First Time

10th December 2017

“This baby needs to come.” I told Joe as I stood up; my 41 week belly sticking out of the gown like a basketball. “This baby needs to come now.”

“Al, you can’t force him out.” Joe chuckled softly, making no attempt to comfort me. He knew it wouldn’t make much of a difference anyway. Nothing was a comfort to me since I went overdue. “He’ll come out when he is ready and he isn’t ready now.” I shuffled around the room, making sure that all the medicine that was inducing my labour came with me. “Do you think Sophie is okay?”

“Joe, she is with your parents.” I told him as he watched me walk from the bed. “She’s fine. How many times have they looked after her?”

“But it’s different this time.” He basically whined. I tried to hold back the roll of my eyes as Joe pulled out his phone. “We just dumped her at mom and dad’s. We didn’t explain much. She’s probably really confused and think we aren’t coming back.” I wanted to laugh at Joe’s dramaticness. Sophie knew that she was staying the night at Denise and Paul’s because Mommy was having the baby.

“Joe, if you want to call your parents, go ahead.” I told him as I came to a stop. “But Sophie knows that she is staying the night at Nana and Papa’s because I’m having the baby.” I glanced at the clock in the room that told me we had only been here for 2 hours. “Anyway, it’s 9am. Hopefully, she’ll be asleep.”

“Fine.” Joe replied, like a stroppy teenager. “I’ll ring in a few hours, when she’s awake.” I nodded my head and sat next to Joe on the bed. I breathed heavily, feeling every moment of this 41 week pregnancy. “How you feeling, baby?” Joe pressed his lips against my temple.

“Heavy.” I replied, earning a small chuckle from Joe. “I’m ready for him, Joe. I’m ready for him to come. I’ve been pregnant for what feels like forever. I’m ready for him to be here so I can hold him in my arms and-” I stopped talking to let the contraction pass. I gritted my teeth and held onto Joe’s hand.

“Okay?” Joe asked, peering at me as I breathed through the last of it. I nodded my head slowly, leaning backwards. “What was that about having him here?” I chuckled weakly, not having much energy from the last contraction. “You haven’t got too long now, baby. Think about how quick Soph came out.”

“Yeah, but the good thing about having Sophie was that she was on time!” I complained, making an attempt to rub my stomach around the contraction monitor. “This one, our little boy, is living every moment in here.” Joe rested his hand on top of mine. “I want him here.”

“We all want him here, Allie.” Joe replied, rubbing my belly softly. There was a soft movement from our son, but nothing compared to what it had been weeks ago. “And he will be here by the end of the day. You’ve just got to do all the other tough stuff until he is here yet.”

“I’m aware.” I looked around the room to see all the instruments that would be used later. Some of them, the look of them scared me a little. “I know it will be all worth it in the end, but right now, I’m not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.” Joe scoffed slightly as I continued to look around the room.

“Well, when the drugs kick in, you’ll be as right as rain.” Joe nudged me slowly as I laughed at him. He wrapped his arm around my back, pulling me closer. After nearly a year and a half of marriage, Joe still made me feel like I was falling in love all over again. “When we leave here, we won’t be a family of 3 anymore. We will have 4.” I couldn’t help but grin madly. “And we will have 2 children.”

“Oh god, can I change my mind about having this one?” I asked, rubbing my hand against my stomach. “2 children, Joe. Can you believe it?”

“It’s everything I imagined and more.” He pressed his lips against my cheek and I grinned at him. “I love you.” He muttered, before I rested my head against his shoulder.

“I love you too, Joe.” I quickly pressed my lips against his. “And I love our daughter and I love our little boy.”

“Do you think that the family are pissed that we didn’t tell them this little one’s name?” We decided on our son’s name when I was 6 months gone. The entire family kept bugging us to tell them, but we wanted them to find out when they met him for the first time. “We told everyone Sophie’s name when you had 3 months to go.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” I shrugged my shoulders. “They found out about Sophie’s name earlier, but I think that’s because everyone was so excited about the first baby. We couldn’t keep our mouths shut either.” Joe nodded his head in agreement. “It’s not like we aren’t excited over this one, it feels like the first time again, but everyone knows how long the wait is. They know he is a boy, so that’s enough. We need to leave some surprise for when he is born.”

“It’s only a few more hours.” I felt a rush of panic go through my body. In a few more hours, I’d be a new mom again. We’d have to do the night time feeds, the nappy changes, the crying and all with a 3, nearly 4 year old too.

“A few more hours and-” My sentence was stopped by the sudden gush of water from between my legs. Joe bounced off the bed, avoiding the water. We shared a look and he hit the button to call the midwife. “Maybe less than a few more hours.”

* * *

“Hey baby boy.” I whispered, watching the most recent member of our family open his eyes. “Hey little man.” I ran my finger down his cheek as he yawned.

“Parents have just turned up.” Joe said quietly, sitting on the end of the bed. I smiled at him, acknowledging what he had just said. “How you feeling, baby?”

“A little sore, but happy.” I told him, shifting our son in my arms. I propped him against my shoulder, patting his back softly. “Really happy.”

