It's been seven and a half months and she's three days overdue, everyone's in the waiting room at the hospital. She's in labor on my birthday, too. Spending my 32nd birthday on the maternity floor hopefully welcoming my niece or nephew (only Devin knows what the sex of the baby is). I'm pacing back and forth by the nursery windows, my hands jammed into my pockets. I think about how I had been waken up two hours ago…
My phone is screaming 'White Wedding Part 1' at me, I slingshot my arm out to answer it. "Whanow?"
"Happy, ow!, birthday. Get to the hospital! Fuck, Joshua, get up!" she tells me.
"What?" I ask sleepily, glancing at the clock to see it's 3:19 in the morning. It didn't click.
"Baby coming now!" she shouts, prompting me to fly out of bed and get ready.
"Be there ASAP."
Caylei woke up and asked me where I would be, reminding me to grab my cell before darting out the door. "Oshannie is in labor." I kiss her forehead and yawn. "What's today?" I'm beyond disoriented, I don't even know the date.
"Happy birthday, Josh."
"Oh, jeeze! Thank you, Cay. I love you and I hope she has her baby soon."
The whole drive here I was worrying and arrived as the nurse had been telling everyone that my sister was doing wonderfully, 6 cm dilated. I had asked how long she and Devin had been here and found out that she's been here for an hour and a half. I sit next to Justin and Lance, who are scared shitless and I'm still half asleep. "Whoa, she's having the little one today. Happy birthday, JC. One hell of a birthday, isn't it?" Lance says.
"To be honest, I'm still half asleep," I say with a yawn, stretching.
I began pacing about an hour and half ago, as I turn toward the door leading to the labor, delivery and maternity floor, a doctor comes out and I hear her yell for me. I look at the doctor with fear in my eyes. "She's fine and it's normal pain levels. She won't push until you're in the room. She's saying that it's your birthday and she's demanding that you're to be the first person to hold the baby."
"Really?!" I ask excitedly.
"Yes, let's go see her," the doctor tells me, opening the door and I go through with her following me. "This way," she says, quickly stepping in front of me and walking down the neutral colored walled hall. We pass a few doors, a couple desks, a nursery, and come to a stop at the end of the hall near a big window with a sill big enough to sit on. We go in the door to the left and I see Devin holding a cloth on her forehead, looking scared.
I walk over to my sister's side and run my fingers through her sweat soaked hair. "I'm here, Oshannie."
"Oshai," she whispers, clearly exhausted from the whole process.
"Shh. Just do what you have to."
"Hap-" she stops moving and talking, hissing, for a few minutes. "-py birthday," she finishes with a smile.
"Thank you. You need to have this baby."
"Ready to push, Sam?" the nurse asks.
She looks at me and I smile. "Go for it," I softly tell her. She nods and as soon as she feels another contraction, she pushes. I never realized how strong she is until she grabs & squeezes my hand while she pushes. "Ow…" I quietly say, grimacing.
"I know," Devin says, wincing in pain.
"A few more pushes and you'll meet the new member of your family!" the nurse announces, looking at me.
"I'm not the dad, he is," I state between her contractions, pointing at Devin. "I'm the uncle."
Another contraction comes and she pushes and Devin shouts that he can see its head. "Look, man!" he says, gesturing toward her crotch.
"This is my sister and I'll take your word for it, I was there when Cay had Annashai."
"Oh, yeah," he replies absentmindedly.
Another contraction comes and the baby is out. "It's a girl! One more time to repeat the whole process and you'll be all set," the nurse reminds them.
"Huh? Twins? I wasn't warned!"
"We had three months to prep for the surpriser, 7 1/2 months for Claryssa," Devin tells me.
"Wow, man. That's whoa."
"That's how we felt when we first find out and now that we're adjusting to the idea of twins, fraternal ones, it's time for them to come be with us."
"Either way, we all plan on trying to be there for you two. Congrats on the second baby and congrats Claryssa is healthy."
This is when I hear a pop and a splash, I turn my head toward the sound to see a puddle on the bed. "What was that?" I ask, worried. Caylei was induced and had her water popped artificially.
"Her second bag of water just popped," the nurse informs us, Oshannie pulling on my arm to get up.
"I have to go to the bathroom now, Oshai," she whispers, in pain. She lets out a huge breath and grabs my other hand to help her balance as she swings her feet over the side of the bed. I help her stand and once on her feet, she waddles as fast as she can the 5 or so feet to the bathroom.
"For just having Clary, she moves pretty quick."
The nurse comes over with my first niece wrapped tightly in a pink, white and blue receiving blanket and matching hat. "Hi, Claryssa. I'm your uncle Josh. Get used to me because if your daddy isn't on the porch with something to scare the shit out of boys, I'll be there to make them fear for their lives," I coo with a mischievous grin on my face, looking at her dad after. He nods with a gentle smile on his face, knowing I'm somewhat serious because of how protective I am about Oshannie. I start telling her about how her parents are good people and what they've accomplished before bringing her into everyone's lives.
