The plan going forward was to discharge Ryder tomorrow on day "three" as long as labs came back consistently better. I was being discharged today and Hayden and I were given information on a hotel down the street for us to stay.
Darina, Sean and Rose had gone back home. Thankfully Darina was going to stay busy with the dogs and wanted to do some shopping while we were occupied with Ryder.
"I want to make sure you're able to spend time with her while she's here," I told Hayden again as we unpacked our things into the dresser.
"She's not going to mind Dash. With Ryder being here, it'll be all about him and she's not going to care what I do. Plus she can always come back and visit before she starts college here if this is where she ends up wanting to go."
I knew he had a point, it was just going to take time getting used to everyone wanting to see Ryder understandably and visiting with us first. Hayden had to go in next week for a day or two just to get things finalized for the end of the year and then was going to see if he could find a way to just show up for classes and leave afterwards or have someone cover to spend time with us. I knew I was going to need all the help I could get, but if he wanted to work just to have time away from a baby for a few hours a day, it wasn't going to be the end of the world.
"At least we got his room done in time."
"I'm thankful for that as well. When did you want to go back over and check on him?"
"I really need a good shower and to do something about my hair first," I ran my fingers through the tangles while Hayden smiled. "Your hair looks fine, but I understand. A bigger and more private bathroom will do us both some good."
"Do you want help?"
"I won't say no, but can I have a few minutes first? Since you like extremely hot showers," I teased.
"Of course love, I'll check in after a few minutes." He kissed my forehead and went to look through his bag for a clean pair of clothes.
Gathering my things, I stepped into the bathroom and laid everything out. God knows I probably needed to shave but my hair and washing the hospital stench off were the first two things on my list. Avoiding looking at my reflection in the mirror, I stood at the back of the shower while the water took a minute to slowly heat up. Everyone had told me that it was normal to not want to look at your body after giving birth. It's not that I was ashamed of it, but the changes in it just days after popping a kid out were very noticeable. Clearly Hayden still loved me and didn't show any change in feelings, but it just felt very... foreign.
"Perfect," I stuck my foot under the water to check before fully submerging myself under the stream. Thank goodness for better water pressure, my hair would look completely different after this.
Hayden knocked on the door after I had rinsed my hair again and was finishing up on scrubbing my body with the wash rag. "Come in!"
A few moments later he appeared and I had to remind myself that I just had a child and sex was not an option. God I loved this man.
Hayden was oblivious and started to get his hair wet while holding his hand out for the bottle.
I squirted a glob into my hand and made him bend down while I ran my fingers along his scalp.
"Fuck, I missed that." Hayden chuckled and placed his hands on my hips. "You look so good right now."
"We need to wait," I whispered softly before he bent down to kiss me.
"I know, but I'm enjoying the view, and these,"Â his hands cupped my breasts. "Being a mother suits you so well, baby."
I stopped talking and kissed him again while pushing him back under the water. Fuck I really had no control when it came to Hayden. Even before he was my husband that was apparent.
My hand slid down and stroked him slowly while he groaned into my mouth. "God Dasha, I need you so fucking bad."
'Trust me I need it too.' I just kept kissing him and feeling his hands slide up and down my body. The water would eventually get cold if we continued this in the shower but for once I didn't care.
I felt his thumb brush against my clit and shivered while we both tried to focus on getting the other off.
"Hayden please," I pressed my forehead against his chest.
"Please what baby."
"You know what," I huffed as he chuckled.
"I enjoy flustering you," he moved a little faster as I gripped his arms and made sure I remained steady while finishing. For a brief moment the euphoria washed over while we caught our breath and looked at each other.
"Shall we go check on Squirt?"
I stood up to kiss him again before shutting off the water. "Yes, let's go see Squirt."
I threaded Hayden's hand through mine while we walked into the elevator and waited to arrive on the NICU floor. No one else was on at the moment which was not unusual but there was always someone rushing last minute to catch a ride. Once it dinged for us to step off, we went over to the nurses station just to check in with whichever nurse had Ryder today.
"The nurse just stepped out for a moment, but I will let him know to come talk with you when he's back," one of the girls told us.
"Perfect, thank you!" I felt my heart thudding in my chest when I saw Ryder just sleeping soundly in his islet and kicking his legs on occasion.
"He's going to be such a good soccer player," Hayden chuckled and just stood in awe with me as we watched him.
A man cleared his throat a few minutes later and we looked up to see the nurse. "Hello, my name is Tim, they told me you were wanting to check in on little Ryder here?"
"Yes, I just didn't know if labs had come back or anything else was needed right now."
"As of right now," he clicked through a few documents on his computer, "he's looking good. We should be able to discharge tomorrow! He's been one of the easier babies and such a joy to visit."
"Thank you for taking care of him for us," I blinked back tears and Tim squeezed my hand.
"My son and daughter were in the NICU years ago when my wife delivered them. Twins, and early enough for extra monitoring. But now they're nearly eleven and you would have never known they were any different from any other babies at the time. My daughter is playing lacrosse for the first time this year and my son has taken up band this year for school."
"We can't wait to see what Ryder decides to do when we get there."
"Enjoy the moments when they're little. They go by very fast indeed." He went to check on another baby while we sat back down and just gazed at our son. I was able to slip my hand through and let Ryder grip onto my finger while he just slept and kicked.
**This is much overdue and I'm sorry it's a little short! I have probably 2 more chapters plus an epilogue left! Debating a third book but I'm not sure right now. Need time to work on other stories and what do we feel about another teacher student book in the future?**