There's so much fluff in this chapter you could make a comfy pillow out of it and go right to sleep...after reading of course. lol
August 1st, 2021
They walked into their apartment to find Rachel's dads, Finn's parents, Anjali, Puck and company, and Kurt waiting for them. The first person to rush up to them was Carole who was practically trembling with excitement. She was finally a grandmother and at an appropriate age.
"Let me see my grandbaby!" she said as she shoved Finn out of the way to get to her grandchild she still didn't know the gender of. Rachel was carrying her in the detachable seat of the stroller they had chosen when preparing for Roxanne's arrival. "Let me see him, her, what is my first grandbaby?" Carole said, looking between Finn and Rachel.
Rachel silently moved further into the house pushing through everyone who was standing around trying to catch a glimpse of the new baby, Finn following behind her. When she made it to the couch, Rachel put the seat down on the coffee table and carefully lifted Roxanne out of it. "Everyone, I'd like you to meet the newest member of our family, Roxanne Carole Hudson." Everyone awed and gathered even closer around to make googly eyes and go 'aw' at the sleeping baby.
"I can't believe I'm a godfather," Kurt cooed as he stuck his finger in Roxanne's hand and she wrapped her little fingers around his.
"Kurt, I've told you, Jews don't have godparents," Rachel told him again.
"Actually I looked it up; they sometimes do so I'm going to be hers." Rachel shook her head at him but smiled as she looked down at her baby. As much as she wanted to hold her all day long, Rachel knew it would be time to play 'pass the baby' soon.
"Let me hold her," Carole crooned as she gestured for Rachel to hand her the baby. As she took the baby into her arms the first thing she noticed was how scarily alike she was to Finn. "Whoa, déjà vu. It's like I'm holding a little Finn again. You know that was a while ago." The room collectively chuckled. "She's beautiful you two."
Finn smiled at Rachel then kissed her forehead. "Rachel did all the work. She's amazing," he crowed. Finn had never felt more in love with Rachel than he did now.
Everyone in the room got to hold Roxanne for a bit and when it got to Kurt's turn he of course had to inquire about her name. "So how'd you come up with Roxanne?"
"I like the name. It took a while but Rachel finally let me win an argument for once." Finn smiled. Rachel still didn't know that he named her before she gave him permission and he was planning on keeping it that way. "We're going to call her Roxy for short."
"Oh, like in Chicago? Do you plan on naming all your children after Broadway characters?" Kurt asked as he looked from Roxanne up to Finn.
"I hadn't thought of that. But it's spelled differently and no, we're not naming them all after Broadway characters, I don't think," Finn replied scratching his head.
"Uncle Finn, can I hold her?" Jasmine asked as she pulled on Finn's pant leg.
Finn nervously glanced at Rachel who shrugged. "Sure Jas. You just need to sit on the couch." He helped her get comfortable on the couch and put pillows around her so that there'd be extra protection for Roxy. Finn took her back from Kurt and half-smiled as he looked at her. Even though she'd exchanged hands about seven times, she was still sound asleep. Finn made a mental note to ask his mom what kind of baby he was. Maybe since they looked so much alike they'd act alike too.
Finn put her in Jasmine's arms. "She's so cute Uncle Finn."
"I think so too," he replied sitting next to her. "Make sure to hold her head up."
Puck sat down on the couch next to Jasmine, Isaac on his lap. It seemed like every time Finn saw Puck these days he had that boy in his arms. "So how mad was Rachel when she found out you named the kid without her okaying it?" Puck asked quietly.
"She doesn't know and she's not going to," Finn whispered back.
Puck looked confused. "You didn't tell her?"
"No, she said I could name her Roxanne if I wanted so I figured why bother? It would just upset her and she doesn't need that right now."
Puck shrugged. "Whatever dude. Just don't be mad when it eventually comes back to bite you in the ass. Shit you two keep from each other always does."
"Puck! There are children!" Finn scolded.
Puck snorted. "Jas hears it all the time, mostly from her mother, and Isaac doesn't know what it means."
"Well my kid is still here." Puck's face fell.
"Are you serious dude? She's not even 24 hours old yet and she's asleep! I don't think me saying 'shit' is going to turn her into a social deviant."
"Dada," Isaac said as he stuck his hand up and hit Puck in the jaw.
