Teagan's POV
Turning the shower on and letting the water run over my hand to make sure it's the perfect temperature before putting Audrey down on the floor. She looks up at me for a moment before looking down at the floor.
She stomps her little foot in the water, giggling when it splashes up at her. She continues to do this while I start washing my hair, except when I looked down to check on her she was gone. I feel my heart sink slightly as I panic trying to look for her.
Still drenched in water and naked, I walk away from the row of showers trying to look for her. "Audrey baby, where did you go?" I called out. Turning a corner I find a trail of little puddles of water the size of her little baby feet. Rolling my eyes I creep around the corner leading to the changing areas and see Audrey under the bench that Liz is currently sitting on, scrolling on her phone.
I try to stifle my laugh when I watch as Audrey crawls forward with her little naked butt in the air, she stops just before Liz's feet. She seems to be thinking before a huge grin crosses her face and she lunges forwards to tickle Liz's foot. My wife just about has a heart attack as she screams, pulling her knees up to her chest.
In her panic she successfully threw her phone across the room, I really hope it isn't broken. Finally being able to let out my laugh I come around the corner fully. "What the actual fuck was that" Liz looks deathly panicked at me. "Language" I sternly say, bending down, I scoop up a giggling baby. "Oh for god's sake, I thought it was a snake or something I don't even know." She breathes out with her hand over her heart.
"No running off little one, you made mama worried" I boop her nose when she looks about ready to cry. "You aren't a bad girl Ry Ry, you were just being silly huh" Liz contributes, standing to brush back some of the wet hair plastered to the baby's forehead.
I kiss Audrey's forehead, adjusting her to sit on my hip. I bounce her slightly before turning to continue our shower.
"We need to go clean that stinky bum of yours" I laugh. Audrey jolts her head up at me. Her face having furrowed brows and a wrinkled nose. I just about lost it seeing her cute face. "My bum no stinky" she demands, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Is to" I chuckle, taking a big exaggerated sniff. I make an icky face as I turn away from her. This makes her erupt into a fit of giggles. "Pee-ew that's super stinky" she shakes her head as she giggles, making her wet hair whip into her face.
Making it back to the showers I double check the water temperature before stepping into the water stream. I hold Audrey for a moment to get her wet again.
making sure Audrey is looking at me I make sure I'm looking serious when I explain. "Okay baby girl, mama's going to put you down to wash your hair okay? You need to stay here and not wonder, do you understand?"
She looks up at me with her big curious eyes but slowly nods. Satisfied that she understands, I put her on the floor.
Crouching down with some shampoo in my hands I start to work it through her hair, being careful to not get any soap in her eyes.
As I start scratching her scalp her eyes just about roll into the back of her head. Cooing at her cuteness, I instructed her to close her eyes and tilt her head back to rinse out the soap. Using a washcloth I start to wash off her body, being careful of her wrapped arm.
Satisfied with us both being nice and clean, I dry us off before I pick Audrey back up as I take us back to the changing room. "Look at my two clean princesses!" Liz beams, standing from her seat and coming over to us. She tucked her phone into her pocket so I assume she found it eventually.
She holds her hands for Audrey and I happily hand her over. Liz leans over to kiss my lips before taking Audrey to a bench to be dried, diapered and dressed.
Sighing as I try to find my change of clothes in my bag. "Baby where is my change of clothes?" Turning towards my wife who is currently tickling Audrey's bare stomach.
Thankfully she's now diapered.
She paused her shenanigans to look at me. "Uhhh, are they not in your bag? I could have sworn I tossed some pj's in there" she ponders, seeming to talk to herself on the last part.
"I only see your business blouse and a change of underwear?" I roll my eyes at her, letting out a slight chuckle when I see her cheeks darken.
"I'm so sorry baby, I guess I was in a frantic hurry and not thinking." Giving me a face of remorse before turning back to Audrey who was kicking her little legs out of frustration for attention.
Groaning at the thought of wearing some scrubs when not working, I turn to go find my size amongst the wall of scrubs.
