I own none of the characters of October Road
"Merry Christmas baby." Janet said brightly walking into their bedroom with a tray of French toast, bacon, fried potatoes, fresh fruit, coffee and juice.
"Time?" He grumbled through closed eyes.
"Almost ten." Eddie's test results were still the same, his cancer still wasn't growing which was amazing but he was sleeping more than normal.
"You shouldn't have let me sleep so late."
"But it gave me plenty of time to cook this amazing breakfast that we are going to share in bed."
"You know I love breakfast in bed." Eddie pulled himself into a sitting position and Janet placed the tray over his lap and then climbed on the bed next to him. As soon as she was settled under the covers Eddie leaned over and kissed her gently.
"Merry Christmas Janet." He whispered in her ear bringing goose bumps to her flesh.
"Are you hungry?" She asked when he pulled away.
"A little. You?"
"Yeah. Your son is constantly making me hungry." She grinned at him.
"My son huh? I believe he is just as much my son as he is yours."
"Just shut up and eat." Eddie took his fork, cut a piece of the French toast and held the fork up to Janet's mouth. "Eddie." She said laughing.
"Come on. Open wide. I can't have my son starving."
"What about your son's mom?"
"What about her?" Eddie shoved the fork in her mouth before she could respond. "You know I will always take care of you."
"I know." She whispered.
It took them over an hour to finish their breakfast in bed because Eddie would not let Janet feed herself and after every bite he had to kiss her. The pieces of French toast were the worst because he would make sure he would spread they syrup over her face and then he would lick off of her. By the time they were done eating Eddie's medication had kicked in and he had a major hard on. He pulled his very pregnant wife over to him, knocking the tray onto the floor in the process and they made slow sweet love.
--
"Merry Christmas sweetheart." Sharon Meadows said as soon as Janet opened the door.
"Merry Christmas mom. Come on in." Janet held the door open and Sharon walked in carrying a bag full of gifts for her daughter, son-in law and future grandson.
"Oh my God. No offense Janet but you look like you are going to explode."
"Three more weeks." Eddie said walking into the living room. "At her appointment two days ago she was a centimeter and a half dilated." He walked over and embraced his mother in law.
"So it could be anytime." Sharon said.
"Hopefully." Janet said, rubbing a hand over her belly and staring at Eddie. Neither of them thought he would live this long and they were so grateful that he was still here.
"So are we ready?" Eddie asked. They were spending the day celebrating Christmas at Eddie's parents with Katie. Throughout the day Ikey, Hannah, Nick, Sam, Phil, Pizza Girl, Owen, Allison and the kids would be stopping by.
"Almost. I need your tennis shoes Eddie. My shoes don't fit." Janet's poor feet were so swollen that the only shoes that would fit were Eddie's untied tennis shoes.
"Sit down and I'll get them honey."
"How is he sweetheart?" Sharon asked when Eddie walked out of the room.
"He's fighting mom. He's fighting like hell. We didn't think that he would be here for Christmas. It's a miracle that he is here and I am so grateful that he is but it's so hard mom. Everything that we do or experience I keep thinking is this the last time? Like today, this is our first Christmas and probably our last together and I hate it. I hate living my life thinking that this is the last time we will experience something. I don't have much time left and I need to be enjoying it not keeping a tally of final times." Janet sniffed and wiped away the few tears that had fallen.
"In your situation it's hard not to think about that stuff but you need to just concentrate on enjoying the first of everything that you and Eddie will experience together and not think about the fact that you may not have that experience again."
"Oh mom it's just not enough time."
"I know Janet. I know."
Eddie was standing in the doorway listening to the conversation between Janet and her mom and he had to wipe away the tears that had fallen. He hated what his precious Janet was going through. He had it so damn easy. After he was dead that was it. It was over for him but not for her. She would have to go on, living her life, raising their son without him. It wasn't fair. Taking a deep breath he put on a happy face and walked back into the living room.
