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| Julie's Room; Camille! | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jun 19 2010, 10:19 PM (272 Views) | |
| Julie Varey | Jun 19 2010, 10:19 PM Post #1 |
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Today was just supposed to be a normal ultrasound appointment. As Julie's due date grew closer, the Healer wanted to see her more often just to check in and make sure everything was still going all right. She was finally full term now, and she was having what would probably be one of her last checkups until she went into labor. But the Healer had decided that, due to the high risk nature of the pregnancy, it would be best for Julie to just stay and for them to induce labor right then. Julie was all for that. She was so heavily pregnant that it was uncomfortable. It was a little shocking to hear the news that she was going to be delivering the baby that day, but she was actually thrilled. She just wanted to meet their daughter, and she knew Jace did as well. A bit later, she found herself checked into the hospital, having received the drugs to induce the labor, and her contractions had just started. Llian was around to take Claire, and he offered to watch Arram as well, so that wasn't a problem. Now it was just getting through the labor. An hour or so after they had induced, Julie had gotten up and was walking around the room. There was more pressure on her back, which made the contractions hurt more, if she was just sitting on the bed. "I can't believe we're going to have her today," she remarked to Jace as she paced the length of the small room again. "Or...hopefully today. It might take..." She paused as her stomach contracted again, bracing her hand against the wall for support. Breathing through it, she waited till it passed to finish her sentence. "...a little while." Well, that was the third in the past hour, which was good because they were twenty minutes apart. Well, there was still a ways to go, but at least everything seemed to be going smoothly so far. |
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| Jason Varey | Jun 20 2010, 12:23 AM Post #2 |
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It was a really good thing Jace believed in being there for as many doctors appointments as they had, because although this was supposed to be an ultrasound - him being very excited to see their growing baby girl - they were actually going to get to meet her. He had known all along that Julie's pregnancy was high-risk, and knew the chances of a complete full-term pregnancy with a noncomplicated vaginal birth were slim, but honestly he didn't mind this at all. The baby would be a little small, of course, but as far as they knew perfectly stable and developed. To say he was nervous and beyond excited over the new plan was an understatement. They were ready for her, but this was his first pregnancy, and his first labour. Arram had been a newer baby when Jace first had him in his possession, but then he didn't get to actually be a part of his life until he was a toddler. Claire was already past the new baby stage when Jace came back into Julie's life. And despite it not really making any difference, seeing as the children they had he still considered his own to raise and love and teach, this child was biologically his and that was exciting as well. Things happened pretty fast after the healer made the decision to send Julie into labour though, and Jace found himself in that hospital room, sitting in a chair trying to figure out what he was supposed to be doing. Sure there were books on that, and sure he had read them, but he didn't seem to think being overbearing (as he felt those books asked fathers to be) would help anything. "I can't believe it either." He responded, unable to do anything but smile at that single sentence. Again, as he had the first two times, Jace resisted the urge to get up and make sure she was okay during the contraction she went through during her next statement. Clearly he knew asking if she was okay was stupid, so he just attempted to relax back into the chair. Pfft, right. Relax. "Hopefully not too long, for your sake..." He attempted, watching her pace. |
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| Julie Varey | Jul 3 2010, 06:37 AM Post #3 |