Pleased with actually finding my size in some lavender coloured scrubs I went back to get changed. "Holy those scrubs fit you perfectly!" I jump at hearing Liz so close to me.
Turning around after shoving everything back into my bag, I smile at seeing my two girls in front of me. "Can you believe they had my size in stock? I'm baffled."
Raising an eyebrow Liz looks equally surprised. "They actually had your exact size? That's rare, it must be a good day" she chuckles. Audrey whines and leans out of Liz's arms towards me. Smiling as I pick up my clingy girl.
"As good as it's going to get I suppose." Shrugging my shoulders as I turn to grab my bag, slinging it over my shoulder. "Ready to go back to the room?" Liz nods and follows before gasping and running back into the change rooms.
She comes out a moment later with Audrey's diaper bag on her shoulder. Rolling my eyes at how forgetful my wife can be most days, I continue leading us back to the room.
Audrey is laying her head on my shoulder sucking her thumb. She looks ready for a nap right about now. I gently pull her thumb out of her mouth earning myself a whine and a little grunt from her.
"Shh babygirl. Thumbs are icky, I'll get your paci for you '' Patting her back as I use my back to push the door to the room open, letting Liz walk in before following behind her.
I smack Liz's ass making her jump and turn around at lightning speed. "What was that for?" She pouts, rubbing the cheek I smacked. "You didn't say thank you when I opened the door."
I smirk at her as I walk towards the hospital bed, bending down I try and get Audrey to lay down but she doesn't seem to like that. She starts to whine, clinging to me with a death grip before bursting into tears.
I stand straight and pat Audrey's bottom, holding her head against my neck with my other hand shushing her as I pace around a bit. "mamas sorry babygirl, do you just want cuddles?" I feel a slight nod on my neck from her.
Sighing I continue to bounce her lightly as she calls down. Once she's calm enough I sit in bed with her laying on my chest. She has her face laying right at my heart which seems to be calming her greatly.
"Baby can you pass me her pacifier over there please" I pointed to a side table that's just out of reach. Liz follows my point, smiling as she grabs it, walking over to us she rubs the nipple of it across Audrey's lips until my babygirl accepts it.
It took her a moment because she's just about to fully fall asleep. Poor girl has been through so much. Audrey's suckles on the pacifier slow as her breath evens out and her body goes limp.
Slowly and lightly rubbing up and down Audrey's back, I just sit and admire how adorable she is sleeping on my chest.
I'm dreading the thought of having to pump. I can already feel my breasts are nearly full. "Can you look at new bottles for Audrey, she keeps puking with the ones we have for her" I ask, glancing at Liz as she nods and pulls out her phone.
I frown at the thought. I hate that every time I feed her my breast milk she ends up puking due to the bottle letting in too much air. At least I pray it's just the air and not my breast milk....
Sitting in the chair that has been pulled up beside the bed. She gets to work finding some highly recommended bottles, making sure to show me each one as we discuss the pros and cons. Finally settling on a few Dr. Browns and PlayTex VentAire. I don't want Audrey associating my milk with her throwing up afterwards, she will never drink it if that happens.
Audrey starts to shift a bit in her sleep, wiggling on my chest as she begins to whine. Rubbing her back and hushing her softly doesn't seem to fully help. She starts to look like she's in distress. She feels sweaty and hot to the touch. Sitting up I lean Audrey off of my chest, slowly and carefully laying her on the bed between my legs as I begin to take her shirt off, being sure to be careful with her casted wrist.
"Is she okay? Why is she so hot" Liz panics, standing and rushing to Audrey trying to calm her now heavy cries. Looking over her body I can see a rash forming up her arm spreading to her upper chest. "What the hell is that? She was fine a few hours ago. Is she okay??" I look up to see my wife's panicked look.
"I - I don't know... She's definitely allergic to something and it's irritating her skin. Can you hit the call button please" taking a deep breath to try and calm my fast beating heart. Not even a minute later some nurses come in, they take a quick look at my baby before rushing to get Dr. Keith.
