Page 81 of A Dragon's Miracle (Fires of Fate)
By the time the doctor came in to check on me, I was already dilated a good way. I was also crushing Finn's hand in mine. He was probably surprised at how much strength I suddenly had.
“We'll be giving you an epidural in just a little bit,” the doctor told me.
“Will the baby be fine?” I asked, breathing through another contraction.
“I'm sure it'll be fine,” he said, and I prayed that he was right. At least until the words in my mind got interrupted bypain.Fucking contractions! I inhaled. Why did giving birth have to be so hard? Who came up with this?
“Everything okay?” Finn asked. He looked a bit pale and like he wasn't sure whether he was supposed to be doing anything. Nervous energy radiated off him in waves.
“I'm okay,” I pressed out, grateful for the strength he was landing me through our bond. Without him, I didn't know how I would have gone through any of this. “You'll be a dad soon,” I told him, trying for a smile.
His eyes lit up in the most adorable way. The joy he felt at that simple truth flowed over to me and wrapped itself around me like a cocoon that kept me warm even as the contractions gradually grew stronger.
“I can't wait to meet our child,” Finn said.
“Can't wait to get it out of me either,” I tried to joke, even though I was still a little worried.
“Michael had a fast birth,” Finn said. “Maybe yours will be like that. Maybe it's a thing with omegas carrying dragon babies.”
“I don't know. I wouldn't mind, honestly.”
The doctor laughed, checking me again. “Things are certainly moving along. You'll be getting the epidural now. That should take the edge off things.”
“Thank God.”
I closed my eyes and focused on breathing while they applied the epidural. I was used to being poked and prodded by now, so the procedure didn’t bother me too much—and thankfully I was already hooked up to an IV so the only other thing the doctor needed to do was place some sensors on me to monitor the baby’s heart rate.
“The drugs should take about fifteen minutes to take effect,” he said.
“Alright.” I bit my teeth together and looked to Finn. “Tell me something.”
“Uh…” He seemed a bit surprised by this sudden request to distract me, but recovered quickly. While I waited for the drugs to kick in, he told me a story that I could focus on only in parts as I tried to endure the contractions. He told me something about how he got his first guitar from his father and how the strings tore after he’d had it for just a day and how he wanted to teach our child to play some day. I liked that thought, and I held on to it even as the pain finally let up.
I was still thinking about Finn and our child together when the doctor told me to start pushing. I pictured Finn playing with our child, playing with toy cars and building blocks and miniature guitars and throwing food at each other while giggling mindlessly. That was the future I wanted, what Finn and I had been fighting for.
Holding on to my vision of my perfect future made pushing easier, even though it was still pretty damn hard. At some point, I think, I screamed and Finn looked at me all horrified likewhat am I supposed to do here?But I didn’t have time to calm him down while I was giving birth to our child.
And then I was finally down to one last push. Just one last…
“I got it!” the doctor said and soon after I heard the cry of a newborn.Mynewborn. Crying meant it was breathing, right?Thank God.“It’s a boy!” the doctor announced with a smile, raising the baby so I could look at him.A boy.I grinned. I had a boy! I let my head fall back as Finn cut the umbilical cord and I felt his pride through our bond.
After a minute, they handed my son to me, wrapped in a blanket. He wastiny.But so, so precious. And warm. And perfect, with wisps of dark hair on his head. All of my exhaustion and all the pain I’d endured suddenly felt irrelevant now that I could hold him in my arms. My baby. I stroked his cheek with the back of my finger. “Hello, Sky. Welcome to the world.”
He moved his head the tiniest bit, but kept his eyes closed, seemingly already perfectly at peace with this new world.
I looked to Finn, who was positively glowing with both pride and joy next to me. I handed the baby to him. “Say hello to your son.”
He held the baby gingerly. “Hi there,” he whispered. “We’re going to have so much fun together, won’t we?”
I laughed, because it was like he knew exactly what I’d been thinking about in the pains of labor. The future I’d envisioned. Our happily ever after.
Looking at Finn holding our son, I finally felt like it was going to happen.
