“What? What is it?” Seth asked.
“The baby is in Intensive Care,” she informed them, her breath ragged. “Karlee’s in recovery and the doctor said she’s doing well. I ran into him in the hall.”
“The baby?” Chris pressed.
“Well, they’re running tests, of course, but he’s over two pounds. Two pounds, eight ounces, actually. But he said the good thing is his lungs seem to be working okay. They intubated him, though.”
A boy. Karlee had a boy.
“Hey, you okay?” Chris whispered, sliding his arm around Seth’s shoulders and pulling him close.
“Yeah. But that baby…” He shook his head, tears falling. Knowing Karlee was doing okay was finally allowing him to think more about the baby. “Two pounds? How does a baby even live being that little?”
“My cousin had a baby born thirteen weeks early and the little girl was just under two pounds,” Debra told them.
“Really?” Seth knew nothing about babies. “Did she…survive?”
Debra smiled. “She did. She’s ten now and doing great.”
“So there is hope.”
Chris tightened his grip. “That’s right, Seth. There is hope.”
Seth hadn’t even realized he’d said that out loud.
* * * *
It was almost twenty-four hours before he and Chris were allowed to see Karlee. They’d stayed at the hospital for hours after the baby was born, but no one was permitted in to see her. And the baby was in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and nobody but the mother was allowed in there.
At the hospital, Chris waited in the hall, wanting to give Seth some private time with Karlee. When Sethstepped into her room, he’d tried not to show his terror at seeing how pale and fragile she looked.
Her eyes fluttered open and she gave him a weak smile. “Seth.”
He rushed to her side and took her hand. “Are you…I mean, how are you feeling?” God, he had no idea what to say.
“I’m okay now, but it was the scariest thing I’ve ever been through. I haven’t even been able to see Axel in person.”
Axel. He liked that.
“When can you? What happened?”
“They’re going to wheel me in there in about an hour. I can’t hold him, though. Not yet. But the nurses have been giving me updates all day. And they took pictures and texted them to my phone.” She gestured to it on the bed.
Seth handed it to her so she could open the pics. She scrolled and stopped, giving it to him.
His breath caught in his throat as he gazed upon a picture of a tiny human with tubes and IVs all over him. His eyes were closed, but his face gave the impression of a miniature old man. Suddenly, Seth’s mouth quirked up in a smile.
“What?” Karlee asked, her brow scrunched.
“He’s got his hand in a fist.” At her confused look, he continued. “You do that when you’re determined to do something.”
Her eyes widened. “I do?”
Seth grinned. “All the time.” He handed back the phone. “Look.”
She gazed upon the picture and tears began to fall. “He’s going to be stubborn like me.”
“And that’s great. He needs to be stubborn and fight. He needs to be strong and he’s already showing he is.”
She smiled at him and wiped away the tears. “You’re right. He’s my son and he’s going to fight.”
Seth wasn’t sure if babies naturally made fists or not. He didn’t even care. He knew it was a sign thatAxel was tough like his mother.
“They’re checking him for brain bleeds,” she told him once he settled into the plastic chair next to her. “It’s something that can happen with premature births. It can cause a lot of problems.”
Seth took her hand. “If he ends up having something, he’s still perfect. And you have a lot of people who love you that will be here to help. I promise you’re not alone.”
Tears flowed again and he handed her a tissue.
“Thanks,” she said. “I’m just scared.”
“Who wouldn’t be?”
“It’s like this baby—that I wasn’t completely ready for—is here and expecting me to be Mom and I don’t even know where to start. I haven’t even practiced changing a diaper!”
“I’m sure the hospital will help with that. It’s not like he’s going home today, right?”
“No. Maybe not for two months,” she said and more fresh tears streaked down her face. “Two months!”
He stood and gently enveloped her in his arms, rubbing his hand up and down her side. “But you’ll be with him a lot.”
“Every day.”
“And we’ll help you get things ready for him back at home.”
“We?” she asked, arching an eyebrow.