Alana's POV
The second I could hear the baby crying, she was immediately put into my arms. Tears formed in my eyes as I held her. She's really here.
The nurses took her away to clean her up and made sure everything was going smoothly with her. I was given a new hospital gown and was taken to a new room.
Once we got to the new room, the baby was given to me to hold but this time she was all cleaned up and wrapped in a blanket with a pink beanie on top of her head. I stared at her in pure adoration.
Shawn laid next to me in the bed. "She has your button nose" He whispered.
"And she has your lips" I said in awe.
Elle came back into the room with a clipboard and a pen. "Hey guys. I just needed some information and wanted to give you guys some information as well. So, what's the baby's name?"
I turned my head to look at Shawn. "Do you agree on what we talked about?"
Shawn nodded. "Mhm"
"Her name is Jasmine Elizabeth Mendes" I said.
"Beautiful name" Elle wrote it down. "We did some tests and she's all good and healthy. She's just a little over 7 pounds. When you're ready to rest, we can take her to the nursery"
I thanked her and Elle left the room. "Do you want to hold her?" I asked Shawn.
He looked at me with uncertainty on his face. "Mmm. I don't know. Maybe she should spend some time with you"
"Come on" I urged him. "You're the favorite parent. You need to get over your fear of holding babies. This is your daughter for crying out loud"
"But she's so tiny and fragile. I don't want to risk dropping her"
I brought her closer to Shawn. "Take her"
"Alana, I really can't"
"Take her" I said in a more assertive tone.
"Fine" He caved in. He cradled his arms and I placed Jasmine right into them.
"See" I grinned. "Not so bad, is it?"
"I guess not" He stared at her and smiled. "We made this"
"That we did" I snuggled against Shawn's arm as we both looked at our sleeping baby.
A soft knock on the door interrupted our trance. "Come in" I said.
The door opened and Andrew, Brian, and Connor walked in with a large amount of pink balloons and stuffed animals. "I hope we weren't disturbing anything" Andrew spoke, setting down the balloons.
"What are you guys still doing here?" Shawn asked, astonished. "It's almost midnight"
"Dude" Brian scoffed. "Who do you think we are? You just had your first kid. We had to stay"
Connor had his camera out and he walked nearer to us. "Can I be the first to hold her?"
Shawn nodded his head. "Here" He handed Jasmine to Connor while I took the camera and filmed them.
He rocked her gently. "She looks like Alana"
Brian and Andrew looked over Connor's shoulders and nodded in agreement.
Connor's eyes lit up. "She's waking up"
"Awww" Andrew cooed. "She has Shawn's eyes though". I grinned as I watched the boys watch her in silence.
Things soon took a turn of events when loud shrieking cries came from the baby. Connor handed Jasmine to me and I tried rocking her a bit.
"Maybe she's hungry?" Shawn suggested.
I shook my head. "I just fed her" I stopped and looked over at Shawn, the crying baby still in my arms "I think we need to change her diaper"
"I think" Brian started and pointed towards the door. "That's our cue to leave"
The boys all quietly left the room, leaving Shawn and I to deal with our first diaper change.
"I think the first step is to smell if her diaper is actually full" I looked at Shawn and his nose was scrunched.
"Let's make a deal" He raised his eyebrows. "You smell, I change"
I sighed. "Fine" I handed Jasmine to Shawn so he could lift her up. I placed my nose near her rear and sniffed. I pulled away. "Mhm"
"What? Is it poop?"
"For sure"
"All right. Here we go" He stood up and set Jasmine down on the diaper changing table and I stood up to watch him. He unwrapped the blanket that was wrapped around her and grabbed the diapers and wipes.
Not going to lie, Shawn killed it. His baby doll practice paid off after all.
He wrapped her back up and left her in the rolling hospital bassinet to sleep. We laid back down on the hospital bed and I melted into his arms.
Shawn kissed the top of my head. "You did good, mom"
I raised my hand to cup his cheek. "So did you, dad" He leaned his head down a placed a gentle kiss on my lips.
"Can you believe that all this would happen three years ago?" Shawn rested his head on mine.
"Absolutely not"
"You were just a girl who lost her phone in an arena and I was just a guy who fell in love with a girl who lost her phone"
"And now I'm a girl who had a baby with a guy who fell in love with a girl who lost her phone in an arena"
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The next couple of days were spent recovering in the hospital. Many of our family and friends visited us. Karen, Aaliyah, and Manny came from Canada and Layla finally got to meet her baby cousin. It was the third day of being in the hospital and the doctor said that we were able to go home today.
We carried Jasmine out in her carrier and plugged it into the car installation in Shawn's car. I opened the door, sat in the passenger's seat, and Shawn drove us back home.
With the baby bag in my hand and Shawn behind me carrying the baby in her carrier, I opened the door to the house. The smell of burgers made its way to my nostrils. I turned around and raised my eyebrows at Shawn.