"Why are they rushing? Is this bad? Baby please tell me she's okay" I glance down at Audrey who's still sobbing between my legs but is quickly getting exhausted before looking back at my wife. "I won't know for sure until we do some testing but I think... with it being so severe.. I don't even know, it could be the casting material or.." My eyes start to gloss with unshed tears.
I'm trying to be strong, Liz deserves to know what my concerns are from a medical standpoint. I'm just scared it will scare her. Plus it might be something so minor like the casting material or the soap we used today.
"Or what Tea, could something be wrong? She's been through enough as is' ' Liz is sounding irritated with growing anger, it scares me slightly but I know she's scared. Taking a deep breath, holding it for a moment before letting it out.
I wipe my tears before explaining "It's rare but she can be reacting badly to the metal Implants they put in her wrist. If that's the case we need to put her on antihistamines until she's okay and over time, slowly decrease the amount of the allergy meds until her body gets used to the metal."
Liz stands and turns away for a moment taking in her own deep breath, wiping her hands down her face. I hate seeing her so upset. This all started because Audrey fell from the changing table and I know Liz still holds it against herself for causing it.
She only turns around when we hear a team of people rushing in behind Dr. Keith. The busy noise of the team startles Audrey making her burst out into tears again but they don't last long because she is so unbelievably weak right now.
Dr. Keith rushes to the bedside and starts examining Audrey's hives while the rest of the nurses bustle around taking notes, checking Audrey's vitals. "What happened?" Dr. Keith asks as she checks Audrey's temperature.
"I don't know, she was asleep on my chest for about an hour before she started getting distressed, I then laid her down and checked her over and found those horrid red hives creeping over her chest."
Dr. Keith nods and picks Audrey up, cradling her against her chest. "I'm going to take her to the allergy specialist just to rule some things out. I will come back when we figure it out." Liz looks at me with pure worry and fear in her eyes. I hold my arms out to her, offering my embrace.
she just falls into my arms on the bed, hiding her face in my neck. I gently run my hand up and down her back to try and soothe her. Dr. Keith gives me a look of concern and a mutual understanding that this could possibly be the worst case scenario but we pray it isn't.
I give her a nod of approval before the team rush out along with my baby girl who lets out the weakest whimper. I feel Liz shake in my arms as she silently cries. "I'm so sorry for snapping at you, love. I'm just so scared and I hate this started because I wasn't watching her." I shake my head before laying my cheek on the top of her head.
"It was never your fault my love. Neither of us were watching her and you caught her, you saved her baby, honestly. And I'm not mad at you for snapping, sure it scared me a little but I understand how this situation is frightening us. It's hard" She continues to sob into my neck for the next twenty-five minutes.
I just sit here with her in my arms comforting her as much as I can. She only comes out of her spot when we both hear the familiar ring on my watch, phone and Liz's phone going off all at once.
Liz jolts out of my arms as we both race to check if what we heard was true. "Shit" I whisper to myself, looking up to meet Liz's worried gaze. "She's okay right?" Liz asks, her voice quivering ready to cry again. I just look at her unsure at what to say.
"I- I don't know" I look back at my watch screen and see the familiar red colour flashing across the screen. She slipped to her newborn space and neither of us are there to help her or cuddle her.
Liz slowly settles back on the edge of the bed looking so exhausted and drained. Rubbing her back I suggest. "Why don't you lay down my love, her tests can take awhile and I promise to wake you the second she's back or I hear any updates." She nods and takes my spot on the bed. I go to fully stand but feel her pull me back by my waist. "Please lay with me" She pleads in a whisper.
"Of course my love" I softly respond as I kiss her forehead, laying next to her with her tangled in my arms. I hum to her as she slowly falls asleep. I tried to stay awake but slowly fell asleep myself. I hadn't realized how exhausted we both were until now.