"OSHAI!" she screams from the bathroom.
I give Claryssa to her dad and answer my sister's blood curdling, nerve wracking scream. I fling open the door and see her standing over a good amount of blood on the floor. "Devin, hit the button for the nurse!" I yell, reaching for my sister and help her get across the pool of blood safely, my eyes never leaving her before she's sitting on the clean bed.
The nurse comes in and looks at us. "Everything alright in here?" she asks, her eyes darting between us.
"There's quite a bit of blood on the bathroom floor and I'm worried."
"How are you related?"
"I'm her brother and the uncle to her daughter," I spat angrily at the bimbo nurse. I'm usually nice, but between seeing my sister in pain, my 3 am unconventional wake up call and it being my birthday, I have good reason to be just a bit upset. I just saw her in pain once for my beautiful niece and now I'm prepping to see her in it again for the second baby. The nurse calls out for the doctor, who rushes in the room to hook her up to monitors and checks her. I can't lose my baby sister, no way in hell I'll let it happen.
"Mr. Chasez and Mr. Lima, she's going to be fine. Some women have a blood loss like that, but it's a mix of amniotic fluid and blood, it's more fluid than blood. We just have to keep her on ginger ale or water until she delivers and she'll come out of this fantastically," a female doctor tells me. Short brown hair to her shoulders, hazel eyes and somewhere in her mid 40s. She's wearing khakis, a dressy/casual shirt and flats. Colors? I didn't bother to take them in, having glanced at her wasn't enough time.
"How do you know?" I ask, confused.
"Blood has a metallic smell, whereas amniotic fluid has a sweet, almost sugary smell to it," she explains, motioning for me to stand by the bathroom.
I lightly inhale and smell more sweet than metal. "Oh, I see," I reply, beginning to calm down.
"Which means this one is coming fast, might have an hour."
"Really?" I lower my voice so that my sister won't hear me. "What sex is this baby?"
"A boy, fraternal twins. We didn't find him until her sixth month, but we had been concerned because she wasn't gaining enough. Through the entire pregnancy, she gained 15 pounds and weight gain for someone her size is 25-35."
"The little guy would explain it, huh?"
"Yes, he explained it and frightened us in the process. Did you bother to count out the weeks?"
"No, why?"
"This is three days after her twin due date, her singleton due date is in two and a half weeks."
I'll look it up later in Caylei's 'What To Expect' book, it might help me understand. All of us had wondered as to why she had gotten so big and started showing so early, now I know. "Oh, ok."
"Oshai, come here," she requests, looking miserable.
I walk over and wipe a tear away. "I'm here, baby sister."
"I have to check her," the doctor announces, getting a glove on and putting gel on her finger tips.
"No, no, no, wait!" she yells at the doctor.
She waits patiently for her patient's body to relax, once she sees it, asks if she can check and my sister nods. "+1 station, 6 cm and almost 95%. Very soon, guys," she announces, leaving the room right after.
I reach for the chair behind me with my free hand and pull it closer, making it possible for me to sit. "You're crazy, girl."
"You're crazier," she argues, a weak smile on her face.
"You're going to be awesome."
"I'm planning on breast feeding," she informs me.
"Cool. Whatever you believe is best."
Her phone rings and she answers it, checking the caller ID. "What, Timbs? Hold on," she tells him, whipping her arm in my direction and I take the phone.
I put it to my ear. "What, J?" She squeezes the shit out of my hand, I lose feeling in it. I look at her husband and we both look ready to scream like we've been hit in the balls. "Ow!"
"Did she have the baby? Was it a boy or girl?"
"Girl and is having a second right now."
"Second?"
"Fraternal twins."
"Like Aaron and Angel?"
"Like those 2, yes."
"Sweet! What was her name?"
"Claryssa."
I look at my sister and she opens her eyes, watching me. "Claryssa Jayde Lima."
"What about the boy?"
"What are you naming the boy?" I ask her.
"Jamison Joshua Lima."
"Jamison and Claryssa." I try out their names and smile, it dawning on me why she named them that way. "Hey!" I quietly scold.
"CJ and JJ."
"Just so you feel like you're yelling at me, Justin and Lance?"
She shrugs. "I thought it was kind of funny. Holy shit! Ow!"
~~~~~
A couple hours and a room switch later…
"I feel almost ready to dance again."
"Doce menina, not for a few weeks."
"I said almost."
"I know, but you tend to overexert yourself," I interject, pointing out a known fact.
"Give me an example," she demands, crossing her arms under her bust and sitting back against the pillows on the hospital bed.
"VMAs 2000, two shows a night for a few months, flying between my group and the Boys, writing, producing and dancing all at the same time."
"Samantha Marilyn," Devin says in a shocked tone.
"It's how I dealt with a hard time, I kept too busy to face it until I was ready."
"Yeah, and you got hospitalized for it." If I don't remind her, she'll think she can do any and everything. I stare her down and she groans, near silence as she admits her defeat. "I know you don't want to be in the hospital for that again," I snap, pointing at her and the floor.
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