Lydia was grateful that they didn't live too far from a hospital as she struggled to remain calm, cool and collected as the contractions started to get worse on the car ride over. Minutes later Aiden pulled up to the entrance to the hospital's double doors and had barely put the car in park before he rushed around to Lydia's side.
"Aiden please calm down, you're stressing me out." She chided gently as he helped her out of the passenger side. Placing a hand on her lower back, he gently guided her through the double doors towards the reception desk to check in.
"Hello I'm Aiden Bradford and my wife Lydia is about to have our baby." Aiden addressed to one of the nurses seated behind the reception desk.
"Okay, we'll see you as soon as we can, but you need to fill this out first." The nurse replied, handing a clipboard with fill out forms attached.
"Thank you." Lydia managed to say before another contraction hit her. Her contractions were getting closer and closer together, causing her to do the breathing exercises from Lamaze class in order to cope with the pain."hee hee hoo hoo." "hee hee hoo hoo." She panted as she plopped herself down in a seat. After they had checked in Aiden had gone back outside to quickly park the car and grab the hospital bag. By the time he got back Lydia was seated in a wheelchair near another set of double doors with an awaiting nurse.
"Hey baby." Lydia gave a pained smile as another contraction hit and held out a hand for him to grasp as they were led through the double doors to an empty room.
"You're doing awesome baby." Aiden said squeezing her hand, never letting go of it even as she moved from the wheelchair to a standing position. Bending down, he placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. After the nurses explained what would be happening, they were left alone for a few minutes so that they could change into a hospital gown and scrubs.
"It hurts so much though." She complained, panting when another contraction hit. Aiden guided her to the awaiting gurney bed and helped in just as the nurses entered the room again. The room became a flurry of activity as nurses rushed around the room and began hooking Lydia up to an IV and a heart-monitoring machine as they waited for the doctor to enter the room.
"I'm sorry baby, I wish I could take away some of your pain." Aiden said heartfelt. He hated seeing his wife in any pain and wished there was something he could do about it. Their doctor eventually showed up after what felt like hours to Aiden, but in real time was only thirty minutes.
"Hello I'm Doctor Harper." The doctor smiled in greeting, approaching the foot of the bed she grabbed the chart and studied it for a minute.
"Alright Lydia, I'm going to check you and see how far dilated you are." Pulling the hospital gown up a little, the doctor got down to business in Lydia's who –ha. Aiden could only stand by Lydia's side, silently grateful that they had a lady doctor.
"Well Lydia, I have some good news for you, you're already 8 centimeters dilated." Doctor Harper said, taking the gloves off her hands. "I'll be back in a little while to check on you again." She continued standing up and striding out the door.
As the labor progressed Lydia was regretting her decision to go the all natural, no drugs route as she laid there on the bed waiting in agony for the last 2 centimeters. The doctor came back to check on her a few times but it wasn't until 3 and a half hours later that Lydia was fully dilated and ready to push. While they were waiting during those 3 hours, they had texted Aiden's family and their friends to let them know the exciting news. Currently, Aiden was outside in the waiting room chatting with his family.
"I want… I need my husband in here." She pleaded with a nurse as they asked her to bend her legs and slide her feet into stirrups. The nurse retreated to the waiting room and came back shortly with her husband. Before approaching her side, Aiden grabbed the video camera laying on a side table for posterity. Lydia tried to listen to what the doctor was saying but could only focus on the pain and her body's need to push the baby out.
"On the next contraction I want you to push as hard as you can for 10 seconds." Doctor Harper's words broke through her focus.
"Rest when you need to but pay attention to what your body is telling you." Doctor Harper continued
"Push baby push." Aiden encouraged unfazed by her crushing death grip on his hand.
Gritting her teeth, Lydia bore down on the contraction and pushed with all her might. The labor continued for 2 more hours until Lydia could feel the baby's head, shoulders and then the rest of its body push out of her who- ha. Lydia slumped back against the bed in relief and exhaustion at being done giving birth. Lydia became worried when didn't hear the baby cry and started crying in relief when he let out a robust wail.
"You did so awesome baby." Aiden said with tears shining in his eyes and placed a deep kiss on her lips. Breaking away, Aiden pointed the camera at himself and began talking to it.
"Would you like to see your baby boy?" Doctor Harper asked coming over with a blanket wrapped bundle in her arms after the placenta had been delivered and taken care of.
"Yes." Lydia said excitedly, pushing herself gingerly up to rest back against the pillows. The moment her son was placed in her arms, she became unaware that Aiden was filming her and focused only on her son. She loved him so much his soft fingers and toes she counted 10 of each set. Looking up into the tear stained eyes of her husband she proclaimed:
"We made such a handsome boy Aiden." She had fallen in love with her son the moment he had been placed in her arms. Realizing Aiden had yet to hold him she asked"Would you like to hold your son Aiden?" "Your son." Aiden thought, he couldn't get enough of those words. Setting the video camera next to Lydia, he reached out his arms and relished in the soft sleeping weight of his son. After much deliberation on names they had settle on one that would fit this baby perfectly. Only when the baby began to fuss, rooting around did Aiden hand him back to Lydia. Sensing her son was hungry she bared a breast as he rooted around before being guided by Lydia to suckle at her breast. Lydia grimaced in pain when he latched on for the first time.
"It's going to take a while to get used to this." She thought, referring to the breastfeeding and the fact that she now had a son. Drawing a blanket over them she leaned back and closed her eyes as Aiden silently slipped out the door.
Beaming with proudness, Aiden entered the waiting room and was instantly bombarded by his mother's questions.
"Whoa whoa Mom, one question at a time." Aiden said chuckling as he interrupted her mid sentence.
"Sorry Mom, I promise Lydia I would not give anything away because of the contest but I can tell you that we had a boy." Aiden said, still beaming from ear to ear. The answers to the contest were 8 pounds and 8 ounces, Lincoln Ezra Bradford and 6 pm.
"Congrats Bro." Ethan said, drawing him in for a brief hug and a pat on the back.
Knowing how competitive her husband was and how he had vowed to her that they would have a child before Lydia and Aiden did again Allison beat her husband to the punch and asked :
"When are we going to find out who won the contest?". Growing up they would constantly compete with one another, always placing bets down on each other.
"As soon as Lydia is feeling better, so within the week." Aiden replied "The doctor said you can all visit Lydia and the baby, but it has to be one at a time." Aiden continued.
Mom jumped up and down like a hyper kid who had too much candy "Me 1st." she said giddily
"Mom would you like to see Lydia 1st." Aiden said chuckling. When they had been growing up, their mom had always been able to keep up with their activeness. His family filed in one by one until Lydia began to stifle her yawns and her eyes began to droop shut. Gently taking his son out of his brother's arms he shooed him out the door with the words " Tell the rest of the family goodbye for us."
"Will do and see you within the week." Ethan said chuckling as he exited through the door and went in search of his wife.
Aiden, Lydia and the newest member of their family left the hospital 2 days later after Lydia had been given a clean bill of health. Aiden was looking forward to spending time alone with Lydia and his son, blocking out the world for at least a day or two. Aiden was glad that he owned his own business for life changing events like this and he fully trust his brother's capabilities of running the business for a few days.
On the car journey home, Aiden couldn't stop looking in the rearview mirror at the sweet image of Lydia keeping an aware gaze on the sleeping form of their son.
