“Ike, hey, Ike. ISAAC!” Zac yelled.
“Yeah, sorry, what?”
“You’ve played the same chord three times. The same WRONG chord.”
“Oh, yeah, sorry,” I said. We were practicing for tour, but my mind wasn’t in the studio, it was at home with Nikki. She was in pain most of the night before, but she still insisted that I go to the studio. The doctor said she was past her due date and the baby could come any day. Her mom was already in town to help her. I said that I was perfectly capable since I wouldn’t be going on the road for a few more months, but she wanted to make sure she was in town for the birth since she missed Everett’s birth.
“If you can’t focus, go home,” Zac said, sounding annoyed.
“Nikki and her mom told me to come into work,” I said.
“Probably cause you were getting on their nerves, too,” he said.
The strings on my guitar sounded a protest when I threw it to the ground. I flew out of the recording booth and toward Zac. I slammed into something scrawny and smelly before I got to him.
“Hey, that’s enough,” Taylor said. “We aren’t going to get this done any faster by yelling or breaking instruments.”
“Do either of you ever shower?” I asked, directing my anger and anxiousness toward Taylor.
“Not as often as you do,” they both answered, in what seemed more like judgment than admiration.
“Excuse me for being hygienic.”
“We’ll excuse you for being clean, but not for missing notes. Let’s see if we can’t get through one song the right way today,” Zac said.
“Ok, fine,” I told him.
“Let’s do Fire on the Mountain,” he suggested. “That one is mostly me, so just try to come in at the right time,” he said.
I rolled my eyes, but picked my guitar back up and started tuning it to the right key.
Just The Way You Are by Billy Joel started playing from my pocket. I answered before he was done singing “changing.”
“Hello? Ok, I’m on my way.”
“Nikki is . . .” I started.
“Just go,” Taylor said, taking my guitar. “We’ll be there in a little bit.”
“Ok, thanks, bye,” I said, rushing out the door. The July heat hit me full on as I opened the car door, and I rolled down the window to help the heat escape. I was never more thankful for the light Tulsa traffic than at that moment. I arrived at the hospital in less than 7 minutes.
Nikki’s mom met me in the hallway of the labor and delivery floor. Everette toddled along beside her, holding her hand and trying to keep up with her long strides. She thrust a clipboard of papers in my hand.
“I filled out everything but your insurance information. They won’t let me go in with Everette until after the baby is born. Nikki’s water broke at the house and I didn’t have time to grab her bags. Her contractions started so fast I was afraid we wouldn’t make it here in time.”
“Ok,” I glanced at the forms, but those could wait. I kissed Everette on the top of his head. He looked a little worried. “It’s okay, you are getting a little brother, I told him.” “Which room is Nikki in?”
She led me down the hall. The room was a buzz of activity, with medical staff swarming around.
A nurse quickly ushered us out of the room before I even got a glimpse of Nikki.
“I’m her husband,” I said.
“You can go in. Put these on over your clothes,” she handed me a bundle of thin scrubs.
I made my way around the doctor and nurses and found a spot by the bed.
“We are doing good, almost there, in fact,” her doctor said.
I squeezed Nikki’s hand and she squeezed back. I could see tears in her eyes.
“Ok, one more push,” the doctor told her.
Soon I heard our new baby boy crying, and I started too.
Nikki laid back on the bed and started sobbing. “It’s ok, I’m here,” I told her.
She nodded, still trying to catch her breath.
“You have a healthy baby boy,” The doctor said.
I kissed Nikki’s head. “You did so good, so good.”
She reached out to hold the baby. The nurse handed our son, Monroe, to Nikki. “He’s beautiful,” she said. “What a sweet baby boy.”
“Beautiful and sweet just like his mom,” I said.
She started crying again.
“Darling, what’s wrong?” I crouched down and whispered to her in case she didn’t want the entire room to hear.
“I want to hold him, I want to see Everette, but I’m so tired. And it hurts so much.” I could barely hear the last part, it was so quiet.
“You can rest. It’s ok.”
“We’ll take him and give him a bath and weigh him for the birth certificate, and that will give you time to rest, how does that sound?” A nurse said.
“And I can give you something for the pain, too,” The doctor motioned to a nurse without waiting for an answer. He addressed me, “She will be in more pain than she was with her first baby. By time she got to the hospital, it was too late to give her an epidural.”
“Wow,” I said.
The doctor nodded. “The best thing is to let her rest. We will take her to a room on the post-birth floor soon, and you can call for your son from the nursery when she is rested. But I would give it at least six hours. The little one needs to rest, too. He will probably sleep the entire time.”
“Thank you,” I told the doctor. Only then I remembered that Nikki’s mom was outside, probably nervous for an update. Nikki was already asleep. “I’ll get out of your way and go give the rest of the family an update,” I said.
Nikki’s mom stood up as soon as I stepped into the waiting area.
“We have a beautiful baby boy!” I told her. I could feel the grin spread across my face.
“Oh, how wonderful!” She said. “How is Nikki?”
“Resting. They gave her some pain medicine. Apparently, they weren’t able to give her any before.”
“No, she was too far into labor. Do you think they will let me see her? And my little grandson?”
“Of course,” I reached out my hand and Everette took it. “We’ll wait here,” I said.
She rushed off to the room. As a parent myself I knew how worried she was about her daughter. It was very gracious of her to let me be the one to be in the room with Nikki. If she had made it in time for Everette’s birth, I’m sure that would not have been the case. Their relationship really had improved since Everette was born. Nikki told me that a lot of the rift happened before we even met, but I knew that her mom worried about her marrying a rock star. I hoped I had convinced her by now that I took my vows seriously. I wasn’t about to leave her for some random model. I had yet to see one prettier than Nikki, anyway.
I guided Everette over to sit on the couch in the small waiting room.
“You have a new brother. What do you think about that?” I asked
He looked down at his lap and kicked his feet. He didn’t say anything, but shrugged his shoulders.
I don’t remember how I reacted when Taylor was born, I had been an only child for three years at that point, so I’m sure it was a shock. But I remember that Taylor’s oldest had a meltdown when his second child was born. He thought that his parents were going to leave him at the hospital and take the new baby home. I wondered if Everette worried about that.
I put my arm around him. “We are going to call him Monroe. Do you like that name?”
“Ok,” he said softly.
“When he gets a little older, you can play with him, like you play with Ezra. You are going to be an awesome big brother.”
He nodded. “Fun to play with Ezzy.”
“This will be just like Ezra is at our house all the time. Won’t that be fun?”
“He eats my food?”
Hmm, that might be the heart of it all right there.
“He’ll eat very special food for a while, then we will teach him to eat things like chicken nuggets and veggies.”
“My plate?”
I wondered where he got that from.
“No, he’ll have his very own plate. We’ll buy more food to make sure everyone has enough, ok?”
He relaxed then, and nodded. He finally rested his little shoulders against the back of the chair.
“Juice?” He asked.
“Yes, he’ll have his own juice, too.”
“Ice cream?”
I laughed.
“Yes, when we have ice cream, he will have his very own bowl, just like you have. Maybe we’ll even go pick one out for him together, how does that sound?”
“Ok!” Everette sounded really excited about that. “I see brother?”
“He is asleep now, but very soon.”
Everette nodded, and took my hand, already in a much better mood.
“Mommy?”
“She is asleep, too. But as soon as she wakes up I know that she will want to see you.”
“I sleep, too,” he said. He curled up on the couch, rested his little head in my lap, and promptly fell asleep.