“Everything’s going great!” I announced to my parents.
“Oh Taylor we’re so proud of Clare and you both!” My mother exclaimed.
“How much longer do you think it will be?” My father asked. He was on the second extension on the house line.
“The doctor said it shouldn’t be long. We’ve already been here for two hours and her contractions are starting to come quickly.”
“Taylor the second you are holding your babies I want you to call!” My mother begged.
“Diana let the kid have time with his children,” my dad said.
“Oh I know that!” My mother shot back. “But Taylor, please I want to know everything about them.”
“All right,” I promised.
“Where are Clare’s parents?” Dad questioned
“With Zoë and Anya,” I told him. “They went straight over to my house the second I called them, about the time we got the hospital and I was kicked out of the room.”
“Is she in the delivery room yet?” Mom asked.
“No, not yet,” I informed her.
“Excuse me, Mr. Hanson?” A female voice said from behind me.
“Hold on,” I said into the phone. I turned around.
“Your wife is being moved to the delivery room,” the nurse told me.
I smiled brightly. “Thank you!” I told her. “Mom! You are magic!” I exclaimed to my parents. “Clare is being brought into the delivery room right now! I have to go!” I hung up the phone and dashed towards the room that Clare was being wheeled out of. I held the required surgical mask over my mouth and nose and grabbed her hand. “I’m here, Clare,” I said. She smiled at me through gritted teeth. “You’re so beautiful.”
I rushed along side my wife, stopping outside of the delivery room to tie the mask around my face, then rushing back to her side. A nurse pulled out a chair for me but I didn’t sit in it. Instead I held on to my wife’s hand and stroked her wet hair with my other hand. After each contraction was finished I kissed her warm forehead. “You’re doing great,” I encouraged.
“What no video camera?” She joked breathlessly.
“I forgot it at home,” I said with a laugh. The grip on my hand tightened as another contraction started. The sweat ran down her face as she leaned forward in the bed. I beamed with the realization that in less than an hour I would probably be holding two angels in my arms. I touched the ends of her hair gently. She lay back in the bed breathing heavily. “Not too long now,” I said with a smile. I leaned over, untied the mask briefly, and kissed her lips. She jerked forward knocking me out of the way, throwing her arm across her stomach automatically.
“This could be the start,” Clare’s nurse exclaimed. She rushed over and examined her quickly. “I’ll get the doctor.”
“This is it,” I told my wife excitedly. “No turning back now.” She glared at me. I bit my lower lip and told myself to be quiet. Clare shot forward again just as the doctor ran in.
“I hear we’re ready to have a baby,” Dr. Boyle said happily. She folded the blanket up over my wife’s knees and she smiled at me, “or babies as I should say.” I laughed and sandwiched Clare’s tiny hand in-between mine. “Oo yeah,” the doctor said. “We’re going to crown here any minute.”
I turned my attention towards my wife. “Here that?” I said. “Any minute now.”
Clare jerked forward again. She glared at me, her eyes glazed over. “Shut up, Taylor.” She gripped my hand tighter as another contraction came.
“Don’t push,” the doctor warned. “OK- now.”
Clare moaned and held her death grip on my hand. I squeezed my muscles together so she could grip as hard as she wanted and not hurt me too badly. She leaned forward, more sweat pouring down her face. “I hate you,” she snapped at me through clenched teeth.
“Crowning,” the doctor announced.
“You did this to me,” Clare accused. “I hate you-” My wife moaned in pain.
I knew enough not to take her words seriously. We had been through two child births already but neither time did she tell me that she hated me for impregnating her. This one must have hurt really badly.
“Stop pushing,” the doctor instructed. “I’ve got the shoulders.” I kissed Clare’s forehead and waited for the announcement. “Baby One is out!” Dr. Boyle exclaimed happily. “Congratulations, Baby One is a girl!”
“Hear that?” I asked my wife, pulling down my mask and kissing her shiny cheek. “A girl!” Clare nodded quickly and relaxed for a brief moment before her body pushed her forward again. I heard a small cry at the bottom of the room. “That’s our baby!” I exclaimed to my wife. “That’s our baby girl!” I looked towards the doctor at the bottom of my wife’s bed. “Where’s the other?” I asked naively.
Dr. Boyle rose and pushed her hand into my wife’s belly. She didn’t look as happy as she was a moment ago. “Beth,” she called for the nurse.
“What’s wrong?” I asked standing up. “What’s the matter?”
Clare pulled on my arm. “Taylor, what’s going on?” She asked drowsily. I looked down at my wife. “Why is my other baby still inside? Why do I feel it moving?”
