Friday 18th September 2016, 7:30am
Tom laid in bed, in just his boxers with Daniel, who was just over a week old, curled up on Tom's chest in a blue sleep suit with his knees and head tucked under his body. The baby was fast asleep with a stomach full of milk after being fed just half an hour ago, and Sam had fallen asleep once more took but she began to stir.
"He hasn't actually slept in his cot once since he was born." Sam croaked as she rubbed her eyes. Every night had been spent in he he bedside sleeper that Fletch had bought over for them or Daniel had had a nap in Sam's arms or on Tom's chest so he hadn't rested in his cot - he had only been put there when Sam or Tom were getting changed and needed to do something so they put him in there to keep him safe. He had also spent a night or two sleeping in Sam and Tom's bed, right in the middle between the both of them as he laid on their firm mattress to keep him comfortable because in the bedside sleeper, Daniel could only be besides one of his parents whereas in the bed, he could be next to both for the several times that he woke in the night.
"Good morning." Tom greeted. "What's the plan for today then?" He asked curiously.
"Um... Seeing as his umbilical cord fell off yesterday and this little man was more than unhappy with having his first bath, do you want to try taking him in the shower with you?" Sam suggested. "I know you've been feeling a little left out because I'm always feeding him." She commented. "But if you go for a shower with him, I can express some milk for the first time for him and then you can try bottle feeding him."
"Yeah, that sounds great. Thanks." Tom smiled as he leant down and pecked Sam on the forehead.
"And then we need to go shopping so we can take him in his carrier and put that on the trolley, then we could maybe take him for a walk in his pushchair in the park with Shadow. But before all of that, I need to go for a shower." Sam said sternly.
"I'm not gonna argue there." Tom quipped.
"Oi!"
"What? Ever since yesterday I still keep on getting a whiff every now and then of the sweet smell of baby vomit." Tom remarked.
"Yeah he got a bit in my hair but I just tried had rinse it out in the sink because I was in the middle of something." Sam grimaced and Tom screwed his face up in disgust.
"Right, who's going for a shower first?" Tom asked. "You or the men?" He smiled.
"I'll go and then by the time you get out with him, he'll be due a feed." Sam replied as she had a good stretch before she sat up and got out of bed.
Tom stood in the shower, with one arm underneath Daniel's bum, and the other hand placed on his upper back and neck to support his head. Tom had the shower pouring down onto his back, and so the only water that was reaching his son, was the water that was trickling over his father's shoulders and then down his chest so he wasn't getting pounded by the force of the water.
"Is this much better than the bath? Baths are horrible aren't they? I normally hate baths too, unless of course I have a bath with your mother." Tom smiled as his son as he put his hands all over his father's chest whilst he made strong eye contact with him.
"Mm because when Daddy has a bath with me, he takes up all of the room." Sam retorted as she came into the bathroom that was no longer steamy after Sam's hot shower, because Tom only had the water at lukewarm so that he didn't burn his son. She had her bra and underwear on but she was keeping her black towel wrapped around her post-baby body.
"Do you mind? We're having a good father-son chat here." Tom joked as both he and his child were completely naked in the transparent shower cabinet.
"I'm brushing my teeth Thomas." Sam quipped before she put the toothbrush and toothpaste into her mouth and began the process. Soon, she spat it out and rinsed her mouth and the sink out before she used the mouthwash. "Remind me that when we move out of here, we need to get somewhere with two bathrooms." Sam added.
"We could be all romantic and get one of those bathrooms with two sinks so that we could brush our teeth in unison." Tom joked.
"We already do that at night, we just use the same sink." Sam retorted as she left the room.
"Here, I'll get him dressed while you get some clothes on too." Sam said as she carefully took Daniel go was grasped in a hooded towel off of Tom who also only had a towel on, but it was around his waist. Sam put a nappy on Daniel, then put a blue and white striped sleepsuit on him and a matching hat. She had her wet hair up in a bun with black tracksuit bottoms and a dark blue hoodie because she still looked around 5 months pregnant with a rounded belly at just one week postpartum.
"Your son just peed on me in the shower." Tom moaned as he pulled on jeans and a tshirt.
"Well at least it wasn't once you were dressed." Sam retorted. "Right, are you gonna let daddy feed you this morning?" Sam cooed as she picked up Daniel in one arm and a small bottle of expressed milk in the other. Tom grinned as he sat on the bed with a pillow on his lap, and Sam laid their baby on it. Sam slowly and slightly painfully, squatted down in front of him, and then she helped him to get Daniel to suck the bottle's teat which took a couple of attempts, before she got up so that she could continue drying her thick hair.
Tom smiled as he fed his child for the first time. Their little boy obviously knew there was a difference between the bottles teat and his mother's nipple which confused him, but the milk tasted exactly the same which was what was important to him.
"You can wear this too." Sam teased as she put a chain of nursing beads, that she had been given by Robyn, around his neck. They were brightly coloured and once Tom had them around their neck, Daniel waved his arm upwards to the stimulating coloured beads and grasped them in his fist as he continued to feed.
"I still don't see why you won't wear these." Tom commented.
