The Pack's Doctor novel Chapter 73

Chapter 73: Mothers and Friends.

Yara.

I'm about to go searching for Trena, when Katie comes in with her new baby girl.

"Hi, Luna. I know you just got back, but I was hoping you could look over my daughter for me."

"Is everything alright?" I ask her.

"I think so, but I'm not sure I'd know if something was wrong. She smells fine, and she's sleeping well, but…she's not nursing well."

"Okay, let's have a look," I say, getting Noelle to put them in a room while I quickly check that Anna and Erica are okay.

When I get into the room, Katie is pacing while Noelle weighs her daughter.

"What did you name her?" I ask.

"Emery," she says, smiling at her daughter.

"How are you and your mate adjusting to having a newborn?" I ask her.

She blows out a breath. "It's great, you know, but... well, we both worry every time she makes a sound. I've never had so little sleep."

"What does your wolf say?" I ask her.

She chuckles. "That I'm being overprotective, but that she's worried about her not latching on and eating enough."

I walk over to where Noelle is taking her measurements. She's a little underweight, and she's opening her mouth like she's hungry, being fussy.

I take a moment to look in her mouth, not seeing anything that would keep her from being able to latch on.

"Okay, let's see how you do this," I say to her.

"You mean right now?" she asks, and I can feel her nervous energy increasing. I pick Emery up and smile down at her as she searches for a breast to nurse on.

I look up at Katie and see the panic on her face.

"Have a seat, Katie. Take a deep breath. I can feel your nervousness from here. If I can feel it, your daughter will too. Sit down, relax, breathe, and calm yourself. You want your daughter to feel good when she's in your arms and nursing. If you're nervous and anxious, it will make her nervous and anxious," I say. I know this isn't always the answer. Some babies, for whatever reason, don't nurse from their mothers. But sometimes it is about the energy that the mother is giving off and in this instance, I have a feeling that Katie's 'overprotectiveness'

is making her daughter anxious.

She pulls her breast out but her energy is still high.

"Sit back, get comfortable, close your eyes, and breathe," I tell her.

She looks at me a moment, looking terrified, but then she does what I ask.

It takes several breaths before she finally takes a full, deep breath.

"Good, a couple more like that," I say, forcing her to relax even though Emery is getting more fussy.

When she opens her eyes, I smile encouragingly at her. "Ready?"

"Ready," she says.

I lay Emery in her arms and she immediately begins searching for Katie's breast.

I feel Katie getting tense, and I put my hand on her shoulder. "Deep breaths. Help her find your nipple. There you go," I say when Emery latches on.

"What if she doesn't stay on?" Katie asks, looking up at me.

"Take a deep breath, make sure that you're giving her a calm environment to nurse in. If that doesn't work, we'll try something else,"

I say.

"Will you stay with me?" she asks.

"Of course," I say, sitting down and watching. When it looks like Katie is starting to get nervous again, I distract her.

"What's the best part of being a new mom?" I ask her.

"Everything!" she says, smiling. She begins telling me about watching her daughter when she's looking at her, hearing her sweet sounds when she's sleeping.

"Poop is gross and, uh, it gets everywhere," she says, laughing, then tells me about how her mate wasn't careful and Emery basically pooped all over him and then proceeded to pee on him.

She begins laughing while she's talking, and I see Emery look up at her.

"See, your daughter knows when you're happy."

"Hey beautiful girl," Katie says, stroking her cheek. Emery goes back to nursing, and momma and daughter continue to look at each other, Katie cooing at her.

"I think you've got this," I say softly, nodding to Noelle that we should l e a v e a n d let t h e m b o n d . "How did you know what to do?" Noelle asks when we step out of the room "I didn't. But part of being a doctor or even a nurse is assessing the situation. Katie came in uptight and even said her wolf called her overprotective, which said to me that she was anxious. Once you get anxious about something and it doesn't work, you start expecting it to not work and then the anxiety gets worse, and it can become a terrible cycle. I just tried break the cycle. If it hadn't worked, we'd have had to try moving her to a bottle, but this seems to be helping. So, hopefully, momma and baby can begin bonding during feeding times and Katie will learn to relax."

"You're going to be a great mom," Noelle says to me.

"Something tells me that you will be too."

I check on Bradley while I wait for Katie to come out of the room. When she does, she has a sleeping Emery in her arms. "All good?"

"Yes, thanks Luna."

"If you find yourself getting anxious, talk to your mate. Find something happy to talk about, or something that she did that made you smile, so that you can keep yourself calm while you nurse."

"I will, thank you."

When she leaves, I turn to Noelle.

"I'm going to go find Trena. Mind link me if you need anything."

Noelle smiles. "I almost forgot I could do that!"