“Mrs. Hanson it seems as though Baby Two is sideways,” Beth explained to my wife. I got back down to my wife’s level and we gripped hands. “It must have not turned all the way during the birth of the other. The doctor is going to turn it manually.” She handed me a form. “We just need you to sign it so we can give your wife drugs to slow her contractions.” I let go of my wife’s hand just long enough to grab the pen from the nurse and signed the form quickly. Beth injected a fluid into the IV line and moments later the doctor was standing back up with one hand under the blanket and one hand on Clare’s stomach.
Clare starred at the ceiling and bit her lip. I leaned close to her face so she could have something to focus on. “It is going to be all right,” I assured her. The first child was getting tagged and washed by a nurse in the corner of the room. The baby wailed and took in her first gulps of air. “Listen to that,” I said running my cool fingers across her warm cheek. “Our baby girl.”
She reached up and touched my hair. “I love you,” she said holding a lock of it. “I didn’t mean what I said before, I love you.”
“I love you, too,” I said bringing her fingers up to my lips. “Every part of you.” Clare winced but did not move from her position laying down on the bed.
“Clare, you’re doing great,” Dr. Boyle praised. I glanced down at the doctor. She took her hand off my wife’s stomach and put both under the blanket. A smile spread across her face. “Congratulations,” she said slowly. “It’s a girl.”
Clare started crying. I hugged her tightly as I heard the second baby join in with the first baby’s crying. I kissed my wife’s face all over and finally sat down in the chair that was brought out for me. I hadn’t even noticed that I was shaking until I sat down and noticed my legs moving up and down nervously. My heart was beating loudly in my ears. I reached under the green hospital scrubs, located my pocket and downed two of my heart pills with no water.
“Baby One,” Beth said placing the tiny human into Clare’s arms.
“And Baby Two,” the other nurse said sliding her into my waiting arms.
I supported the tiny child’s head with my left hand and her bottom with the other. “My hand is bigger than her head,” I exclaimed. I got down of the floor and leaned close to Clare, holding the child to both of us.
“Clare, I’m going to finish up down here, all right?” The doctor said. “Then you can put your legs down.”
My wife nodded but didn’t care what the doctor was saying or doing to her. “She’s beautiful!”
“Which she?” I asked.
“Both shes!” Clare exclaimed. A tear slid down her wet cheek. “Hey babies,” Clare said to the two silent children, looking at them both. She kissed their tiny foreheads. “I’m your Mommy.” The doctor folded the blanket down over Clare’s knees indicating that she was finished. “That man right there,” my wife said pointing at me, “is the only man who will love you as much as your own husbands will.” I nodded and cradled Baby Two in my right arm. “That man is your Daddy.” Clare leaned over and slid Baby One into my left arm. I supported her head with my hand and held both of my babies in my arms.
“Look at her eyes!” I commented when Baby One opened her small eyelids. Her fist was flying in there air. I caught it with my lips. “So tiny!” I exclaimed. “Even Anya wasn’t this tiny.”
“Twins are often tinier than single-born babies,” Beth said.
I nodded but didn’t take my eyes off Baby One until I turned to her sister. I kissed her small nose. “Look at them,” I beamed with pride.
“Ten fingers and ten toes each,” Dr. Boyle said. “Perfectly healthy heartbeats.”
“Would you like me to call anyone, Mr. and Mrs. Hanson?” The second nurse asked.
“Our parents,” I responded unable to take my eyes off the life in my arms. “The ones in NY at our house and the ones in Tulsa. Do you need the numbers?”
“The numbers are on the forms,” Dr. Boyle assured me. “We’ll leave you four alone now for about ten minutes.” I nodded and heard the door close tightly.
“What are we going to name them?” I asked my wife. I held the children so she could see them.
Clare smiled and touched Baby One as she spoke. “Lorelai Taylor,” she said. I grinned. She put her hand on Baby Two’s stomach, “Cristanthee Rose, because God helped bring her to us.” Another tear fell down her cheek as she began to cry in happiness. “Do you like those names?”
“I love them,” I told her. “Hey Lorelai!” I smiled at the baby. “Hey Crisanthee!” Both girls were starting to pucker their lips. I looked over at Clare. “Hon, they want their Mommy.” I sat down on the edge of the bed next to my wife’s legs. “They’re hungry.”
“Taylor, how are we going to manage this?” Clare asked, sitting up straighter against her pillow.
“The same way we handled the other two,” I confirmed. I put Crisanthee in Clare’s arms and undid the strings on my wife’s hospital gown with my free hand. “Lots of love, split shifts, and sleepless nights.”