“Light at the end of the tunnel.” Joe commented, nodding his head at our little boy. “He is the most bright, most incredible light at the end of the tunnel.” I mumbled in agreement, pressing a kiss against the side of his head. Unlike Sophie, our boy had the lightest coloured hair, but Joe’s devastatingly pouty lips. “I love you, Aleah Jonas.”

“I love you too, Joseph Jonas.” I replied. He leant forwards, being very careful not to move the bed too much and pressed his lips against mine. I wanted to cling onto him; but it was too much effort and I was tired. “Where is our girl?” I asked as Joe sat back. I knew Joe wanted to get his hands back on our boy, but he needed to go and get Sophie from our parents.

“Mom said she’d ring when they were here.” Joe mumbled, not being able to keep his eyes off his boy. “I spoke to Nick and Kev and they are going to come later.” I glanced at the clock, reading that it was 4pm. I was induced at 7:30am and baby boy Jonas came at 2:47pm. Apparently, after being tucked away for 41 weeks, he wanted to come. And he wanted to come quickly.

“Thought they might have been queueing up to meet him.” I managed to say before a massive yawn escaped from my lips. Joe chuckled softly before answering.

“Well, say that they come at 7pm, it can give you at least an hour’s sleep.” I nodded my head, knowing that even the hour would be something. “We will just have to kindly kick out the rest of our families.”

“Hey, I’m okay with that.” A small squeak came from our boy, which made me and Joe laugh. “Apparently it’s not okay with him.”

“He hasn’t met the family yet.” Joe said, standing up and sat beside me, rather at the end of the bed. He rested his hand on the back of our son’s head and used the other to play with his toes. “When he meets everyone, especially his big sister, he will understand why we kick out our families.” Joe pressed his lips against the back of our boy’s head.

“Oh, I can’t wait to see Sophie when she meets him.” I commented, wondering what the 3 year old will do. She’d been asking for the last 4 months when her brother is coming. She’d been attached to my bump, patting it and singing to it. She was ready to be a big sister. “She’s going to be a great big sister.”

“Yeah, she is.” Joe agreed quietly. His phone began to ring, louder than ever, disturbing the quiet in the room. Our baby began to cry; the loud noise disturbing him. “Sorry.” Joe jumped from the bed and answered the phone as quickly as possible. “Hey mom.” Joe said as I attempted to calm down our boy. “Yeah, I’ll come now.” Joe hung up and turned to me with a grin. “Soph’s here.” I nodded my head.

“Before you go, toss me that pacifier.” Joe grabbed the pacifier that was on the side and handed it to me. “Go and get our girl.” Joe dashed out the room, leaving me with a crying baby. “Alright, baby, I’ve got you.” I said, attempting to calm the baby a different way, before deciding to give him the pacifier. We’d just got Sophie to stop having hers and now we were doing the whole process again. I popped in the green pacifier and he automatically stopped. I rested my head against the back of the bed, sighing softly. After everything that happened, I couldn’t believe that I was here. Married to the love of my life with two beautiful children. I couldn’t imagine this; let alone believe I was living it.

“Hey.” I looked around to see Joe walking in, with Sophie attached to his hip. I waved them both in and shifted the baby so he was laying in my arms.

“Hi Mommy.” Sophie whispered, as Joe brought her over to the bed. He sat down, pulling our daughter into his lap. “Is that the baby?” She asked, her eyes lighting up as she saw her brother.

“Yeah, this is your brother.” I replied, unable to hide the grin as she sat up in Joe’s lap to look at him. “Do you want to meet him?” She nodded her head enthusiastically; her brown, curly hair bouncing off her head. “Okay, sit in Daddy’s lap and you can have a cuddle.” She scrambled to climb into Joe’s lap properly. Me and Joe shared a smile before I moved slightly, wincing in pain as I did. “I’m okay.” I told Joe, who looked panicked. “Hold your arms out, like Daddy.” Joe showed Sophie how to hold her arms out. I moved the baby from my arms to the collective of Joe and Sophie’s arms. “There you go.”

“Oh, mommy.” Sophie said, almost breathless. “He is very pretty.” I laughed softly, sharing a look with Joe. “Can we keep him?”

“Yeah, me and Daddy want to keep him. Do you think we should?” Sophie nodded her head so fast; I was surprised she didn’t have whiplash. “Okay, we will talk to the doctor’s about keeping this one.”

“I like him.” Sophie declared, lifting her hand up to touch his cheek. I could feel myself getting teary so I chewed on my lip to stop myself from crying. Joe grinned at me, having no way to comfort me apart from it. “What’s his name, Dadda?” Sophie asked, turning her head to look at Joe.

“His name is Noah.” Joe said, before pressing his lips against her head. “Do you like it?”

“No-ah.” She spilt his name up, trying it in her mouth. “No-ah.” Noah opened his eyes to look at his big sister. “Hello No-ah.” She touched his little hand with her finger and he grabbed onto it. “Look Mommy!” Sophie said, a little loudly, making Noah jump. “Sorry No-ah.” She pressed a kiss against his head.

