2 Halves Make a Whole | ym

How It's Going

Jimin crossed his eyes at the carseat in front of him, trying to pass the time until Dr. Graham entered the room for his six-week postpartum appointment. When he refocused his vision, he found Hana smiling brightly at him, a new skill she had gained within the past couple of days. "Do you like that, little mochi?" He asked before doing it again, giggling when he saw an even brighter smile on her face. "You have your daddy's smile, you know that?" He cooed, reaching out to touch her little hand as the door to the exam room opened.

"Well, look at how much you've grown!" She cooed at Hana, the newborn pup flashing her a gummy smile in response. "And how is mommy doing?"

"Pretty good." Jimin sighed. "As good as I can hope for, at least."

Dr. Graham glanced up at him at that. "And by that you mean..."

Jimin bit his lip slightly before answering. "Physically, I feel fine. Not perfect, but not anything worse than what I expected to feel after giving birth. But..." He let out a small sigh. "The first week at home was hard. My stress and anxiety were through the roof that I barely slept at all. And I thought it was because having my parents around wasn't as helpful as we originally thought it would be, because it got better once they went back to Korea."

"But then it got bad again?"

The omega nodded. "Last week, Yoongi went back to work, and even though we do have a spot for her in the nursery there, it won't be open for another six weeks, so it was just me and Hana for the first time. Well, when he got home, I was sitting in the middle of the floor of Hana's nursery crying while she screamed in my arms. She'd woken up from one of her naps early screaming and I tried everything but couldn't figure out what was wrong. And then Yoongi was able to get her calmed down and back to sleep and I felt like such a failure that I couldn't comfort my own pup, the one I carried for nine months and brought into the world. And since then, I've been too scared to be completely alone with her for extended periods of time, but then I'm also nervous to take her out of the house because of the time of year, I don't want her to get sick." Jimin let out another sigh.

"First, I want you to know that you're not alone in how you're feeling." Dr. Graham was quick to assure him. "Many new mothers experience some form of postpartum depression or anxiety after giving birth. And with your personal mental health history, you were already at a higher risk of developing it. What's important now is that you did speak up instead of trying to suppress it." Jimin managed a small smile at that. "So now we can talk about coping strategies. What have you been doing so far?"

"Yoongi started coming home for his lunch breaks instead of taking his lunch to work." Jimin responded. "That way I can get at least a 45-minute break to shower or take a bath or a catnap or anything that I feel like I need at the time. And when I feel my anxiety over something going wrong or failing Hana in some way, I call one of my friends to just talk or to invite them over. They're usually pretty good at distracting me enough that my anxiety's gone before I even remember that I was anxious."

Dr. Graham nodded. "Those are definitely good starts, and it sounds like you've been able to manage it well so far. But if it gets worse, then don't hesitate to reach out, I'll be happy to refer you to some therapists who specialize in postpartum issues." Jimin assured her that he would. "Alright, let's get to your physical exam, shall we?" She performed a pelvic exam to make sure Jimin's reproductive organs were getting back to normal--or at least relatively normal--followed by a breast exam to check for clogged milk ducts or signs of mastitis. "You were right, physically you are in great shape, and you should be feeling more like yourself in no time. You should be able to start some light exercising now without any issues, but nothing too extreme. And I'm sure you'll be happy to hear that it's safe for you to have sex again." As expected, Jimin smiled at that tidbit of information. "Are you interested in any kind of birth control at this point? Possibly get you that IUD?"

"Maybe wait a couple of months on that." Jimin requested. "Until Hana starts going to daycare, that way I can rest afterwards without having to worry about tending to her."

"Sounds good." Dr. Graham said before a sly smile appeared on her face. "Just don't be coming back to me with another unplanned pregnancy anytime soon."

Jimin giggled. "I'll try not to." The doctor left the room after that, leaving Jimin to redress in his own clothes. "Ready to go back home, Mochi?" Jimin asked as he picked up Hana's carseat, the pup inside yawning and blinking her eyes sleepily.

***

Jimin looked up from the book he was reading as he heard sensed Yoongi arriving home, sitting up and setting the book to the side by the time the alpha entered the house. "Mochi asleep?" Yoongi whispered as he quietly crossed the room to join the omega on the couch.

"Deeply and happily." Jimin confirmed, smiling into the greeting kiss Yoongi gave him.

"How'd your appointment go?" Yoongi then asked, pulling Jimin's legs across his lap.

"Fine." Jimin answered, shifting to lie down again as Yoongi gently ran a hand over his legs. "Everything looks good, I'm healing and recovering well, I'm handling the anxiety and depression as best I can right now." Yoongi lightly squeezed his thigh at that, flashing him a small smile. "But that's not the best part."

Yoongi raised an eyebrow. "And what would that be?"

Jimin bit his lip, playfully running his toes over Yoongi's thigh. "That I can say with complete certainly that you will have a very naked omega in your bed after 7:00 tonight just waiting to be ravished."

The alpha's eyes glinted briefly with desire. "Is that so?" Jimin nodded, giggling as Yoongi shifted his position so he could hover over him. "Do I get a sneak peek of this arrangement?"

"Where would be the fun in that?" Jimin teased him, hand flying to his mouth as Yoongi began to tickle him to muffle his laughter, as he didn't want to accidentally wake Hana up. Eventually Yoongi relented, laughing quietly as he pulled Jimin's hand away so he could softly kiss him.