Special Arrival

She looks up at him and says, "Get out!"

"What?" he says. "I'm not leaving now."

"It's okay Mrs. Russell. I know you are tired. Don't take it
out on your husband." replied Dr. Powell. "Give us another
push, Mrs. Russell."

Parker grabbed a hold of the bed rail and squeezed tight as
she pushed again. "Wait. Don't push." replied the doctor.

Jarod begin to get worried. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"It's nothing. The umbilical cord has the baby. Give me a
minute to free the baby then you can push again." said Dr.
Powell. She noticed the baby was face down unstead of face up
She didn't want to worry the parents so, she tried to
free the baby.

Dr. Powell freed the baby and said, "Okay one last push and
you have it."

Parker grabbed Jarod's arm and squeezed as she pushed. She
yelled in his ear as the baby tore her. She heard a cry and
fell back in her bed.

"Jarod." Parker said softly.

"What?" he answered.

"I love you." she whispered. Then she kissed his cheek. She
closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Jarod looked at his wife and gently brushed the damp hair
from her forehead with his hand. "I love you too." he said.
Then he kissed her.

"It's a girl." said Dr. Powell.

Jarod smiled and said, "Can I hold my daughter?"

"Let me finish up with your wife. I want respiratory to take
a look at her since the cord was holding her back. Then you
may hold your daughter, Mr. Russell." Dr. Powell didn't want
to alarm him.

The nurse took her to the nursery where respiratory was
waiting for them. When Dr. Powell got finished sewing up
Parker, she left to check on the baby. Jarod sat down beside
his wife and held her hand. He knew she was tired from the
delivery since she hasn't slept in several hours.

The doctor came back in and said, "We are going to move your
wife to another room but I would like to talk to you alone if
that is okay."

"Sure. Is something wrong?"

"No, everything is fine." Jarod followed the doctor out in
the hall. She took him a small connivance room. "Jarod, I
won't lie to you. The baby is fine but there is a small problem."

"What kind of problem?" he asked.

"Nothing series. Your baby was born face down which means she
laid on your wife's pelvic bone for a while."

"I don't understand." he said.

"Your wife was two weeks over due and the baby was in
position but when the baby turned she turned face down not
face up like she should have been."

"Is something wrong with her because of this?"

"Her face is a little drawn but with your help she will be fine."

"What do you mean by 'with my help'?" he said confused.

"Well, her right side of her face laid on the pelvic bone. It
was smashed. Well, more like drawn down. Her cheek will be
okay if you massage it."

"Can I see her?"

"Sure. I will take you to her. Then, hopefully, I can explain
it better to you." Jarod followed her to the nursery. She
showed Jarod his daughter.

Jarod looked at her and reached for her. "Wait." said the
doctor. "Let me show you what I mean. Then you can hold her."
She rubbed the baby's face with her fingertips. "Do it like
this several times a day. After a few days you will see an
improvement. Then you won't be able to tell it."

Jarod massage his daughter's face. Then he picked her up. He
held her tight in his arms. He kissed her little face. A tear
came to his eye. "I want to tell my wife. Will you please let
me do that?" he asked. She looked at him and shaked her head
okay. "Are you sure she will be fine in a few days?"

"Yes. If you do what I said she will be fine. I have seen
this before where the baby laid on the mother's pelvic bone.
Don't worry. Everything is going to be fine." She tried to
assure him.

Jarod set his daughter now and said, "I better go tell her
family she is here."

He walked out. He went to the waiting room. "Well." Broots said.

"What is it?" Sydney said.

"A girl." Jarod answered.

"I have a sister." Catherine replied.

"Yes you do." he answered.

Sydney could tell something was wrong. "Jarod, what is it?"
he asked.

"Sydney, the baby laid on Melissa's pelvic bone. Her face is
drawn."

"I'm sure she will be okay." he said. He tried to comforted him.

"Yeah. Dr. Powell said she'll be fine. Melissa doesn't know.
I haven't told her yet."

"Where is Melissa?" he asked.

"They moved her to another room."

"I want to see mommy."

Jarod took them to her room. She was still asleep. They didn't
want to bother her so they peeked in and left.

"Jarod, you need some rest." Broots replied.

"I'm going home to change clothes then I am going to stay
here with her. Sydney can you..."

"You don't have to ask. I would love to keep them."

"Thanks." he answered.

Jarod went back in his wife's room. He bent down to kiss her.
She woke for a brief moment.

"Jarod." she said softly.

"It's okay."

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going home to take a shower and change clothes. I will be
back soon. I want you to rest."

She closed her eyes and went back to sleep. Jarod met the
doctor in the hall. He told her he would be back to talk to
his wife.

A couple of hours later, Jarod returned. Parker was still out.
She hadn't moved since he left her last. He sat down
in the chair beside her bed. A nurse walked in.

"Do you know if she is going to breast or bottle feed?"

"Probably breast feed. Why?"

"Well, the baby is hungry and she is still asleep. I just
thought I would check before giving her a bottle."

"Well, since she is still asleep go ahead and give her a bottle.
She can try to breast feed later."

"Okay. Mr. Russell. Thanks." the nurse left.

