When they got to the N-ICU, both Jacob and his mother were given special identification wrist bands, then shown to the incubator. Jake’s hands caressed the plastic covering gently She was so tiny. He couldn’t imagine anything so small. He looked at the id card in the incubator. Baby girl Draiman, Weight: 4 lbs 5oz. Length: 15 in. DOB: June 22,2034. His heart sank and tears flooded his eyes. He wanted so badly to hold his little girl. He wanted to see her pretty green eyes. He could already see his curls. They were the same curls everyone in his family wore except his father and older brother. Malachai’s hair was naturally straight and his father was bald by choice.
His eyes searched for a nurse. When he found one, he flagged her down. “Nurse, would it be possible for me to hold her?” he asked with tears rolling down his cheek. He kept his face stone, but his emotions leaked out his eyes.
The nurse nodded. “I don’t see why not, but she has to stay on the oxygen. She’s not breathing very well on her own just yet.”
He nodded. “I understand that. Do I need to scrub up or anything?”
“You might want to because we don’t know what you came in here with and these babies are all very sick.”
“Nurse, I’m a doctor, I know that.”
“I’m sorry, doctor.” She lead him and his mother over to the sink where they scrubbed and made sure they were clean, then they went back to the incubator where Jake held his daughter. He took a seat in the rocker closest to his daughter’s incubator and the nurse handed him his daughter.
“Hey pretty girl. It’s Daddy.” He brushed a finger gently against her cheek. “Hi there, Miriam. God, I don’t believe how little you are. You’re supposed to be bigger, baby girl.” Tears kept leaking out of his eyes. Her eyes opened a little bit and he caught the glimpse of the green eyes he’d seen in his dreams. “I love you so much, Miri. Don’t scare me like that ever again. I almost had a heart attack.”
The nurse came over. “Would you like to give your baby girl a bottle, Daddy?”
He nodded. “Absolutely.” He took the bottle and stuck it in his daughter’s mouth.
The nurse looked at Brie. “You’re grandma?”
“Yep. I’m Gramma”, she said with a smile. “And little missy there is my birthday present.”
“Today’s your birthday?”
Brie nodded. “I’m fifty eight today.”
“And your granddaughter was born on your birthday. How sweet.”
Brie smiled as she watched Jake with his daughter. “Yeah. But this is his moment. I’m not going to spoil it for him.” He sat and sang softly to his daughter as he rocked her. It was a familiar tune that she herself sang for him and all of his brothers and sisters. “I will devour you, take all the pain away, I cannot stay my hand from reaching out so that I can empower you for all eternity, it seems to ease my mind to know that you’ve brought meaning to me life.”
He pulled the bottle from her mouth when the formula reached the line that had been drawn on the small bottle. “There you go, sweet girl”, he said as her carefully put her on his shoulder to burp her. His hand covered her entire back.
Once he got up the gas, Jacob handed his mother her birthday baby and they traded spots. She sat in the rocking chair and held newest grandchild to her chest as she rocked her to sleep. She hummed a tune that Jake thought he recognized but he wasn’t sure of what it was. He smiled as he watched his mother with his daughter. MY daughter, he thought. I like the way that sounds. He thought momentarily about the infant’s mother. He hoped and prayed that she would be ok. As he sat and watched his mother with his daughter, he said a silent prayer. Lord, please, if it be your will, let them both live and be healthy. I would love for my daughter to grow up knowing her mother. I would love for my wife to know her daughter and watch her grow up. I beg of you, Father, let them both be alright.
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The time came for little Miri to be put back in the incubator. Jake felt like his heart was being ripped out as he watched the nurses put her back in the plastic machine that would help her grow to a proper size to come home. He wasn’t leaving that hospital until he could bring them both home or he was having to plan funerals. He was hoping for the former.
As they walked back to surgery, Brie’s phone vibrated. She pulled the phone from her pocket and checked the text. “Dad says that they’re taking her in to set her leg and that she has a mild concussion. After they set her leg they’re going to bring her out of the anesthesia instead of letting her come out of it on her own because she might not come out of it any other way.”
He nodded. “At least she’s ok, that’s all I can ask for. I still want to kick that mother fuckers ass that hit her. It’s bull shit. What did Delilah ever do to him?”
