Our Lovely Baby Bump (7 page)

“Let’s move lower and see if we can tell what these two rascals are hiding from us,” Barbara said. “The cords look good and in no way tangled. That’s a good thing, even so I’m going to set a date for C-section at thirty-eight weeks after an amniocentesis to make sure their lungs are fully developed. I really don’t want to go any further than that and risk a placental abruption or prolapse.”

“So, in ten weeks?” John asked.

Barbara nodded. “That is correct, sir. And we can see baby genitals.”

“We can?” Charlie said with excitement. ‘What do you have?”

“Girls.” Barbara laughed. “I should have guessed when I didn’t see even a shadow of a penis.”

“Doctor, please,” John said with a slight wince but he was grinning. “I knew it—girls. Caleb and that Dr. Kendall owe me moolah.”

Charlie was laughing, too, as Barbara printed out the ultrasound pictures for them. They were going to have two identical little girls.

Charlie’s smiled waned a bit when she asked her next question. “Barbara, is it possible to perform the hysterectomy after my C-section?”

Barbara nodded. “Yes, after the babies are safely delivered we can put you under and complete the procedure. But Charlie, is that what you want? You could have more children…”

She and John were holding hands, and Charlie spoke with determination. “We discussed it, and I have his support. This is what I want to do. I want to grow old with my John, I want to see my girls grow up. If this gives me the chance, then I’m completely at peace my choice.”

“I’ll get the paperwork together for you to sign,” Barbara said with a soft smile.

They left after she signed the paperwork for her C-section and hysterectomy. She was sad she had to make the choice but thrilled with the girls nestled in her womb.  They were a blessing in itself.  Now they had ten weeks to prepare for their arrival. Later, after dinner and a call to Angel, they sat on the couch. Her back was against the arm of the chair and her feet in his lap where he used his big hands to massage them.  On the TV she was watching her Firefly DVD, and he was asking her questions about the Captain and his crew.

“What are we naming our girls?” she asked to get him off picking apart one of her favorite shows.

“Good question,” John said in excitement.

“I’d like to use my mother’s name somewhere,” Charlie said. “What about you?”

“I won’t curse one of my daughters with the name of the woman who left me with an abusive bastard so she could go off and have a life without us,” John replied. “I’d like to use Angel somewhere in there.”

Charlie smiled at him. “Me too.”

In the end they decided the names and made the plan not to reveal them until the babies were born.  John went back to dissecting Firefly, and she continued to eat her ice cream while he did.

“Tell them to stop kicking me,” he mumbled sleeping later on in bed. “Don’t make me come over there, girls.”

She was pressed up against his back while they were falling asleep and like every night it seemed the twins knew their daddy was close. They started moving and kicked strong enough that John could feel it.

She rubbed her belly. “Sssh, daddy is trying to sleep.”

The babies kept moving and John rolled over. “Okay, you made me turn over.”

Charlie laughed. “What are you going to do?”

“You’ll see.” He snuggled her close and began to rub his hand over the mound of her stomach. “Behave girls, let’s get some sleep.”

Charlie was surprised when the babies actually stopped moving, as if their father’s touch soothed them.

“How did you do that?” she asked, amazed.

He chuckled sleepily. “Daddy trick number one hundred and twenty.”

“What are tricks from one to one hundred and nineteen?”

“Ssssh, we’re sleeping,” John answered.

Charlie laughed, and with his hand resting on her stomach, she listened to his breathing as she drifted off to sleep.

The thirty-eighth week of her pregnancy came, and Charlie lay in the hospital bed waiting to go back for to the operating room for her C-section.  Her hair was pulled up in a surgical cap, and a warm blanket was over her legs. John stood next to her, and Caleb and Angel were there as well.  Charlie looked around at her friends, her family. She was bringing her girls into their world with such love from all of them.

“I want you to know the babies’ names,” she said suddenly.

John looked at her curiously. “I thought you wanted to wait?”

Charlie took his hand. “Their Aunt Angel and Uncle Caleb should know what to call them when they arrive.”

“Yes, we should,” Angel said. “Shut up, John, it’s been killing me for weeks to know what you guys picked.”

“Baby one will be Madeline Allison Greyward,” Charlie said. Allison was her mother’s name.

“Baby two will be Marissa Angelica Greyward,” John said with a grin.

“Oh, I get a baby girl named after me!” Angel ran over and hugged John and then bent down to hug and kiss Charlie. “I’m so excited to see them both, to hold them and smell their baby heads.”

“I didn’t get a baby named after me,” Caleb grumbled good-naturedly.

“Caleb as a girl name doesn’t work, my man,” John pointed out.

Barbara walked in dressed in her surgical scrubs. “Are we ready to have some babies?”

Charlie nodded. “After the needle to the belly for the amnio test, I’m ready for anything.”

“John, are you going to be okay in there?” Caleb teased.

“I get to sit down, so bite me dude,” John said cheerfully.