"Got the shoes." He said brightly. He dropped down to on one knee and slipped on his tennis shoe onto her very swollen foot.
"I feel like Cinderella." She said giggling. "Except Cinderella had prettier shoes that didn't smell so bad."
"Hey be grateful that I'm letting you wear my shoes. I could just let you go barefoot out in the snow."
"You wouldn't."
"Wouldn't I?" He slid the other shoe on her other foot and winked at her. Janet leaned forward until her face was an inch away from his and placed both hands on his cheeks.
"You wouldn't." She said confidently. Eddie smiled and Janet closed the distance between them and pressed their lips together. "I love you." She whispered when they broke apart.
"I love you too."
--
"Eddie will you turn the damn camera off." Katie asked her brother.
"Hey Katie language. There will be little ears watching this video." Eddie turned the camera on himself. "Sorry about that Jake. Your aunt Kate has no manners. I'll work on her. Let's go shake some presents. Pay close attention son because this is the best way to figure out what your presents are." He walked over to the Christmas tree and picked up a box and proceeded to shake it.
"EDDIE." Laura, Jack, and Janet shouted and he just grinned at them.
"One thing I probably should have mentioned Jake make sure that no one is around when you shake your presents because you don't want to get busted my the parental folk."
"I think you shouldn't have bought him that damn camera." Laura told Janet with a smile.
"It's what he wanted and I'm powerless to resist him."
"Why did he want it?" She asked Janet softly.
"He wants to record himself reading stories for Jacob so that way…" Janet couldn't finish the sentence but Laura knew what she was saying.
"Let me see that ring he got you. I saw it in the box so now I want to see it on your finger." Laura said holding out her hand. Janet placed her right hand inside of Laura's and she examined the ring closely.
Janet told Eddie that she didn't want anything for Christmas but of course it went in one ear and out the other. He bought her a mother's ring with Jacob's soon to be birth stone being the main stone in the middle and then her and Eddie's birthstone on either side of Jacob's. "My boy did good." Laura said proudly.
"He did really good."
"I guess we better open the presents before Eddie unwraps them all by himself."
"Has he always been like this?"
"Always. He was a terror. He loves presents. Hey Eddie tell your wife about the one year you woke up before you were supposed to."
"No mom." He shoved the video camera in his mom's face. "You tell Jake that story."
"All right Jacob. One year on Christmas morning your aunt Katie came to wake up your gramps and I so we could all open our presents. I was surprised that your daddy didn't wake us up first because he always woke up first on Christmas morning. Anyways, when we went to wake your daddy up he wasn't in his room. Guess where we found him?"
"Downstairs with the presents?" Janet guessed.
"Oh yeah downstairs with the presents. Every one of them was opened and he was sound asleep in the middle of the mess." Laura said laughing.
"He even opened my presents." Katie said.
"How old was he?" Janet said laughing.
"Ten I think."
"And he opened all of my presents." Katie said again and Eddie turned the camera on his sister.
"It was years ago Kate. Get over it."
"So what did you do to him?" Janet asked with a grin. She could easily picture a ten year old Eddie pulling a stunt like that.
"What any good parent would do. We rewrapped Kate's gifts, busted Eddie's butt and took away his new gifts for a month."
"Ouch." Janet said.
"Yeah tell me about it. It really sucked that all of my friends had these cool new presents that they could play with and I had nothing."
"You deserved it." Katie said.
"Katherine Elizabeth Latekka let it go." Eddie told his sister and Janet just giggled.
"I was really traumatized John Edward Latekka III."
"All right you two enough." Jack said laughing. "It never ends. They are two adults and they still act like kids."
"He started it." Katie said.
"No I didn't. You did."
"I'm glad that I only had one child." Sharon said.
"You were smart." Laura told her. "All right everyone take your seat and we'll open our presents."
"Oh can I hand them out?" Eddie asked and everyone burst out laughing. "Please mom?"
"All right Eddie."
