Unconditional Love

Warning: This chapter may have some content that may be triggering, please proceed with caution.

Saturday, May 14th, 10:30 pm

I finally calmed down enough to get my thoughts together. Just the thought of losing Key was honestly the worst pain I have ever felt. I honestly thought I was losing part of me and I went back to the day I found her in the basement thinking about killing herself. The pain was so real, and it felt like my heart was being pulled from my chest.

I realized that I am in love with Key. I need her and I can't lose her. I love Lay as well, but I don't know if I am as in love with her as I am with Key. Is it possible to be in love with two people at the same time?

I know I have to make things right with Key. I made her a promise and I have never broken one before. I don't want to hurt Lay, I don't want to lose her either but I am going to have to do what is best for everyone. I'm going to sit down and talk to them both face to face once Lay has the baby so that we can figure something out.

The baby. I don't even know what she's having. They are only doing a gender reveal because I missed the appointment the days of the ultrasound to find out the sex. She wanted to find out at the same time I did so she had them put it in an envelope at the last appointment and Tiffany decided to do the reveal. I missed it anyway because just like that day, I was with Keisha. Only then it wasn't at the hospital, she was shopping for new clothes since she couldn't fit hers. I lost track of time.

I hear the door open and my mama and dad walk in. Something is wrong. My mama has been crying and looks like she's fighting tears now, and my dad just has a blank expression. I was emotional when I texted her, I should have just waited and just called my dad.

"June, how are you? Have you heard any news?"

My dad is always going to be by my side. Always looking out for his family.

"Not yet Pops. I'm better now than I was. I was going to call you but I couldn't even speak. I just sent mama a text. I knew she would let you know."

"Hey don't worry about that right now. Tell me what happened."

"One minute I was talking to Key trying to keep her calm, then I was cutting Asia's cord. Pop's she's beautiful."

He has the biggest smile on his face. My dad wanted a big family but he said he knew he wasn't with the right woman to make it happen. His grandkids are his life.

"I bet she is, I can't wait to meet her."

"Things happened so fast. When Dr. Jeff said from 0 to 100, he was not joking. She wasn't crying and Brody's team had her off on the side. They just had to suction her airway and she let out some small cries. He told me that she was in distress and they had to take her to the NICU to run tests. I haven't heard back since. That was almost two hours ago."

"Wait, Brody is her doctor?"

"Yes he is. I am glad though because he seems to know what he is doing and Dr. Jeff has a lot of confidence in him. Key got real quiet on me. I knew something was wrong. At first she said that she was fine but she was really cold. A second later Dr. Jeff said she was hemorrhaging and they kicked me out of the room."

"They had to get things under control. You would have just been in the way. I've been praying all the way over here. That's all we can do. Did Asia have any hair on her head?"

My dad is doing a good job of trying to lighten the mood and avoiding me questioning what happened between him and my mom. She is too quiet to say nothing happened. But I'll let it go for now. I have more important things to focus on.

"Pops, don't even try to clown my girls. She has just as much as Nya had when she was born. It doesn't matter though because Nya's hair has grown in nicely and she's getting some length. Either way they both are beautiful even without hair."

"I just asked. I know they are beautiful and I haven't seen my new granddaughter. They got their grandpops genes."

"Thanks Pops. I needed to focus on something other than tonight's events for a minute. I'm glad y'all are here. You too, Mama. Are you excited about your grandbaby?"

Before she answers, there's a knock and Dr. Jeff, Brody and another doctor walk into the room. Dr. Jeff starts speaking.

"I'm glad that someone was able to come be with you. The wait is the hardest part most times. Keisha is doing well now. She will be in recovery for three more hours or so, then we will bring her back to her room. She's going to need a lot of rest.

Keisha had a severe placental abruption, as a result of her blood pressure being so high and the preterm labor. She started to hemorrhage and was losing a lot of blood. I thought we were going to have to do a hysterectomy, but God had other plans. I was able to get the bleeding under control and get her closed back up without any other complications.

Like I said, she's going to need a lot of rest and she won't be able to do much for the next week or so. I don't want her straining. I know you want to hear about our trouble maker, so I'll let Dr. Matthews fill you in."

I reach out to shake his hand and my dad does as well. Brody walks up and starts talking.

"Little Miss Asia may be a troublemaker, but she is a sweetheart. All the nurses in the NICU have fallen in love with her already. She's not very fussy."

Thank God.

"This is Dr. Reed and he will be assisting me with her care. She has cardiomyopathy. It weakens the heart muscles. Usually, it's a slow progression but in your daughter's case it seems to be accelerated."

What the hell. Dr. Reed jumps in.

"I've been a pediatric cardiologist for over twenty five years. I have seen a lot of medical anomalies, but your baby has added to my list. It's not unusual for infants to have cardiomyopathy but the amount of damage we see to her heart muscles already is something I've never seen before.

We are still running tests and doing scans, but we believe she has ischemic cardiomyopathy. This causes the heart to become enlarged and it does not function properly."

My baby girl hasn't been in this world for ten hours yet and she is already fighting for her life. Brody starts talking again.

"Right now we are treating her with IV fluids and medicines. If, and it's a very big if; if she becomes critical at some point, we may have to put her on ECMO. In the worst case scenario, we may have to use lifesaving measurements like a breathing tube and a ventilator.

We are not there yet but we want to give you all of the information we currently have and make plans to be prepared just in case. We would need to know what your wishes would be for the care of your child if we run into an emergency."

I look over to my mom and she's just looking down at the floor with tears running down her face. I look at my dad and he's staring right back at me. He gives me a small head nod. That's all I needed to know he is right here with me and supporting me.

"I want to do everything possible to save my little girl. She may be a troublemaker Dr. Jeff and that's okay. I'll be there every step of the way. I would appreciate it if you would do everything in your power to try to save her."

I say another prayer for my baby girl, the doctors, and Key. I just need a moment to get myself together. I walk over to the window and try to get my breathing to slow down. It's not working. I feel someone walk up to the side of me and I look over to see my dad. He puts his hand on my shoulder then pulls me into a hug. I may be thirty, but I really needed this. He pats me on my back a few times.

"You are okay June. She's okay. The doctors are doing everything they can. I have faith in them and I have faith in God. Everything will be okay. Go ahead and cry as much as you need to, have your moment of weakness now. Later you have to pull it together because that sweet girl needs you at your strongest. It's your job to protect her from everything. So let it out now, and know that I'm your protector because you are my baby boy. I'm here for you and I'll be right here with you."