Jarod fixed the chair to where it folded out. He laid his head
to the side and fell asleep shortly afterwards. Parker
opened her eyes to to see a white teddy bear
holding a single red rose sitting on the table beside the
bed. She reached for the bear. She knew Jarod left it for
her. She gets up slowly and bends over to kiss his forehead.
He wakes up to her lips on his head.

"Thank you for the bear and rose."

"Did you look on the bear?"

"No. Why?"

"Look." he said.

She looked closer and saw a diamond shape heart necklace
around the bear's neck. "Jarod, you shouldn't have." she said
and kissed him again.

"You know I have to spoil you."

"Well, thanks." she replied. "May I ask you something?"

"Yeah. What is it?"

"Did we have a girl?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Well, that is all I remember. I heard Dr. Powell say 'it's a
girl' then I fell asleep."

"You have been asleep all day."

"I was tired." she answered.

"I know. How are you feeling?"

"Better since I slept."

"You're not sore."

"Not really. How much did she weigh?"

"8 lbs. and 13 oz. She is twenty-one inches long and don't
be mad."

"Why?"

"Well, she looks like me."

"What do you mean she looks like you? Your nose, mouth...what?"

"No, I mean...well let me put it this way. I can't say she
wasn't mine. But she does have your attitude and black hair."
he said quickly.

"What do you mean my attitude? I want to see her."

"Well, before you do I have to tell you something else."

"What?"

"I don't want you to get scared when you see her."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, she laid on your pelvic bone for a while. Her face is
drawn to one side." he paused for a minute and said, "But she
will be okay."

"I want to see her."

"Okay, I will have the nurse bring her in." He left. He
returned and said, "She is bringing her in."

In a few minutes later, the nurse wheels the baby in. Parker
looks at her and a tear falls from her face.

"Dr. Powell showed me what to do. Here, let me show you."
Jarod took her fingers and massaged her little cheek. "See she
will be fine."

Parker undressed her. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"I want to see her." she answered. She counted her little
fingers and toes. She kissed her little face and said, "I want
to name her."

"Name her what?" he asked.

"I want to name her Sydney Jae."

"No. I don't like Jae. Why Jae?"

"Come on, you got to name the other two."

"But why Jae."

"Because I want to name her after her father and she does look
like you." she looked at him with her look. He knew
she wasn't changing her mind.

"Okay. Fine. You can name her Sydney Jae."

"Thank you." she replied with a smile.

She saw the bottle in the bed. Jarod said, "I told the nurse
she could give it to her because you were a sleep. I hope you
don't mind."

"No, I don't. It doesn't look like she had much of it."

Then nurse walked in and said, "Oh, I forgot to tell you. I
tried to give her that bottle and she wouldn't take it. She is
hungry, though."

"Okay. Thanks." Parker replied.

Parker tried to wake her and she would move. After running a
wet cloth over her she finally, let out a cry.

"See I told you she was like you." he replied.

"What are you saying?" she answered.

"She was happy asleep and you had to wake her. Now you made
her mad. That is your attitude coming out in her." he said as
he looked at Parker still messing with her.

"Would you leave her alone?"

"No, I want her to eat."

"Maybe she doesn't want to."

"You heard the nurse. She's hungry."

"Yeah, but she was happy, asleep too."

"Jarod, leave me alone. I want to play with our daughter."
she said as she sat back down on the bed with Sydney in her arms.

It wasn't long until Sydney found her mother's breast. She
began to suck. "See I told you she was hungry." Parker replied.

Jarod didn't say anything else. After a little while she let
Jarod hold their daughter while she cleaned up. She walked
back in, to find him changing her diaper and playing with her.

"Look at daddy's little baby." he said. He ran his fingers
over her face gently. She just looked at him and grinned.
"That's right, grin at daddy. You can't help it you are going
to act like your mommy." he said softly.

Parker cleared her throat. Jarod said, "I knew you were back
there, that's why I said it."

"Oh, really. Do you think I am really a bad person?"

"Would I have married you if I thought that?" he asked.

"I don't know. You tell me." she answered.

He picked up Sydney and walked over to his wife. He kissed
her cheek and said, "You should know better than that. You
have never been a bad person. You just got misguided along
the way, that's all."

"Oh yes, misguided. I remember." she answered. "But now...."

"But I helped you find your way back. You are still the same
person I fell in love with at twelve." he answered.

"Yes, our first kiss. How could I forget? I knew someday you
would be mine." she answered. She reached over and kissed her
daughter head. She stroked Sydney's hair softly. She looked up
at Jarod and said, "I still love you, you know." Then
she kissed his lips.

"I love you too. I always have and I always will." He laid
Sydney down in the bed. "You look tried why don't you rest
some more."

"I will but I'm hungry. I haven't eaten in several hours."

"Okay, I will go get you something. What do you want?"

"I have a better idea. Why don't we take Sydney back to the
nursery and I walk with you to find something? I need to walk
around some."

"Okay." he answered.

The nurse took Sydney back to the nursery and they walked
around. Jarod took her to the cateteria. She got something to
eat and they talked a while before they returned to her room.

Jarod sat down in the chair while Parker rested some more.
They stayed another day in the hospital before they got to
take their daughter home to meet her brother and sister and
the rest of her family.

The End!