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Felix was exhausted.
For the first few weeks after she was brought home, Sora would sleep with no issue. It was advised by their doctor to keep her in their room with them while she slept for the first month after being brought home for the hospital. So they did. Her bassinet sat on Felix's side of the bed, making it easier for the omega to get up and feed her. Or change her if need be.
If Chan was up late due to his insomnia, he could walk straight to her bassinet and pick her up, letting Felix sleep through the night.
It worked for them and it seemed to work for Sora, who only woke up every three hours to be fed or to have her diaper change, always falling asleep in the middle of it and then staying asleep when they set her back in her bassinet.
She didn't even have any issues sleeping when their pack came to visit. She just settled in to everyone's arms and fell asleep.
But all of that didn't seem to matter after she turned one month old and they moved her from her bassinet to the crib inside the nursery. They'd put her to bed for the night and she'd wake up thirty minutes later. It was unending cycle and nothing they did seemed to soothe her, not even her favorite pacifier.
At first Felix thought it was because Chan had to leave for Italy for an exclusive Fendi event that was too important for him to cancel his scheduled appearance. She had grown so accustomed to being held by her father, that not being held by him had caused some unease in the poor pup.
But then the trip had been cut short. The Creative Director was appalled when she heard Chan was in Italy rather at home in Seoul with his new pup and immediately sent him on the next flight home.
However, even Chan being home didn't help. Sora was still having issues staying asleep as soon as either of her parents placed her in the crib.
Felix would check her diaper to make sure she didn’t use it but they were always dry and clean. Whenever he and Chan held her, she was fine, having no issues falling asleep and staying asleep, but the moment they laid her back into bed, she’d wake up and start screaming and crying.
“There’s gotta be something wrong right?” Chan asked as he leaned back in the rocking chair, Sora sleeping soundly in his arms.
Felix leaned against the doorway and nodded, “Maybe she has colic? I mean, I’ve checked her butt and everywhere else and there’s no rash. She’s eating and gaining weight. She has no issues during her naps, it’s just during the night she’s having issues. I’ll call the doctor’s in the morning and bring her in and see if they have any ideas.” he said.
Chan gave Felix a reassuring smile, “We’ll figure it out. Go get some sleep. I’m gonna sit here with her and see if I can get some work done.”
“Okay, don’t work too hard,” Felix said as he walked over to his alpha and gave him a kiss before giving a kiss to Sora before heading back to bed.
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"An appointment has been scheduled for next Wednesday. I know you have that meeting with your execs, so Hyunjin said he’d go with me in your steed.” Felix said as he walked into Chan’s office. Sora was asleep in her little bouncy chair, a little Wolf Chan plushie tucked in to her side.
“Oh, are you sure? I’m sure I could talk to them about moving it back a few hours.” Chan said, pulling himself away from whatever he was working on.
Felix waved his hand, “We’ll be okay. I know this meeting is important and I don’t want to make you have to push it back anymore than you already have.” he said.
Chan smiled sweetly, “Okay. Just know if anything changes, I will leave in the middle of it. You and Sora are more important." he said, hooking his fingers into Felix's sweats and pulling him in close.
Laughing, Felix moved around his desk and kissed his head, “I know Chris. I know.”
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Hyunjin puffed at his cheeks at Sora, who just stared at him with big dark brown eyes. A small twitch of her mouth had him gasping, “Is that a smile?” he exaggerated his features to try and get the month old pup to giggle.
Felix looked over and hummed, “Yeah, I think it is. She doesn’t quite know how to giggle yet. I believe that’ll start around three months, but Chris says she does this weird little high pitch sound when he plays peek-a-boo with her. He thinks it’s her trying to giggle.” he explained, softening his voice when Sora looked at him.
She made the exact sound Chan had described to him and he laughed as Hyunjin made the same face he made when Changbin and Minho started arguing. “Oh God, she’s gonna be like her Uncle Changbin.”
Felix laughed just as one of the nurses came out to call them back.
