Focused on nursing, Alexa barely heard the faint knocks on the bedroom door and was surprised when her mom said "Come in!"
She heard the door being opened, and her aunt's voice asking "Hey, how's it going?"
"She woke up hungry, I guess." Michelle said and Alexa felt a slight shift as her mom sat up a bit more in bed, leaning on the cushions. "I think she's getting more milk now, she looks way more relaxed and swallows a lot."
Alexa saw from the shadow on her mom's skin in front of her that Kristi must have come closer. She wondered if her aunt looked younger too, but she didn't feel like letting go of the nipple to look at her. She also wasn't sure she'd even be able to, her head felt huge and heavy and her mouth seemed to be glued to the breast, her tongue squeezing out the milk on instinct, maybe not really under control of her brain.
"Great latch. Good job, Alexa!" Kristi said in a high-pitched voice. "How do your breasts feel?", she asked Michelle.
"Okay, I guess. A bit itchy and tingly, but not as bad as they look with those stretch marks. And the suckling doesn't hurt at all now. This is nice, just chilling and getting to know each other while she gets what she needs."
"Yeah, now that your milk has fully come in it's easier for her to drink. You got a bit frustrated with mommy's boobies last night, huh?" - that voice again. Of course, Alexa realized, this was the tone people use when talking to infants.
"Can you show me that swaddling thing again later?" her mom asked.
"Yeah, I can show you, but we shouldn't immediately swaddle her again. It's more for situations when she needs help to go to sleep and you need a break. It can be a single mom's alternative to making Daddy take the baby for some skin-to-skin or a late-night walk." Kristi explained.
It took Alexa several gulps of milk to realize her aunt had just called her mom single. She'd known her dad wasn't her biological father for some years now. Michelle's boyfriend had suddenly gotten cold feet about having a baby and broken up with her when she was four months pregnant, and she'd only met her future husband about a year later. When she was single right now, did it mean Alexa had somehow travelled back in time to just after her birth? That would also explain her mother's age. It also made sense that they'd be at aunt Kristi's house. Kristi had just finished midwifery school 16 years ago, and when her broke pregnant sister had asked for advice on birth options she'd volunteered her home and her service. Alexa had been born in the living room of this very house, as her mom and aunt had told her when she was a little kid. Of course it was as impossible to travel back in time as it was to suddenly become a baby again, so Alexa wondered if this might be a weird dream.
A sudden, uncomfortable pressure inside her tiny body tore her from her thoughts and made her stop drinking. This definitely felt real. Her arms and legs stiffened and her face scrunched up. For a moment, she was confused and afraid until...