"Isaac agrees with me," Finn replied to which they both laughed. Isaac leaned forward and looked at Roxy's face. He squirmed in Puck's arms to get closer to her then smacked his open hand right on her forehead. Roxy burst out crying loudly and started thrashing as wildly as a newborn baby could in Jasmine's arms. Jasmine started freaking out and nearly dropped Roxy before Finn could grab her from her. When Roxy was safely in Finn's arms he held her against his chest, her head at his shoulder and started soothing her. Puck yelled at Isaac who was now crying too and Jasmine was covering her ears and yelling 'lalalalala' over and over while the adults all started inquiring as to what was going on. The room had exploded into chaos all because Roxy started crying.
Finn stood up from the couch and started walking over toward the nursery. A highly concerned Rachel met him where the hall stemmed off the living room. "What is going on? Why is she crying?" Rachel asked, tears in her own eyes. This was the first time Rachel had really seen Roxy cry since popping out of her the day prior and Rachel was very emotional over it.
Finn continued walking until they made it to Roxy's nursery. Rachel closed the door behind them. "Isaac hit her in the head." Rachel gasped and put a hand over her mouth.
"Why would he do that? We should take her to the hospital! What if he hit her soft spot or really hurt her? Finn, she hasn't even been home a whole day yet and she's already hurt," Rachel said as the tears started to overflow. "I'm a horrible mother." She plopped down in the rocking chair and started sobbing uncontrollably. Now Finn had two crying females to deal with.
He rubbed Roxy's back soothingly then found a pacifier for her. As soon as he popped it in her mouth she stopped crying and relaxed in his arms. Who knew getting hit in the head could be solved with a pacifier? Then Finn knelt down in front of Rachel.
"Rachel, Isaac didn't mean to hit her in the head. He probably just wanted to play with her or something and didn't realize his own strength. It wasn't that hard of a hit and look, she's fine now!" Finn said trying to console his crying wife. "And you're not a horrible mother Rachel. We just brought Roxanne home. It's going to take time for both of us to get used to having a baby around. It's been you and me for so long, of course it's not going to be easy to just jump right into having her here with us, no matter how much planning we did."
Rachel looked at him through her tears. "You seem to be handling it pretty well so far. You got her to stop crying."
"All I did was pop a binky in her mouth. That's what got her to stop crying." Finn rubbed his free hand along Rachel's thigh comfortingly. "Rach, I'm just as scared and nervous about raising her as you are. Sometimes I worry that I'm going to be a horrible dad."
"Don't say that Finn," Rachel cut in. "You're going to be a great father. I know you will."
"And you're going to be a great mother. Don't ever doubt that," Finn said looking at Rachel seriously. He leaned his forehead against Rachel's. "I love you…mommy." He kissed her gently then smiled against her lips before standing up again. "Do you think we should just let her sleep in the crib or take her back out?"
Rachel stood up and walked up next to Finn to look at her sleeping infant. She looked so at peace now considering only minutes earlier she'd been screaming her lungs out. Rachel rubbed her back. "Let's just let her sleep in here. It's quieter and that way we don't have to worry about Isaac hitting her in the head again."
Finn put Roxy in her crib and covered her with a bright pink blanket. She looked so cute sleeping. Rachel wrapped her arms around Finn and leaned into his side. "We did good Finn."
He kissed the top of her head. "Yeah, we did." They grabbed the baby monitor and exited the nursery. Puck met them at the door.
"How is she?" he asked with concern.
"She's okay man. She's sleeping now," Finn replied.
"I'm so sorry dude. I don't know why he hit her, unless it was because he liked her and was hitting on her," Puck said with a smirk and an eyebrow waggle.
"Ahahaha, not funny Puckerman. Keep your kid away from mine," Rachel said fiercely, narrowing her eyes at him. There was no way she was letting Isaac near her baby again until she was big enough to whack Isaac right back.
"What, you got a problem with my kid liking yours?" Puck asked offended.
Finn answered. "No offense Puck but I'd prefer it if our kids didn't swap spit any time in the future. It's bad enough you've done it with my wife already."
"And she loved every minute of it." Puck made kissy faces at Rachel.
Disgust crossed her features. "Ew. You realize I always imagined you were Finn when we made out right?" She crossed her arms over her chest and looked at Puck expectantly.
His face fell. "Yeah, fuck you too," he said before storming off.
"Language!" Rachel yelled after him. She turned to Finn. "I can't believe I ever let him kiss me."
