Innocence

I stare at myself in the mirror, my stomach is huge, and It’s starting to frustrate me beyond belief. I can’t see my toes, my feet or anything below my knees. Our son is growing every single day. He kicks me nonstop now. Whenever I shut my eyes, he kicks me hard in the ribs, waking me up instantly. Whenever I eat something I’ve been craving, he taps me gently in the stomach. Pretty much whenever I move, he moves. It’s getting beyond annoying.

The worst part about today is that it's exactly two weeks until I’ll be due. Hopefully he’ll move his little body out of mine before then, but I’m beginning to doubt that. Dr. Yung tells us that when a woman is pregnant with her first child, it tends to take longer for the labor to begin.

“What do you need?” Matt grumbles from beside me. He just got home yesterday from his tour, they set it up so he'd be home two weeks in advance.

“Nothing, just looking at my belly.” I say. He looks at me and then smiles, wrapping his arms around my large belly. "You look beautiful."

“Thanks” I say he kisses my head then he walks back to the couch, lying back down and closing his eyes.

“Good evening!” Johnny belts out as he enters the apartment.

“Oh fucking hell! Why did we ever tell you where the spare key is!” Matt grumbles.

“I don’t know, maybe in case my sister goes into labor and you’re too tired to get up and take her to the hospital?” Johnny says. “I can't wait to see little Johnny!”

“NO way!” Matt and I say in unison.

“I told you!” Sara says coming from behind him.

I notice a diamond ring sparkling off of Anna’s left ring finger. I shriek. “You two are getting married?” I ask. Johnny and Sara start blushing.

“Congrats man” Matt says with a laugh as they do their mainly handshake.

“Bring the rock over here!” I tell Sara. She smiles and walks over to me and sits down on the couch beside me. I grab her hand. “Nice!” I say, the band just got a shitload of money, so Johnny got her a fine rock.

“Holy shit,” Mat whispers. “Don’t count on that from me anytime soon, Maci. We’re broke enough as it is.”

“Oh, I’m not,” I say.

“You guys think you’ll never get married?” Johnny asks.

“Do you honestly expect us to?” I ask him.

“Well, not know, no. But maybe and hopefully if things work out with the baby,” he says.

“We’re already married in a way, we’re having a child, that’s a lifelong connection, you can’t break that,” Matt explains.

“That’s true,” Sara says. “Speaking of the baby, your going to have him in just fourteen days.”

“I know” I say.

“I can't wait to see him!” Sara says.

“I know.” I tell her.

After they leave we both sit down.

"So, I was thinking.” Matt says slowly

“Yeah?”

“About baby names. I know that you want to have his middle name as Peter after your dad and I completely agree. But, I’ve been thinking of a few first names,” he tells me.

“Okay, what are they?” I ask.

“Um, the first one is Matthew? The second is Jonathan for your dad, and the third, well, is Benjamin,” Matt tells me.

“Wow,” I say.

“Do you like them?” he asks me nervously.

“Matthew Peter?” I ask.

“Do you like it?”

“No, it sounds too formal. I want him to have a strong, but unique name,” I say. "Benjamin Peter?”

“Do you like it?” he asks.

“Yes,” I say. “It’s beautiful. Benjamin Peter. It has a ring to it.” Matt smiles. I lean over and kiss him.

“I think we just came up with a name for our son. Benjamin Peter. It’s beautiful,” I say.

“It is. But what about last names? Are we going to hyphenate his last name or keep it as mine or yours?” he asks.

“Sanders?” I ask.

“Yeah,” he says. “Benjamin Peter Sanders?”

“Hmm… Benjamin Peter Sanders?”

“Benjamin Peter Sanders-Caldwell,” we both say in unison.

“Do you like it?” he asks.

“Yup,” I say.

“So, Benjamin Peter Sanders-Caldwell,” Matt says.

“It’s beautiful,” I whisper.

“It is,” Matt quips in.

“Yup” I repeat.

“God I can’t wait until he gets here!” Matt says.

“I know! We just gave him a name? How weird is that?” I say with a smile.

“Very weird! We just named our son!” he says. I laugh and kiss him hard on the lips.

Our son, Benjamin kicks me in the ribs as if to agree. Giving him a name just makes everything seem like a sealed deal. It creates an incredible feeling that stirs inside of me. I’m sure Matt feels it too. The feeling is like a burst of utter joy, but at the same time we’re scared as hell.