Eddie handed out everyone's gift and then for the next hour they all opened their gifts with laughter and sincere thanks. Eddie had asked that his family treat this like any other Christmas and get him regular gifts so he got some clothes since most of his didn't fit him anymore and his parents got him a DVD/video machine that could convert the video's he was recording onto DVD's. It was the one thing he asked his parents for. Eddie and Janet were given a lot of gifts for Jacob which Eddie insisted on opening. Katie gave them both a scrapbook of their wedding and bachelor/bachlorette parties.
"Katie this is amazing." Janet whispered tearfully as she flipped through the pages. She could tell that Kate had out a lot of work into it. "Thank you so very much. I love it."
"Yeah Kate. This is awesome. Thanks." Eddie said.
"I'm working on one for Jacob right now. I have the pictures of you throughout your pregnancy and pictures of your shower to start with and I'm just going to keep adding until the book is full and then I'll start another one."
"Will you show me how to make one of these books?" Janet had a lot of pictures of her and Eddie and she wanted to make her own scrapbook of the two of them.
"I would love too. Scrapbooking is so much fun and you will love it. We will go shopping and buy all kinds of stuff. We will have so much fun."
"So tell me how this works." Janet requested and Katie launched into an elaborate explanation. Eddie sat back on the couch and watched his sister and wife talk. He couldn't stop the smile that crossed his face. Laura and Jack sat and watched Eddie watching Janet. Their hearts filled with happiness when they saw the happiness that was shining in their son's eyes.
As the sun set on Christmas Day for the Latekka family and Sharon they all knew that this would a Christmas that they would treasure always, a Christmas with Eddie. They all knew that this would probably be the last Christmas that they would all be together as a family and as happy as this day was, it was overshadowed by a great sadness.
--
"How far apart are they now mom?" Janet panted.
"Seven minutes." Sharon said looking at her watch.
Janet was a week away from her due date and at 12:30 her contractions woke her up from a dead sleep. She didn't want to wake up Eddie up so instead she woke her mom up who had taken a leave of absence at work to stay with Janet and Eddie until the baby was born and for as long as her daughter needed her afterwards. After talking to her mom she realized that she had probably been in labor since the early afternoon when her back started hurting. Her active contractions had been going on for about an hour and a half.
"Do you want me to wake Eddie?" Sharon asked.
"No. Not yet. The doctor said I shouldn't go to the hospital until the contractions are five minutes apart so I want to wait until it's time to go. If he doesn't get enough sleep he tends to get a headache and I want to avoid a headache if at all possible."
"Can I get you anything honey?" Janet just shook her head. She was too nervous to think.
"Uh oh." Janet felt her belly tightening alerting her to another contraction. Closing her eyes she gripped the arm of the couch. "There that wasn't so bad. I can so handle this whole giving birth thing. I might even forgo meds and go the natural route." Sharon decided not to remind her daughter that this was just the beginning and the pain would only get worse.
"You're contractions are four minutes apart. It's time to go to the hospital. I'll go and wake Eddie."
"My bag is packed in our room. Can you grab it?" Sharon nodded. "Also Eddie's pills. We need to bring those. He can't miss any of his doses."
"Which pills?"
"Just grab them all. I'll sort through them later." As Sharon headed upstairs to wake Eddie she knew that her daughter was going to make a wonderful mother. She could tell by the way she took such good care of Eddie.
"Hey Eddie." Sharon gently shook her son in law. Eddie just grunted and pulled the blankets around him. "Eddie wake up."
"Umph." Eddie opened his eyes and the first thing he noticed was Janet was not in bed next to him. It took him a second before he realized that Sharon was in the room. Eddie bolted straight up, his eyes wild with fear. "Janet, where is Janet?"
"It's time Eddie."
"Time? Time for what?"
"The baby. Janet is in labor."
"Holy shit." Eddie threw back the blankets, jumped out of bed and flew around the room throwing on jeans and a tee-shirt while Sharon grabbed Janet's bag and all of Eddie's pills.
