It had to be nearly dawn, and he hadn’t slept well the previous night. He’d woken up at some point to pressure in his stomach, a dull ache, and the urge to hurry to the privy room. When an abundant male experienced that, it meant his insides were evacuating and shifting for the birth. It wasn’t good to eat afterward, and he’d had no appetite anyway while the day slowly progressed.
Over twenty-four hours later, his water had broken earlier, the contractions were close together, and he was so tired, he wasn’t sure if he’d have the strength to hold himself up. Kneeling on the bed, he had to use Jaime’s support to stay upright.
“Breathe,” Jaime reminded him as he rubbed Aleric’s back.
The low pressure shifted inside of Aleric, and as a contraction started, he had the urge to push again. At the same time, he almost wanted to scream too. “Painful” was how birth had been described in the books he’d read over the months, trying to prepare himself. It was a massive understatement, and trying to push through the agony, he suddenly wondered if he’d be too weak. The baby might get stuck and die, and his breathing hitched, not that he had the energy to properly cry.
“Just a bit more,” Delphine encouraged him. “You're doing well. One more.”
He didn't feel like he was doing well.
“I don’t think I can push again,” he mumbled against Jaime’s shoulder. The contraction was ebbing, and he knew another wasn’t far behind.
“You can.” Delphine reached to feel inside him. “Take a few seconds to breathe.”
“I got you,” Jaime told him.
He hadn’t left Aleric’s side once since he wasn’t the type of man to wait elsewhere while his spouse suffered the hard part. Even with his presence and support, the “rest” between contractions was too short for Aleric to truly get his energy back.
Another contraction made him tense. Delphine told him to breathe. Aleric grunted as he bore down, and the pressure inside shifted even lower. His head grew light as he stared at nothing over Jaime’s shoulder, unable to focus on anything else in the room. His body demanded too much attention.
“One more,” said Delphine.
She’d already said one more.
“I can feel the baby's head. He or she’s got a head of hair.”
Aleric gasped as his rim further stretched. It almost felt like hot pins, and he tried to ignore it as he pushed even though he thought he might tear. Delphine spoke, but he didn't hear her words. The baby’s head slid out, followed by the rest, and the pressure suddenly eased.
Trying to get his air back, he heard a cry behind him.
“You did it.” Jaime squeezed him.
“It’s a perfect little boy,” said Delphine.
It was over. Really over, and they had a son. Aleric almost felt like crying as Jaime helped to shift on the bed and sit against a pile of pillows. Delphine had laid the baby on a cloth to gently wipe some of the blood and fluid from him. The cord ran from the baby’s navel and up inside Aleric since he still had the afterbirth to deliver.
The hardest part was done. He was exhausted, but it was worth it to see their son with his little head full of white hair.
“Let me hold him.
She handed over the baby. While he had Aleric's white hair, he had Jaime’s orange eyes, and they stood out in his pinched red face as he fussed. He wasn’t entirely clean in the blanket Delphine had wrapped him in, but that was okay. Aleric tilted his head back on the pillows, and Jaime kissed his forehead.
“You gave me a son.”
Aleric smiled. “You kept thinking it would be a girl.”
Jaime chuckled and sniffed, trying to hold back emotion. “You were right. Do you still like Federico?”
“Yeah.” Aleric shifted the baby to suckle from one of his swollen pecs. They’d decided on names a month ago. “Our little Rico.”
“Pearl if the next is a girl,” Jaime said since they’d also decided they’d have more than one child.
“Let him recover from this one first.” Delphine came from the privy room with a bowl, and rags floated in the water.
“I know. Can I tell your Father and Zacharie now?”
Aleric's Father and brother had come into the sitting room an hour or so ago. Foofy was probably climbing around like usual. “Go ahead, although I won’t be surprised if Zacharie’s already run off in horror. But keep them out.”