The nurse took Sora and started taking her measurements and weight. Felix anxiously watched as the nurse weighed her, measured how long she was and measured her head. Hyunjin took his hand and squeezed.
The nurse smiled at Felix and handed Sora over, “She looks great momma. She’s right smack down in the middle where she needs to be at over a month old.” she said.
That seemed to make Felix feel a little better, as his shoulders relaxed. He smiled at his pup and placed her back into the car seat and followed her into the examination room.
“The doctor will be in shortly, she’s just finishing up with another patient now.” the nurse bowed before exiting the examination room.
Felix thanked her and took a deep breath. He closed his eyes and sent a quick prayer to the Goddess, that whatever was happening with his pup, would be resolved tonight.
Hyunjin took his hand and gave it a squeeze, “Everything’s going to work out Lixie. I know it will.”
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It wasn’t long before the doctor arrived, looking over Sora’s file. She greeted them with a smile, “Alright, everything looks good weight and size wise. I do see that she’s up for her second round of Hep B and dTaP, do you want me to administers those vaccines today?” she asked.
Felix nodded, “Yes. And I wanted to talk to you about her possibly being colic?” he asked.
“Of course, we can absolutely do that. Can you tell me a bit about what’s going on? It’ll help me know what kind of tests we should do.” she said.
Straightening up, Felix told her about how Sora had been sleeping just fine, waking up every two to three hours to eat or to be change and would easily fall back asleep. How she had no issues going down for naps and would usually sleep for a few hours before she was awake again.
The doctor wrote down notes of everything that Felix told her and waited until after he was finished before speaking, “Colic is a tricky thing because it usually starts when the baby is two week old. Which isn’t to say that it’s not colic. It can happen at any time. Has she been lifting her legs up when she cries or creating fists with her hands?”
Felix shook his head, “Not that I’ve noticed. And my mate hasn’t mentioned it when he’s gotten up to feed or change her.” he said.
The doctor hummed as she washed her hands and grabbed some gloves before walking over to Sora, “Hello pup, let me see those arms!” she said as she gently grabbed Sora’s arms and moved them around slowly.
She then did the same with her legs and ran her finger over her hands and feet. She turned to Felix, “Has she had any rashes anywhere near her diaper area?” she asked as she removed her gloves and tossed them in the garbage.
Shaking his head again, “No, we use cloth diapers. My mom told me I developed an allergic reaction from the disposable ones so we decided to go with cloth in case she developed one too. We also use unscented laundry detergent.” he explained.
The doctor looked over Sora’s file again and hummed, “Okay, I’m not entirely confident it is colic, since it’s developed so late, but on the chance I’m wrong, it usually goes away in a month or two. I’m going to have you try some techniques that have helped other patients have mine with colic. I’ll have you schedule an appointment in about a month and we’ll see where to go from there.
If anything changes, like her eating habits, she starts having issues throughout the day when it comes to nap time, she starts developing a rash or a high fever, give me a call immediately.” she said, handing Felix a pamphlet for colic remedies.
He nodded and took the pamphlet, thanking her as she did one more examination over Sora, “I will see you in two weeks, hopefully no sooner than that.” she said before bowing before she left the examination room.
Sighing, Felix picked up Sora and placed her back in her car seat. He could feel his eyes burning from the exhaustion and the frustration of not knowing what was wrong with his pup.
Earl gray wafted through the examination room, with the smallest hint of milk and he let out a shaky sigh, “I’m sorry Hyunjin, I’m just frustrated. I was hoping to have answers, but here we are, time wasted and nothing to show for it.” he wiped at his face.
“Hey, that’s not true. You got some answers. It doesn’t resolve the whole issue, but it’s one step in the right direction. Read over the pamphlet with Chan tonight and start using these strategies and see if they help. If they do, then great! But if it doesn’t, then we’ll come back here. We’ll continue to come back here until we figure it out.” Hyunjin wrapped his arms around Felix who just buried his face in Hyunjin’s neck and rubbed at his scent gland.
