capri
. . .
*Note: Listen to 'This Woman's Work' by Maxwell while reading this chapter.*
The moment we arrived at the hospital, I was rushed into a room. When the doctor checked me, he delivered the news: I was already eight centimeters dilated, and it was too late for any drugs. It took both Meer and Blair to pry my fingers off him when he told me I would have to endure the rest of the pain without medication.
"I want my mother, Meer… I want my mommy!" I screamed through the pain coursing through my body.
He rushed out of the room, and Blair took his place, holding my hand and wiping my forehead. "I feel like I have to push, Blair… I feel this intense urge to push."
"Hold it, Capri… let me get the doctor." She ran off, leaving me alone with Peach. She wrapped her hand around mine and wiped my forehead as I focused on breathing.
"Suga, you can do this. Breathe in and breathe out… you are so strong, okay?" Tears streamed down my face because this was exactly how she and her father had constantly poured into me.
She was only doing what she had watched her father do for me so many times.
"Alright, let's give you a check." The doctor returned with Meer and my mother right on his heels.
"I'm here, Princess," my mother said, entering the room and standing next to Peach.
Meer took his place on my side with Blair as the doctor adjusted the bed and I put my legs into the stirrups. "Alright, I'm going to need you to push dur—"
"Arghhhhhhh!" I pushed hard with all my might.
My hair stuck to my forehead as I bore down, Meer and my mother gripping my hands. Peach was standing on a chair next to me, and every so often, I felt her wiping my brow.
"Come on… give us a good push… Dad, do you want to see this?"
You might as well have called Meer the doctor because he pushed all the nurses out of the way as I continued to strain. "Suga, she got so much fucking hair… I see it."
He was so excited. As exhausted as I was from pushing, I needed to get my baby girl into this world. I had prayed so hard for her, and she was right here, almost here, and I needed to bring her home.
I had gone through so much in my life, and God had blessed me with her. He blessed me with her father and sister first, but He made sure she came right after. Rayce Ann was my angel baby, the little girl who would continue to change her father's world and mine. She didn't know she was healing her father.
She was giving her father a second chance at something he had missed. She was allowing her sister to witness her coming into the world. Peach would think about the day her sister was born and never forget it.
Rayce Ann was healing our family. The Infernos had been on autopilot for years, and now they were finally living. We had lost so much, and she was restoring hope for us. New life was being born into the Inferno bloodline, and I was the woman making that happen.
"Come on, Shelly-Ann, you got this baby… come on, give us one more push," my mother coached, looking at me with tears in her eyes. "You've always had this, mama… you can do this."
Blair kissed my forehead as she helped me lean up, and I gave one more push. I was pushing so hard my feet were balled up as I needed to get this little girl out.
"Pri, you got this… come on." I heard Erin's voice and watched her stand next to Blair.
I took a deep breath as I looked into Meer's eyes. We didn't break eye contact as I pushed and looked at my forever. The man responsible for this, but also the love of my life.
"Oh fuck, Suga…. fuck." His voice broke as I fell back onto the bed when I felt them pull her out of me.
They placed her on my chest as they wiped her clean. Blair moved out of the way as Meer came next to me, kissing me all over my face. "I fucking told you that you could handle the pressure. You did that shit without any medicine, Suga… you my fucking wife, you know that." He continued to kiss me as I felt completely depleted.
Gathering enough energy, I looked down at the head full of hair that lay on my chest. I looked over my shoulder; Peach had tears in her eyes. "We did it, Peach."
She hugged and kissed me. "You gave me my baby sister, Suga Mama."
I held her face toward mine as she kissed me.
"Big fuckin' mama," Erin laughed, standing there and clapping. "You did that shit, Pri."
"Next time you second-guess yourself… please don't," Blair laughed as she kissed me on the head. "I love you."
My mother was a ball of tears as she looked at me and her new granddaughter. "Princess, you did it. I knew you could do it… my beautiful granddaughter."
The doctor instructed Meer on how to cut the cord while the nurses got her weight and everything else. I lay there looking at Erin, and she wiped the tears from my eyes.
"You're a mommy, Capri."
"I'm a mommy," I whispered as tears fell down my face, still not believing that I had a daughter. Giving birth had been something that scared me my entire pregnancy. I was so scared of what could go wrong that while I was in labor, it never even crossed my mind.
I was worried about getting my daughter into this world, and nothing else mattered. The nurse instructed Meer to remove his shirt, and he sat in the chair beside me. She opened the blanket Rayce was swaddled in and put her on his chest. He held her and looked at me with tears streaming down his face.
"Thank you, Suga." His voice broke as he kissed the top of her head, and he looked over at Peach. "Come here, Peach."
"I love you, Quameer."
"I love you, too, Capri." Peach jumped down and ran around the bed. He pulled her into him and kissed her on the head as she kissed her sister. "My girls," he said as he looked me in the eyes.
"Those Inferno girls… a new generation of you and Sim," Erin smiled at us as we were lost in each other's eyes.