"You always imagined he was me?" Finn asked arching an eyebrow and smirking at her. She shook her head lightly.
"Of course. It's always been you Finn." Rachel wrapped her arms around his neck and went up on her tip toes to kiss him. "I love you."
"I love you." Finn took Rachel's hand in his and they walked back into the living room. For the next few hours everyone sat around the living room talking and every so often Rachel or Finn would check on Roxy. The last time Finn checked she was awake staring at the mobile above her. She was absolutely quiet.
Finn picked her up and brought her back out to the living room where everyone was still sitting and handed her to Rachel. He figured she'd be hungry and Rachel was going to breastfeed for the first few months. Though it meant he wouldn't get to feed Roxy as often he wasn't complaining because it meant Rachel's boobs would stay huge for a while.
Rachel excused herself to take care of Roxy. Finn turned to his mother. "Hey, Mom, I was wondering. What kind of baby was I?"
Carole took a moment to think. "Um, well, you were a pretty easy going kid. You smiled all the time and only really cried when necessary. I had other mothers tell me you were like a dream compared to their children. Although you passed gas like no other baby I'd ever met." The whole room laughed as Finn turned red.
Leroy snorted. "That's the exact opposite of Rachel. She cried for everything; loved the attention. Plus she was colicky and Hiram and I didn't get any sleep for about the first three months at least. It was an amazing day when she slept through the night for the first time."
All the parents in the room traded stories about bringing their babies home for the first time and Finn was riveted, absorbing everything like a sponge. He needed to learn as much as he could to make the process of getting used to taking care of another life easier. He was both horrified and enthralled. It seemed like all the babies were at extremes. Finn was the easiest baby on Earth to take care of while Rachel and Kurt were little divas. Jasmine had been a pain in the butt since before she was born and Isaac was like an angel child, minus smacking Roxy on the head, which was kind of surprising since he was Puck's son. Finn was hoping Roxy would be like him. So far all she had done was sleep and she only cried because she was hungry and Isaac hit her. Maybe he and Rachel would luck out.
Rachel came back out shortly after with a well fed and diaper changed Roxy. She sat down next to Finn with Roxy in her lap and played with her little feet. "What are we all talking about?"
"Just trading baby stories. Apparently you and I have been alike since birth," Kurt answered, folding his hands over his knee. "I wonder what my goddaughter will be like." He ducked his head and waved at Roxy and she just stared at him, drool dripping out of her mouth. Rachel rolled her eyes at him.
"So far she's been an easy one to please. She's very much like Finn, likes to eat and sleep a lot." She laughed and leaned into her husband.
As she was actually awake now, everyone wanted to hold Roxy some more. She was passed around again and instantly seemed to take a liking to Burt. Though babies that young couldn't smile yet, her eyes lit up when she saw him and she kicked and squirmed in what Finn thought was excitement.
After a while everyone left to give the new family some time alone with each other but Burt, Carole, Hiram, Leroy and Kurt promised to be back again the next day to visit some more before they had to go home. Once they left, they realized Roxy had been putting on an act. Sure she wasn't 24 hours old yet but she had definitely been putting on an act. The whole 'I'm-a-good-baby-that-only-cries-when-I'm-hungry-or-in-pain' bit shattered five minutes into new family alone time.
Roxy started crying around eight thirty and didn't stop for nearly four hours. Finn and Rachel tried everything they could think of: feeding her, changing her diaper, changing her clothes, giving her a binky, wrapping her in a blanket because she might be cold even though it was the middle of summer and quite warm in their apartment, taking off all her clothes because she might be too hot, burping her, making funny faces at her and singing to her, bouncing her up and down, rocking her, feeding her again, taking her temperature to see if she had a fever which she didn't. Rachel and Finn were at the end of their ropes and it was only day one.
"Finn, what are we supposed to do? She just won't stop!" Rachel yelled at Finn over the crying. Finn was bouncing Roxy currently and making shh-ing noises into her ear that were doing absolutely nothing.
"Maybe we should try giving her a bath or something?" He continued his rocking motion he had been trying before the bouncing one. "There has to be a reason she won't stop."
"Should I try feeding her again?" Rachel asked worriedly biting her lip. She had fussed the first two times Rachel tried feeding her and Roxy wouldn't latch on. She just continued to cry and cry and writhe around.