“Thanks Jinnie.” Felix whispered, his own tart lemon mixing into the air.
Sora started fussing in her car seat, which was the sign they needed to get her next schedule and head home.
She settled down in the car and when they arrived at the pack condos, Felix hugged Hyunjin and headed inside.
“We’re home!” Felix called out as he toed off his shoes and tucked them under the shoe rack.
Chan emerged from the hallway with a look on his face that read he was hoping for good news. Felix gave him a small smile and shook his head, “We have homework. She wants to see us in two weeks, but if anything negative happens, to call her asap.” he said handing over the pamphlet while he got Sora out of her car seat.
“So she’s colic?” Chan asked.
Felix shook his head as he lifted his shirt so Sora could eat before her afternoon nap, “No, the doctor said she’s not showing any signs of colic, but she said to try these rememdies anyway to see if it’ll help soothe her.” he explained.
He sighed watching as his pup suckled on his nipple, big brown eyes looking around while also growing heavy. He just wanted to know what was making it hard for his little pup to fall asleep so he could help her.
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That night, while Felix fed Sora before bed, they sat on the couch and read over the different remedies that was supposed to help their pup.
“I think the swaddling one will help. She seems calmest when she’s laying on us, so maybe the closeness is what she’s missing.” Chan suggested, writing down in the notebook he had purchased to record Sora’s progress.
Felix hummed as Sora pulled off his nipple and he moved her so he could burp her. He patted her back gently until the burp came out and he placed in his lap, letting her grab on to his fingers.
“Okay, so swaddling her, what about rocking her? Your sister bought us that really nice automatic swing, maybe we can try that?” he asked.
Chan nodded, jotting down Felix’s suggestion.
“If that doesn’t work, we’ll try a white noise machine. If that doesn’t work…we’ll see if driving her around works.” he said.
Felix hummed, “I think we have a solid plan. Hopefully these all work.” he said.
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They had tried everything.
And none of it worked.
Felix was at his wits end, overtly exhausted and wanting nothing than for his pup to finally sleep for more than thirty minutes at a time.
The doctor was no help either, when they visited her two weeks later for a follow up. She just informed them that they’d have to ride it out unless somehow, her symptoms worsened or she ended up with new ones.
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Month three was creeping on them with no luck.
They had asked their friends with pups to see if they had any suggestions, but they either didn’t have any issues with their pup getting to sleep, or the solutions had worked for them.
One night when Sora was sleeping on Felix’s chest, which seemed to be one of the only ways that she’d sleep, Chan emerged from his office, his phone in his hand, “My parents care coming to visit this weekend. They want to see Sora and maybe they’ll have some suggestions for us.” he said, sitting on the bed and rubbing down the pup’s back.
Felix nodded slowly, “That sounds good.” he said sleepily.
Chan ran his hand through Felix’s hair, “Why don’t I take her, I have some work to do, I can put her in a wrap and she’ll sleep on my chest.” he said.
Nodding, Felix let Chan take the pup and wrap her against his chest, “Sleep well little one. I’ll be in here later.” he said, kissing Felix’s hair before leaving the bedroom.
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“Eomma!” Felix smiled as he opened the door for their guests. He greeted them with hugs and kisses on their cheeks before moving out of the way, “Chan’s just changing Sora, he’ll be out in just a moment.” he said.
Jack took his and Jessica’s suitcase and carried them to the guest bedroom while Jessica looked around the apartment, “I’m surprised it’s not more chaotic in here! I remember when Channie was just a pup, we had toys everywhere.” she mused.
Felix laughed as he walked into the kitchen to grab some drinks for everyone, “Oh yeah, usually it is. But we didn’t want anyone to trip and fall, so we cleaned up a bit.” he explained.
“Guess whose here!” Chan announced as he walked out of Sora’s room. She was dressed in the chick onsie Hyunjin and Changbin had gotten her.