"Janet honey are you okay?" Eddie asked. Her face was contorted in pain. As soon as the contraction passed she took a deep breath and nodded.
"Can we go now?" In between her contractions she put on her coat and Eddie's shoes.
"Yeah sweetheart. We can go." Eddie wrapped an arm around h is wife, helped her up from the couch and out to Janet's jeep.
During the ride to the hospital Eddie sat in the back with Janet holding her tightly through the couple of contractions she had on the way while Sharon drove. As soon as they arrived at the hospital Janet was taken right to labor and delivery.
"Okay Janet you are five centimeters dilated. Would you like an epidural?" Her doctor asked.
"Not yet. I want to try to do it naturally."
"Don't wait too long. If the pain gets unbearable let the nurse know and we'll get you hooked up."
"Thanks."
"Are you sure you want to go without meds honey?" Eddie asked
"I think so. The pain isn't too bad."
Four hours later Janet had only dilated one more centimeter and she was miserable. She had honestly expected to have delivered Jacob by now but he was not cooperating. She really didn't want to get an epidural but she was in a lot of pain and it didn't look like it would be over anytime soon.
"Hang on baby. It's almost over." The nurse had shown him how to read the fetal monitor so he knew when a contraction was coming and when it was over.
"Son of a bitch." Janet gasped when the contraction passed. Her whole body hurt.
"Come on sweetheart. Don't torture yourself. Get the damn epidural." He begged her. He hated to see her in so much pain especially since there was pain medication available. "I don't want to see you hurting so much." Janet finally nodded in agreement and Eddie paged the nurse. Ten minutes later the anesthesiologist was in the room and Janet was sitting on the edge of the bed with Eddie kneeling in front of her holding both of her hands.
"Janet don't move." The doctor told her and she just nodded. She squeezed Eddie's hand tightly as the needle was inserted into her lower back. "You're doing great."
"Oh god, please hurry." She begged as she felt the beginning of another contraction. "Another one is coming."
"Mr. Latekka hold her tightly through this contraction. Keep her very still. It is imperative that she does not move." Eddie stood up, and wrapped his arms around his pregnant wife.
"Hold on to me Janet." Janet wrapped her arms around Eddie and buried her face in his chest.
"Eddie." She cried as the contraction hit.
"Hold still Janet. Hold still."
"It hurts. It hurts so bad." She cried and Eddie felt tears hitting his shirt.
"You are doing great Janet. I am so proud of you."
"Oh. My. God. Son of bitch." She said through gritted teeth. Eddie and Janet continued to hold each other until the contraction passed and then the anesthesiologist finished the procedure.
"Very good Janet. The epidural is in and you should be feeling better shortly."
"Thank you doctor." Eddie said as he helped Janet settle back in bed.
"I kept a port in your back so if it wears off before your child is delivered they will call me back and next time it will be a piece of cake."
"Thanks." Janet mumbled.
"Here sweetheart. Have some ice chips." Eddie said. Janet gratefully took the chips from Eddie and they resumed waiting for their son to be born.
--
"Seven and a half centimeters." Dr. Fulton said.
"That's it?" An exhausted Janet claimed. "In ten hours I've only dilated 2 and a half centimeters? I don't know how much more of this I can take." Her epidural wasn't working as well as everyone had hoped. She was still in a moderate amount of pain but she wasn't complaining.
"Why don't you and your husband go talk a walk?" Dr. Fulton suggested.
"A walk? I'm really not in the mood to walk." Janet said.
"Walking can sometimes speed things up."
"Let's walk Eddie." Dr. Fulton laughed.
"I'll be back in another hour to check your progress." He said walking out of the room.
"Come on honey." Eddie helped her out of bed and he slipped her robe and slippers on. Once she was ready he wrapped an arm around her and they began to walk the hallway of the maternity floor.