"Because he's got a heavier arm than you think." Sam retorted and Tom appeared confused until a couple of seconds later when Daniel pulled down on the necklace and it tugged on Tom's neck. "Imagine that tugging on the back of your neck, about 10 times a day for half an hour at a time." Sam said.
"Okay, now I understand." Tom nodded.
Tom had just secured Daniel's carrier to the top of the suitable family trolley as the Kent family entered the Tesco supermarket. Tom was in a grey wool jumper and jeans, whilst Sam had changed into a pair of maternity skinny jeans that she had worn at 5 months gestation, as well as a flowing white shirt and a blue cardigan so that nothing was tight on her bump. Daniel was fast asleep in his carrier. For now...
"Are we making this a big shop or a little shop?" Tom asked curiously as he gently pushed the trolley containing Sam's handbag into the entrance and followed Sam into the shop.
"We might as well make it a big shop while we're out." Sam stated as she pulled her long wavy hair down over one shoulder.
"I just wanna go and have a look at the children's books quickly because otherwise we're gonna be reading the same five books over and over again so I'll meet you by the baby stuff yeah?"
"Okey dokey." Sam nodded before she padded off to the back corner of the store behind the escalator and near the opticians part of the store. She felt odd because they had bought all of their baby stuff before the baby was born online an it was the first time that she had been shopping since she'd given birth (Tom had done a couple of quick shops for milk and bread whilst Sam had been napping) and she realised that she had never actually been to the baby area of her local tescos before despite the fact that she had been in the store hundreds of times before. There were three aisles designated to baby things and Sam found herself wandering up and down them, forgetting the essentials that she needed to get whilst she inspected the vast array of items there.
Meanwhile, Tom had gone down the book aisle and walked straight to the children's section which, thankfully, was a quiet part of the store and his child remained quiet. He was slowly awakening, but with his sleepy eyes, he was only making soft noises, asking where his mummy of daddy was so that he knew he wasn't alone.
"How about we get this one?" Tom suggested as he picked the thin book up and put it in the end section of the trolley which would be designated to Daniel's things. Suddenly, two children started running down the aisle screaming and chasing after each other, followed by a mother with a basket of shopping shouting at them to stop fighting and to come back at once. "Sshh, come on mummy isn't going to be very impressed if she leaves me with you fast asleep and I return with you crying is it?" Tom said softly as Daniel began to cry. "Daniel, it's okay, the noise has stopped now, hasn't it? You can get back to sleep now-" Tom was interrupted by a loud cry and Tom looked towards the end of the aisle and saw a disapproving worker and an annoyed customer looking at him before they stormed off. "Alright you win." Tom sighed as he unstrapped the boy and lifted the little bundle of blankets into his arms and he cradled him against his chest as he bounced him slightly. After a couple of minutes of soothing cooing from his father, Daniel settled down and was silenced once Tom had reached into Sam's bag and pulled out the black and white border collie.
"Sam?" She jumped with the blue sippy cup in her hand and quickly put it back on the shelf to realise that her husband was standing behind her with their son in his arms and the trolley behind him. "Sorry, I didn't mean to make you jump. Have you gotten his things?" Tom asked confusedly.
"Um, no. I was... I..."
"Busy?" Tom suggested and Sam nodded out of embarrassment. "It's alright, it's weird that we're gonna have to shop down here on a regular basis isn't it?" Tom smirked as he kept Daniel cradled in one arm and pushed the trolley with the other.
"That's exactly what I was thinking." Sam admitted. "Well that, and why Daniel is chewing the mini Shadow toy." Sam added as she picked up two packs of nappies and put them in the end of the trolley next to the small pile of books that Tom had collected.
"Because he got a little bit upset by some noisy kids so I gave it to him to settle, and the next thing I knew, he was chewing it. In fact, he can't chew it, he's gumming it." Tom stated cleverly whilst Sam picked up the rest of things that they needed down the baby aisle and put them in the trolley. "Could you push the trolley please?" Tom requested as he put both arms around his precious bundle of blue.
"Sure." Sam nodded as she leant on the trolley and continued their journey around the store. "How about we get some cherry tomatoes to roast tonight and we can have them with the macaroni cheese that's in the freezer." Sam suggested as in the recent days, they had been using up the meals that they made and then froze a couple of months ago because it saved lots of time on cooking.
"Sounds good to me." Tom nodded. "I'll cook it."
"Just try not to set the house on fire please."
"I'd never cause a fire, would I?" Tom cooed at Daniel.
"Sam! Tom!" They heard squeal, and Sam rolled her eyes before she forced a smile and turned around.
"Robyn." Sam announced.
"Come on, leave them alone." Max, her stepbrother, ordered as he had obviously seen straight through Sam and Tom's fake expressions of joy to see them.
"Aw, but look at him, he's so cute!" Robyn protested as she looked down in the bundle in Tom's arms.
"Robyn quick! I think I just saw Calvin Harris! He went down that aisle there!" Max stated as he pointed across the store and Robyn squealed once more before she ran in the direction of his finger.
"Thank you." Sam smiled gratefully.
