After a total of 16 hours of labor, literal blood, sweat, and tears, Rylee laid back into the hospital bed, beyond exhausted. Sebastian still had a hold of her hand and was squeezing it himself, "God, mama. You did so great. I'm so proud of you."
He leaned down and pushed hair back off of Rylee's sweat covered forehead to kiss her as she continued to catch her breath.
The last hour had been chaotic to say the least. Doctors and nurses ran around, and at some point, Rylee wasn't even sure who was saying what anymore. Being told to push. And wait. And push. And wait.
But the one constant person she could always tell was talking was Sebastian, whispering into her ear about how good she was doing, and how close she was to done and how much he loved her. And that was all she needed to get through it.
Rylee was surprised that once she started pushing, the epidural did make it harder to feel when to push, but god did it make it hurt a hell of a lot less than she imagined it would have.
At 8:13 AM on Saturday, June 17th, Sebastian and Rylee became a party of three.
As soon as the baby made her appearance into the world, Dr. Williams immediately placed her on Rylee's stomach, to get wiped off and get that skin to skin contact Rylee had read so much about.
Rylee always joked that newborns were never cute and they always looked like little aliens when they first come out but oh my god, was their baby the most beautiful little thing she had ever seen. She figured she was probably biased. But she didn't give a damn.
She had beautiful brown hair, and her scrunched, pouty-lipped face was tipped towards Rylee's, laying peacefully on her stomach as they continued cleaning her off.
Rylee felt Sebastian lean closer again, pulling her hand up to his lips, "She's so beautiful, Ry..."
He put her hand up to his cheek where she was surprised to feel it was a bit wet. She looked up from the baby to see Sebastian's face, filled with so much love, adoration, and emotion, that all he could do was let the tears flow.
"We did it, Sebby," Rylee said, tears starting to flow over as well.
"You did it, Ryles. It's all you, mama. Thank you," Sebastian sighed as he sniffled, "God, I love you."
"I love you, Sebs," Rylee replied, squeezing his hand as he leaned down to kiss her forehead again. They watched as Lacey and Dr. Williams finished cleaning the baby off.
"Alright, cord cutting time, Dad!" Dr. Williams said as she looked up at both Rylee and Sebastian with a pair of medical scissors.
Sebastian stepped closer and took the scissors from her hand, a little bit nervous at the thought.
While the baby wiggled a bit on Rylee's stomach, Sebastian saw they had prepped the area to cut between two clamps, and clipped between them.
And just like that, after 9 long months, Rylee and the baby were separated. What a weird feeling.
"Alrighty, you hard working lady, little miss is going to pop over there with Lacey and get a few pokes and prods and then she'll be right back okay? Sebastian can go over with her while she does if he'd like."
Sebastian looked down at Rylee as she looked up into his bright blue, hopeful eyes and nodded.
He nodded back in return, leaning down to give her a kiss and then patted her hand before he walked with Lacey and the baby over to the other side of the room.
Rylee watched from across the room, taking in Sebastian with their little girl. The baby started whimpering eventually turning into a light cry as Lacey completed the Apgar assessment, measurements, and blood tests. Sebastian put his pointer finger into the baby's palm and she immediately wrapped her wee little fingers around his.
As soon as his finger was in her grasp, she calmed almost instantly, relaxing at the touch. The loving smile on Sebastian's face almost made Rylee cry.
She was pulled from her thoughts as she felt a hand on her shoulder. Dr. Williams was standing beside her, "We're almost done, yeah? Just placenta to go and we can get you all settled."
Rylee nodded and once she finished pushing and getting cleaned up, Sebastian carried the baby back over to Rylee and sat gently on the side of the bed as he passed her over to her.
Rylee cradled her in her arms, and looked into her shining ocean blue eyes. She knew that most baby's eyes were blue to start, but she just knew they would stay that way. It was like she was looking into Sebastian's eyes, the same shade of blue that just sucks you in.
She slowly drug the knuckle of her finger across the baby's cheek, taking in every inch of her.
Soft skin.
Soft hair.
Pouting lips.
Little fingers.
Little toes.
Rylee sighed, leaning her head back into the pillow with her eyes closed as she kept the baby against her chest. She could feel her already weaseling around.
Dr. Williams came back, and noticed the baby nuzzling about, "You ready to try breastfeeding? Baby's usually try to dive into it within the hour."
"Sounds like her mom. Always hungry," Sebastian chuckled.
"Rude." Rylee laughed in return.
Dr. Williams shook her head with a light laugh, "Alrighty, let's get started, shall we?"
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A few hours passed and Rylee had started dozing off. It had officially been over 24 hours since she last slept and she was finally starting to feel it, coming down from the adrenaline of the last day or so.
Sebastian must've saw her jolt slightly, her body trying to keep her awake, because he reached out with a hand to take hers, "Get some rest, mama..."
