“Her uterus was too thin to handle the stitching required to fix it. The only way to stop the bleeding was to remove it,” I said.
“Oh, Hailey,” my mother said.
I watched her rub down my wife’s forehead with her hand, brushing her hair out of her face.
“Is there anything I can get you? Water? Ice?”
“Food? I’m starving,” Hailey said.
“I called Anna and Drew. They’re on their way,” my father said.
“I’ll go talk to the doctors and see when you can eat,” my mother said.
I was shocked at my mother’s demeanor, and I could tell Hailey was too. But it was a welcomed change of pace from the shit we had been dealing with from her, so I wasn’t going to question it. I bent over and kissed Hailey’s forehead as our son began to nuzzle his way to her breast. Hailey looked down and guided him toward her nipple, and then he latched on and started eating.
“That feels weird,” Hailey said.
“He looks strong,” my father said.
“Oh, is he eating? That’s good. I struggled to get Bryan to latch for weeks,” my mother said.
“Do you two have a name?” my father asked.
“Where’s Hailey? Where’s the baby?”
Before we could answer, Anna and Drew came bursting into the room.
“Holy shit, Hailey. How are you feeling? What happened? Oh wow, it’s a boy, isn’t it?” Anna asked.
“Slow down, honey. Let the people breathe,” Drew said.
I stood up and embraced both of them as our son continued to eat.
“Oh my gosh, he’s beautiful,” Anna said.
“You don’t even know if it’s a boy yet,” Drew said.
“It’s a boy,” Hailey said with a grin.
“Well, now we do,” Drew said.
Everyone cooed over the baby as he ate and rested on Hailey’s chest. No one tried to take him away from her, and everyone was incredibly supportive. We used video chat to contact Hailey’s parents in Phoenix so they could see their grandchild, and they doted on him from afar. I could see the slight pang of hurt in Hailey’s eyes. I knew she wanted her parents to be here. I took her hand during the phone call as Drew held the camera up, letting them get a good look before the video was done.
“Can I say something?” Hailey asked.
“You can say whatever you want,” I said.
“I just want to say two things. Bryan, none of this was your fault. We knew the risks going into labor, and there was a good chance my uterus would’ve torn in the middle of labor,” I said.
“Wasn’t his fault?” my father asked. “What happened?”
“It’s such a long story, Dad. Can we fill you in later?” Bryan asked.
“What’s the other thing?” my mother asked.
Hailey panned her gaze over to my mother as she sighed.
“I want this to be a new beginning. A fresh start for all of us. We’ve been through so much and lost even more, and I’m tired of the past bogging all of us down. Can we do that? Can we move forward and try this again?” Hailey asked.