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"Hopefully," Julie agreed. "Because this definitely isn't the most fun part of the process." The end result was worth all the pain though. As the contraction subsided, she was able to straighten up and continue moving around the room. "Maybe I'll get lucky and this labor won't take that long." Of course, she'd been in labor with Claire for about twenty-four hours, and she was pretty sure she'd read somewhere that induced labors generally took longer. Luckily, as it turned out, this labor was a bit shorter...but not by that much. Eighteen hours later, Julie found herself back on the bed, ready for the delivery process to start. It was the home stretch... now all she had to do was get through it. "Ok, now on the next contraction, I need you to push," the Healer instructed. Julie had just enough time to nod her agreement to the instruction before the pain ripped through her again and she bore down, attempting to hold it as long as she could. Although this was the shortest part of the labor, it was definitely the most painful. Beyond the contractions, she could feel the baby attempting to make her way into the world, and it hurt. There was more pressure on her lower back than she even felt she could tolerate at times. So focused on pushing, she had to be reminded to actually breathe through it at first, and she was practically biting her tongue to keep from yelling out a whole speech riddled with...colorful...language. Maybe she'd allow herself if it was in French...or even the small bits of Italian she had picked up on since moving there. A couple of pushes later, she was at the height of her discomfort for the day. Sleep had been impossible throughout the whole thing, so she was exhausted; her hair and skin were almost entirely damp with sweat; the pressure was unbearable on her back and her hips, and the baby's head starting to crown felt more to her like torture than a miracle. "All right. The baby's head is starting to crown." She might as well have just announced that something was splitting her in half from the inside. Somewhere in her mind, Julie thought it twisted that Healers encouraged this sort of pain for their patients. What the hell was wrong with them? Hell, they wanted it to get worse. Surely someone with half a brain could have devoted their life to creating some sort of magical way for labor to be pain-free or short or... something. They'd be rolling in the Galleons, for Merlin's sake. "You're doing great." Ugh. Why did she have to be talking to her in that damn fake sympathetic tone? Julie was not a fan of Healers, as a general rule. She found them often times condescending, rude, and unable to do anything substantial for her. This one just seemed sort of stupid overall. "You'll be finished in no time." "'No time?'" Julie echoed in disbelief. "I think I've literally been on this bed forever. So until you're lying in one of these beds pushing something the size of a watermelon out of your body and in," she panted, pausing to gasp for breath in between pushes, "the most excruciating pain you've ever been in--and I've been on the receiving end of some pretty nasty Cruciatus Curses from some Death Eaters--you can do your job without the side commentary." Healers were so bloody unhelpful. She could see that maybe one might have to be there to supervise the whole thing, but honestly: women were having healthy babies for hundreds of years before Healers declared themselves above everyone. And Julie hated the idea that there was someone she barely knew in the room with her while she did this, while both she and her baby were in such an incredibly vulnerable state. Honestly, if Jace weren't there, she probably would have just gone home to have the baby by herself (granted, her thoughts weren't particularly rational at that moment in time). So she just gripped his hand as hard as she could (a small part of her believing that he was this baby's parent too and, as such, should be feeling at least some of the pain) and pushed again, satisfied with the Healer's temporary silence. The head had crowned, and there was just the shoulders left: the widest part of the body. Julie was honestly starting to doubt her ability to even do this. She had a very petite frame, and she honestly felt like she was pushed to her limit just with the head crowning. But it was too late now, so she just had to do it. This time there was swearing, and loudly, in some combination of French, English, and bits of Italian (because, of course, that was the type of speech she picked up first). Yet almost directly afterwards, all of the pressure was completely relieved and her muscles relaxed, the contractions finished. The baby was out, and there was a small moment where silence fell over the room. In that moment, Julie instantly found herself panicking over the silence: when Claire had been born, that was a heart problem...a dangerous heart problem. And she'd needed surgery, she hadn't left the hospital for a month, and they'd nearly lost her. Now, with her second daughter's birth, there was that silence again... She couldn't prevent the wide range of terrible thoughts that were going through her mind (and it was amazing how many her brain could go through in the blink of an eye), and they were only stopped once a loud cry pierced the silence. Julie breathed a sigh of relief and propped herself up to get her first look at their daughter, her hand still in Jace's, although no longer holding his in the vice grip she'd just had it in. Camille was red, wrinkly, crying and perfect, Julie decided as the baby was placed on her stomach to be toweled off and the cord cut. It was with no small amount of disappointment that she