Happily Ever Addendum (29 page)

"Oh God this hurts." I cried
out and Aidan held me tighter. I pushed him back. "I can’t breathe!"
I growled. He looked slightly shocked and amused at the same time. I couldn’t
help it, I was miserable.

We arrived to the hospital and two
nurses rushed us up to the maternity floor and settled me into my room. I was
pacing around the room, groaning and whining with each pain that surged through
my back.

The doctor came in with a large smile.
"Good, you are up and walking around."

"I’m dying." I groaned at him
as he chuckled.

"Oh, come on. We’ve done this
before." He smiled at me.

"Yeah, but it didn’t feel like this
the last time." I whined.

"All babies are different. Tell me
about the pain you are feeling?"

I told him that it felt like all of the
pain was wrapping around my stomach and stretching up my back to my shoulders.

"Ahh, you are experiencing back
labor." He nodded. "It’s a common sensation…"

"Sensation!" I exclaimed.
"This feels like something is trying to rip my spine in half!" I
panted and took a large breath as another pain caused me to curl up on myself
and brace my weight against the wall. Aidan quickly held my sides, gently rubbing
my back, as I began to straighten back out.

"I’m so sorry, baby." He
whispered to me.

"You should be." I snapped.
"Oh dear God, get it out of me!" I paced around the room.

"We need to check you, Lilli."
The doctor informed as he patted the hospital bed.

I cringed at the thought of him sticking
anything up my hoo-haw at this particular moment.

Lying on the bed, he pushed my knees
apart and then the painful pressure filled me. I groaned and shifted
uncomfortably.

He pulled back and pushed the nurse call
button on the bed.

"Well, it looks as if your wish may
be granted. You are dilated to ten already." He smiled down at me and then
turned his attention to the nurse as they prepared to deliver the baby.

Aidan kissed the top of my head and held
my hand. "We’re almost there."

"Great, now I can’t get the
freaking drugs!" I felt him chuckle at my panted comment.

Another pain came and I started panting
and breathing heavy.

"Okay, Lilli, with your next
contraction, I want you to push." He looked up at me and I nodded, eager
to get it out. "Here we go."

I tightened my grip on Aidan’s hand and
started pushing down. "Good job." the doctor praised.

"You are doing so well." Aidan
cheered. "Here comes another one, push, Lilli, push!"

I pushed down again but the pain that
surged through my back caused me to stop in the middle.

"Lilli?" The doctor looked up
at me quickly.

"It hurts! My back…" I cried.

"Can’t you give her something?"
Aidan pleaded.

"Lilli, look at me." I forced
my eyes open and looked directly into the doctor’s face. "I need you to
push and push hard, it’s too late for anesthesia. You need to push hard.
Ready?" I nodded, though I was still unsure. "Okay, here we go."

"Come on, Lilli, you can do this.
You are the strongest woman I have ever met." Aidan was praising me on my
left and the doctor was working between my legs.

With a large guttural scream, I threw my
head back. I felt the pressure start to ease and panted heavily. Then we heard
it, a cry. I was wheezing heavily as I looked down. He laid the baby on my
stomach.

"Congratulations, it’s a
girl." The doctor smiled and I felt Aidan’s lips on my head over and over.

A tear slid down my cheek, but it wasn’t
mine. I turned my head and saw the free flowing tears of Aidan. His lips
smashed to mine, a mixture of salt and Aidan on my mouth. He pulled back and
wiped my forehead.

"Good job, baby." He smiled
wide-eyed and then turned his green eyes on his new daughter.

I slept for hours after I had given
birth. Back labor was a bitch and it had completely exhausted me. When I woke
up, I saw Aidan sitting in the recliner with Alesandra in his arms. He was
running his finger over her chubby, pink cheeks and whispering to her,

"Hey." I whispered and his
head snapped to me. A large smile spread on his face.

"She’s gorgeous, Lilli." I
could hear the pride in his voice. "Look at all her hair." He looked
back down on her adoringly.

He was right, she had almost a full head
of dark, brown hair on her tiny, round head. Her skin was as pink as Livy’s had
been when she was born, but she didn’t have one trace of red hair.

"She’s going to look like
you." He beamed at me.

"You never know…" I trailed
off as he placed her in my arms.

"No, I can feel it when I look at
her. She’s going to be you through and through. I’m gonna have to protect her
from tons of boys." He laughed.

"Well, now you have Livy and
Alesandra to go all ‘protective father’ on." I smiled down at the new baby
in my arms.

"Nah, Walsh has my back on Livy.
He’ll kill anyone that comes near her. But, Ales, here, I will have to pay
extra attention to, especially when she ends up looking just like you." He
kissed the side of my head.

I was laughing quietly when the first of
many hospital visitors and gifts started to arrive. Phoebe and Celia burst into
the room arguing over who would hold her first. Dixon beat them all to punch,
smirking at them as they pouted.

Liam and Viola arrived with Maggie and
Abby. Sarah called me after I had Aidan send her a picture mail. He also sent
one to Donald, but I hadn’t heard anything from him yet. As evening approached
and I didn’t hear from him, I started to worry. Aidan kept telling me that
everything was fine, trying to reassure me.

"How do you know?" I argued as
Anne and Henry entered the room with Elora and James.

We had as full of a room as when the
twins were born, but I went back to worrying about my dad.

"Aidan, did you call him?" He
nodded. "Call Millie." I ordered.

"Why are you going to call
Millie?" My head snapped up to see my dad standing in the doorway with a
smug look on his face.

"Oh, my! When…how?" I turned
to Aidan. "Did you do this?" I yelled at him as he grinned.

"I called him this morning and he
said he wanted to come out to see the new baby, so I sent the jet." He
shrugged but I could see the slight smugness that revealed how proud he was of
himself.

