Not three days after Delilah was released from the hospital so was her daughter. She and Jacob couldn’t have been happier to take their little angel home for good. The only reason anyone in Jake’s family came up to the hospital that day was to bring the car seat and an outfit for the little angel to come home in.
When they opened the door to walk in their path was blocked by his mother. “Hand over my granddaughter and you can come in”, she said. Her tone made it clear that she meant what she said.
“Can we at least get inside before you and Dad start fighting over her?” Jake asked.
“I don’t think I stuttered. Hand Miri over and I don’t break my foot off in your ass, Micah. I mean it.”
Jake set the car seat on the patio and carefully took the little girl out and handed her over to her grandmother. “Hold on, angel, Daddy’s got you. You wanna see Gramma?” She wiggled and squirmed. He couldn’t help but smile. “Ok sweetheart. Go to Gramma”, he said as he carefully handed his daughter to his mother.
Brie took the newest addition to the Draiman family in her arms and cradled her close. “Hi there, pretty girl”, Brie cooed with a smile. “I’m so glad you’re finally home.” She stepped out of the door way and looked over her shoulder. “You two can come in now.” As she walked to the couch she called out, “David! Jake, Lilah, and Miri are home!”
David came running down the stairs and jumped over the arm of the couch to sit down just as his wife sat down. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and leaned in to look at his new granddaughter. “Welcome home, baby girl!” he said with a big smile. “Your aunties and uncles are so excited to finally get to hold you. But, they’re going to have to go through me and Gramma to do that. I don’t know about Gramma, as Grampa, I plan to spoil you rotten just like we do your cousins. What do you say, Gramma?”
“Oh, I totally agree.”
“Are you two plotting against us already?” Jake asked he settled in one of the arm chairs after helping Delilah get settled and set her crutches aside.
“No”, David said simply. “We’re just telling Miri that we’re going to spoil her rotten. Like it or not, Jacob it will happen. We do it to Malachai’s kids. Why not yours?”
“Because you love me and you would never put me through that?”
Brie laughed. “You’ve lost your mind boy. Each and every grandchild given to us will be spoiled by their grandparents. Malachai’s kids are already experiencing it, Miri will experience it, and when Jordan’s adopted son arrives he’s going to get the same treatment.”
“You didn’t spoil us”, Jake pointed out.
Brie handed Miriam to David and looked at her son. “We didn’t? How about you take a good look at that high school diploma and those degrees you have hanging on your office wall and tell me you’re not spoiled, Jacob Micah.”
“Not to mention that summer thing you went to when you were thirteen”, David added. “You practically begged for that.”
Jake chuckled. “I knew I shouldn’t have begged for that”, he said under his breath then looked at his parents. “I know, I know. You also bought everything I needed for med school. You made sure we had the best no matter what. I was just playing”, he laughed.
David and Brie exchanged a look in shock. “He’s found a sense of humor?” Brie asked.
“It’s rather dry, but I believe he has”, David laughed in return. He looked at Delilah. “You, dear, are a good influence on my son. Keep up the good work.” He laid the little girl in his arms on his shoulder and was hit in the face with a rather rank smell. “Jacob, she needs changed. Give me what I need”, he said as he laid the baby on the couch beside him. Once he had changed the slightly fussy girl and gave her to her mother. “I think she’s getting hungry. Feeding her is NOT my job. Don’t have the right equipment.”
Delilah grinned and took her daughter from her father in law. “You don’t mind me nursing her right here do you?”
“Delilah, yours are NOT the first set of breasts I’ve ever seen. Just feed that baby and don’t worry about my sensibilities.” He took his seat on the couch next to his wife and turned on the TV. “By the way, I want her back when she’d done eating.”
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Once the younger kids were all home from their individual activities they swarmed their father to see the new baby. Their mother was in the kitchen making dinner. David looked at his younger six children like they had lost their minds. “Back off”, he warned. “You wake this baby up and I promise you you’re ALL grounded until I get sick of looking at you.” He had Miri lying on his chest as he read a book.
“But, you’ve already gotten to hold her”, Makayla complained.
“Yeah, that’s not fair”, Marc agreed.
“AND?” David responded.
Jake came in from the Kitchen and sat down in the same chair he’d been sitting in after getting home. He had his lap top with him. “Jake, Dad’s hogging Miri”, Meagan complained.
“And I’m supposed to do WHAT about that?” he responded as he turned on the machine in his lap.
“Tell him to share. It’s your baby”, James said.
“Look, Delilah and I didn’t even get in the door before Mom was telling me to hand her over before she broke her foot off in my ass. I’m not making anyone do anything. To be perfectly frank, I’m grateful for the break. The last week has been hell being trapped in that hospital. I say if Mom and Dad want to monopolize their newest grandchild they can go for it. I need some rest.”
“How’s Delilah?” David asked, ignoring the pouting of his younger children.
“Passed out on pain meds. She pumped before falling asleep. THAT is something I’m glad I never have to experience. That shit looks painful.”
“I know. Your Mom did it a few times with you and Jordan, as well as Maddie.”
“That’s insane”, Jake said with a laugh. “Whatever for?”
“For you and Jordan it was to relieve the pressure from all the milk. She was producing twice the normal amount because there were two of you demanding it. It was also there in case your Aunts or Uncles had you or your sister and needed it. With Maddie, it was more the latter than anything else.”
“I’m very glad that’s not something we as men have to endure. It looks rather painful.”
Brie walked into the room and set three glasses on the coffee table. She took a sip of her sweet iced tea. “That’s because the machine is supposed to simulate the baby suckling. Depending on how the baby nurses, it can either really hurt or feel good. That also depends in the pain threshold of the mother and how the milk has to be drawn out.”
