Baby's First Christmas

Figuring the sooner mother and son connected, the better, Michael looked at Kate, asking to simply show her—through touch—what needed to be done. “May I?”

Flushing and looking a little shy, Kate nodded. Michael covered her hand with his and lifted her nipple toward Timmy’s lips. He touched the top of Timmy’s bow-shaped lips with the tip of Kate’s breast, then the bottom lip, then the top again, repeating the motion gently until Timmy’s mouth opened. Michael continued to help her as he explained, “Once Timmy’s mouth is open, place your nipple in the center so he can latch on.”

Kate’s gaze was fastened on both breast and baby. “He’s not doing it,” she said, obviously disappointed this was proving to be so difficult for both of them.

“Then let’s try it again,” Michael said, aware how silky and warm her skin felt beneath his fingers. “Upper lip. Lower.” Michael smiled as Timmy’s crying quieted and progress was made. “See, he’s starting to root around a bit. Yeah,” Michael said victoriously, as Timmy’s cheeks moved in and out in a clumsy attempt to nurse, “there he goes.”

“He’s nursing!” Kate said as Timmy stopped wailing and latched onto her breast with all his might.

“Darned if he isn’t,” Michael said proudly, feeling as contented and happy as Kate was that this first hurdle with their son had been climbed. “Now there are a few more things to watch out for,” Michael cautioned. He paused, wary of interfering too much. “If you want me to show you…”

Kate nodded and shot Michael a grateful glance. “Please,” she said, eager to learn. “Starting with how long I should nurse him.”

Michael repeated what the lactation nurse would tell Kate later. “For today, no more than five minutes on each breast. You can go ten minutes on each breast tomorrow. After that it’ll be fifteen.”

“How often will I nurse?” Kate asked, as she stroked the downy soft hair on the back of Timmy’s head.

A wave of almost unbearable tenderness moving through him, Michael advised, “Once your milk comes in, you’ll probably need to nurse him every three or four hours.”

Again, their eyes met. “What else should I know?” Kate asked Michael softly.

I’m drawn to you, and would be even if you hadn’t just unexpectedly borne me a son, Michael thought. Knowing, however, this was not the time or place for such a confession, Michael turned his attention to his nursing son. Briefly, he explained how to position Timmy to insure he had plenty of room to breathe while nursing, then said, “Make sure Timmy has a hold on the areola as well as the nipple—sucking on just the nipple will leave him hungry. And be sure he isn’t sucking on his own lip or tongue while he nurses.”

Her self-consciousness temporarily forgotten, Kate continued to nurse. She looked so beautiful and angelic it made his heart ache.

She bent to kiss the top of Timmy’s head, then asked curiously, “What happens if he does any of those things?”

“If he starts sucking on his lower lip, you can simply work it free with your fingertip while he continues to nurse. Otherwise, break the suction and start over again.” Michael continued to watch her another long moment, then glanced at his watch. “Ready to switch sides?”

Kate nodded.

Timmy protested at the interruption, but only half as vigorously as before. “This isn’t as hard as I thought it would be,” Kate murmured. Michael noted she was beginning to look and act as completely exhausted and drowsy as their infant son.

“And it’ll get easier every time,” Michael assured her.

Kate grinned. “How do you know?”

“I’ve got four sisters.” Michael pulled a chair up beside the bed, turned it backward and straddled it. “They all have kids, and all of them nursed. It was hard for all of them in the beginning. Even for Winnie, who’s an obstetrics nurse by profession. But my mom, who’s also a nurse, coached them through it, on the phone and in person. So I know the drill—and then some.”

“Plus you have experience as a doctor.”

“Right again.”

In contented silence, they watched the baby nurse at her breast. “I think he’s falling asleep,” Kate noted, yawning.

Michael picked up Timmy’s tiny fist and kissed the back of it. “Poor fella. He’s probably all tuckered out.” Just like his mother, Michael thought. “Want me to put him in his bassinet?” he asked, when Timmy’s jaw went slack.

Kate yawned. “I think you’d better,” she said drowsily.

Michael lifted him away from her. He wrapped Timmy in the white flannel blanket and settled him on his side in the Plexiglas crib. By the time he turned to Kate, she was just as he’d left her, fast asleep. His heart going out to her, Michael slipped her arm into her gown and tucked the covers around her.