“More than likely nothing, but you need to calm down so that you can offer her your strength.”
He nodded. “I don’t feel very strong right now, though, Mom. I honestly don’t.”
“Lean on your family, Jacob, and we’ll hold you up. We’ll help you stay strong for your wife and daughter.”
He smiled. “Thanks, Mom. I need the help right now.”
“Don’t I know it.”
He chuckled. “Gee, thanks Mom.”
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Jake was sitting at his wife’s bedside when they brought her out of the anesthesia. Her eyes fluttered and she searched for him. He was next to her in an instant. “Jakey”, she said in a soft voice.
“Hey beautiful”, he said with a smile. “How are you feeling?”
“Like hell. I’m sorry…”
He cut her off. “No, don’t apologize. It wasn’t your fault. You were hit not the other way around.”
“Where’s the baby?”
“She’s in the N-ICU. I talked to her neonatologist. She said Miri is bigger than she thought she would be and doing rather well for being a month and a half early.”
“Really? Is she everything we saw in our dreams?”
“All that and more, baby”, he said with a smile. “Just focus on getting the rest you need to get released. Your doctor wants to keep you over night. He wants to observe you and make sure you get another blood transfusion.”
“Blood transfusion? What for?”
“They had to do an emergency C- section. After they’d removed Miri, they discovered an abdominal hemorrhage, or bleed. They closed it up, took you to radiology to see what damage had been caused by the wreck, set your leg, then brought you here.”
“I have a broken leg?”
He nodded. “I’m sorry honey. I tried to warn you.”
“I know you did, baby. I should have listened. But, here’s what I don’t understand. How did you know?”
“I had a dream about it.”
“WOW. I should have listened then, huh?”
“Yeah, probably.”
“So, Miri’s ok?”
“Yep. She’s better off than they thought she’d be.”
“Ok. I love you, Jakey.”
“And I love you, Lilah. You just get a little bit of rest. I’m going to go find your doctor to see what’s going on here. Once they tell me you can actually sleep, I’m going to go back over to the N- ICU with Miri.”
“Do you think they might let her come home soon?”
“It depends on her doctor. We’ll just have to see what’s going on what your doctors say… both of your doctor’s.” He leaned in and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Now, rest, my flower. Let your husband take care of you and everything else.”
She smiled and settled into the bed.
---------------
Once Delilah was asleep, Jake found his family and told them everything that was going on. He told them what the neonatologist had told him about Miri’s size and how she was breathing on her own, just not very well. “Apparently, her lungs haven’t completely developed. That’s why the incubator. They’re going to keep her in there for a while so that she can develop a little more and get caught up to other babies her size.”
“That’s great news”, Jordan said. “Both my niece and my sister in law had me scared there for a minute. How is Delilah?”
“She hurts but she’s ok. She’s resting right now. I talked to her doctor. The concussion wasn’t as bad as I had thought. I actually had the chance to look at the X-rays and CT results. She wasn’t jostled around as much as I though. Thankfully, there’s not spinal cord injury that they’ve detected, but while she’s here for observation, they’re going to keep checking her. She’s feeling everything right now. They actually had to sedate her so that she wasn’t screaming and crying from the pain in her leg and abdomen.”
“Pain in her abdomen?” Meagan asked.
“You know what a C- section is, right, Mae?”
“Yeah, it’s where they cut the Mom open to deliver the baby. Apparently, that’s how Jay, ‘Miah, Kayla, and I were born. We were born by C- section.”
“Yep. But, they couldn’t do the bikini cut as they call it. They had to cut her open length wise. Miri was breech apparently… they call it sunny side up, in the field of obstetrics. She was face up instead of face down. They cut Delilah length wise to make delivery easier. So, can you see why her abdominal region is in pain?”
“Yeah, they cut her from stem to stern”, Makayla said.
“Yeah, Kayla, in a nutshell.” He looked at his family. “Ok, so, who’s going with me to the N-ICU to see Miri?”
Brie slipped the wrist band off of her wrist and gave it to David. “Go see our granddaughter.” She stretched up and pressed a kiss to his cheek.
He smiled. “You got it”, he responded as he slipped the wrist band around his wrist. He kissed her cheek and he and Jacob went to see the little girl that had changed her father’s life.
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