“Then here we go,” Barbara said. ‘The nurse is coming in to wheel you back, and we’re going to get you prepped. You’ll get an IV and the epidural. After the babies are out you get to kiss them, and then we’ll put you to sleep for the next part.”

“Okay, I’m ready.”

“I’ll see you in there.” John kissed her gently.

After a good luck kiss from Caleb and Angel she was wheeled out. Charlie took a deep breath and suddenly felt emotional and teary. This was it, the beginning of a life with her babies and the end of being able to conceive. She knew there were women out there who didn’t even get a chance to have this part in their lives. Infertility could steal that from any woman, and she at least had a chance to carry her twins.  In the surgical suite she hugged a pillow while the anesthesiologist gave her the epidural then ran her IV. She was lying on the table and draped by the time John came in. Even covered in scrubs and with a mask on she could see the pale pallor to his face.

“Sit on the stool, honey,” she encouraged.

“John, sit right there by her head and make sure she’s comfortable while we work down here,” Barbara said. “You don’t have to see anything you don’t think you can handle.”

“I’ll handle it,” John said firmly. “She’s doing all the hard work.”

“Okay,” Barbara said cheerfully. “Charlie, do you feel anything I’m doing?”

“No, what are you doing? Have you started?” Charlie asked in alarm.

“No, we’re testing to make sure you’re completely numb,” the nurse said gently. “Now we’re about to start.”

Charlie lay on the table, hardly daring to breathe she was so nervous. She felt gentle tugging and then a soft wail that made her gasp. Her tears began to flow.

“We have baby girl number one,” Barbara said jovially.  “Look at her, dad.”

“Holy shit, I have a daughter!” John said in excitement. “A very gooey looking daughter, oh God.”

When Barbara held the baby up for Charlie to see she laughed through her tears.

“Hi Madeline, hey baby,” she said gently.

Barbara passed the baby to the nurse and went back to work. Soon Charlie heard another cry, and the tears started again.

“Baby number two,” Barbara announced.

John pressed a kiss to Charlie’s head. “Baby number two, our Marissa.”

When the babies were cleaned up and wrapped in delivering blankets, the nurse brought one girl for John to hold while she let Charlie press a kiss to her sister’s cheek. She repeated the process so that Charlie got to feel the soft skin of each of her daughters.

“Greyward girl number one, six pounds four ounces, Greyward girl number two is six pounds two ounces,” the nurse said.

“Congratulations, mom and dad,” Barbara said “I’m very proud to be the doctor and friend to deliver your twins.”

“Thank you Barbara, thank you so much,” Charlie said.

“It’s time for the other part of the surgery,” Barbara said gently. “Are you sure, Charlie?”

Charlie nodded. “I’m sure. John, go with our girls, make sure they don’t lose them.”

“They won’t, I promise,” John said. “Baby, I love you, I love you so much.”

“I love you, too,” Charlie said.

“You’re going to go to sleep now,” Barbara said and nodded to the anesthesiologist.

Charlie felt the warmth of the medication in her veins and the fuzziness that took over her consciousness. Her last thought was of her two little girls and how she’d get to hold them soon when she woke up.

It felt as no time passed at all when she opened her eyes, and she was resting in a warm, inviting room.  The blinds were open to a sunset and the orange-pink glow before twilight. John sat in the chair close by, and this time he was playing with her hand while she slept.

“Hey, sweetheart,” he said huskily.

“Have I been asleep long?” Her voice was raspy from lack of use. “The girls, where are they?”

“In the nursery, calm down,” John said with a hint of humor in his voice. “Angel and Caleb stopped by to see you and then peeked at the babies before going home. They’ll come see you all tomorrow.”

“Who are all the flowers and balloons from?” she asked.

“From them and from me, mostly me,” John answered sheepishly.  “I’m deliriously happy, and I was worried at the same time. I think I bought every bear in the gift shop.”

Charlie smiled. “Thank you, honey.”

“How do you feel?” John asked gently.

“Empty,” she replied honestly. Tears threatened as she rubbed her stomach. “They’re not in there anymore, and I kinda miss having them to myself.”

“Barbara said that you’d be numb for a little bit, but you can take Tylenol or something like that for pain.” John kissed her hand. “She knew you wanted to breastfeed. Sweetheart, they’re here now, you can hold and them kiss them and rock them to sleep.”

“There’s nothing in there at all… am I less of a woman?” Charlie asked, suddenly afraid she made the wrong choice.

John frowned. “I don’t ever want to hear you say that again, understand me?  Charlie, you made one of the hardest decisions any woman could make.  You are brave for that, and you are my shero.”

“Shero?” Charlie grinned. “I like that word.”

“We’ll put it on a T-shirt,” John replied. “So, how about I get the nursery to bring our babies in so you can finally hold them?”

“I’d like that, a lot,” Charlie said with excitement in her voice.