Suddenly the crying stopped. Finn pulled Roxy from his chest to look at her face which was turning redder by the second. Her features were contorted in what looked like pain and her face continued to get redder, almost to the point of purple, until she relaxed, took in a breath and went completely silent. Then the smell hit Finn's nose.
"Whoa! Okay, I know why she's been crying now," he said as he walked to the nursery.
"Why?" Rachel asked as she followed nervously. Finn started changing her diaper again and once it was open, Rachel knew why too.
"Yeah, I'd be uncomfortable too if I had been holding that in for four hours," Finn said as he cleaned his daughter up and put her in a fresh diaper. She was much more relaxed now and was beginning to get sleepy again. The exertion of being alive was getting to her.
Finn rocked her back and forth in his arms and hummed her to sleep. He thought it was adorable how her eyelids drooped lower and lower as she sucked on her pacifier until finally she was out again. While he loved everything about Roxy he had seen so far, the quiet cute moments were the ones he liked the most. He didn't really care for the screaming, crying part. When she was sufficiently asleep, Finn put her in her crib and wrapped her in a blanket. She looked at peace again as Finn and Rachel watched her sleep.
Exhausted and ready for bed themselves, Finn and Rachel grabbed the baby monitor and made their way into their own bedroom. They got undressed and fell into bed without even bothering to put on pajamas. They were so tired and life with Roxanne had barely started.
"I am so sorry for ever putting my dads through that," Rachel said into her pillow before turning to face Finn. "Karma is a bitch." Finn chuckled.
"We knew this could happen. At least she finally settled down." Just as Finn said the words Roxy's cries came through the monitor. Rachel and Finn both groaned.
"I'll get her," Rachel said tiredly as she rolled off the bed and found a nightgown. She made her way into the nursery and picked up her crying baby. "Roxy, please stop crying. Mommy wants some sleep."
Roxy didn't care that Rachel wanted sleep though. She continued to cry and cry. Rachel tried everything again and got it right with the feeding. Rachel rocked Roxy while she ate and was so happy that the crying had stopped that she was crying. She had a feeling they'd be in for many sleepless months if all this had happened on just the first night.
It had been a while since Rachel had left the room to check on Roxy. Finn hadn't heard crying in a while either so he thought he'd get up to check on what was going on. When he walked into the nursery he found Rachel in the rocking chair asleep with Roxy suckling on her breast.
"Rach, Rachel, wake up," Finn said quietly, nudging her to consciousness.
"Wha-? What's going on?" she said sleepily as she looked around the room before realizing Roxy was still attached to her. "Oh, I fell asleep."
"Yeah." Finn smiled at Rachel. "Why don't you let me take care of her when she's done eating? You can go to bed. I know you're probably still pretty exhausted from yesterday." Rachel shook her head.
A few minutes later, Roxy was full again and Rachel was in bed while Finn sat in the rocking chair burping his baby. "You, Roxanne, are very hard to read," Finn said aloud as he patted her back. "I just hope you don't keep your mother up every night. She'll be even crazier than usual if she doesn't get any sleep." Roxy spit up all over the towel on Finn's shoulder then. "So that's how you feel about it, huh?" He chuckled as he pulled Roxy away from him and cleaned off her face. Her eyes started drooping again and about a minute later she was asleep once more. Finn put her back in her crib, tucked her in again and went back to his bedroom.
"Is she asleep again?" Rachel asked drowsily from her side of the bed. Her eyes were closed but she turned in Finn's direction as he got into bed next to her.
"Passed out right after I burped her. She's got a clean diaper and a full tummy. Let's hope it's enough." He pulled Rachel against his body and kissed her head. "I know this seems hard right now but it'll get easier and we'll get better at it."
"Mhm," Rachel replied into his chest. "Love you, Finn."
He wasn't sure Rachel had actually heard what he said but whether she heard it or not, he knew it to be true. One day Roxy would sleep through the night and one day she'd be potty trained and one day she'd be able to tell them what was wrong and how she was feeling. He just hoped those days didn't come too fast because that meant that she would be growing up. Though it seemed forever away he knew it would come sooner than he wanted so for now he'd enjoy having his baby, the good parts and the bad, because he wouldn't have these moments forever.
"Love you too, Rach," Finn replied, hugging her tighter to him. He fell asleep minutes after that and no one in the Hudson home woke up again until the sun came out.