Heather looked down at her sleeping daughter. She still felt very tired and sore from eighteen hours of labor, but she couldn't take her eyes off tiny Mary. Everything in her face reminded Heather of Jake. She had his nose, his chin, his lips and even his blue eyes, now hidden behind the tightly shut eyelids. Only the thick, black hair that had amazed everyone in the delivery room was clearly inherited from Heather. She still looked a bit wrinkly and red from the birth, so vulnerable and so beautiful, Heather thought as her tears started to flow. "Daddy would be so proud of us", she whispered.
The past nine months she'd probably been crying more than in her whole life before that. She had long lost count of how many hours she'd spent sobbing due to grief and hormones, despair and joy.
Most of the time, she'd been alone. Her old friends were very uncomfortable around her after her incredible rejuvenation and Jake's sudden death. Some probably thought that she was some kind of impostor, a criminal who had killed both Jake and Heather and taken on her identity.
She had sold the house and moved away from their old suburban neighborhood to a 2-bedroom flat closer to the city center. Fortunately, Jake had left her some money and along with what she got for the house, it meant she'd be able to stay at home with little Mary for the next few years.
But there'd been nobody to hug her when she cried, no-one she could show the baby's first ultrasounds and no-one to comfort her when she suffered from all-day-long morning sickness.
Things had only changed when she started attending childbirth class. There, she had met several nice moms-to-be (and a few dads who came along) and had befriended some of them. Her new best friend was going to be a single mom as well. Lisa, a 20-year-old student at the local university, had gotten pregnant after very drunk sex at a party. She barely knew the guy, who had been equally drunk ("I was surprised he could still keep it up and find my pussy", she'd told Heather once) and when she told him about the pregnancy he'd said she could have the baby if she wanted, but he was certainly not ready to be a dad and wanted nothing to do with "it".
Now she was in a similar situation to Heather's, as most of her friends had actually been her boyfriend's and her parents, while supporting, were 500 miles away.
Both women were anxious about being all alone with their babies, but had promised each other to help as much as they could. For example, Lisa had offered to drive Heather and Mary home from the hospital. Probably they'd leave later that day, as soon as the doctors had examined them both again and found them ready to go.
But for now, Heather had a few hours left. She carefully kissed Mary's forehead, then returned to her own bed to get some much-needed rest.