An hour later she was holding both of her girls in her arms and looking down at their sleeping faces.  They had pink hats and the small bracelets they had made so they could differentiate baby one Madeline and baby two Marissa. She laughed when Marissa yawned and Madeline followed. John took one of the girls, and Charlie raised Marissa gently and pressed a kiss on her head.

“Welcome into the world, my two precious children,” Charlie said.

Charlie embraced the joy she was feeling. She was a mother, and John met her gaze with a smile of his own. She shared them with the most amazing man in the world.

* * * *

Madeline and Marissa were two months old and growing in leaps and bounds.  She and John could already tell them apart, while Angel and Caleb were still going with the color dot system they’d come up with.  Madeline had a red dot embroidered onto her clothes, and Marissa had a pink one. It was usually on socks or hats, something easy, but if they were wearing neither, you couldn’t tell them apart.  Along with healing from her C-section and surgery, they learned how to be parents to two newborns instead of one. There was the sleepless nights were John paced with one baby girl while she nursed the other, and vice versa. They caught sleep where they could until they all found a routine and the girls finally got on a schedule.

After two months Angel and Caleb got to babysit their nieces, and John took her out on the town. His version of date night was for them to leave at five that afternoon and drive toward Peachtree Avenue and a fabulous restaurant.  Crystal lights littered the trees outside like stars, and a valet attendant parked the car while they were escorted inside.  The ambiance was warm and rich with polished woods and plush burgundy suede in the booths.  The waiter was dressed in crisp back and white, and a bucket next to the table held a bottle of champagne.

“Wow, champagne?” Charlie said with a smile. “What’s the occasion?”

“Our first time out of the house since the girls have been home,” John reminded her. “We don’t have spit up on our shoulder, and I actually have a shirt with buttons on since half the time we can only pull on something quick.”

“Good point, you had on my Thor shirt yesterday,” she laughed.

“Thank God you sleep in a man’s size. If not I’d have strangled myself,” John teased.

“It wouldn’t have gotten past your forearm,” Charlie teased.

“Here’s to us.” John tilted his glass towards hers and it clinked.

“And since I’m not breastfeeding anymore I can have this,” Charlie said.

In actuality she would’ve breastfed longer if she could, but her milk supply had depleted and trying to nourish two children from her breasts was difficult.  Their pediatrician told her she could supplement with formula, and when she stopped lactating the girls were already accustomed to being bottle fed.

They looked through the menu and shared an appetizer and then dined on steak and sautéed mushrooms with shoe string potatoes. While she loved their daughters and John did too, it was nice to find their way back to each other for a moment and reconnect as a couple.

“I ordered dessert when I made the reservations,” John said and waved their waiter over to the table.

He placed two slices of crème brulee cheesecake with fresh fruit on the table. Hers had a special surprise in the center, and it glinted from the light that came from the chandelier.  The diamond was amazing in a platinum setting.
I’m being proposed
to
, Charlie thought breathlessly.

“Nothing to say?” John asked quietly.

“My cheesecake is glittering at me?” Charlie said.

“Yes, it is.” John chuckled. “It’s saying marry me.”

“My cheesecake is, or you are?” Charlie asked.

“I am.” He took the ring from the dessert and wiped it clean before taking her hand and placing it on her finger. “I love you and our family. Let’s make it last forever.  Be to our kids what we never had in our lives.”

“I love you too,” she whispered and wiped a tear away. “You have this knack of being so sweet you make me cry.”

“Is that a yes?” John asked.

“You bet your life, you’re never getting rid of me,” Charlie promised.

John stood and leaned over the table and took her lips in a kiss that reminded her exactly how much passion he could illicit in her body. After they paid the check and took their leftovers to the car, he drove home holding her hand all the way.

In the driveway of their townhouse he turned to her. “What do you want to do now?”

“Have my fiancée kiss me good night,” Charlie said with a sexy smile. “Maybe I’ll even make out with you in the car.”

“Oh hell, yeah,” John murmured.

She pressed her body close to his as their lips met and clung together. The passion that always simmered between them burst free from the dam they’d kept restrained for the last few months of her pregnancy and while she was healing. Taking care of two new baby girls didn’t leave much time for romance. So before they went inside they shared a taste of the sexual attraction that simmered within them.

“Maybe later, when we get the girls down, I’ll show you how happy I am,” Charlie murmured against his lips.

“I like that idea. By the way, our babysitters are blinking the lights like we’re teenagers,” John pointed out.

Sure enough, when she peeked, Angel and Caleb were standing at the window grinning like lunatics and flickering the lights.

“Well then, let’s pretend we didn’t see them,” Charlie laughed. “We’ll pretend the flickering lights are the strobes at the club.”

She twined her arms around John’s neck and deepened their kiss.  Heck, this was going to be her husband sooner rather than later. She was going to enjoy the perks of being in love for the first time in her life. It felt like perfection.

The End