Page 9 of Stage Dive: Short Stories & Novellas
“Here it comes.”I gripped Mal’s and Liz’s hands brutally tight, pushing with all my might as another contraction hit me.“Get it out.Get it out.Get it out.”
“Nearly there, Anne,” said the doctor.“That’s it.Here comes the head.”
“Breathe, baby.C’mon, Pumpkin.You got this.”
“Push, Anne.Push.”I don’t even know who said that, but I pushed for all I was worth and then some.I pushed my goddamn heart out.
Not to be resentful of my not quite born child or anything, but this baby’s head was ginormous.Quite possibly even bigger than their father’s ego, and that was saying something.Another mighty push accompanied me yelling out cuss words like it was my job, and the baby slipped from my body and into the doctor’s waiting hands.Holy hell.
“It’s a boy!”Mal pumped a fist into the air.“We have a son, Pumpkin.”
My smile was a trembling, weary thing.Yet the joy swelling inside my chest was off the charts.“A boy?”
A cranky cry filled the air.I’d never been so relieved to hear anything in my life.I didn’t quite understand how worried I’d been about basically everything until I heard that noise.
“A healthy baby boy by the sound of things.”Gaylin, the midwife, smiled and clamped the cord and so on.“Congratulations.”
With our son wrapped up in a white blanket, Mal carried him over to me.“Come and meet your beautiful, brave, and all-round wonderful mama,” cooed Mal.“You made a baby, Pumpkin.Fucking amazing.”
“Hello, Tomas David Ericson.”I’d never smiled so hard in my life.Nothing could have prepared me for the rush of love I felt for him.Nothing.Little fists waved in the air, still rather annoyed about the whole being-born thing.And his features were so tiny and perfect.Big blue eyes gazed vaguely in my direction.What with being used to the tiny terrors that were Lena and Jimmy’s twin girls and my own very excitable nephew, Gibson, the baby’s cry didn’t seem all that loud after all.“Hello, my baby.Hey, Tommy.”
“That’s his name?”asked Liz, taking a peek at the baby.
Mal nodded.“Tommy for the drummer from the Ramones, the musical by The Who, and Thomas Hardy, who is apparently some writer dude Anne likes but nobody else in the real world has actually heard of.”
“Hi, Tommy,” said Liz in a gentle voice.“Hey there, baby.And to think, this is the kind of amazing you can produce while being annoyed by crazy pants here the entire time.My big sister is a talented lady.”
“Puh-lease.”Mal scoffed.“I only annoyed her because it distracted her from the pain.I knew what I was doing the whole time.”
I scrunched up my nose.“No, it… Actually it did, didn’t it?”
“Huh,” said Lizzy.
“You’re welcome.”He gave me a grin, gently rocking our son in his arms.“The doctor wants to look him over.I’ll bring him back in a minute.I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“Having trouble writing something other than your signature?”Liz’s voice roused me from my dozed state.
“What?”Mal was leaning against the wall, a clipboard and pen in his hands.He sounded defensive.“No.It’s just that the birth certificate is an official document.I had to make sure to get the spelling right and everything.Some things you can’t rush.It’s all good.”
“Hand it over.”Liz squared off in front of him, arm outstretched.
“Dammit.”Mal scowled and handed the clipboard over.
“Godzilla VelociraptorEricson!”
“Mal!”I shrieked.
“No, Liz, it’spronouncedTomas David Ericson.Or Tommy for short.But it’s spelled Godzilla Velociraptor Ericson.”
Liz stalked off in search of the nurse.“Can we have a new certificate to fill out please?”
“You guys are no fun.Imagine his first day of school.”
I groaned and tried to get my exhausted brain to wake the hell up.I hadn’t meant to doze off in the first place.We had visitors, after all.
Flowers and soft toys filled just about every available surface while the members of Stage Dive and their partners filled the chairs.The hospital room was large and luxurious, which was nice.And it smelled divine like a florist’s shop.All other deliveries and congratulations would have to go to our apartment in Portland’s Pearl District.We were out of room here.As for safety, Bon and Ziggy stood guard outside the door.