watched the Healer take her baby to the other side of the room even though she knew it would only be for a few minutes. Still, it was the first time she and her daughter had been physically separated at all, and it instantly gave her a strange sort of restless and empty feeling. But at the same time, she was more than a little excited that the baby was here, and she and Jace could meet her. Once both she and the baby had been cleaned up, the placenta passed, the Apgar tests given, footprints taken, birth certificates sighed and sheets changed, Julie and Jace were finally left alone with their newborn daughter. Her eyes hadn't opened yet, and she was swaddled in a pink blanket and cap. Healthy but small, she only weighed 6 pounds, 9 ounces, and her eyes hadn't even opened yet. It was almost completely surreal looking at her and knowing that this was the baby that had been developing inside of her for the past nine months. Only Camille's warm weight in her arms and the tiny movements she was making as she squirmed to get comfortable were even remotely grounding her in reality. "She's perfect," Julie said proudly, finally taking her gaze off of the baby and looking up at her husband. "But then, I never expected anything less. Do you want to hold her?" Well, she already knew the answer to that, and so she was handing the baby to Jace before even having to wait for an answer. |
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| Jason Varey | Jul 4 2010, 06:04 AM Post #4 |
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It seemed to go so bloody fast, and yet, at the same time, each minute dragged on. It was a paradox that Jace really didn't have time to think about as he sat next to his wife, trying to figure out what it was he could be doing. It seemed as if they had just come to the hospital, but at the same time, looking at Julie as she fought to bring their child into the world, he could tell she had been working for it for a while. To him, all the sappy cliches applied. She'd never been so beautiful to him, and he'd never been so proud. Hell, this woman had stood up to a man he had silently allowed to enslave him. Now? This seemed so, so much harder. It was really amusing to him that she was basically cussing in different languages, able to pick up some of the French that she was speaking, and the Italian. Of course she would know all the explicatives first. Of course. He had to avoid showing his amusement, and avoid laughing though, because she was in a really, really bad mood. He didn't blame her, but he didn't want to be in direct range of any anger like the poor healer was. For the most part he was sitting next to Julie, helping her sit when she wanted to sit, holding her hand when she was pushing, but when the healer said that the baby had crowned Jace couldn't help but stand up, face shining with excitement. In some baby book he had actually managed to read, the baby crowning meant that soon it would all be over and they would have their newborn in their arms. Before then though, Julie properly - and perhaps, a little unnecessarily - cut the healer back down to size. It was true that the healer was being a little obnoxious with her generalized words of encouragement, but Jace knew she meant well. That, and she would probably be useful in fixing all the bones in his hand once Julie was done using it as a stress ball. He had to say that he didn't mind all that much, feeling that perhaps in some way he was doing something for her, but at the same time...bloody hell. Julie had a monstrous grip. Soon he would be able to cut the cord for his daughter, and Jace couldn't look away. Perhaps a man with a less strong stomach would have felt extremely uncomfortable as, with the last few pushes, the baby slid free and right into the Healer's waiting hands. He was simply in rapture, a brilliant smile spreading across his face as they heard her first, piercing cry. With a glance back at Julie, he found her trying to sit up, so he turned and assisted as best as he could, pressing his lips against the top of her head briefly before he was cutting the cord the healer had clamped for him. With the healer taking the baby over for tests and all the such, Jace took a moment to turn back to his wife. He was almost overwhelmed with how much...pure, unadulterated happiness he felt at that moment, and so for the moment, he leaned back down to gently kiss her, pulling back just far enough to rest his forehead against hers and adulate, "You are incredible." It didn't take long for their baby to be cleaned up and tested, and for Julie to be taken care of as well, and before he knew it was just them. The only thing that would have made the moment better was if their other children had been there with them to meet their newest sibling, but for now, this little slice of perfect was plenty good enough for him. He just couldn't get over how tiny she was; how small her nose, fingers and toes were, and yet how every feature, every eyelash was right in place. She was absolutely