My dad came over and hugged me tenderly.
Quickly, Maggie brought the baby to my dad. He nervously took her in his arms
and smiled.

"She looks just like you when you
were a baby."

"Told you." Aidan whispered
and I elbowed him in the arm. "Ow!" He laughed.

My dad looked up and chuckled at us.

"She really does, Lilli. You had
the same hair and chubby cheeks. Didn’t your mother think so?"

"She called to congratulate us, but
she didn’t say. It was a picture mail, so it’s not the best quality." I
shrugged, though I knew that my mother was a little different. It didn’t
matter.

"What’s her name?" My dad
asked.

"Alesandra Sarah Iverson."
Aidan answered and I looked up at him. He winked. We had chosen Alesandra, but
the Sarah was new. I smiled at him and hugged his arm as I put my head on his
shoulder.

The next surprise for the evening was
when Kimberly and Rachel arrived with Walsh, Livy and Cole. I was so excited
and happy to see them. Aidan was holding Ales when they arrived, so I quickly
hugged each of them as Kimberly put them on the bed with me. Walsh was on my
right, Livy on my left, and Cole was on my lap. Aidan sat down and held Ales
out for them to see.

Livy looked the closest and then smiled.

"Baby." She giggled.

"Remember mommy’s tummy?"
Aidan asked her and I patted my less round stomach. Livy turned and looked at
my stomach and then back to the baby. "Ales came out of mommy’s
tummy."

Livy giggled and rubbed the baby’s head
easily.

"She so little." She whispered
out.

Cole leaned forward a little, but
wouldn’t touch her.

"Can you give your baby sister
kisses?" Aidan asked.

Livy kissed her cheek. Cole surprisingly
kissed her head. Walsh furrowed his brow.

"Baby sister?" He looked up at
Aidan curiously. Aidan nodded. "Give the baby to mommy." Aidan looked
at Walsh with surprise and then handed her to me.

Liv and Cole were touching her head
softly, but Walsh took ‘his’ place on Aidan’s lap. I laughed.

"Someone is a little jealous."
I smiled.

Aidan nodded and sighed. "I guess
so."

"Walsh, aren’t you excited to have
a new sister?" He shook his head and I laughed. "Don’t you want to
take her back to our house?" He shook his head. "Well, then, what are
we supposed to do with her?" I bit my lips together to stop from laughing.

"Take her back." He crossed
his little arms over his chest and grumbled.

Aidan wrapped his arms around his mini
me and chuckled at his eldest son’s reaction to having a baby sister. I smiled
at him.

"Walsh, we can’t give her back.
She’s coming home with us. This is your little sister. I need your help with
her, to take care of her and protect her."

He raised one eyebrow at me. Then he
huffed.

"Fine, but I not kissing her."
I laughed freely and so did Aidan as he held him tight in his arms.

The next day Aidan arrived with Walsh,
Livy and Cole to take Alesandra and me home from the hospital. I was highly
impressed to see Aidan take care of all three kids during the trip, they were a
handful. When the car pulled up to the house, Aidan helped me out of the car
with Alesandra. He helped Cole walk into the house while Livy was at my side
‘helping’ me carry Ales inside. Walsh wanted to carry my bag into the house,
but he ended up dragging the bag to the door.

We headed up to the nursery so Aidan
could get the bassinet out of the storage closet and put it in our room for
Ales. Once we were inside, I lay Ales in Cole’s crib.

"Mommy?" I turned to see Walsh
pulling on my shirt.

I knelt down to him. "What’s up
little man?"

"Where is the baby going to
sleep?" He furrowed his eyebrows at me.

"You want her to sleep in
here?"

"No, not in my room!" He
protested.

"That’s not very nice." I
stated to Walsh.

"Fine! She can sleep in here, but
she’s not playing with my toys!" He huffed and walked over to his toddler
bed, sitting down roughly.

I took a deep breath and exhaled as
Aidan came into the room with the bassinet. My face must have said everything.

"What’s wrong?"

I shook my head.

"Lilli?"

I picked up Ales and walked to our room.
Aidan followed, closing the baby gate behind him, and then setting up the
bassinet next to my side of the bed.

"Walsh is really having a hard time
with Ales. I think that maybe you should do something with him, have some one
on one time. And, perhaps, I’ll take him out as well, just one on one."

Aidan nodded. "That sounds like a
good idea but, honestly, I think he’s just a little jealous. Deep down, he
loves her." He kissed the top of my head and the kissed the top of Ales,
before turning back to the bassinet and making sure that it was secure.

Three days later, Aidan arranged a
‘boy’s day out’, taking Walsh and Cole to a place called ‘Fun Unleashed’. The
place had indoor slides, tunnels, ball pits, video games, and other things for
young kids. He had completely worn them out by the time they had gotten home.
Both of them passed out on the way home and wouldn’t even wake for a bath. We
ended up putting them to bed after stripping their dirty clothes from them.

The following week I decided to take
Walsh out by himself. Walsh loved dinosaurs, so I was going to take him to the
museum to see the dinosaurs. He must have been too used to me having Alesandra
all the time because panic filled his face as we got our coats on.

"Mommy?" I could hear the
slight worry.

"What’s up?" I started to zip
up his jacket.

"Where’s Ales?"

"She’s staying here?"

"By herself?" He said a little
loudly.

"Honey, Kimberly and daddy are
here." I tried to calm him.

"You can’t just leave her all alone,
Mommy!" He stormed toward the stairs, starting to climb them.

"Walsh." I yelled, following
after him. He turned around. "Honey, she won’t be alone. Kimberly is going
to take care of her while we go on our little trip."

"Um…" He paused. "Can we
take her with us, just to be safe?"

A smile spread across my face.