Audrey's POV
I don't know where I am. I've been sleeping a lot because I feel super sleepy. I hear so much noise around me and I'm scared. I want mama again, she's safe and warm and I know her and mommy would protect me. They love me lots, they say it to me all the time even if they think I don't hear them, I do.
I whimper softly when I feel a poke in my arm. It hurt real bad. "Shh babygirl I'm sorry but this is the last one I promise." That woman's voice sounds familiar but I don't know who it is. I just know it isn't my mama. I'm finally picked up off of the cold surface I was on and held against someone.
They had really scratchy clothes on and I didn't like it, I felt cold cuz I think I'm only in my dipee. "Mama... pease" I croak out in a partial cry. I feel so tired I want to sleep for a while I thinks. "Hold on sweet bee, I need to check one more thing"
I'm gently bounce in their arms as we walk somewhere else. I've kept my eyes shut tight this whole time, I really hate the lights here. I'm finally brought into a dark room and I finally sigh out in content.
I feel the person lay me down on this narrow bed that's hard and cold. I try to wiggle but I feel something get strapped over my chest and legs. I don't like this anymore. I cry and cry for mama and mommy but they don't come.
I feel something go into my ears and someone brush hair out of my face as they put something over my eyes. I scream when I feel an owie burn in my arm before feeling really dizzy and sleepy.
I finally wake up in a strange bed with this lid on it in a different room. It's nice and dim so it doesn't make my eyes owie. I wiggle and scratch out my arms but stop when I feel someone hold my arm down. I can't really see far, it's too blurry. I start to cry when I don't recognize anything. I just wanted mama, I didn't mean to make her mad at me. Was I bad?
Teagan's POV
I'm softly shaken awake by a nurse who has a small sympathetic smile on her lips. "I'm sorry to bother you both but Dr. Keith wanted to speak to you guys in her office." Sitting up I shake Liz awake and tell her what the nurse explained. We agree and follow the nurse down the hall to the office. She knocks lightly on the door before the doctor calls for us to enter.
"Hey you guys, please sit wherever" she gestures around the room. She seems slightly frantic as she bustles around her office in a bit of a frenzy. Liz takes hold of my hand and leads me to the chairs in front of Laurens desk. We sit there for a moment before Liz clears her throat causing Lauren to spin around and look at us.
"I- sorry I'm just trying to find some old files." She finally takes a seat at her desk, shaking her mouse to wake up her computer before typing away. "How is Audrey, is she going to be okay? Where is she even? They never brought her back to the room." I run my thumb over the knuckles of her hand to try and settle her temper and worry.
Dr. Keith takes a breath before looking up at us. "I think I know what caused the reaction. We Did a scan to check her wrist where we added the implants and it seems her body is rejecting them. This is incredibly rare and I don't think it helps that she's a Skipper." Liz tightens her grip on my hand brushing her fingers through her hair with her free hand.
"She slipped into her newborn state didn't she? Is she okay?" I questioned. Dr. Keith nods slightly before turning back to her computer. "She's okay for now, we have her on some medication to help reduce the fever in her body and the fight it's putting up on the titanium. I think she slipped when we put her in the scanner. She was very weak and frail when I placed her there but she started to panic so we put her into a conscious sedation to keep her still."
Liz looks at me and I nod in a way to tell her I can explain further later on. She's not fully understanding what's going on. She is handling this terribly and I want to help her and just have our family back home. "We have her in the PICU for now just monitoring her. I do suggest you guys go do some skin to skin with her. I'm sure you know how beneficial that is." She gestures to me and I nod with a slight smile.
After asking a few more questions and getting our answers, we are led to the PICU where Audrey is laying in a dimly lit room inside a little incubator. She has some IV's in her arm, hooked up to some saline and what looks like antibiotics and a bag of antihistamines.
She has a little blue oxygen sock on her little foot along with some heart stickers on her chest and an oxygen tube in her nose taped down by some butterfly medical tape. Liz breaks apart from holding my hand and rushes to Audrey.
