Thursday, December 26th, 2035

0 Days to Baby

My mom got me in the car and we drove to the hospital. I was still leaking a little, but not a lot. Since my water was broken already, they brought me right up to labor and delivery. My scheduled c-section was only four hours away by this point, but they were able to call Dr. Andrews and have her come early.

I tried repeatedly to call and text Tobias, and by 4:30, he was finally woken up and got to the hospital in a frenzy. By 5:30, I had a spinal block placed and was going numb from my stomach down to my toes. It was...really weird to know I couldn't just get up and walk.

Dr. Andrews was in my room by six, and at 6:25, I was getting prepped in the OR. I asked if I could have my arms out so Tobias could hold my hand, and they said yes, which was a relief. I was shaking a lot.

"Okay Ella, we're going to get started. I'm going to make an incision. I need you to tell me if you feel anything," Dr. Andrews said from behind the curtain.

"Okay," I said. They placed oxygen in my nose, so it was strange trying to talk with it on. I waited. Nothing happened. "Did you do it yet?"

"I sure did," Dr. Andrews said. The nurses around her laughed. "You never answered so I know you definitely couldn't feel it."

A few minutes later I heard crying, and they lifted my dirty alien baby covered in blood and other goo above the curtain. He was still really cute, though. The nurses got him all wrapped up and weighed before bringing him over to me. Dr. Andrews got to work on putting all my organs back where they belonged.

"Eight pounds, five ounces," said the nurse who brought him over to me.

He was so squishy and so...pink. The nurse had to help me hold him as I cried. I couldn't wait to pick him up and just hold him so I could love on him.

Once I was done in the OR, they finally brought my baby over to me so I could hold him properly. By then, my entire family was in the waiting room. They all came in a few at a time to see their new nephew. Everyone just adored him, and so did Tobs and I.

"I seriously can't believe we just found out about him twenty-five days ago," I said to Tobias.

"Me either," he said.

I looked down at Baby Christopher, who was looking up at me with his hazel eyes. "You're the best Christmas present I could ever ask for," I said, giving him a kiss. "Even if I only had a few weeks to get ready."

And so, I started my journey of being a mom. Healing from my c-section wasn't easy, and I was really sore for the first week. But lucky me, I had a huge village around to help me. Tobs was able to stay in my room for the first week, and he was such an amazing dad. Literally any time the baby would wake up in the middle of the night, he always brought him directly to me so I could walk less, since I was still healing.

Swaddles and sleep schedules were small in the grand scheme of things. If one swaddle didn't work, we tried another. We figured out real quick that Baby Christopher likes to have his arms up when he sleeps, so we got him a swaddle where he could do that. In terms of crying it out, I counted down from a hundred in my head. If he was still crying at zero, I picked him up and did a feed or diaper change or whatever it was that he needed.

Breastfeeding...that was tough at first. My nipples hurt so bad. I got all the special shields and creams, and after about two weeks, I gave up. He wasn't latching right, and I was hurting too much. We were supplementing with formula anyway, and I felt like a failure, because everyone on every online forum said "breast is best." I tried to get behind the "fed is best" movement. All ten of us kids were formula fed and we turned out fine.

Now...we're all the way back to where we started. Yay! We did it!

Today is June 21st, the first day of summer. It's my last day of online school before break, and I can focus on getting more hours at the restaurant so I can make more money. My goal is to save up enough to put Baby Christopher in daycare part time so I can try to go back to my high school and have a somewhat normal senior year with my friends and boyfriend.

Baby Christopher is a happy, healthy six-month-old. He babbles a lot and is always smiling. He's a big star at our house. My friends love holding him and playing with him, too. Because of my darker complexion, he looks a lot more like me, but still got the blond hair from both his parents. He has his dad's nose and ears though. He's sleeping in longer stretches through the night now, which has been a life-changer.

With this year being such a whirlwind, I'm so thankful that things are finally winding down for the summer. Sometimes it's hard to believe that this time last year, I was already a few months pregnant and had no idea.

I'm hoping the rest of this year, and then next year, 2027, when I graduate, will be a little less chaotic. But being a teen parent, and living in my house with my size family, you never know.