Baby Fever

Chapter 3

The new parents were awoken by the sound of crying for the 3rd time that night. It had been two weeks since they brought Layla back from the hospital; still, the baby girl decided that her crib wasn't as comfortable as her mother's or father's arms.

Harumi rolled over and smacked Lloyd in the face to wake him. Lloyd blinked lazily, the sound of crying filling his ears.

"Your turn," Harumi said rolling onto her back. Lloyd lifted a tired brow.

"Really? Wasn't it–my turn for the past three turns?" Harumi kicked his leg in annoyance. Lloyd winced and got up, deciding 3 am wasn't a good time for an argument.

Layla's cries didn't stop on her own, instead, they just got louder as her face became redder.

"Shhh. Shhh" Lloyd bounced Layla in his arms. His tired eyes threatened to close as Layla's fist clenched in anger. "Are you hungry? I think you're hungry."

Lloyd slipped out of their bedroom, Layla still in hand, careful not to wake his already sleeping wife. He silently made his way to the kitchen and took out a bag of breastmilk that Harumi had pumped that day.

Pouring the milk into a freshly washed bottle, Lloyd bounced the hungry baby softly as her cries stayed loud and ringing. Lloyd placed the bottle into the microwave for thirty seconds and sat down on the table. Because of his state of tiredness, he wasn't able to turn the microwave off before the loud blaring of the alarm came on.

Lloyd jumped out of his seat and opened the microwave before the obnoxious ringing could wake up his wife, which it already did, but Harumi fell asleep. Lloyd squirted a bit of milk on his wrist to check the temperature. Seeing that it was warm enough, Lloyd popped the top into Layla's mouth and she latched on instantly.

"Guess you were hungry after all," Lloyd said smirking at Layla's eagerness to finish the drink.

After the feeding, Lloyd burped her and rocked her to sleep. Since Layla didn't have colic she fell asleep with ease, knowing that her needs were met.

Lloyd placed her back in her bassinet and lied down on the bed. Sleep came to him quickly as he nodded off in a few seconds after hitting the pillow.

Some time near 4 am Layla woke again to repeat the endless cycle of feeding. "Your turn," Lloyd said to Harumi with a grin.