She rests her hands on the lid of the incubator and watches our baby sleep. "I'll leave you guys to her, If you need help don't be afraid to ask for it but Teagan I trust you know how to handle a baby in this state" Dr. Keith says as she turns to head out the door, only looking back at me for an answer. I nod my head at her with a smile as I watch her leave.
I turn back and walk up next to my wife. "Can we hold her? She looks so fragile and small." Liz whispers, not once tearing her eyes off of our babygirl. "We can, She was lacking in her nutrients before she slipped so I'm not surprised she seems super tiny right now." I rub my wife's back and instruct her to take her shirt and bra off and go sit in the recliner against the wall. I'm thankful we have a private room or else I'd have to cover her.
She does as I instructed, waiting patiently in the chair watching my every move. I go and scrub my hands at the sink against the far wall, being sure to get under my nails as well. Walking back to my baby I gently lift up the lid to her incubator. She wiggles a little and does the cutest little stretch.
I hold her right arm back down against her body to prevent her from hurting her wrist or pulling at any of her lines. She slowly blinks her eyes open just staring up at me. I smile down at my baby girl, watching as she slowly blinks her half open eyes. They are just as glossy as every other newborn I've seen in here. She continues to stare at me before her little lip starts to quiver,
I rush to shush her and rub her belly gently. Being extra careful of all her lines and hurt wrist, I gently begin to maneuver her out of the incubator over to Liz who has her arms stretched out impatiently waiting for her girl.
"I'm going to gently lay her down on your chest okay? Don't worry about the wires, just be careful with them, I'll try and keep them out of harm's way" I whisper as I gently and slowly rest Audrey chest to chest with Liz.
My wife finally breathes out a sigh of relief and content, She can't seem to peel her eyes off of Audrey's. "You know, your face being this close to her means she can see you fully." I smile, watching and a grin grows on her face. She uses her free hand to gently caress Audrey's cheek making the baby release a small coo.
"Mommy missed you so much sweet bean, I was soooo worried you know. Mama and I were scared but are so happy to know you are okay." She softly speaks to Audrey who seems so infatuated with Liz right now. I don't even know if Audrey can understand us in this headspace but it doesn't seem to bother Liz.
After about half an hour of Liz holding Audrey against her chest it was time to change the baby's diaper. I saw the yellow strip turn blue about fifteen minutes ago and thought I could leave it until Audrey let out a really runny poo while on Liz.
"Oh my god, babe please grab her before it leaks on my bare chest" Liz whispers in a panic trying to gently lift Audrey off of her chest while being extremely careful. I'm trying to hold back my laughter to not disturb Audrey who has finally fallen back asleep.
Getting Audrey off of Liz and settling her back into the incubator, Liz hands me the supplies needed. It was easy to change the diaper as Audrey was just dressed in nothing but a diaper. When I went to put on the newborn diaper it seemed far too big.
Frowning, I ask Liz to hand back the soiled diaper. She wrinkles her nose in disgust but goes to grab it from the garbage. "Why do you need the diaper I just threw out? It's gross that you even asked me to go sift for it."
Rolling my eyes I grab it from her outstretched arm and look at the label on the front of it. "Is something wrong?" She asks, coming to stand beside me, peering over my shoulder at the diaper looking confused. "She's too small for the newborn, these are preemie diapers" I frown.
Liz pulls the diaper out of my hand to look at it before looking back down at Audrey.
"She can't be a preemie, that wasn't on the colour list" I roll my eyes at her sounding like a whiny child. "I think it's because she's underweight. I just didn't think she would be this small in her newborn state, She did throw up the last two times we tried to feed her which definitely hasn't helped." I put on a new diaper on Audrey, this time it being a Preemie diaper.
"You should hold her my love" Liz whispers behind me as we both look down at our girl. I nod and start removing my scrub top, thankfully I wasn't wearing a bra because I didn't have a clean one with me at the hospital. I would hate to fiddle with a bra right about now anyways. Instructing Liz on how to hold the lines, I slowly lift Audrey to my chest as I walk us all towards the recliner.
