Part 6

	"Honey, when you're done in the kitchen could you bring me a drink?" your wife yells as you finish cleaning up. "Sure, I'll be there in a second," you reply, and begin pouring her some tea. It's been a whirlwind four months since you got the news of her pregnancy. Her pregnancy has started to show. Your friends and family have taken to touching her stomach hoping to feel the baby moving; it's actually started to make you a bit jealous every time it happens. You exit the kitchen and head towards the living room, tea in hand. You spot her sitting on the couch reading, the book resting on her now plump belly. You feel a smirk slowly crawling across your face. "What are you smirking about?" she inquires with a pout. "Just admiring my own handiwork," you retort as you set down the tea in front of her. She blushes slightly. "Aren't you so funny?" she responds with a little smack on your arm. You take a quick glance at the book in her hand: a parenting book. That book sums up the last few months pretty well. The two of you had taken a few parenting classes and put a great deal of effort into "baby-proofing" your home in preparation for the new addition to your family. As the pregnancy has gotten to later term, you've found yourself taking over more of the housework almost instinctively. Exhausted from working, you lay your head in her lap. As you do she sets down her book and begins to stroke your hair. This has become your new favorite pastime ever since you found out she became pregnant. As she is now, the very image of motherhood, your own Venus carrying with her something only the two of you could create. As this thought passes through your mind you find your hand moving towards her stomach and you begin to gently rub it. "You would think after doing this for months you would start to get bored of admiring 'your own handiwork'. Don't you think so too, darling?" The silence broken with a quick jab from your wife. "I had hoped that comment wouldn't come back to bite me," you reply, somewhat embarrassed. "I have to get you back sometimes for all the teasing," she says. "Getting picked on by my own wife. I just can't win," you declare, throwing up your arms. She begins to laugh and you follow suit. "So have those books helped at all? Learn anything useful?" you ask. "A little. I'm kind of worried still. There's a lot I don't know, and I don't know how good of a mother I'll be." she says somewhat dejected. You sit up and look her directly in the eyes. "There is no one that could ever make a better mother than you. Don't worry about it, we won't have all the answers at first and we're going to make mistakes, but we'll get through it," you declare as confidently as you can to someone who shares the same worries as you. Her face lights up and a gentle smile covers it. "I know you're just as worried as I am, but for some reason that still makes me feel better," she responds as brings herself closer and kisses your cheek. You lean back onto the couch and wrap your arm around her. "Yep, everything is going to be fi-," you begin to say, but are interrupted by a yelp from your beloved. "What's wrong, honey?" you utter in a voice showing none of the composure you had earlier. "It kicked. The baby kicked for the first time!" she nearly yells in a voice filled with happiness. You quickly put your hand against her stomach, and there it is, a small thumping like someone drumming from very far away. Each one met with a small giggle from your now ecstatic love. "It is! This is amazing!" you reply, finding yourself as awestruck and overjoyed as she is. "Honey, we need to show this to everyone," she begins to get up for the phone but stops and looks at you. "He stopped kicking," she says, looking a little confused and worried. "He probably tired himself out. We'll let everyone know tomorrow," you say as you pull her back against your chest. "Alright, let's just spend our night like this then, dear," she agrees, snuggling her head into your chest. Spending a few blissful quiet moments like this with her were all you have ever wished for. In a few short months they will be gone, replaced by crying, screaming, and exhaustion from lack of sleep, but with all those negatives comes the joy of fatherhood, so many new firsts for the two of you to experience as your family grows.