"I didn't think that it would be like this." Janet said tearfully.
"You are amazing Janet. I don't think that I could do this, hell baby I know I couldn't."
"Oh it's nothing." She said her voice full of sarcasm. "Dammit. Here comes another one."
"I got you." Eddie held her tightly as she cried through her contraction.
"I'm so glad that you're here with me." Janet whispered as they continued to walk. "I couldn't do this without you." Eddie stopped walking and faced his wife.
"Janet you have no idea how glad I am that I am still alive to be here with you for the birth of our son even though he is being a pain in the ass."
"Pain everywhere else is more like it." She said and Janet grinned despite the pain.
"But you need to know something sweetheart. You are the strongest woman I know and I know that even if I wasn't here I you would have been able to have our son." Janet wrapped her arms around Eddie and hugged him tightly.
"I love you so much." She whispered tearfully. "Thanks so damn much for fighting to stay with me and Jacob."
"I love you too."
--
Jack walked into the bathroom attached to Janet's room and found his son on the bathroom floor holding his head in his hands. His head had been hurting for the past few hours but only during the past hour had the headache become unbearable. Eddie had disappeared into the bathroom about twenty minutes ago and they had all heard him vomiting from the other side of the closed door. "I just need a nap." Eddie said. "I only got a few hours of sleep last night and a nap will help me."
"Come on son. Let's get you to the E.R." Eddie and Jack both knew that a nap wasn't going to help.
"I'm not leaving her." Eddie mumbled through closed eyes. "I have to be here for Jacob's birth. I have to."
"You can't even stand and it hurts to open your eyes. Let's get you better so you can enjoy your son once he arrives."
"God dammit son of a bitch." Jack watched in shock as Eddie began hitting himself in the head. "I hate this. I fucking hate this." He shouted through his tears and Jack rushed to his son, grabbing his hands.
"Eddie stop it." Eddie quickly relaxed in his father's. "Shhh. It's okay. Calm down. You're going to upset Janet." Jack knew the thought of upsetting Janet would calm Eddie down. "She doesn't want to see you in so much pain."
"I don't want to miss…"
"I know Eddie but you're in no condition to be here. Let's get you better and back to your wife as soon as we can okay?" Eddie nodded and Jack helped him to his feet, out of the bathroom and into the wheelchair that was waiting for him.
"Baby I'm so sorry." Eddie whispered sadly when Jack wheeled him over to the bed. Janet reached out and placed her hand on his cheek.
"Just feel better and hurry back. Your son and I will be waiting."
Forty-five minutes later Eddie was in a pain medication induced sleep and Janet was finally ten centimeters dilated and was pushing their son out into the world without her husband by her side.
"Okay Janet I can see the head. Give me another good push and it should be out." Dr. Fulton said.
"The camera. Is it ready?" Janet asked Laura. She wanted to make sure that Eddie would be able to see their son as soon as he was born and hear his first cry.
"Yes Janet. It's all set." Laura told her for the fifth time. After every push Janet asked her the same thing but Laura understood that it was very important to Janet that these memorable moments are on tape for Eddie to see.
"Time to push Janet." She sat up, Sharon held her leg back and Janet pushed and then collapsed back against the bed. "Janet that wasn't a push. You need to give it more power if you want your son to be born."
"I'm so tired." Janet said through closed eyes. She had been in labor for nineteen hours.
"Honey, I know you're exhausted but it's almost over. Just a few more pushes and it will all be over."
"I…I…don't know if I can do it. I'm so tired and it hurts so damn bad." Tears began to fall from Janet's eyes as she felt her resolve failing. She was so tired and she was in so much pain and all she wanted was Eddie.
"You can do it." Laura told her.
"I want Eddie." She sobbed.
"Eddie wants to be here too but he can't. He's counting on you to deliver your son and you don't want to let him down do you?" Sharon asked her daughter and Janet shook her head. "Okay then sit your ass up and push that baby out." With newfound determination Janet sat up and pushed as hard as she could.
