Co-Workers With Benefits

V E N I C E

[It's pronounced See-omara for those who might be wondering. And Xio is just Sio.]

3 hours later and I'm still laying in the bed on my phone.

Dion had dragged Xio's cot on wheels over to his little bed over on the window sill and they'd long fallen asleep together.

Christina walks back in to help me pee again then she lets me know that I can take a shower in the bathroom whenever I'm ready and I ask her if she could possibly turn up the heating in the room so Xiomara doesn't catch a cold before she leaves.

She turns up the thermostat by the wall and the room heats up almost immediately. I check my phone and see almost 3000 new messages on WhatsApp from family members. I answer all my immediate family straight away, sending them a bunch of pictures of my baby. Then I do the same for Trin, deciding to leave the others for later on in the day.

I grab our hospital bag and a postpartum pad then head back into the bathroom, turning on the shower. It's a little difficult to move around and I still feel the pain between my legs, but luckily, I didn't tear too much and they had me stitched up real quick after she was born.

I cry some more under the hot water and say a quick thank you prayer to God for a smooth first ever delivery before getting out and moisturising.

I dress myself in one of Dion's big ass shirts and sit on the toilet to control my bleeding before walking back out into the room, turning off the lights and getting back onto the bed.

I check the time on my phone and see that it's already almost 7:00 in the morning but it's still slightly dark out because it's winter.
Although I already slept, I still feel really tired and manage to drift off for the second time this morning.

~

I'm awoken by a soft, but shrieking cry and I get up to see Dion picking Xio up and bouncing her whilst walking around the large space.
I'm about to tell him to give her to me when she stops crying.

"Oh, you not asleep? I ain't wanna wake you up, but I think she hungry."

"Yeah, she technically hasn't eaten since yesterday night." I reach my arms out to him. "But how you do that? She fall back asleep on you?"

"Nah, she's just staring at me." He smiles down at her and kisses her cheek before walking over to the bed and giving her to me.
She starts crying again and I watch as her mouth opens and closes by my boob.

I roll my eyes, smiling. "Daddy ain't got no milk but I didn't hear you crying just now when he was holding you."

Dion laughs and comes over to sit at the end of the bed as I pull the shirt down and help her to latch onto my breast.

"Bae you hungry?" He rubs on my leg.

"Yeah, what time is it?"

"Literally just turned 4:30." He says. "If you want anything mama, tell me and I'll quickly run out and get it for you."

"Okay, could you get me some fruit please?"

"Yeah, course baby. No bananas?"

"No bananas." I confirm. "Mostly grapes, mangoes and pineapples."

"No problem."

"Thank you."

"You welcome."

He gets off the bed, heading into the bathroom to clean up and comes out 5 minutes later grabbing his wallet and phone off the window sill before leaving the room.

I look down at Janelle, admiring her tiny, cute face as she eats. Dion chose the name Xiomara and I chose Janelle. Xio's her first name because he's the one who wanted a baby girl so bad.