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‘Twas the night before Christmas, says the quote.
In the Mohabbot household it doesn’t mean a lot per se, until the year before.
Before then, Christmas for Samira meant covering for colleagues who actually celebrate, and accepting wishes from patients with a warm smile. Although Samira was not very religious, she respects the spirituality of both colleagues and patients, so she always felt that sending home someone who actually believes in the celebration was a good way to contribute to the general holidays spirit.
As for JAck, Christmas at the hospital was however less miserable than Christmas alone at home, so it almost became a tradition to pull a double from Christmas Eve. His apartment even darker, his mood even sadder. At least at the hospital he felt a purpose.
That changed towards the end of Samira’s R3. What started as a hookup became a weekly meeting, and then an occurrence that happened every time their shifts didn’t overlap completely and until it made no sense to schedule if they could just come home to the same place and enjoy each other’s company without a spreadsheet. Senior year was though and stressful and absolutely wrecking per definition, let alone if by mid-term you’re 5 months pregnant and in the process of moving to a place where a newborn can actually have their room. The weight was, however, mostly physical. Jack had in fact took the matters into his own hands and declared that if she decided to bring this baby into this world he was going to make sure that nothing could come in the way of her finishing her residency and pursuing her career goals. He went to her apartment one night and gave her a printed letter of resignation, saying that if she wanted to apply for a fellowship wherever else he was going to follow, and that if she decided to stay in Pittsburgh, he would cut his hours to make sure that she doesn’t have to give up her dreams.
Samira had already made up her mind and pointed out that there was only one man with whom she would’ve gone through the whole parenthood adventure, and luckily was right in front of her. His declaration only reinforced what she already knew: that Jack Abbot would love her and their offspring unconditionally. And for what was worth, she would do the same. So they welcomed their firstborn at Thanksgiving, after Samira had shown up to shift wincing and admitted to Jack that she had been monitoring her contractions all night. He agreed her to stay only for the sake of being already at the hospital, and only under his presence in the on call room. So he went home, took a shower and took the hospital bag and came back to take a nap at PTMC. It was 11:34 when Samira’s waters broke, and a little after 2pm when she was admitted, much to Jack’s chagrin who was really close to lose his shit.
Baby Ila Louise Mohan-Abbot was born at 8PM, giving the PTMC Emergency department another reason to be grateful.
And so Christmas in the Mohabbot household became a matter of creating memories, of being together and celebrate the life they created, and the life they had brought back into each other. And so Christmas shopping and Christmas gifts from every single worker in the Pittsburgh gave Jack and Samira the feeling of being part of a family that was much larger than the three of them. And New Year’s Eve became the night in which a midnight kiss held the promise of the next year and the rest until forever. And a smile against each other’s lips when the sleeping baby protested from her crib for the loud fireworks, a clear signal of being completely in charge of the house ruling. And so baby Ila commanded to be picked up by her father, who won the battle against his ghosts from the past and brought her to the window, to see the bright lights popping in the dark sky. And so baby Ila quieted and put her little hand in Samira’s hair, until she fell back asleep, satisfied.
New year brought a mix of joy and ill timed events. It happens when two people have learned the ways into each other’s bodies but it’s still not enough to satisfy their curiosity. And it happens when a mandatory 6 weeks break turns into 8 weeks after which Jack and Samira were about to climb each other like trees. And so baby Ila was in her room, peacefully asleep, and Jack and Samira were in theirs, re-discovering their bodies like the first time, and soaking in the feeling of being their own person.
And so Samira came back to work at the beginning of February, while Jack gave John Shen full command and stepped back from night shifts. And what should’ve been two months of accumulated PTO was cut short to one, when their newfound intimacy in the few breaks from parenthood resulted in another life making his way into Samira’s womb. It was not a traditional happy moment, there were quiet tears and talks on how to manage to young children and what kind of mother she was going to be, if working 12 hours was going to inevitably neglect her children. And Jack wiped every single tear and promised, like the first time, that whatever decision she was going to take, he will support her. No matter what. But the she was never, ever, going to question her worth: not as a doctor, and not as a mother. To confirm that, baby Ila looked at her from her crib and gave her a toothless smile asking to be picked up by her favorite human. The way she snuggled into her chest made Samira realize that she could, in fact, be good at two things at the same time.
And so the first year as attending coincided with Ila’s first year into this world, and her sibling growing inside her mother’s belly. And so Thanksgiving came and little Ila learned to say mama and dada and her parent’s hearts threatened to explode. On her first birthday, baby Ila was held by her father in front of the cake, while her mother could not really do much more than bend and pretend the toddler was the one to blow the candles. Ila seemed particularly proud of her work and responder to the cheering and the clapping, clapping on her turn.
And so the following days Ila crawled to the Christmas tree when her parents were setting it up, and giggled happily to see her father covered with decorations. And Jack, whose hears were never tired to hear that sound, put more and more decorations on himself, and some on Samira too, who in turn took her phone out to have that memory on video.
It was in that moment that baby Ila spotted a decoration behind the coffee table, and went to grab it. The path back to her parents seemed to Ila like the perfect moment to stand up and take her first wobbly steps to gift her father with a red and green velvet ribbon. Then she looked at them puzzled because the laughter that accompanied the previous minutes were replaced by silent tears. But baby Ila, who was used to cry to request and protest, didn’t recognize the joy in those happy tears and got upset. So Jack and Samira spent the next twenty minutes trying to console their first baby.
So, ‘twas the night before Christmas, their second Christmas as a family, and it was two hours after Ila fell asleep with her ear on her mother’s stomach, after murmuring the third and forth words she’d learned to say “Ila, baby”. And it was two hours later when the sharp pain in her lower belly woke Samira up, and she understood that her second child, as if summoned by their elder sister, decided that it was showtime.
‘Twas the night before Christmas when Jack drove to the hospital bordering a panic attack, with the roads slippery and the impossibility to go faster with Samira in labour and Ila babbling in the backseat, awakened by all the fuss.
‘Twas the night before Christmas when a panicked Jack woke Dana up and asked to come to the hospital to held baby Ila while he stayed with Samira.
‘Twas still the night before Christmas when Jack handed a sleepy Ila to Dana, kissing his daughter goodnight before rushing to his wife.
‘Twas barely Christmas, 00:31am, when baby Daniel Kiran cried his lungs out, stubbornly crying for the change of environment, and then quieting down after recognizing his mother’s heartbeat under his little ear.
‘Twas Christmas Day when Jack realized that miracles exist, and he was gifted one when he thought he couldn’t wish for grace anymore, and his own personal miracle helped him create other two.
‘Twas Christmas Day when Samira finally dozed off, exhausted from her delivery but grateful for the life she was able to built for herself, and the other two she created with Jack.
‘Twas Christmas dawn when Jack picked Ila up to bring her to meet her brother, and Dana congratulated him teasingly
“You got Thanksgiving and Christmas already, schedule next one for New Year’s Eve”