"G-Get him out!" Remi pleaded in pure agony as he had tears streaming down his face. He'd previously been shaking, shivering, throwing up, and crying all at once just a few minutes ago. All of that came to a stop though. He was now 10 centimeters, and he just wanted Elio out.
But, it seemed like Dr. Crusoe and the nurses were taking their sweet, God given time as they set everything up.
Remi squeezed Mrs. Callum's hand as he felt the contractions continuously ripping through his body like a current would an ocean. This was hell.
"I swear t-to God I'm gonna k-kill Marcelo."
Mrs. Callum snickered discreetly. Not at Remi being in pain of course but at him being angry. It was adorable. Still very much a little angry kitten.
Finally, after 10 years it felt like, Dr. Crusoe and his nurses made their way over to the bed. Doc sat in his usual position: in his rolling chair in front of Remi's elevated legs. And the nurses crowded around with equipment in all of their hands, ready. Remi noticed that it was beginning to get warm in the delivery room. Probably for Elio.
"I'm here, I'm here. Let's get this party started." Doc folded Remi's gown back and checked. "Yep, there he is. When you feel a contraction, I want you to push."
He didn't have to tell Remi twice. Remi didn't even wait. His contractions were practically nonstop. He clenched his jaw, bearing down and pushing hard. Dr. Crusoe was shocked at how Remi dived right in. He put his hands underneath Elio's head as it began to inch out.
"Good, good, good. Keep breathing, Remi."
Remi did so as best as he could without ceasing his pushing. Somehow, pushing Elio out hurt more than the contractions.
Once his contraction stopped, Remi relaxed back against the bed and panted. He could feel his body opening up as Elio made his way. It was exciting but scary at the same time.
As Remi worked to get his breath back, Dr. Crusoe's face paled. He looked up at Remi still trying to catch his breath, but there was no time for that. Strings of curses flew out of his mouth and he shook his head.
"Remi, push. Push now!"
Remi whined tiredly. He barely had any energy at all. He'd nearly used it up pushing the first time.
"Remi, listen to me. I know that you're exhausted, but you need to push now."
Mrs. Callum raised a brow. Remi should be able to have a break between each push to get his stamina back. Why was Doc suddenly so serious now? Walking towards the edge of the bed, Mrs. Callum leaned forward and looked at what Dr. Crusoe was looking at. Her face paled as soon as she did just as Doc's had.
The part of the baby's skin that was visible was tinted blue. The baby was running out of oxygen. Mrs. Callum immediately knew that the cord was wrapped around Elio's neck. She scurried back up to the top of the bed and looked a confused and crying Remi in the eyes. "Remi, push."
Remi had no idea what was happening. But by the look on everyone's faces, he now feared for Elio's life. He didn't care how much energy he had left. He didn't care how exhausted he was or how much pain pushing inflicted. All that he cared about at the moment was Elio. And that's why he pushed with everything that he had inside of him.
He screamed.
He cried.
He panted.
But he did not stop.
He didn't stop until he felt Elio slip right out of him. And that's when he looked down and saw what everyone else'd been seeing. A blue Elio with his cord wrapped around his neck. He wasn't crying.
"E-Elio!" Remi shouted. He watched as Dr. Crusoe, after he quickly cut the cord, rushed over to the other side of the room, where more equipment was, with Elio in his hands. Doc laid Elio down as the nurses surrounded them and did what he asked. All that Remi could do was cry. "ELI, I C-CAN'T LOSE YOU T-TOO. PLEASE, ELI! DON'T LEAVE ME TOO!"
Mrs. Callum pulled Remi against her and reassured him that everything would be okay.
"I can't lose him, Ma! He's a-all I h-have," he sobbed into Mrs. Callum's side. "I can't l-lose h-h-him."
"You're not gonna lose him, sweetheart." Mrs. Callum repeated as she whispered prayers in her mind. She wouldn't be able to bear seeing Remi hurt again. She herself wouldn't even be able to handle Elio dying. This would be too much.
Remi was nearly on the verge of shutting down. It felt the world was moving at 2 miles per hour. It was such a long time. Such a long time before he heard the most beautiful noise in the world. The sound of tiny but strong cries.
Elio.
Remi's eyes flew back open and he slowly separated himself from Mrs. Callum. He saw Doc standing on the other side of the room with Elio in his arms. But this time, Elio was screaming at the top of his lungs, thrashing around, throwing a fit.