Jessica gasped, “Sora-yah!” she held her hands out to her grand-daughter and grinned as she held the baby close.
Jack returned from the guest room and approached his wife, waving to Sora who was giggling and smiling at her grandparents, “Why don’t you two take the day off? Go out on a date or sleep for a bit. I’m sure you both could use it. We can watch her for you.” he suggested.
Chan shrugged and looked at Felix who was nervously chewing on his bottom lip. Getting out of the house other than to run to the store or pick up their mail did sound nice. But so did a nap. And he wanted to be here in case Sora started getting fussy.
But Sora seemed happy and content with her grandparents and Felix didn’t want to be one of those mothers that hovered, “I have been needing some things from the store and it’s been hard to do with Sora because she gets so fussy due to the lack of sleep.”
Jack’s face lit up, “Why not take care of that now? We can watch her while you two are out.” he said.
Felix and Chan shared a look before he finally nodded, “We really can’t thank you enough.” Chan said before they headed into their bedroom.
They both got dressed in some clean clothes and brushed their hair so it didn’t look like they looked like functioning adults, rather than sleep deprived parents. Felix shoved his hair into a quick ponytail before heading to the living room.
Chan was talking to his parents through where they kept everything they made need while they were gone. Felix smiled and pressed a kiss to Sora’s head when Jessica held her out to him, “We’ll be back later. Thank you Eomma.” he said kissing her cheek before heading to the front door.
He heard Chan say good-bye to his parents and then to Sora, before following him out the door.
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“Oh, look at this one!” Chan said, holding up dark blue onsie with little duckies on it. Felix pouted as he looked at the onsie, “Oh it’s so cute. She has those cute little yellow converse Hyunjin bought her too. How many sizes does it come in?” he asked.
Chan looked at the other sizes, “Up to…. Twenty-four months.” he said.
Felix pressed his lips together and looked at his alpha, “We don’t need it.” he said. Chan looked at him as he grabbed a fourth onesie.
In the end, they ended up getting all four onesies and nearly forgot why they had showed up to the store in the first place.
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Felix felt like he was going to cry.
They had put Sora down just a little under an hour ago and she was crying in her bassinet.
He was about to get up to get here when Jessica stood up, “Here let us. It’s why we’re here. Is she in your bedroom still?” she asked as she brushed off her pants.
“Ah, she’s in the nursery now.” Chan said, moving to get up to show her. He stopped midway when Jessica walked straight to the nursery and started talking to Sora in a sweet voice.
“Oh I didn’t know you guys moved her into the nursery?” Jack asked.
Felix hummed, “Yeah, when she hit one month, we decided to move her into the nursery. The doctor said she was developing well and that she was fine to move out of our room.” he explained.
It was important for new born pups to grow accustom to their parents scents and most doctors encouraged new parents to keeping the pup in the room with them for the first month. It also made it easier for new moms so they weren’t having to move around too much while they were healing.
It was Jack’s turn to hum. He crossed his arms and had a thoughtful look on his face, “When did Sora’s sleeping schedule get disrupted?” he asked after a few moments of silence.
Felix and Chan looked at each other both trying to remember exactly when Sora’s sleep schedule shifted from every three hours to every thirty minutes.
“Maybe… two weeks? After we moved her into her room?” Chan asked, which Felix nodded his head, “Yeah, about two weeks after we moved her, she started having troubles sleeping.” he confirmed.
A small chuckle escaped Jack and reached over and patted Chan’s thigh, “I think I know what the issue is. It’s the same issue we had with you when you were a pup.” he said.
Chan and Felix looked at each other before looking at Jack, “What’s that?” he asked.
Jessica emerged from the hallway with Sora in her arms, “Did we figure out what’s going on?” she asked as she took a seat.
“I was just about to tell them.” Jack said, waving his finger at Sora before turning back to Chan and Felix, “As you two know, when you have a pup, it’s advised that you keep them in your room for about a month or so. I remember you saying Minho and Jisung kept their pup with them for two and a half months correct?” he asked.
