SWEERAN

CHAPTER 54: STRAWBERRY

"You got this babe. Just keep pushing."

I don't know when Ed got here, or how, just that he made it and that he would help me through this. My grip on his hand got tighter as I followed the doctor's instructions. So basically, breathe and push until this thing is out of me.

"We're getting close, keep pushing Taylor."

My eyes were clenched shut but I could feel tears escape them as I continued to push as hard as I could. I could just feel the heat on my face and the sweat dripping from it. Everything was moving in slow motion, yet every noise made rung loud in my ears.

"Here comes the head, here comes the head!"

A whimper escaped from beside me and I realized it was Ed. He took my hand into both of his and kissed it gently.

"Okay, one more push then we're done babe", I heard one of the nurses say.

And so I pushed....and then poof. All the tension I felt moments ago was released. I heard the many cheers from around the room and the sniffles coming from Ed beside me. The one thing I didn't hear was the cry I expected to sound from my newborn baby. I slowly opened my eyes and took a first look at my child. You could see the tiny strawberry blonde curls sticking up from its head and the pale skin peeking out from underneath the blanket. The doctor had a frown upon her face and her eyebrows formed a crease. The room slowly became quieter and a lump formed in my throat.

"We need to get him to the ICU, quick."

So it's a boy, but that's not what I'm worried about right now. What's wrong with my baby? But then as they took my newborn child away, I saw the faint blue tint to his lips and my breath hitched.

"What happened? Is he gonna be okay?"

"We don't know yet, sweetie. He's having trouble breathing."

A sob sounded from beside me, and for the first time, I actually looked up at Ed. He had tears streaming down his face, his hair was standing in all directions, and his face was beet red. He let go of my hand and covered his face, shaking his head and mumbling 'No, no, no'. I took his hand, making him look into my watery blue eyes.

"He's going to be okay. He has to be", I croaked.

Ed then leaned down and pulled me into a bone crushing hug. He was scared. In fact, he was shaking.

"I don't want to lose him Taylor. I need him", he sobbed through his tears.

My heart only broke even more and soon enough, I couldn't hold any of it in any longer. What if he wasn't alright? What would I do then? Why is this happening?

I felt lost and confused. Do I just sit here and wait for them to come back with my baby? Just then, someone burst through the door and as much as I hoped it was Dr. Nguyen with my child, it wasn't. A tall man walked through the door and came directly towards me.

"Ms. Swift?"

"Yea? Do you know what's happening to my baby?"

"Yes, ma'am. It seems he has a case of asphyxia, which basically means there was a lack of oxygen at birth."

"W-Will he be okay?"

"Most likely, but right now he's not in very stable condition."

"When can I see him?"

"Once he's been stabilized, which shouldn't take more than a few hours."

"Oh. Okay."

I guess he heard the worry in my voice because he gave me a hug and told me that everything would be alright. I wanted to believe him, but I couldn't shake that aching feeling you get when you sense something's going to go wrong. I hated to think that way, but getting my hopes up would only hurt me more.

So me and Ed wait for nearly four hours for someone to come back with our baby boy. In the meantime we thought of baby names, which was fun, and came up with one that satisfied us both.

Finally, a nurse came in holding him in her arms and me and Ed both sat up from where we were cuddling on my hospital bed.

"Hello mummy and daddy, would you like to meet your baby boy?"

My lips curled up into a huge grin as she handed me the child, and Ed let out a breathy laugh, looking at the baby in my arms.

"He's 6 lbs 7 oz, 15 inches, and was born June 13th at 7: 24 p.m. You can write his name down on here."

She handed Ed a sheet with all the information she just said already on it; we just had to fill in the name part.

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