Happily Ever Addendum (13 page)

"Touché."

Phoebe appeared with her ‘approved’ baby
shower clothing options. I chose the salmon-colored maternity dress. It hit
just above my knees and had three-quarter length, loose sleeves. It was light
and comfortable. Celia arrived in her perfect gloriousness and had me sit down
so she could work on my makeup and hair.

"Quit fidgeting. I’m almost done."
Celia scolded me.

"I can’t help it, I have to pee."
I whined.

"Go pee and then get back here."
She pointed toward the toilette and I was off. Once finished, I immediately
went to the chair I had been in previously.

"Feel better?" She laughed.

"You have no idea."

Once she finished, we all walked
downstairs together.

"Lilli!" Maggie ran up to me
and hugged me before rubbing my stomach. "Hey babies, ready to get some
goodies today?"

I laughed and rolled my eyes, catching
sight of Abby. I smiled at her shy appearance. She was standing off from Viola,
but staying close to her. Maggie took notice of where my attention was.

"Abby!" Maggie yelled with a
smile. Viola gave Maggie the ‘behave’ look. She motioned for Abby to come over
and I waved as she approached.

"Hi." She said meekly.

"You look fantastic" I praised
her in her tiny, little dress. She smiled and smoothed herself out.

"Viola and Maggie got it for
me." She smiled at me.

"We still have plenty of shopping
to do." Maggie gushed. "We haven’t gotten your room set up yet."
The excitement in Maggie’s voice was undeniable.

"Lilli!" My head snapped up to
my mother’s voice.

"Mom?!" I put my arms out and
she moved to me quickly.

"Oh, baby, you look
fantastic." She smiled at me and rubbed my belly.

"You never said whether you were
coming or not." I slightly lectured.

"Well, I’m here." She put her
arms up in the air like she had a spotlight on her. I smiled and kissed her
cheek.

"Lilli." Viola walked over
smiling and placing her arm over Abby’s shoulders.

"Viola, I am so excited about Abby.
I hadn’t heard that you had made any final decisions." I smiled.

"It was a little sudden. When Abby
finally called to talk to me about everything, well, it just felt right."
She squeezed Abby’s shoulders and kissed the top of her head.

After greeting a few more people, I
really had to sit down. I was seated at the head of the room like Elora had
been. I finally took a second to look atound, there were swan decorations
everywhere. It was done tastefully, but I still had to fight an eye roll when I
saw the swan ice sculpture. Clearly, it was Viola’s decision to chill the
mimosas that were being made.

When it came time for the gifts, I
called Maggie, Phoebe, Celia and Abby up to the front with me as my official
gift unwrapperers. There was just too much.

"My god, you were right." I
whispered to Viola who was seated to the back left of me. "They all are
competing for best gift." I heard my mother laugh on the other side of me.

"I told you." Viola
practically sang out.

"Just wait till you get to the big
stuff." Viola’s voice had taken on that familiar naughty tone and I could
only imagine what would come out of her mouth today.

I received three double strollers, two
single strollers, bassinets, highchairs, clothes, shoes, towels, organic
designer baby washes, bibs, a year’s supply of diapers, silver spoons, silver
forks, a silver pacifier, jewelry for the babies, baby swings, designer diaper
bags, designer luggage for the babies, a daddy diaper bag (manly style included)…it
just went on and on.

When we got to Viola and Liam’s gift, I was
relieved that it was simply an envelope. I opened the envelope and there was a
donation to the children’s home in honor of the Iverson Twins and a spa package
for me for after the babies arrived. I smiled and kissed Viola’s cheek.

Henry and Anne had bought two cradle
swings, which were actually really cool and, clearly, very expensive. The
bassinet part of the swing hung from a moon shaped base and the cradle part
would hug the baby as if it were being swaddled. I had learned from the Lamaze
classes that swaddling was good. Very good.

I got to my mother’s gift and slowly
opened the box. Inside were my baby booties and bonnet. I turned to her with
tears in my eyes.

"Thank you!" She moved forward
and hugged me tightly. "We have Aidan’s and now I can use mine too."
I kissed her cheek heavily.

"We brought you home in those."
She wiped tears from her eyes, mimicking my own actions.

I took a deep breath when I saw the
amount of gifts that were still waiting on me. Looking over to my side, I saw
Maggie and Abby throwing wrapping paper at each other and laughing. I started
laughing too.

All of a sudden, a familiar pain tore
through my back. It was the same pain I had been feeling when I was put on bed
rest, only this time I was sitting in a puddle of water.

Chapter Six
Double Delivery
Lilli

"Lilli?" Viola’s hand landed
on my shoulder.

"Lilli, baby?!" My mother was
on the other side of me.

I groaned out and held my stomach.

"Car, now."

"Oh, dear!" I could hear Aunt
Anne exclaim.

"I’m calling Aidan." Elora
yelled as she put her phone to her ear.

"Car! Now!" I yelled, again.

"I got it!" Jay shouted from
behind me.

I panted through the sharp cramping. It
was the same, but it wasn’t. This time the pains wrapped around my abdomen and
I could feel the muscles tighten up my stomach. The pressure that was building
between my hip bones was the worst thing I had ever felt. I was waiting for
that moment when the creature would rip from my stomach, just like in the movie
‘Alien’.

The pain subsided and I took some deep
breaths. "Breath in." deep breathe, "Breath out." deep breathe.
Viola was taking the panting breathes with me, helping to coach me through.

"Whoa." She stopped and
grabbed the table next to us. "I’m getting dizzy." She giggled out.

I was about to giggle with her when the
next pain ripped through my lower back, wrapping me in its torturous hug.

"Oh God!" I groaned out in
pain. "I’m going to kill Becca." I growled, "and then I am going
to kill Aidan!" I panted heavily. "Fuck!" My hand was clutching
my stomach.