Felix nodded. He knew it was a decision that Minho and Jisung didn’t make lightly, as Jisung had planned on going back to work earlier than Minho. Because of that decision they wanted to make sure Jisung got as much time with his pup as possible.
“So when a pup spends any amount of time around their parents, especially in the first month, they are surrounded by their scents. It’s all they know for those first few weeks. Now, one day, their parents decide to put them in a separate room. Which is fine! Everything is the same. But as time goes on and as the pup grows, their own scent is starting to form.” Jack explained.
It was Chan’s turn to nod, slowly as he bounced what his father was telling them. It was true that Sora was starting to develop her own scent beyond that of a new born pup. Her usually reminiscent scent of baby powder was starting to develop into a lovely salt water.
Jack looked between the two of them, making sure they were understanding what he was saying before he decided to continue, “Obviously, the top layer of their scent fully develops once they’re about five months old, and by then, they’re used to their own scent. But at this age,” he turned to Sora and smiled, brushing his finger along her arm, “As her scent develops, she’s seeking your guys scent to comfort her because she doesn’t understand that what she’s smelling is her. So when you moved her into the nursery, she went from smelling you guys all the time, to only smelling you when you came into check on her. It’s why I asked if you guys scented any of her sheets or her clothes. I think if you scented her stuff, she’d have no issues falling asleep.”
Felix and Chan looked dumbfounded and suddenly Felix broke down crying. Chan moved to his side and rubbed his back, whispering to him and pushing out calming wafts of graham cracker to soothe his mate.
Jack and Jessica shared a sympathetic look.
“Sorry, we’ve been trying literally everything and nothing has helped. This is like a weight lifted off our shoulders. If this helps, wow, I'm going to feel so stupid.” Felix sobbed, wiping his eyes only for more tears to fall.
Chan pulled Felix into his chest so he could scent his mate, whispering to him that everything was going to be okay.
After a while, Felix finally settled down, apologizing again to his in-laws about his sudden outburst. Jessica was quick to reassure him that everything was fine, that he was fine. She shared anecdotes about when Chan was a newborn pup and how she felt like she was drowning as a new parent. But then her in-laws had given them their own pieces of advice that helped them raise Chan and they used to take care of his siblings.
Later that evening, Jessica went to give Sora a bath while Jack cleaned up dinner and prepared her night time bottle. Chan and Felix changed out her sheets and scented them before placing them on the mattress and even scented the little wolf plushie that Jessica had brought when they were still in the hospital.
They chose her outfit for the night and took turns scenting it before bringing it to Jessica to put her in. With her tummy filled with warm milk and her room and clothes smelling like her parents, she fell asleep quickly.
Chan stood in the door frame, watching as Felix placed the pup in her crib, gently slipping his hands out from underneath her. He stilled as soon as he sat up and waited for her cries. But all he was met with silence.
Tip-toeing out of her room, Felix closed the door behind him and let out breath.
Chan smiled widely and when they were far enough away from Sora’s door, he picked Felix up and spun him around, kissing at his face until he set him down gently.
Jack and Jessica smiled, clapping their hands together silently not to disturb the resting pup.
They all gathered in the living room and settled on the couch to see if their efforts were for naught.
When the hour mark hit, Chan grabbed out a bottle of sparkling cider and poured a glass for each of them, toasting to what they hoped would be a full nights rest.
The second hour hit and Jessica decided to call it a night. She wanted to explore Seoul a bit before they had to head home in a couple days. Jack followed her a few moments later, clapping Chan on the back and running his hand over Felix’s head, “I’m proud of both of you for not giving up.” he said before joining his wife in the guest room.
By the three and half hour mark, Chan and Felix had fallen asleep on the couch as they waited to hear if their pup would wake up. Fortunately for them, Jessica had woken up and fed her and changed her diaper, so they could have a full nights sleep.