"Don't worry about it. Go upstairs and change into something fancy. I'll put Sweets in her crib"
Curious, I followed his instructions and went straight to the closet in our bedroom to find something to wear. I sifted through the dresses that were hanging but I knew they weren't going to fit me because I still had postpartum stomach.
I walked out of the closet and Shawn was putting down the baby monitor to keep track of the baby while we're downstairs. He looked up at me and smiled.
"Nothing fits me yet" I lifted up my hoodie to show him. "It looks like there's still a little baby in there"
"That's alright" Shawn smiled. "You look beautiful. Let me just change into some sweatpants so we can match" He went to the closet and soon came out wearing grey sweatpants and a hoodie. "You ready?" He put his hand out. I grabbed it and he led me down the stairs.
The sight in the kitchen was impeccable. The blinds were closed so it was dark and countless of candles were lit on the counters, the floor, and around the small table that was set up in the kitchen.
Shawn lifted the metal cover that was on top of the plate and it contained In-N-Out burgers and fries. "I know how much you've been craving some" Shawn grinned. "And.." He lifted a hand and opened the fridge to take out to wine glasses filled with a substance that wasn't wine. "Milkshakes" He set them down.
"I can't believe you did all this" I put my hands over my blushing cheeks.
"You deserve it. And I did have some help" He grabbed my hand and he spun me. We started swaying. From the built-in speaker system, Lover by Taylor Swift started playing.
The second verse started and to my surprise, Shawn's voice appeared in the track and he sung along with it. "We could light a bunch of candles
and dance around the kitchen, baby"
I gasped. "No way"
He continued. "Pictures of when we were young would hang on the wall. We would sit on the stoop,
I'll sing love songs to you when we're eighty.
See, I finally got you now, honey, I won't let you fall"
I smacked his chest lightly. "I can't believe you didn't tell me about this"
He sung the main chorus and the sound of the harmonies between Shawn and Taylor made my heart melt.
Then the bridge came. "Look in my eyes, they will tell you the truth. The girl in my story has always been you. I'd go down with the Titanic, it's true, for you, lover"
He finished the song and I was at a loss of words. He walked me to the table and pulled out the chair for me. "So what do you think?" He sat down across from me.
"I-" I put my hand to my heart. I felt like it was skipping beats. "Love bug"
He chuckled. "Yes? Did you like it?"
"I loved it. It was perfect. I wish you would have done it in time for our wedding though. That would've been the perfect song for our first dance"
He took a sip of his milkshake. "It truly would have been"
I popped a fry and just stared at him in amazement.
"What?" He asked.
"I'm trying to figure out a way to express how much I love you but I don't think that's truly possible"
He set his hand down palm up on the table. I put my right hand on top of it and caressed it with my thumb.
A sudden muffled sound started coming from the baby monitor and Shawn and I immediately got up and went upstairs to the nursery.
Jasmine was in her crib just laying there with her eyes open. Shawn picked her up and cradled her. He sat down on the small pink couch in the room and I sat down next to him.
I gently touched the top of her small head while Shawn continued to hold her. The tiny lips on her face began to curl into a smile.
"Awww" Shawn and I said at the same time. I rested my head on Shawn's right shoulder.
"Wait" Shawn started. "I think she farted"
I snickered. "What?"
"She farted in my hand"
"How do you know?"
"There was small toot that happened before the smile"
I chuckled. "She's perfect"
"You're perfectly wrong for me and that's why it's so hard to leave" He sang, softly.
"Hey look, she's falling asleep"
"Yeah you're perfectly wrong for me, all the stars in the sky can see" He continued and soon enough, the baby was back in her peaceful state of rest.
We put her back in the crib and went back downstairs to eat our dinner. "So. I feel like we barely had the chance to sit down and talk. How are you?" Shawn took a bite of his burger.
"I'm good. Just had a baby. You know, the usual. Missing you as always. Very happy" I grinned. "And you?"
"I'm great. Just witnessed my wife have a baby. You know, the usual" He mimicked me. "Finally happy to be home with you" Shawn said sincerely.
"How was tour? Australia?!"
"Australia was great!" His eyes brightened. "I have something to show you" He pulled out his phone from his pocket and showed me a picture.
"Oh my gosh! What is that?!"
"It's called a quokka. Isn't it adorable?"
I nodded. "So adorable. More adorable than you in fact"
He pouted. "I'm kind of offended"
"It's alright. Be a man, Mendes"
He finished his burger and I finished mine. We went back upstairs to just watch Jasmine in her crib, being unbothered and peaceful and all. We sat on the floor and stared through the wooden bars of the crib, like little kids.
author's note
stream lover remix ft. shawn mendes for clear skin.
i've been having insane writer's block but that song really pushed me to write. bless shawn and taylor for making good music.