“Look at our daughter!” David exclaimed as the doctor held her up over the drape for you to see. David half laughed, half cried when he saw his Eleanor for the first time.
“I’m so glad she’s here, baby.” You said, suddenly exhausted from the immediate fluctuation in hormones since your daughter had been removed from your body. You were tired, but no less excited that your daughter was safely here.
David was secretly thankful you were not a woman diehard set on one specific way of giving birth. He never understood how people tried to dictate one of the most unpredictable times in any human’s life. That was why when your doctor told the two of you that your daughter was still breech, you had no problems scheduling your c-section. Other means of trying to get her to flip were too risky for the two of you. You were glad to have an operation if meant your baby arrived safely.
David walked over to the warmer to watch the nursing staff take care of his baby. She had started crying and getting fussy with the stimulation. He couldn’t help but cry as he watched this tiny new life. He got to cut the rest of the umbilical cord. He put his finger in her palm and she instinctively grabbed it.
“You are so beautiful, just like your mama, baby girl.” He said to her, “Your daddy loves you more than anything.” He leaned down and kissed her head before the nursing staff took her to be weighed.
David walked back over to your side and sat down.
“How is she?” You asked tiredly.
“So beautiful.” David kissed your forehead, “I’m so proud of you.”
A short time later, you were sewn up, abdominal binder in place, and in the recovery room. Your baby was wheeled in shortly after you were settled. A lactation nurse came in as well to help you with breastfeeding.
You were thankful that Eleanor seemed to latch well and she didn’t lack in appetite. The lactation nurse made sure neither you or David had anymore questions and left the three of you alone to bond.
“I didn’t know I could love you anymore than I did,” David spoke softly as he sat next to the bed by your legs, facing you and propped up on the edge of the bed on his elbow.
You smiled at him, “I didn’t know I could love someone that I have never met before so immensely.”
He hesitated, but you could feel his gaze on you while you stared down at your baby nursing.
“You are so beautiful, baby.”
You grinned, looking up at him.
“I love you so much, David.”
You puckered your lips at him, signaling that you wanted a kiss and he complied. He pressed his lips tenderly on yours with nothing but love.
Once Eleanor was done eating, you gave her to your husband so that he could love on his daughter. You laid your head back on the pillow once she was safely in his arms. You smiled, thankful that your daughter was here and you were both safe and that Deacon was by your side. You drifted off to sleep with a smile.
You weren’t sure how long you slept, but when you woke up, you looked over to see your shirtless husband, still in the recliner beside of you with your daughter, in nothing but a diaper, laying on his chest, curled up on his sternum. He had a blanket over her and was gently rubbing circles into her back.
“Oh, baby,” you cried quietly. The sight of your husband as a new daddy, doing skin to skin with his your daughter too, loving on your tiny new life was enough for your emotions and you began to cry.
David chuckled and reached a hand out to you. You grabbed it and intertwined your fingers with his.
You sat there in silence with your family until the nursing staff came to transfer back to your regular room where you would be until you were discharged. Eleanor went to the nursery while you got settled. You were on bed rest until the following morning - not that your body was quickly metabolizing your spinal block. You had gained feeling back, but could only still move your feet. You laughed at yourself every time you tried to move. It was odd telling your body to do something that it was not physically able to do.
Throughout the night, the nursing staff kept Eleanor in the nursery unless it was time for her to eat. You would breastfeed your daughter and send her back to be cared for while you tried to sleep as much as you could. You were the most exhausted you had ever been. Delivery itself had been a breeze, but the hormone fluctuations were truly whooping your ass.
The next morning, you found you had regained all feeling and movement in your lower body. Once the nurse removed your catheter and gave you some pain medication, you were beyond ready to get out of bed. David and the nurse helped you as you got your legs over the side of the bed, sitting there to adjust to the change in position for a few moments. Once you felt okay, you stood up with your support on either side of you.
“My god, it feels good to be out of bed!”
“You look great, baby.” David said with a kiss to your head.
The first few steps were uncomfortable. It felt like one side of the incision in your abdominal muscles was being tugged on, which was uncomfortable, even though you knew nothing was actually being pulled. As you grew more steady on your feet, your nurse allowed David to be the sole one to accompany you around the hallways.
You were holding onto the inside of his elbow for support as he kept his arm folded across his torso to give you support.
“It feels so good to be out of bed,” you told him quietly as you slowly walked.
“I can only imagine, babe. But you? You my dear are phenomenal. You did so good during delivery, you have been a champ with Eleanor, and you’re up walking 12 hours after a major surgery….” You glanced up at him and saw his wheels turning. “You’re superwoman.”
You smiled up at him and finished a couple of laps before returning to your room and getting back into bed.