"Ahhhhhhhhh." She groaned as Jacob's head slid out. Her heart seemed to freeze until the doctor cleared the mucous and she heard him cry.
"Now it's time for the shoulders. Give me a really good push Janet." Janet gritted her teeth and pushed with all of her remaining strength.
"Oh….my…God." She screamed in agony as the shoulders came out.
"Great job. The worst is over." Janet cried when she felt the rest of her son slid out of her. Dr. Fulton held up the screaming baby boy. "Congratulations. It's a boy." One of the nurses quickly laid a blanket over Janet's chest and Dr. Fulton laid the screaming, squirming bundle on his mother's chest.
"Hi Jacob. I've been waiting to meet you for a long time." Janet sobbed to her son.
"Janet do you want to cut the umbilical cord?"
"Can you do it but is it possible to leave some of the cord for my husband to cut when he returns?"
"Absolutely." Dr. Fulton cut the cord and then a nurse took the baby out of her arms and Laura followed with the camera, recording every moment for her son.
"Did you see him?" Janet asked her mother tearfully and Sharon nodded, to choked up to speak. "He's perfect and looks just like Eddie."
"I can you in him too."
"A little but he is mainly all his father."
"Janet one more push so we can get the placenta out." Janet bore down and pushed the placenta out.
"Is he okay?" Janet asked the nurse. Jacob had been screaming since he had been taken away from his mom.
"He's fine Mrs. Latekka. We're cleaning him up and he doesn't like it. He weighs 7lbs 10oz and he is 20 inches long." Janet watched intently as the nurse wrapped her son up and carried him over to her. "Here you go." Janet reached out and took her son in her arms. She leaned down and kissed his perfect little head.
"I love you so much Jacob Edward Latekka."
--
"Are they both okay?" Eddie asked his dad as he wheeled him to Janet's room.
"Yes Eddie they are both fine."
"You're sure? You've seen them?"
"Yes son. I have seen them both and they are perfectly fine."
"What does Jacob look like?"
"A baby." Jack answered.
"Dad."
"Just wait until you see him."
"Can I walk?" Eddie was becoming very impatient.
"No. The E.R. doctor insisted that take a ride. Hell, Eddie you're lucky that he let you out." The doctor wanted to keep Eddie in the E.R. for observation but Eddie begged, pleaded and argued until he released him.
"Stop." They were in front of the nursery. Jack leaned forward and put the brakes on the wheelchair and Eddie slowly stood up. He was still slightly weak from the headache and exhausted from the medication. "Where is he? Where is Jacob?" Eddie asked looking through the window.
"I'm not sure Eddie. Maybe he is in the back." Holding onto the widow and wall he slowly walked over to nursery door and knocked.
"May I help you?"
"I would like to see my son."
"May I see your wrist band?" Eddie held out his arm and the nurse scanned his wrist band. "Baby boy Latekka. He is getting his bath right now. Would you like me to bring him to his mother's room when he is done?"
"Yes please." The nurse shut the door and Jack helped Eddie back to the wheelchair. "To Janet's room please." Jack grinned and pushed Eddie down to Janet's room.
"Hey sweetie." Laura whispered when Eddie and Jack came in the room. She stood from her chair, walked over and kissed him. "How is your headache?"
"Much better. How is she?" Eddie asked staring at his sleeping wife.
"Exhausted but happy. She will be happier when she sees you."
"I'm glad you're better Eddie." Sharon said coming over to embrace her son in law.
"Thanks for being here with her."
"We're going to leave you, Janet and Jacob alone for the rest of the day. We've called your friends and they will all be here tomorrow so you and Janet can get to know your son." Laura explained
"Thanks mom, dad, Sharon. Thanks for everything."
"It's what we're here for." Jack said. They all said their goodbyes and left Eddie and Janet alone. He wheeled himself over to her bed. As if she sensed his presence she opened her eyes, turned her head to him and a smile crossed her face.