"No worries, now I'd better go and explain to her that I mistook an innocent man for a celebrity." Max smirked before he ran off after his stepsister.
"Phew." Tom said and suddenly the black and white plush toy fell out of the bundle and Daniel began stirring.
"Hey, sshh. It's alright, it's here." Sam said reassuringly as she picked the dog up and put it back on the baby's tummy. "Ugh, the front paw is all wet and soggy." Sam laughed.
"Well he can't help it if he's a bit dribbly." Tom smirked. "Right, you're going back into your carrier." Tom announced as he hoisted the young boy and laid him in the cream and black carrier on top of the trolley by the handle.
Sam was gently pushing the black and cream pushchair along the pavement in the park whilst Tom played fetch with Shadow. Finally, they had gotten Shadow to come out of the apartment and leave her puppies, whom she had had to leave behind because they were still too young and hadn't had all of their vaccines yet to go into a public place where other dogs had been. Daniel was fast asleep whilst Shadow hadn't been more energetic since before she had been heavily pregnant as she ran with such speed after the tennis ball that Tom repeatedly threw for her.
"When I go back to work next Thursday, do you want me to come home during my lunch break?" Tom suggested.
"No." Sam replied harshly as though Tom was implying that she couldn't handle looking after their son on her own, but she knew he was only being kind in case she needed some respite after looking after him for most of the day alone. "I mean, if you want to come home to see him then yes but, don't come home just to help me. I'll be fine."
"Right. Shadow, there's only so many times that chasing after a ball can be entertaining." Tom moaned as she dog dropped the gobby ball by his feet.
"She's burning off the baby fat." Sam stated. "Or should I say puppy fat?" She questioned.
"She doesn't need to burn off the fat because she's still breastfeeding four puppies." Tom said sternly. "Mind you, she does eat for Britain."
"You're one to talk!" Sam protested.
"Yeah but I'm not eating puppy food like there's no tomorrow."
"Just throw the ball for her." Sam ordered as she couldn't be bothered to argue any more. Tom huffed before he picked up the disgustingly wet ball and launched it across the park, and once again Shadow zoomed after it.
Both in their superhero onesies (which Sam was proud to fit in because it was one of the few pre-pregnancy things that she could fit in), Sam and Tom spent the evening cuddled together on the sofa under a blanket whilst Daniel was fast asleep in his carrier besides the sofa.
"I need to get my hair cut soon so if I book an appointment before you return to work, you'll be okay to keep an eye on him for an hour while I go to the hairdressers won't you?"
"Of course." Tom nodded. "But bear in mind that I can't breastfeed." Tom joked.
"I'll express some and leave it in the fridge. You'll just have to warm it up in a container of warm water. Or I'll try and time the appointment so that it's in between his feeds." Sam replied.
"So have I got myself a permanent job of showering with Daniel every morning?" Tom asked curiously as he had rather enjoyed the bonding experience, though it had been difficult for him to wash himself.
"No. We'll take it in turns, I'll do tomorrow, then you the day after etc." Sam replied.
"Agreed." Tom nodded. The couple sat there in silence for a while longer when Sam finally spoke up.
"Would you mind filling up my hot water bottle please?" Sam asked quietly whilst she wrapped one arm tightly around her swollen abdomen.
"Yeah sure." Tom pecked Sam on the forehead before he got up and did as Sam had requested, before he sat back down on the sofa and handed her the object - he decided that it would be best to do what she warned, before he asked questions. "Why do you need it?" He asked softly. "You're still bleeding aren't you? You can't have started your periods already. Or have you?"
"Tom, I gave birth nine days ago. Did you seriously just ask that?" Sam huffed.
"Sorry." Tom apologised. "It just seems longer than that." He admitted.
"No, I'm sorry for snapping. I am still bleeding, and it's like period pains. It's not too bad though... It's just achy."
"You want some paracetamol?" Tom suggested as he put his arm around her waist, but Sam shook her head.
"I don't want to take it while I'm breastfeeding Daniel. Like I said, the pain isn't too bad anyway."
"Alright. Why don't you go and get comfortable in bed, and then I'll come and tuck you and Daniel in, and read you a story until you both fall asleep?"
"I don't need reading to, to fall asleep."
"Last one into bed smells!" Tom exclaimed as he jumped up, grabbed Daniel's carrier and carefully took him through to the bedroom. Sam rolled her eyes before she turned the TV off, got up, switched the lights off and then went into the bedroom. She found Tom holding Daniel in one arm, and he was pulling back the duvet on Sam's side with the other so Sam climbed into bed and got comfortable, before Tom tucked her in and then he laid Daniel in his bedside sleeper and he pulled the little boy into his blue sleeping bag to stop him from throwing his covers off in the night. "Right, let's read 'Guess how much I love you'." Tom said as he climbed into bed behind Sam who was facing her son. He put both arms around her, one holding the hot water bottle on her lower abdomen and the other holding the book in front of them so that he could read both his wife, and his son until they fell into a deep sleep...
Coming up: Sam is exhausted after Tom's first day back at work so he takes his son to the ED the next day. Will Daniel appreciate being carried around a busy department all day in a sling?
Thanks for reading, please review :)