“Timmy wasn’t the only miracle today,” he murmured. Knowing she needed her sleep, he gently touched her cheek. Wishing he could kiss her, he slipped from the room.

“YOU’RE LOOKING chipper this morning,” Lindy said as she came in at ten o’clock the next morning with a brimming shopping bag in one hand, a coffee and bake shop bag in the other.

Kate knew that was true. “Maybe because I feel almost human again,” she said. She’d had a long, hot shower and shampoo and changed into her own robe and slippers. Sitting up in bed, she was smoothing the silky blond ends of her hair with a cordless curling iron. She shot Lindy a grateful glance. “Thanks for bringing my stuff over last night, by the way.” It would be a treat to face Michael Sloane in something other than maternity clothes or a hospital gown. “I don’t remember you coming in.”

Lindy opened the decaf cappuccino she’d brought for Kate and put it on the bed tray. “That’s because you were sound asleep, and I didn’t want to wake you.”

Kate nodded, grateful for the extra sleep. “I only woke to feed Timmy.”

Opening her coffee, Lindy kicked off her shoes and settled in, cross-legged, at the foot of Kate’s hospital bed. “Why isn’t he still in here with you, by the way?”

“He will be later. Right now he’s down in the nursery, getting his own bath. They’re going to keep him there for a while.” She had to force herself to remain calm as she took a sip of cappuccino and admitted, “He’s being circumcised this morning.”

Lindy groaned in sympathy.

Kate nodded. “Yeah, I know,” she commiserated with her sister. “It sounds like it hurts to me, too, but Michael and Timmy’s pediatrician swear he won’t feel any discomfort. They’re going to use a local anesthetic, and Michael will be with him the whole time the procedure is done. And,” Kate sighed, “in the long run, it’s supposed to be better, health-wise, so we’re going to stick with tradition and have it done.”

Lindy pulled two light and flaky Danishes out of the bag. “This was a joint decision?”

Finding she was famished, Kate accepted one of the flaky buns. “Uh-huh.” The only surprise was how good it had felt, sharing that decision with Michael. What she’d thought would turn into an utter disaster had instead turned into something good.

Lindy took another sip of coffee. “I stopped by the nursery on my way to the room, and I have to tell you, I saw the name on Timmy’s bassinet.” Lindy leveled a warning look at Kate. “I don’t know what Mom will say, but Dad is going to flip when he sees it.”

Kate had figured as much. It didn’t change anything.

“It’s one thing to be grateful,” Lindy said sternly, for once being more sensible than hopelessly romantic. “It’s another to link lives with him this swiftly.”

“I know. If it had been anyone else coming into the shop yesterday, telling me something like that, I probably would have panicked and felt the need to get a whole team of lawyers immediately. But it was Michael, and he was so…reasonable in the light of such a complete and utter disaster.”

“Not to mention the fact he later delivered your baby and got you both to the hospital.”

Kate recalled how kind and wonderful and good Michael had been as he coached her through childbirth and showed her how to nurse. “And that experience brought us together very quickly,” Kate explained. It had also left them feeling unbearably close, despite the fact they were virtual strangers to each other.

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I really can’t explain why I trust him as much as I do, I just do.” And somehow she knew, in her heart, that was not going to change. Even if her romantic past was telling her to proceed a lot more cautiously.

Lindy studied her. “Maybe you don’t have to explain it, maybe you just need to go with your instincts.”

Unfortunately, Kate thought, as she watched Lindy retrieve the shopping bag with a Thanksgiving turkey and a popular area mall insignia on the front of it, her instincts regarding the people closest to her had failed her more than once. But she didn’t need to think about that now.

“What have you got there?” she inquired.

Lindy beamed. “Gifts, of course, for you and the baby, from your employees at the shop. And a sample gift catalogue from Dulcie. She said you need to check this over and make sure it’s the way you want it because you need to give the printer final approval by Friday if you want the catalogues in the mail before Thanksgiving. And she also said to tell you they finished the deliveries that were supposed to be done last night, and retrieved the van, which was still in perfect shape.”

Kate thought about the upcoming holidays. Though she had planned well for the season and her very brief maternity leave, as she thought about Thanksgiving, which was roughly two weeks away, and Christmas, which was another six, she felt a little daunted. “How are things at the shop this morning, by the way?” she asked curiously.

“Busy. Can you believe you had fifty more orders for semester exam care baskets in yesterday’s mail alone? Sending out brochures to the parents of students was a great idea.”