Face The Music

Definitely Here

 "Hudson? Hudson!" I yelled into the phone, right after hearing that groggy "hello" from him.

One of the nurses took the blood pressure cuff off of my arm. When I looked at the monitor, it was finally back to normal.

"Yeah? What's going on? Do you know what time it is? Why would you call me like this? We were...out so late," he said.

"I'm in the hospital," I said. No answer. The tears started to flow. "She's here. She's out."

"She's what?" He was awake now, for sure. "What are you talking about, Deni?"

"Okay, so you know how we were dancing last night and I was getting contractions after midnight that we thought were Braxton Hicks?"

"Yeah," he said. I heard rummaging in the background. "She had the baby! Yes...yes I'm being serious! We need to get to the hospital like, right now...sorry, trying to get their asses out of bed. I'm coming...anyway, what?"

"Okay so like, I was super tired because we were partying all night for Natty's birthday and I went to bed because the app on my phone said I wouldn't need to go to the hospital yet. The contractions were too far apart. So I went to bed and then at four-thirty I woke up because they were getting worse but I didn't want to wake my mom up so I made a hot bath for myself—"

"Okay. We're getting in the car. You took a bath and?"

"My water broke literally right when I was in the bathtub and the contractions got like, so bad that I started calling my mom, but you know how far away my mom's room is from mine so it took her like twenty minutes to hear me. By the time she got there I literally couldn't stand up so she called nine-one-one and then I felt like I had to push really bad and she legit came out in my bathtub."

"I can't believe this is happening."

"The ambulance got there like ten minutes after she was out and I got to the hospital like twenty minutes ago...Mia's okay. She came out and she was crying, crying, crying from the second I picked her up. She's so beautiful, Hudson."

"But she's okay, though?"

"Yeah. My aunt rushed over here and they're taking her for tests but she's all good," I said, wiping away tears. "She's absolutely perfect."

"That's amazing...still can't believe this is happening."

"Me either. Oh, the nurses are all coming back in. I gotta go," I said.

"Okay. Love you. We'll be right there."

I hung up while getting the rest of my exams done. I tore pretty bad so I got stitched up. RIP my crotch from now on, I guess. They also got an IV going with some pain meds for me. Another nurse came up to me to report that Mia got a perfect ten on her Apgar score and they'd be done with some more testing soon. I honestly couldn't believe it. That sinking feeling had to just be nerves.

"Maybe I should've gone into the same field as your two aunts. Not a bad job of delivering a baby for a dentist, huh!" my mom said after we heard about the Apgar score. I rolled my eyes.

Fifteen minutes later, Hudson came bursting through the door with his parents. My mom went back out to the lobby with them so the two of us could have some time together once the nurses brought Mia back.

"Sorry I missed the whole thing," Hudson said. "I know it's super gross but I did want to be there for you."

"Well I know that if she didn't come out in my bathtub, you would've." I sighed. "I can't believe this really just happened. Like, this has to be a dream. This doesn't feel real. I never in my life thought I'd be having a baby in my bathtub at home."

"Just wait until we tell Natty."

"Let's wait on it. She's still sleeping and she went pret-ty hard last night."

Hudson chuckled. "That's a nice way of saying she was trashed."

"Ugh. I'm so excited to start drinking again."

"Oh, that's right, since you're not breastfeeding her, you totally can."

"Shh. Don't be so loud. You're gonna make those 'breast is best' people come out of the woodworks. Those suckers are everywhere."

Hudson giggled. "I like what you did there."

"This IV I'm hooked up to is giving me pain meds. I'm getting loopy."

But just as I was about to shut my eyes, a nurse came in wheeling a bassinet.

"Alrighty, she's back!" she said.

"Oh my goodness! Look at my little burrito!" Hudson said, jumping out of his chair and running over to Mia. "Hello gorgeous!"

"I'm her mom. I get to hold her first!" I said.

The nurse handed her over to me. She was in a striped hospital hat with a bow on it and a matching blanket. She had my brown skin and Hudson's almond eyes. She had big, chubby cheeks.

"Eight pounds, ten ounces. Just a tiny bit above average," the nurse said.

"You're my chunky monkey! Yes you are!" I said to her, giving her a kiss.

Hudson put his arm around me and placed a hand on Mia as he looked down lovingly at her. I was so happy that I went against him and didn't deletus-my-fetus that day. I'd only known her for about an hour and a half, but I couldn't imagine the rest of my life without her.

"Doctor Andrews will be right in to review some of her testing with you," the nurse said.

"Oh, one of the other nurses already told me about the Apgar score," I said.

"Right, but there's some additional test results she'd like to discuss with you," she said before leaving the room.

We both took turns holding Mia. She was a quiet little thing. Soon, my aunt came in, and I knew from the second I saw her that something wasn't right. She grabbed a chair and sat down with Hudson and I.

Aunt Andrea had her own practice for years. She'd seen a lot of stuff and delivered a lot of babies. But there was something about this that was different. Her face...it just wasn't right. She was on the brink of tears.

"There was an abnormality in her hearing test," she said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"We ran it three times and came up with the same result," she said, a tear rolling down her cheek. "I'm so sorry, but we believe that baby Mia is completely deaf."