels, soap if possible, if not, then get some hand sanitizer. And maybe some Advil for afterwards. Oh, and an ice pack!" Ammy calls out to Alec as he nods his head and runs off, the priest trailing after him.

"Do I want to know how you know how to deliver a baby?" I raise an eyebrow at her, Ammy shaking her head as she tells me to undress Sookie's lower half. She then orders the adults in the room to usher everyone to the other side of the room, just so that no one has a view of Sookie's privates.

"I learnt how to do it from watching TV programmes" she admits with a shy smile. All I do is shake my head as I look at Ammy, waiting for her to tell me what to do next.

"Squeeze my hand whenever you feel a contraction" Ammy tells Sookie, Sookie nodding. I watch their hands with curiosity, wondering what Ammy is doing.

"Okay, her contractions are less than two minutes apart. We need to buckle down and get ready to deliver a baby" Ammy shouts, I nod as Alec and the priest return into the room, carrying all the items Ammy requested. This is going to be a memorable birth.

"Dad, wash your hands in the warm water"

I nod at Ammy as I begin to wash my hand in the small bucket of warm water in front of me, there is even soap. This is going to be strange; never in my life did I believe that I would be delivering a baby. I didn't even deliver my children when I was human; we had someone else for that. But to actually get to do this, it's overwhelming. Definitely one for the memory bank.

"What do you see?" Ammy probes as she motions to Sookie's lower half.

"The area is bulging out and I think I can see the baby's head"

"Right, she's crowning. Mom, I need you to push between your contractions. You remember doing this with the twins?"

"Yeah" Sookie gasps.

"Good, you need to do it right now. Come on, big push. You can squeeze my hand as much as you want to. But you have to push gently" Ammy assures her as she takes Sookie's hand back in hers.

Thank God Ammy knows what she is doing.

"Dad, put your hands near her vagina ready to catch the baby. Once the head comes out you need to hold his or her head down by about 45 degrees to allow fluids to drain. Now, mom, push!" Ammy encourages her, Sookie screaming as she pushes; the baby's head slowly coming out. I quickly do what Ammy said for me to do, my hand supporting the baby's head as Sookie carries on pushing. Soon enough the baby is out, but there is no crying.

"Quickly, place the baby face down on the mom's chest and stomach area; make sure there is skin contact. That will allow the fluids to drain out of the baby's mouth; by having the baby on mom's skin it encourages the contractions to expel the placenta as well" with that I place our new baby on Sookie's front, face down like Ammy said. I didn't even get to see what gender our child is. I just want him or her to breathe first.

I watch as Ammy quickly places a couple of blankets on the baby, after that she starts to rub the baby's back firmly through the blankets. Soon enough the room is enlightened with the rich sound that is mine and Sookie's little baby crying.

"Thank you" I hear Sookie whisper as tears poor down her eyes. I stare at my hands, completely baffled by what I have just done. I just delivered my baby. Just then Sookie screeches, from the sounds of it, it sounds like another contraction. But she has already given birth…

"We need a carrier bag. Dad, you need to get the placenta now" Ammy orders me; I nod as I go back to Sookie's lower half where I remain until the placenta is out. Once the placenta is out, Ammy tells me to put it in the carrier bag.

"Someone stand outside ready for the ambulance. They should be on their way now" Ammy calls out, Sam nods as he jogs outside.

"We need to cut the cord. Here, I'll do it. Someone get me some scissors" wow, my eldest child really does know what she is doing. This is unbelievable. I watch as Ammy feels the cord before tying a lace around the cord tightly about three inches from what I can now see is our little girl.

"A little girl" I murmur, Sookie's eyes meeting mine as she grins at me. I will never get away from girls, I am surrounded by them. Zach is my only little boy. I shake my head of that thought as I watch Ammy complete her process of cutting the umbilical cord. Once she has done that she picks up our little girl, wrapping the blanket tighter around our child before passing her to Sookie.

"It's a little girl, as dad has already said" Ammy grins at us both, the sound of an ambulance siren coming nearer to the building.

Took them long enough.

"Do you have a name for her?" Annika probes as her and Zach come over to stand around us. Sookie's wedding dress is completely wrecked, as is my tuxedo. Blood is always a pain to get out.

"Kallie Rose Northman" Sookie and I announce at the same time after we have shared a look. Our little girl. Another little girl. Zach must be happy.

Today has been the birth of our little miracle.