"How is your headache?" Her first concern was always for him.
"Better. How are you?"
"I'm better to. In fact I'm wonderful. Eddie we have a perfect little boy. Hand me my call button and I'll have the nurse bring him down here."
"I already stopped at the nursery and he was getting a bath. They will bring him down as soon as he is done." Eddie reached out for her hand. "I'm so sorry that I wasn't here honey. I really wanted to be. I wanted it more than anything." Tears filled his eyes.
"I know you wanted to be here but it couldn't be helped."
"Was it bad?"
"It was horrible. By the time I was pushing the epidural wasn't working and the other pain meds they gave me weren't helping. I have never hurt like that before but as soon as he was placed in my arms I forgot all about the pain. Seeing and holding our baby, the pain was totally worth it."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. Your mom taped everything, well most everything for you to see; from his first cry on so you can see it all. The doctor left some of the cord on too so you can cut it cause I know you wanted to do that."
"You thought of everything."
"Don't I always?" Eddie gripped Janet's bed, pulled himself to his feet and gently kissed his amazing wife until he could no longer breathe. "I love you." She breathed.
"I love you too."
"Knock knock someone wants to see his mom and dad." Janet's nurse Melinda said wheeling in the bassinet. "Would you like to hold him or leave him in the bassinet?"
"Can I hold him?" Eddie asked.
"He is your son Eddie. Of course you are going to hold him." Eddie sat back in the wheelchair while Melinda lifted Jacob up and brought him over to his father.
"Here you go dad." As soon as Jacob was placed in his arms Eddie's eyes filled with tears. "Call me if you need anything."
"Thank you Melinda." The nurse slipped out of the room and for the next ten minutes Janet watched in silence as Eddie stared at the sleeping bundle in his arms with tears flowing from his eyes.
"You're right Janet. He's perfect." He sniffed.
"He looks just like you."
"He has your eyes."
"Does he have all of his fingers and toes?"
"He does. Bring him up here and we'll check him out together." Janet scooted over to the side of the bed and Eddie and Jacob climbed up with her. They laid Jacob on the bed in front of them and unwrapped the blanket from around him and he started to scream.
"What? What's wrong? What did I do?" A panicked Eddie asked.
"You didn't do anything. He just doesn't like to be uncovered." Janet gave Jacob a pacifier that seemed to soothe him and then his parents examined him with a critical eye. Once Eddie saw for himself that Jacob had all of his pieces and parts they wrapped him back up and Eddie cradled this miracle in his arms. Once Eddie and Jacob were settled back on the bed Janet pulled the video camera off the table beside her bed and she and Eddie watched the video of Jacob's birth with tears streaming down his face.
Before the video was over Janet was sleeping with her head on Eddie's shoulder and her hand linked with his. Jacob was just lying in Eddie's arms staring at his father. "Hi Jake. I'm your daddy. I didn't think I would be here to see you, to hold you and I am so glad that I am. You are the most amazing kid and I am so lucky to be your father. Unfortunately son, I'm not going to be around for much longer Jacob. I'm sick and I'm dying. I can feel my body turning against me. I'm tired all the time and my headaches are becoming more frequent. I don't know how much more time I have left or how much fight I have left in me. I don't want to die Jacob and leave you and your mom but cancer is winning this fight but I promise you right now I'm going to continue to fight for as long as I can. I love you son, so much."
Janet had woken up when Eddie started talking but she lay perfectly still so Eddie could have this moment with his son. When he started talking about the cancer winning her heart broke. She had seen the changes in him over the past couple of months but she chose not to think about what it meant.
"Thanks for fighting baby." She whispered. She lifted her head and kissed his cheek.
"I always will." Eddie lifted his arm and wrapped it around his wife. She settled her head on his chest.
"Do you want me to call the nurse to put the baby back?" She asked.
"No. I want to hold him, hold both of you for as long as I can."