Without any argument, Rylee simply nodded and closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep, the last thing in her vision was Sebastian cradling their daughter in his arms.
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Rylee woke up to the sound of small cries. The sound still seemed surreal but as she opened her eyes she saw Sebastian facing the window, the afternoon sun shining in slightly, over him and the baby. He was gently bouncing where he stood, attempting to soothe her, shushing her as he did.
"She's probably hungry," Rylee said, seeming to startle Sebastian slightly as he turned away from the window.
"Hey, mama. Yeah, I figured. I was just hoping to get you a few more minutes." Sebastian said with a small smile. He walked over to the bed and as he did, Rylee scooted over, giving him room to sit. He passed the baby to her as he sat down beside her.
While Rylee helped the baby latch and get settled, Sebastian couldn't seem to tear his eyes away.
Rylee looked up and was surprised to see Sebastian so focused, "What? Jealous she gets to just waltz right in and get a boob?"
Sebastian laughed as he pulled a chair over, "Hey, I had to work hard for those." He sat down in the chair and leaned his elbow on the bed rail, resting his cheek on his palm, "Seriously though. It's just amazing."
Rylee looked up at him confused, waiting for him to continue.
"Just all of this. All of the last 24 hours. How much of a natural you already are. I'm just..." Sebastian shook his head and sighed, unable to find the words, "you're incredible."
Rylee could feel her face flush at his words. She was about to say something when Sebastian interrupted, "Uh, uh. Don't you go brushing this off."
He put his hand on her thigh and rubbed his thumb there gently, "You are amazing. And everything you've done, not only the last 9 months, but everything you always do, is just amazing. I can't believe I get to call you mine. And that we have a baby! Ry...we have a baby!"
Sebastian put both his hands through his hair in excitement and reached out for Rylee's hand, which she gave him without a thought.
"I used to think the day we got married was the best day of my life, but I think today might trump it. Sorry." Sebastian chuckled.
"Oh, no. This is way better than our wedding day." Rylee laughed. "Sorry not sorry."
They both fell into a comfortable silence for a moment before Sebastian spoke again, "Lacey came in with paperwork to fill out while you were asleep. I didn't want to do it without you."
Rylee nodded as she gently ran her fingers down the baby's arm mindlessly. She looked down at her and noticed she fell asleep. Rylee sat up a bit more and shifted the baby so she could lay on her chest to sleep.
"I think the name we picked is perfect. It already seems like it fits her," Sebastian sighed as he reached over to gently touch the baby's palm and, even in her sleep, she wrapped her little fingers around his.
"I think so too. I'm really surprised we were able to keep it a secret for so long." Rylee said with a chuckle.
"So you actually didn't slip to Alexa, at all?" Sebastian asked, shocked.
Rylee shook her head, "Swear on everything important ever...I'm surprised you didn't spill to your mom."
Sebastian laughed, "Now that was hard. She was so determined to get it out of me. I almost just gave her a fake name to appease her. But I knew she would've ran with it. Probably would've got something monogrammed or something."
"She definitely would have," Rylee chuckled while she looked down to see a small smile on the baby's face while she slept.
"Even she thought that was funny," Rylee giggled as she gently ran her hand down the baby's back.
Sebastian leaned over to the bedside table and grabbed the clipboard Lacey had left with him.
"Can you write it? Your writing is so much better than mine."
"Sure, love. Your hands are a bit full anyway," Sebastian chuckled while he clicked his pen.
He filled out the basic information for both him and Rylee. Their names. Contact information. Socials. All the bells and whistles. The paperwork to register a birth was surprisingly not terribly long.
"Alright. So. We're sticking with it, yeah?" Sebastian confirmed one more time before he filled out the name on the top of the page.
Rylee nodded, "Absolutely. I can't imagine her being named anything else."
"Honestly, me either....Gertrude it is." Sebastian said, as he started to put the pen to paper.
"Sebastian Stan, don't you even pretend to write that name down." Rylee laughed.
Sebastian laughed too, "Fine. So we're sticking with the other name." He started to write it down with a wink.
"Please and thank you," Rylee said as her laughs died down.
"Alright. That's it," Sebastian said, clicking the pen again to retract the tip. "Lacey said once she gets this back, they get it into the computer, she gets registered for a social security number, and it's all official in about 10 days."
"Wow. That's seems like a long time."
"Eh, what's ten days compared to a lifetime, you know?" Sebastian said in reply. "Alrighty. I'll go run this out to her? And be right back?"
Rylee nodded as Sebastian stood up and kissed her before touching the baby's head gently and walking out of the room.
About two minutes later, Sebastian came back in and sat down. He took Rylee's open hand into his and he put his other one on the baby's back before he spoke softly,
"Alright, welcome to the world, Miss Charlotte Quinn Stan."