Finally getting comfortable and showing Liz where to lay the lines I settle back and watch Audrey as she sleeps. "Do you think she will take your breast? I know you haven't pumped and I remember how much that caused you discomfort." Liz almost sounds unsure with her question.
She knows this is a touchy topic for me but I understand how it can greatly benefit Audrey. "I don't know, I don't want to overstep any boundaries with her." I whisper. Gently patting Audrey's bottom. Liz sighs but nods.
"I understand, baby I do. But it isn't like we have the bottles here right now or any of your milk so we are sorta stuck on one option here, You see how malnourished she is" Tears prickle my eyes as I glance back down at Audrey. Liz is right. After a few moments to collect my thoughts I nod. "Yeah yeah okay I, I'll try to get her to latch when she's ready" Liz seems satisfied with that and leans back in the other chair next to mine.
About an hour later Audrey begins to wiggle on my chest. To my slight surprise she's rooting around. "Ah see I told you" Liz excitedly points out. Quickly covering her mouth after realizing she spoke out a bit too loud causing Audrey to let out a sob. "Shhh babygirl, mommy was just excited to see her babygirl awake" I comfort.
I take a moment to contemplate how Audrey will react to this whole situation when she's big. We never even discussed this with her, yet here we are. I'm not even sure she remembers what happens when she slips, I'll have to remember to ask next time she's her big self. Taking a breath, I finally adjusted Audrey to lay a bit further down my chest and leaning slightly into my arm.
I hold up my left breast to her mouth, rubbing my nipple across her bottom lip until she opens her mouth wider. At that cue, I gently shove my breast in her mouth, Pulling down on her chin slightly to deepen her latch. Audrey sniffles a little and looks up at me, she hasn't started to suckle yet and I am patient to let her figure it out on her own.
"Has she done it yet?" Liz whispers, leaning forward in her seat resting her elbows on her knees trying to look closer. I shake my head, "No she hasn't started suckling yet but I got her on a decent latch" I gently run the back of my pointer finger over her cheek to encourage her to start sucking.
She blinks at me for a moment before I feel her little tongue brush against my nipple and settle underneath it before she starts her suckling. It doesn't take long before I feel my milk drop, feeling the pressure in my breast start to decrease slightly. Sighing out of relief as I tilt my head back against the headrest of the recliner with my eyes closed. I open my eyes to find Liz standing over me, smiling down at Audrey before looking into my eyes.
"I've missed this you know" She whispers, brushing her fingers through my hair before kissing my lips. I close my eyes again just relishing in this wonderful moment. I can't stop the tears that begin to well in my eyes and fall. Liz pulls away with a soft smile as she brushes the tears off my cheeks. "You are so unbelievably brave, my love. I'm so proud of you, I know this wasn't easy" I nod as she holds my cheek in her hand.
Leaning into her touch for a brief moment, I look down at Audrey when I feel her little hand resting on the swell of my breast. "Is that good Ry Ry?" Liz coos as she gently rubs Audrey's stomach. All Audrey does is look in the direction she heard Liz's voice. "You got to lean down closer baby, she can't see that far yet" I chuckle. Liz rolls her eyes at me but leans closer to Audrey. "Hi babygirl, mommy's so happy to see you drinking all your milkies' ' She coos in her baby voice.
This causes Audrey to smile slightly around my nipple. Milk dribbles down her cheek at her action and I'm quick to swipe it away with my thumb, wiping it on my scrub pants. I just smile and enjoy our family moment. I'm so happy to be holding my babygirl back in my arms and I definitely can't wait to go back home.
A/N
Sorry about the long ass wait for an Update. I just got my wisdom teeth removed (pineapple juice really did help a ton) And I just started my courses. I don't like the amount of time it took me to write this chapter and I apologize.
I absolutely haven't forgotten or given up on this story, I write one chapter after one gets published, I sadly don't have any saved for more quick updates but I will be trying to write ahead so I can publish chapters more consistently.