I kept asking her what she wanted me to do and she would just laugh and say, “Breathe in and out and just hold my hand.” I couldn’t help but laugh that my girlfriend, in the middle of contractions, told me to calm down. Still the second I put my hand in hers I could tell she felt calm. Well as calm as she could feel. I also felt like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders.
Who knew that just a simple touch from someone you loved deeply could calm you? Could be enough? No words said.
While I wiped her forehead of sweat and rubbed ice chips against her lips she kept moving from side to side and groaning and moaning in pain. Every half hour or so a nurse would come in and check how far Ashlynn was dilated.
At the third hour the nurse said, “You’re nine centimeters dilated, sweetie. You might have these babies tonight.”
I looked over to Ashlynn as she looked up at me and I kissed her. I couldn’t believe that we were finally going to see our son and daughter.
Around 11:30 p.m. Ashlynn was ready to push. She was such a sport because she said that she didn’t want any drugs. I tried to talk her out of her decision but she was strong willed. While I held one leg Jade held the other as my beautiful Ashlynn pushed our kids out of her. Meanwhile I was a fucking mess. My heart rate was skyrocketing and fucking sweating the goddamn Mississippi River out of me.
Three pushes in the doctor said, “We have a boy,” and I heard our son crying. The doctor handed him off to a nurse to get cleaned up.
Taking a breather for maybe three minutes I quickly gave Ash a kiss and wiped her forehead with the cold washcloth that Jade ran under water for me. There was no way in hell I was going to leave her side. Not even if hell froze over or fucking bees attacked me … I’m allergic to bees.
Kissing her again the doctor said, “Ready Ashlynn?”
Taking her eyes from me she looked to the doctor and said, “Yeah.”
Nodding her head she said, “Alright Ashlynn, push on the count of three. One. Two. Three.”
I watched as Ashlynn’s face turned bright red and with four pushes I heard our daughter crying and the doctor saying, “We have a baby girl!”
As much as I wanted to look over at our daughter I couldn’t remove my eyes from Ashlynn. I was just so damn proud of her. She was breathing heavily and I quickly wiped the tears away from her face and the sweat from her forehead. Leaning down I kissed her and said, “I love you Ashlynn.”
Opening her eyes she said, “I love you too Jason.”
A nurse walked over, handing our little girl to Ashlynn and a few minutes later she handed our little boy to me. I couldn’t believe they were finally here and then realized Jade was still in the room. Lifting my head, I saw my sister crying with a huge smile on her face looking between the two of us.
Walking over to her with Bennett in my arms she looked down at him and cried even more. Lifting her hand to his face she leaned in and kissed him. She then looked up at me and said, “I’m so happy for you two.” With an arm still holding Bennett I lifted my other over Jade’s arm and pulled her into a hug. I don’t think my sister will ever have a clue just how much I love her and what lengths I would go to protect her.
Looking back over at Ashlynn I noticed she had tears in her eyes and was smiling at the both of us.
Walking over with Bennett in my arms I sat down on the hospital bed and kissed Ashlynn. When, “I love you Ashlynn,” left my mouth I turned my head down and looked at baby Jaylin. Jade sat down on the other side of me and just looked in awe at both of mine and Ashlynn’s children.
I was still numb from the experience that I almost didn’t hear the nurse ask, “So what are these little one’s names?”
I looked over at Ashlynn and nudged my head for her to tell the nurse. Smiling at me she looked down at our daughter and said, “Jaylin Annabelle Williams.”
As I kissed her on the forehead she turned to our son and said, “Bennett Lee Williams.”
Once the nurse got our information and left we heard Sarah say, “I don’t hear screaming anymore.”
That’s when Jade looked at us in question and at the same time we both said, “Go get them.” Smiling she jumped off the bed and ran out the door.
Seconds later everyone came walking in with smiles on their faces and tears in their eyes.
Choking up I said, “Ashlynn and I would like to introduce you to our daughter, Jaylin Annabelle Williams, and our son, Bennett Lee Williams.” For about a half hour we passed our children around to everyone and explained how we came up with the names.
Gabe had Sarah wrapped up in arms, Maddox was holding Isabelle’s hand and then I noticed Neil smiling at Jade while she held Bennett in her arms. Ashlynn must have noticed because she wrapped her hand in mine and mouthed, “Not now.” Shaking my head I then saw Derrick kiss Patrick on the cheek and my mouth dropped open. What the fuck was going on?
Everybody must have noticed my mouth drop because the room went quiet except for the little noises coming from our children. That’s when Derrick looked over at me and then to Ash and started laughing. He bent over and rested his hands on his knees and laughed, “You never told him, did you?”
What the fuck was he talking about?
I looked around at everyone in the room and they had these faces like they were trying not to laugh and then I made my way over to Ash and she was biting her lip.
Sitting down on the bed I said, “You want to explain something to me?”
Clearing her throat she pointed to Derrick and said, “We kind of fake dated. Derrick’s gay and he was dealing with some problems and I kind of vented about how I wanted to make you jealous …”
With wide eyes I said, “Go on.”
Gulping she said, “So we fake dated. Derrick wasn’t dealing with bullies questioning his sexuality anymore and um, well you know the rest.” She bent her head out of shame and I just started laughing.
Placing a hand to the bottom of her chin I lifted it up so she would look in my eyes. Smiling I said, “You better start picking out another name for a little one because the second you’re better I’m getting you pregnant again.” After I kissed her on the lips I got up and walked over to Derrick. Placing a hand out in front of him I said, “I’m sorry for acting like such a prick towards you.”
He looked down at my hand then pulled me into a hug and said, “All’s good man. I knew you had it bad for my girl over there.”
After I walked back over to Ashlynn’s side I couldn’t help but look over at Derrick and Patrick and smile. I kind of felt like an idiot because anyone could see just how much they loved each other. I was too blindsided by the “dating” aspect that I didn’t see the real picture right in front of me.
Once everyone got to hold both babies they gave us each a hug and kiss and left to go home. Sitting there holding Jaylin while Ashlynn held Bennett I pulled out my cell phone and made a quick call. I knew it was late but I wanted to give them the good news. I few rings in I heard, “H – Hello?”
Through a smile I said, “Hey Grandpa,” and then I heard the phone drop.
Pulling away from me I put it on speaker and heard, “What did you say Jason?”
“I said, ‘Hey grandpa’.”
“You guys had the babies already?”
Looking over to Ash she cried and said, “You are the grandpa to Jaylin Annabelle and Bennett Lee Williams.” I then heard Garrett choke and begin to cry. Ash told him all about the delivery and said that I was amazing throughout the whole process. I looked over to her and half smiled and teared up. If I was amazing then Ashlynn was fucking fantastic, amazing, phenomenal.
Getting off the phone I said, “Night grandpa,” and through laughter Garrett said, “Night mom and dad.”