ojandtostitos commented on blueridgemod's post in blueridgeschool:

In all honesty, Tatum didn't think that she had ever actually held a baby, especially not a newborn. She hadn't been old enough when Sera was born to be of any help, and they definitely didn't have the largest extended family in the world to choose from. People having babies didn't happen all of that often to people that she knew. She had never even been at that end of the hospital, with delivery rooms and nurseries and even more quiet time, before Izzy was born. It seemed somehow even more bright white and sterile than even the normal hospital. She sort of wished that they were still at the hospital, because at least people at the hospital knew what they were doing.

Volunteering to take Izzy for the night so that Hunter and Michi could go out to the dance together was fine in theory. She had Mack to help, and she was thankfully better at this than Tatum felt, but she still couldn't figure out what she was doing wrong. He was normally such a chilled out baby, that had been part of why she had been so quick to volunteer, but not tonight. He had been alright at first, even after his mothers left, but it had been almost an hour now that he had been crying on full blast, and Tatum still couldn't figure what his problem was. It was frustrating to say the least. "What if h-he's dying? Oh god, Hunter w-will kill m-me if something h-h-happens!" Tatum managed ask Mack, speaking up to get it out over the braying cries of the newborn in her arms. That alone, just holding him, was sort of scary. He was so tiny and fragile looking. But then adding all of the screaming onto that, and he became a nightmare. What had happened to the quiet baby that had barely cried since coming home?

"I-I'm not very good at this.. auntie t-thing," she murmured, trying to gentle sway back and forth with the baby in her arms, hoping the gentle motions would shut him up but to no avail. She wasn't sure what else to do. He wasn't hungry, she already made Mack change him because that was one thing she couldn't do, and he didn't seem sleepy. Rubbing his back hadn't helped, she had checked his temperature, and he didn't seem to have gas or anything. She wasn't sure what to check next. It was a lot of pressure, responsibility for someone else's kid. Crying baby or not, it was still somehow better than a dance.

"M-Maybe you can make h-him stop. Talk to h-him like, your hillbilly Texas talk," she suggested, smiled wearily. Maybe if she could sound enough like Hunter, it could work. It was a better idea than nothing. "Don't like, t-toss him around and shit or whatever like she does though," Tatum quickly added. Barely a month old, and Hunter already had him rough housing.