The Kind of Man You Like

Grow

The plastic barrier is weird.

Very weird and the fact that they have to be in it to be close to Ravyn is what makes it worse. It's been four days since her operation and they've just been here watching and in the end it's been like this for three weeks and she's starting to get restless.

Everything is very weird.

"I should go buy a brush. Her hair is a mess and those tangles are going to get worse."

"You brush her hair all the time. It's been part of how you've been keeping yourself busy. Just leave it be for the moment. You know how she hates when you constantly mess with it."

"Yeah well, she'll thank me later in life."

"The incision is really big, we're going to have to keep her as still as possible."

"I looked it up. It stretches from close to the middle of her back to just under her arm. Probably two hundred stitches on a one year old."

"She's gonna be on a lot of pain killers so I'm hoping she's gonna be oka-" The heart monitor starts speeding and they both stare at it before looking to Ravyn.

Small fingers squeeze her index one.

They stand up and look down at her. Her eyebrows pinch and her head turns which way, a groan falling past her lips. She starts to whine.

"She's waking up."

"I'm right here, baby. I'm right here. It's gonna be okay." She groans again before opening her eyes and squinting.

"Hey sweetheart, just stay still. The doctors are coming. Don't try to talk okay?" Tom leans over and presses the call button. "You're doing great. Just a little longer."

Tears leak from Ravyn's eyes and she brushes them away. "I know. Just keep staying still. You're doing amazing." She can tell she's antsy because she starts to kick a little, her eyes dancing around them and the machine beeps stay steadily rapid.

"Hey, look at me. Look at me, look at daddy." He holds her face carefully. "Keep your eyes on me. Everything is going to be okay just keep your eyes on daddy. You can do it." She has to sort of keep her right arm down so she doesn't pop any stitches.

"Your heart monitor is going crazy." Dr.Sans walks in and comes to the opposite side of her. Tom let's go."That must mean you've woken up. Nice to meet you Ravyn. My name is Dr.Sans. I'm going to take this thing right here and listen to your breathing." He takes the stethoscope and listens.

"It looks like you're doing pretty good. We're gonna get that tube out."

A few nurses come in and they all crowd around her, sitting her up.

"This is gonna feel funny at first but it's gonna get better. Just stay still as a rock okay?" He looks to one of the nurses and she unhooks the tubes connected to the base one before starting to carefully pull it out. Ravyn's gags and squeezes the covers around her and she practically smushes her face into Tom's side so she can try to bare whatever pain she's feeling for their daughter.

The tube comes out pretty quickly in the end and she starts to cough repeatedly.

"You did a really good job. Really good. Just breathe...you can do it." Dr.Sans soothes a little and listens to her chest again. Everything sounds wheezy to her but she thinks that may be normal. She stops coughing as bad. "Good...good."

"How is everything?"

"She's doing good. Her breathing sounds a little wheezy because her lung is getting back into the swing of being used properly again. It's going to take a while for it to be better. She still has the primary tube because it's still going to take some time before it's just her. Now the stitches are going to bother her because of how little she is so we're going to try to keep her as still as possible."