gorgeous, and between the two of them he honestly felt like the luckiest man in the world. "She is." He breathed out, brushing a finger over the baby's fist. At the offer to hold her Jace looked up at Julie, already being passed his new daughter, and his smile just widened as he settled her gently in the crook of his right arm. She fit perfectly right there, elbow to palm. The rush of emotion that he was feeling just to have her in his arms was indescribable, and if he wanted to keep the image of 'big scary assassin', he probably shouldn't try anyways. Still, it was just unbelievable. It really was, and he could understand why people called this happening such a miracle. He was painstakingly gentle with her, adjusting to her small movements accordingly, already giving into whatever she wanted. "How are you feeling?" Jace finally asked Julie. He hadn't entirely been paying attention to what happened after birth, and whether or not it was a stupid question he still wanted to know where she was at and whether or not there was anything he could do for her. After all, she had just brought his daughter into the world. There really wasn't anything he wouldn't do in return for her at that moment. |
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| Julie Varey | Jul 9 2010, 03:11 AM Post #5 |
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Julie smiled at Jace's compliment, although she was pretty sure "incredible" was a bit of an overstatement. "Thanks." She was honestly just so tired, that one-word answers were almost all she could manage. She was so sore, but she knew it was over now, and that did help. Besides, as physically exhausted as she was, she wasn't feeling anywhere close to sleeping--not when they had their baby with them for the first time. As she handed Camille over to Jace, she was more than content to just sit back and watch them. The look on her husband's face just brought a huge smile to hers. His face practically lit up when he got to hold her. She looked so tiny in his arms. Well, she was tiny because she was a newborn, but he was so tall, and he was holding her so carefully... It was adorable. Julie was pretty sure she already had him wrapped around his little finger. "I'm feeling ok," she answered his question. "Just a bit tired and sore." Sliding over on the bed, she motioned for him to come sit down with her. "So happy she's here. It's...such a strange feeling to know that she's not, well, directly with me all the time." She wasn't quite sure how to describe the feelings of not having Camille inside of her anymore, but it was definitely weird. |
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| Jason Varey | Jul 13 2010, 12:41 AM Post #6 |
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Jace looked up from Camille to find that Julie was smiling just as widely as he was, and it made his turn just a little more sheepish. Not because he was embarrassed; he'd always been a family man. It was simply because this wasn't the first child he had. Or...well, it was the first child that he'd had that was his and he was there for the birth, but both Arram and Claire had been pretty small when he started being involved in their lives as well. Jace carefully shifted Camille into his other arm and climbed into the hospital bed with Julie, wrapping his free arm around his wife once they were all settled. "That's to be expected." He responded, nodding as Julie told him she was happy Camille was there. "Well... no. Not all the time." Given that he hadn't carried her, he had no idea how this felt, exactly. "But she'll be with us, and now we'll be able to watch her grow" |
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| Julie Varey | Jul 17 2010, 03:14 AM Post #7 |
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When Jace sat down with them, Julie leaned into him, focused on watching Camille. Her eyes were open now--bright blue--and she was looking up at both of them, clearly intrigued by her new surroundings. She'd probably have to feed her soon, but at the moment, she seemed content to just be in her father's arms. "Exactly," she agreed when Jace commented that now she'd be with them. "And I definitely can't wait for that." As she spoke, Camille yawned, which, in turn, made her yawn. And that just prompted her to realize how tired she was. Granted, it had been a very long, exhausting day, but she hadn't felt it till right then because she was first focused on getting through the labor and then on meeting her daughter. It didn't take long before she was lying in the bed with Jace and Camille, extremely comfortable and content which, in turn, made her really start feeling the exhaustion. Jace suggested that she get some sleep, and she definitely agreed with that. It seemed that Camille was getting tired as well. She did, however, insist on feeding her before she went to the nursery for the night, but after that Julie slipped into a peaceful sleep. [permssion to GM] |
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