“I reckon we have this sorted.” Joe said to me, before we looked at our children. It was a moment that wasn’t to be forgotten. I grabbed my phone off the cabinet and flicked the camera on. I took the picture without any of them knowing. “Love you, Sophie.” Joe muttered.

“Love you Dadda.” She replied, not bothering to look at her Dad. “Do you love Noah and Mommy too?”

“You know I do.” Joe returned, screwing his eyebrows together. It was an odd thing for Sophie to say. Joe always told us he loved us all the time. “Why you asking, Soph?”

“You need to tell Mommy and Noah you love them!” Sophie told him, turning her head to look at her dad. I chuckled softly at the glare that my daughter was showing her dad.

“Okay baby.” Joe pressed his lips against her head, trying to hide the smile on his lips. “I love you Noah.” Joe rubbed his thumb against the back of his son’s head and then he looked at me. “I love you, Aleah.” I raised my eyebrows up in reply, earning a smirk from Joe.

“Love you, Joe.” I said, before my daughter had the chance to jump down my throat. “And I love Noah and Sophie too.”

“Now that we’ve established that we all love each other,” Joe said, with a small roll of his eyes. “Shall I go and get Nana and Papa and Grandpa and Grandma so they can meet Noah too?” Sophie looked at Joe, her face clearly reading that she didn’t want to leave. Joe looked at me and I nodded my head. “You can stay here with Mommy and Noah, if you want.” She smiled at Joe, who sighed softly. “Okay, but be careful. Mommy is a little sore from the baby so you’ve got to be careful.”

“Okay.” Sophie looked over at me with worry, but I sent her a confident smile back. There was no lies when we told Sophie how the baby comes, it was just a little more discreet than if we were explaining to an adult. We just told her that the baby comes from Mommy and it hurts.

“Right, princess, you’ll have to climb off my lap so I can go and get everyone else.” Joe told Sophie, lifting Noah from her arms. She scrambled towards me before slowly down. Her eyes were wide as she looked at me.

“It’s okay baby. Just as long as you come this side.” I held my arm out; the one that didn’t have needle marks in it and she climbed underneath it. “Do you want to put him in the crib?” I asked Joe, who nodded his head in reply. He stood up and laid Noah down in his crib. I watched Joe as he pressed his lips to his son’s head and then disappear to get both sets of parents. I looked down at Sophie, who was yawning loudly. “Hey baby, you tired?” I asked, pushing her hair out of her eyes. I didn’t want her to think that because we now have a baby that takes up a lot of time and attention, that she couldn’t have one on one time with us.

“No.” She lied, making me smile. It was completely obvious that she was tired but she wasn’t having it. She probably missed her afternoon nap with all the excitement of the day. She’d crash well tonight, which would be good for Denise and Paul. “When are you coming home?” She asked, blinking up at me.

“Maybe tomorrow. The doctor has to come and see me and Noah. Then he will tell us if we can go home or not.” Sophie nodded her head, even though I wasn’t sure if she understood. “Will you help me and Daddy when we bring Noah home?” I asked, stroking her hair from her eyes. I glanced around, to see if there is any hair ties around. I grabbed the one of the cabinet and turned back to Sophie. “Baby, let me braid your hair.” She sighed softly, but turned so I could get to her hair. I started to braid her hair as nothing else worked to control the mane on her head.

“Why do you need help?” She asked, trying to move her head away from me.

“Well, me and Daddy will be tired because Noah won’t sleep during the night. He might be hungry, or hot, or have a dirty diaper. So you’ll have to be a very big girl and help us and listen when we ask you something.” I told her, before tying off the end of the braid. She moved back under my arm, resting her head against my chest. I tried not to wince at the pain; feeding Noah was tricky this time around. My chest was a little sore still.

“Okay, Mommy. I’ll be a good girl.” I pressed my lips against her head, knowing that the ‘good girl’ act wouldn’t last very long. “Come and see the baby!” Sophie said, waving at our parents as they walked into the room. I grinned at both my parents and Joe’s.

“How you feeling, sweetie?” My dad asked, walking over to me and pressing his lips to my head. Sophie wrapped her arms around his neck, and was pulled up by her Grandpa.

“I’m okay, a little tired.” I shrugged my shoulders, as if this was a regular thing. The four parents laughed softly, as Joe grabbed the crib that Noah was asleep in. “Have you come here to see if I’m okay, or to meet the newest member of our family?” I joked.

“Grandpa, you’ve got to meet my brother!” Sophie almost shouted at my dad. “And you too Grandma. And Nana and Papa!” It was like Sophie was having a sugar rush. She suddenly had loads of energy from seconds ago where she was falling asleep. Joe pulled the crib into the middle of the room before coming to sit next to me.

“God, he’s beautiful.” Denise commented, smiling down at her first grandson. “Does he have a name?”

“Yeah.” I replied, sharing a smile with Joe. It was silent in the room and then all four grandparents turned to look at us. “Oh you want to hear it?” I asked, earning an eager look from the four of them. “Joe?” I offered, trying to drag this out even longer.

“Meet Noah Joseph Jonas.”