That evening, you decided you needed a shower. It had been over 24 hours, post-partum hormones left you in horrid hot flashes and pouring sweat and you wanted to get some of your own clothes on. Deacon helped you up and to the bathroom. He helped you take your gown off and disposed of it in the linen bag before making sure you had all of your personal shower items ready to go. You wanted to pee first so you made your way over to the toilet and quickly found yourself unable to sit down on the toilet without some grounded support.
“Here, baby.” Deacon said softly once he noticed you trying to figure out your predicament and how to lower yourself the short distance to the toilet. He held out his hands and helped you slowly lower yourself down. “You know, it’s okay to ask for help, right?” Your husband asked you with a teasing tone.
He knew that you didn’t like being dependent on anyone unless it was allowing him to show his chivalrous side.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah…” you laughed.
You begin to unvelcro the abdominal binder around you.
You were uncomfortable, even with the binder, however, you didn’t realize how much support that it gave you until it was laying on the sink next to you.
“You okay, honey?” Deacon asked, studying your face.
“That binder is nice…” you grimaced.
You were finished peeing so you took toilet paper and attempted to wipe yourself, however, your newly incised abdominal muscles didn’t allow you to even get your hand between your legs. An intense burning pain shot up the right side of the muscles in your belly. You knew nothing was tearing inside of you, but damn, it felt like it.
Deacon didn’t let you struggle for another second. He took the toilet paper from you and wiped you while you held onto his shoulder.
He squatted down and pulled your oh so glorious post-partum panties down and got your feet out of them. He threw them away and helped you stand back up. He had the water running and adjusted for you. He helped you step in and then stood at the edge of the shower to make sure you didn’t need to call for his help. His presence apart from you in the shower lasted less than 60 seconds when he noticed that you were unable to even lift your hands up to wet your hair thoroughly because of the pain in your abdomen.
He quickly discarded his own clothes and stepped into the surprisingly room-y shower with you.
You were standing underneath of the water with your back to the shower-head. Deacon reached around you and began massaging your scalp, ensuring that all of your hair was wet. You stood there, arms folded gently in front of you, feeling as helpless as ever. You were grateful for your husband taking care of you but that didn’t change the fact that you were absolutely helpless. This was new to you and you didn’t like it.
David was massaging shampoo into your scalp when he noticed the tears in your red eyes.
“Hey, hey,” he said softly as he rinsed his hands of shampoo and cradled your face. “What’s wrong, baby?”
“I’m so helpless.” You cried. “I can’t wipe myself, I can’t wash my hair, I can’t wash my ass…”
“And that’s what I’m here for, honey.” David continued, his tone of voice felt like a hug to your soul, “You just gave birth to our beautiful daughter. You just had a major surgery. Being helpless is okay right now, baby. It won’t last forever. You will heal and be back to normal, but for right now, it’s okay to need me, baby. It wasn’t my job to carry Eleanor or give birth to her, but it is my job to care for you and I’m so blessed to get to do this.”
David’s kindness and love for you made you cry even more.
“I’m so blessed,” you cried, “I don’t deserve you.”
David chuckled to himself, knowing hormones were the culprit behind your sudden emotional fragility. He gently leaned down to kiss you. “Just as I don’t deserve you, baby. That’s why we’re blessed.”
He made sure that you were okay before he resumed washing and rinsing your hair, putting in conditioner, and washing your body and helping you rinse.
Once you were clean, David helped you step out of the shower. He wrapped you up in a towel while he dried off and dressed so that he could step out into the room to get your clothes.
He returned to the bathroom, leaving the door open, knowing you would get hot and sticky if he didn’t. He took your towel and began drying you off. He was so gentle as he rubbed the towel over your abdomen and hips. You grabbed his shoulders for support and squatted slightly so he could have better access to dry all of you.
You were grateful that you weren’t bleeding much post delivery. Regardless, you didn’t hesitate to step into a fresh pair of mesh underwear with giant pads provided by the hospital. David helped you get your abdominal binder on and shorts, followed by your nursing bra and one of his t-shirts. Once you were dressed, he sprayed detangler in your hair and gently worked your comb through it until all of the tangles were removed.
You felt so much better as you maneuvered your way back into bed. You were so thankful for David and you were so thankful to be clean. The nurse soon came in with a couple of percocet for you.
You looked puzzled.
“I called for some pain meds for you, baby. I know you were hurting during the shower.”
Tears welled up in your eyes again as you gratefully took the meds from your nurse.
“I’m so thankful to have you, baby.” You said to David a short while later as the two of you sat in your room together while you nursed your daughter.
“As I am for you, my sweetheart. I am so proud of you and our baby girl. I am the most blessed man in the universe.”
The idea of Deacon talking you through it in that raspy, deep voice he has makes me fucking insane. He can do unspeakable things to me and I will never get tired of smut requests for him (or Luca).