"The car is here." Jay
appeared and went to pick me up.

"Don’t touch me!" I shouted
and he jumped back. "Oh god, oh god…" the pain was so intense that I
prayed I would pass out.

"Isn’t ‘Oh God’ what got you into
this trouble?" Viola giggled out. I groaned.

"Lilli, we need to get you to the
car." Celia said sternly as Jay was slowly making his move to pick me up.
The pain subsided and I nodded. He lifted me and we moved to the car.

Two nurses helped me into a wheelchair
when we arrived to the hospital. Viola and my mother were moving along side of
me. After Viola tripped in her heels for the second time, she shouted ‘fucking
shoes’ and kicked them off. I laughed through the panting. It was just too damn
funny.

I was settled into a private room and
hooked up to all the monitors.

"Well, Mrs. Iverson, your
contractions are very close and they are at a very nice strength." The
doctor looked over my chart and the contraction monitor.

"Nice? Does it look like they’re
are nice? This is like a curse from the Devil himself…" I exclaimed.

Aidan burst into the room.

"And speak of the Devil…"
Viola snorted out.

"Lilli, are you okay?" He
panted.

"Do I look like I’m…..OKAY?" I
groaned and started panting.

"Okay…uh…breathe. In and out, in
and out…" Aidan tried to coach.

"If you puff one more breath in my
face, I swear to God that I will strangle you with one of these fucking wires
that are attached to me!" I threatened and then breathed through the
contraction.

"I’m sorry, love." He rubbed
my arm lightly.

"Lilli, another one is coming,
baby. Get ready." My mother was watching the monitor.

I took a deep breath and panted through
the pain.

"Someone get me drugs!" I
whined, loudly.

"Let’s check you out first and see
how you are progressing." The doctor stood next to the bed and pushed back
one leg, earning a death glare from me. Then he did the very last thing I had wanted
him to do. He lightly pushed on my stomach and internally checked me. I
groaned. "I know it’s uncomfortable, I’m almost finished." He looked
down at me with genuine pity.

He pulled away.

"Well?" I asked with
anticipation.

"Mrs. Iverson, we are going to have
to hold off on the anesthesia."

"What?" Another pain hit and I
panted.

"I want you to breathe through this
one. With the next contraction, I want you to push.” My eyes widened.
"This baby is ready to get out." He smiled brightly. "Everyone
in their positions?"

The nurses came in and started setting
up for delivery. Aidan grabbed my hand and kissed my head as my mother grabbed
my other hand. Viola stood with her hands clasped together.

The next pain hit and I did as the
doctor has asked. "Good, very good. Push into your bottom." the
Doctor coached. Aidan helped me sit up a little and cheered me on.

"Oh my god, I see hair!" Viola
yelled. "Oh, wait…that just might be Lilli’s…no, it’s baby hair!"

"One more push, Lilli, then I want
you to hold it." I followed the doctor’s instructions.

"It’s a head! A tiny, little head!
Oh, Aidan, look!" Viola had moved closer to the end of the bed.

Aidan turned his head and looked down.
The expression on his face was of mixed feelings and I was way too distracted
with the pain to figure all of them out.

"Hold, Lilli, don’t push yet."

"But the pressure…" I whined,
trying to hold from pushing. "I have to get it out!"

"Okay…one small, easy, controlled
push."

I nodded and slowly pushed at the
pressure between my legs. Then I heard the cry.

"We have a baby boy." the
doctor announced as he laid the baby out on the cotton blanket lying across my
chest. My eyes filled with tears.

"Oh, baby, he is beautiful!"
My mother squeezed my hand tightly.

I felt Aidan’s lips against the side of
my head.

"Lilli, that was amazing." He
said in a hushed tone. "Thank you so much." He kissed me again.
"I love you so fucking much." His head rested against mine as we both
looked down on our son.

Aidan’s fingers caressed the babies
round pink cheek as he wailed. I began trying to calm him, but a nurse appeared,
taking him to do their routine checks.

Another wave of pressure came over me
and I looked quickly to the doctor.

He smiled up at me.

"It’s just the placenta." He
paused and moved around a bit before looking back up at me. "You did
great."

"What about the other baby?"
Viola questioned.

"It seems that baby number two
isn’t ready just yet." He chuckled and then looked up at me. "Get
some rest and we will see each other soon." He smiled as he stood to
leave.

"I don’t think that I can do that
again." I whined to my mother as I looked up at her.

"Yes you can, baby." She
smiled and kissed my forehead. "I’m going to go call your father and get
some pictures with my cell phone to send to him." I nodded and she left
the room.

The nurse brought my son to me and
placed him in my arms again. He had calmed down and was wrapped up tightly in a
light blue blanket. Aidan hovered over us with a large smile on his face.

Viola had moved to the side of the bed where
my mother had been standing. She had her cell phone out, taking pictures.

"I’m going to go out to the waiting
room and tell everyone." I nodded and she left Aidan and me alone.

"He is absolutely perfect."
Aidan breathed out.

I smiled brightly.

"Lilli, you are so amazing. Do you
know that?" His lips were on the side of my head again. "I couldn’t
even imagine what that pain was like." I felt him shudder.

"Don’t remind me." I groaned.
"I have to go through it again." I sighed and put my head back.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Aidan

I couldn’t keep my eyes off of her and
our son. He was perfect and she was amazing. I fought to keep back the tears
that were threatening to spill over my cheeks.

"I love you so much." I
couldn’t stop telling her and kissing her.

When I looked down and watched my son
being born, I had felt so much love, fear, excitement and amazement. This tiny
human was Lilli and I joined together. We shared a common bond. We were this
tiny person’s parents. We made him.