“Mom, tell Dad to stop monopolizing Miri”, Jeremiah said.
“No. Being Gramma and Grampa trumps being Aunt or Uncle every day of the week. Now, don’t you all have better things to be doing than being down here complaining?” She shot a look at her youngest children that told them to move it or they would NOT like what happened next. They left without another word. She looked back at the son that had just become a father. “You look like hell, Jacob.”
“I feel it”, Jake responded. “All I want to do is sleep right now. I had a fucking schedule set up and it’s been fucking ruined. I’m not upset about it, but I’m exhausted.”
“Welcome to fatherhood”, David said. “You’re going to be worn out by the time she starts walking and talking, and that’s when you’re going to need to energy the most. Cherish this time when she depends on you and Delilah for everything. The time will come when she won’t and you’ll miss the hell out of it. I know I do. Why do you think we had ten of you fuckers?”
“Seriously, Dad? You had ten of us because you missed not having someone depend on your for everything and we didn’t once we started walking and talking?”
David laughed. “No. I wanted a big family and that’s what I got. You mother was gracious enough to give me that big family.”
“Although most of the children came from surrogates”, Brie added a little sadly.
“That’s not something we could control, love”, David said as he rubbed her back.
“I know, David. My body betrayed me before I was ready for it to.” She took a deep breath. “You know what will make me feel better?”
“Other than going upstairs?” David laughed.
“Yeah, other than that.”
“No, what?”
“Give me that baby”, she said and carefully took little Miri from her Grampa, then leaned against him with her back against his chest. “I can say that I don’t miss the hell of going through labor though. The pain of natural child birth is NOT natural.”
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As dinner time crept closer, Jake nodded off in the chair he’d been sitting in. He was exhausted and couldn’t move anymore. He needed a good night of uninterrupted sleep so that he could actually take care of his family. He loved his wife and daughter and he was not good to them if he wasn’t sleeping worth a damn.
Miri started crying and he jumped to take care of her. So this is what it’s like to be a light sleeper, he thought as he pried himself out of the chair to tend to her. Before he could get his hands braced to push up out of the chair he was sitting in, his little sister Makayla was there checking on her new niece. “Shh, Miri. Auntie Kayla’s here. I’ve got you little one.”
“Makayla, what the hell are you doing?” Jake asked his sister.
“I’m taking care of your daughter so that you can get some sleep. It’s not like you to just pass out wherever you’re sitting anymore. You did when you first got home from medical school because you were all messed up from the shifts you had to work at the hospital. But, you make your own schedule now, so you don’t just pass out where you’re sitting anymore. You need to go out back with Delilah and lie down. I’ll tell Mom and Dad where you are.”
Jake nodded and shut off his laptop, then headed out toward his little house. He left his daughter in the main house with his parents and siblings. “Mom, Dad, Makayla’s taking care of Miri right now. I’m going to go lie down. I’m exhausted”, he said as he walked through the kitchen.
“We’ll keep Miri tonight for you so you two can get some sleep if you’d like, Jacob”, Brie offered as she fixed got dinner ready to serve.
“I hate to impose, Mom.”
“It’s not an imposition”, David said. “We’ve got Miri. Just have Delilah pump one more time for the night and bring it in. We’ll take it from here.”
“Ok. I’ll talk to Delilah when I get out back.” He walked off.
David and Brie exchanged a look. “Poor kid”, Brie said. “He’s exhausted. He’s been on such an emotional rollercoaster the past week.”
David nodded and sighed. “He needs to rest and take the time he’s got off work to clear his head and get used to having a baby in the house. Once he’s used to having Miri around life will be a lot easier on the both of them.”
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Jake brought in more milk for Miri and went back out to go to bed. He was grateful that his parents offered to keep his little girl so that he could get some rest. They knew that he would be no good taking care of his daughter or his wife if he was exhausted.
David and Brie had a bassinet that they kept for just such for just such occasions. Little Miriam slept in her grandparents room that night so that if she needed anything, Grampa and Gramma could jump and tend to her.
As they lie in bed that night, Brie was cradled against the front of her husband’s body with her new grandbaby lying on her chest. “This is the life”, she sighed contently.
David smiled and kissed her softly on the throat. “What makes you say that, beautiful?”
“I’ve got the man I love beside me, my children surrounding me and some having children of their own, and one of those precious angels is asleep in my chest. I don’t think it can get any better.”
“All of them being out of the house would be nice”, he said with a laugh.
“Yeah, and we’ve got another five years before all that happens. Three more for the quads and two after that for the twins.”
“I’m counting down the days. I can’t wait to take you to Israel. Jerusalem is so full of history and it’s just beautiful. You’ll love it out there.”
“I can’t wait to go and see the land my mother’s people come from. That’s a part of me.” Her eyes lit up with wonder at the thought of going to the Holy Land.
“You’ll love it. I know you will.” He kissed her temple and squeezed her gently. “Why don’t you put little one there in the bassinet so we can go to sleep?”
“Do we have bottles up here in case Miri needs to be fed in the middle of the night?”
“In the mini fridge you insisted on having me buy after Mandy had the twins.”
She smiled. “Ok. Just so long as we can feed this beautiful little angel should she wake up screaming.” She got up slowly and laid the tiny baby girl in the bassinet and gave her a gentle kiss on her forehead before rejoining her husband in bed. She snuggled in as close to him as humanly possible and laid her head on his chest. “I love you, David”, she whispered as she closed her eyes.
“I love you too, Brie.” He kissed her hair softly and settled in for the night. Until his new granddaughter started crying that was.
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