Doc walked back over to the bed and put Elio right in Remi's arms. He didn't want Remi to have to worry any longer. Elio was okay.
Remi couldn't breathe for the first few seconds. All that he could do now was stare at the little human in his arms who clearly wished that he was still floating around in Remi's warmth.
Then, Remi chuckled wetly. Mrs. Callum snapped a few pictures of the two on Remi's phone. The moment was too adorable not to.
Remi held Elio closer causing the little one to settle down. He whimpered for a few more seconds though which was the most adorable thing ever. Then, his little eyes opened. They were still dark of course since he was only a few minutes old, but Remi didn't mind. Elio was looking right at him.
"Hi, Eli belly," Remi greeted. "Thank y-you for not dying on me." he chuckled sweetly now.
Remi then moved Elio to his chest and hugged him. "I love you, sweet boy," he whispered.
-----------------
After both Remi and Elio were checked up and cleaned, they were sent to another hospital room since the one that Remi'd given birth in needed to be cleaned. Once that happened, things were calm again.
Remi laid on the bed with Elio resting comfortably on his chest. The two were both naked from the waist up as they did skin-to-skin while Elio breastfed. The feeling was unusual at first, but Remi soon got used to it.
Remi just couldn't believe that Elio was really here. It was so unreal that he had to stare at Elio every now and then to reassure himself that he wasn't going crazy. That he really had a child now.
And Elio, he was beautiful. It was safe to say that he looked exactly like Marcelo, just in baby form. He had all of Marcelo's facial features, and he had Marcelo's beautiful red tufts of hair. They were in little curls just like Remi's hair was, proof in the pudding of where Remi's heartburn had come from.
Remi couldn't stop cooing at how adorable he was. He was just as suspected, a big baby. He was long and slightly chunky. In and out, he was definitely Marcelo's baby.
As Remi was rubbing Elio's soft little back, he heard and saw the hospital room door open before Jaxon and Mrs. Callum walked in. Mrs. Callum had left a while ago to go and get Jaxon who'd just come from Remi's house where he was babysitting Paxton. They'd dropped Paxton off at the animal nursery part of the hospital before coming up to Remi's hospital room.
"Hey, baby momma!" Jaxon hooted.
"Shut up," Remi chuckled.
Jaxon smiled and walked over to the side of the bed. He peaked down at Elio who was still suckling softly, and his smile got bigger. "Awe. So this is little baby burrito, huh? Or little red baby burrito."
"Y-Yeah." Remi smiled as well as he held Elio's little hand and rubbed it with his thumb.
Elio soon came to a stop on his eating and relaxed his mouth. Remi covered himself back up and sat up carefully, laying Elio down in his arms. Jaxon and Mrs. Callum pulled their chairs up close to the bed and sat down as they admired Remi and Elio.
"How was it?" Jaxon asked.
"How was w-what?"
"Birth. You look exhausted."
"Because I am. It h-hurt so bad."
"The good thing though is that for most of the time that he was in labor, he didn't even know that he was in labor." Mrs. Callum laughed.
"Really?"
"Yeah, I'd been in l-labor since I left work yesterday."
"Wow. You jinxed it, didn't you?"
"I bet."
"What happened?" Mrs. Callum questioned.
"Before he left, I asked him what he was going to do. He said that he was gonna go eat, sleep, and hopefully not go into labor. And then boom, he has Elio barely even 24 hours later."
Mrs. Callum began chuckling herself which made Remi chuckle. He was glad that he had everything ready for Elio because him going into labor was so unexpected.
"But y-yeah. Besides the fact that it hurt more than anything, his c-cord was wrapped around his neck, and I swear I thought h-he wouldn't make it. It was terrifying."
"Oh my gosh. You can't just throw that on me like that."
"No, I'm serious. H-He was blue."
Jaxon looked over at Mrs. Callum. Mrs. Callum nodded. Jaxon was scared just thinking about it, about how as all of this was happening, he was at Remi's house giving Paxton back rubs.
"Well, he's alive and healthy."
"Yep," Remi grinned. Then, he remembered someone else very, very, very important. "Where's Pax?"
"He's actually downstairs in the animal nursery that none of us knew that the hospital had this entire time. And don't worry, they have amazing supervision down there, so he's okay."
Remi nodded.
"What were you guys doing?"
"We had some bro time."
"Bro time?"
"Of course. I gave Paxton back rubs."
Mrs. Callum and Remi immediately burst out laughing. Leave it to Jaxon to give a puppy a massage.