Talented Tiny Little Geniuses
Cristina adapts to the changes in her life especially to her new role. For the first months, it was not easy. Not easy. There are moments that when Theo cant stop crying, she also cries in horizon with her child and Owen is responsible for calming them down.
Owen came home, very tired, he had an 8 hour surgery and eagerly went ahead to the room to sleep.
He saw Cristiina and Theo both asleep on their bed. He is grateful that even if Cristina may have tantrums and mood swings sometimes, he was able to deal with it with his most deep understanding and also with the help of his mother and Meredith. They always remind him to empathize Cristina's situation since everything is new to her and she needs time to be used to this changes, having a child.
As he change to his pajamas and shirt, he gently moved Theo to place him in his cot , Theo whimpers and slightly moved, Owen was worried he might wake him up so he didnt bother to move him anyway. He look at his wife and son, lay beside them until he fell asleep, tired but contented of the last picture he saw before he enter his dream state.
It is 4am, Cristina woke up, she gently moved Theo on his sleeping cot and then went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. She notice that Owen was already beside them asleep, obviously looks tired.
As she goes back to their room and about to sleep again, a high pitch cry resonates the master bedroom
***This scene happened on the actual show, Greys Anatomy Season 10 Episode 17***
Cristina stands up and then sits on the bottom part of bed facing her child's Crib, Theo is crying, he is in a bad mood, he moves his hands and legs and seems like protesting. Owen suddenly wakes up, knowing her husband is tired ...Cristina does not want to disturb him
When Owen is about to get up, Cristina touches his hands and said:
Cristina : Oh, go back to sleep. I got this.
So Owen, not fully awakened, goes back to sleep. Cristina stares at her crying child, she frowned then looks up to the window of a dark sky then looks down to her son again. Still sitting, She carried Theo away from the crib then slowly pat his back to calm him down. She is still frowning and irritated of her son cries.
Owen cant sleep, he can still hear Theo's wail all over the room. He is staring at the back of his wife, obviously rocking their child to calm him. By her movements and in still sitting position, She knows Cristina is in a bad mood again and he can also hear her sobs.
Cristina: What do you want? Why are you crying? Your diaper is not wet, you didnt poop. You dont want to be fed .. What do you want?
Owen gets up and sit besides her wife.
Owen: Come on, Honey, It is okay. I will take him, go to the bathroom and try to freshen up. You also looks tired.
Cristina didnt protest, she went to the bathroom and washes her face – she looks at herself in the mirror, and talks to her reflection, what kind of a mother are you? You easily give up, you weep when your child cries, you have a short temper when he is in a bad mood, You must know how to take care of your kid. You must not cry and pull off your mood swings with him. You are more than that, Cristina Yang. Dont be so childish, You are the mother, not the baby for godsake. Pull yourself together. Okay? She breathes in and out deeply then went back to their bedroom.
Owen patiently carry his child and tried to calm him down, while Cristina is the bathroom. He sits then stands up, then walk over the room but Theo sill didnt stop Crying.
Cristina : I'll take him. You go, sleep.
Owen gave Theo to Cristina.
Cristina : I think he cried because i moved him to his crib. He does not feel comfortable, maybe he wants to sleep with us in the bed.
Owen: I wont sleep, until he is not asleep.
Cristina: I think i know what to do, let me try.
Cristina held up her child then embrace him and kisses his forehead, she caressed his back slowly with her hand. She is relaxed and calm, after few minutes. Theo calms down too. Owen watches her wife, this is good he says in his mind, she is not agitated.
Cristina moves to her side of the bed, still holding her son of course. She slowly sits then straigthen her legs to the mattress, not fully in laying position since her head and upper body slantly rest from the headboard - she carefully place Theo on her chest, The baby is now sleeping on his stomach and looks peaceful on his position. She is humming a lullaby while caressing Theo's back she smiled, she find this scenario amusing. She uttered, " He is like his father" then smiled at Owen who is still looking at her, she remembers the same moment when she helped him calm down from his panic attack, same position in fact. Sometimes, DNA is a funny thing.
Owen: You are very smart and a natural. You soothe him and now he looks so peaceful. You are relaxed so now he feels relaxed too.
Cristina: Yes maybe the mother instincts inside me just woke up too.. so it acted naturally.
Owen: It is you, darling. You are very great. I am kinda jealous of Theo now, he had the chance to sleep on your chest and i do not. *laughs*
Cristina: Ohh, what a baby. *laughs, her free hand pats her side of the bed, asking Owen to lay beside her* Come here. You need to sleep, you look exhausted than I am.
Owen lay beside her then Cristina also touches his back, like what she was doing with Theo. There she was, a wife and a mother, her talented hands is working with it soothing magic, massaging their backs and making her men relaxed and peacefully asleep, she is a natural afterall. She is savoring this moment because in few weeks she will be able to come back to work and her hands will be able to do what it used to do – to CUT.
Theo is now 6 months old. Cristina and Owen are juggling with their schedule for them to have a time for their son. They are grateful of Owen's mother who is always their to help them with Theo, until he can be left on the daycare while his parents are at work.
Owen is busy as a the Chief of Surgery and Cristina for her another baby, her trial. She is grateful that Ross took over on her behalf when she was in maternity leave.
Cristina, still being a surgeon and a competitive nerd, is struggling of her trial, she is still managing on lack of printers for her conduits.
Cristina looks at her phone, she finds the picture of the first baby where her first successful printed conduit was implanted – Baby Nathan. His smile on that picture, still looks miraculous for Cristina, at first she finds it annoying but now she is a mother, she views it in a different perspective. She scrolled down her gallery and looks at the picture of another baby – the new one, not her patient but her son, her new inspiration for all of this. She was grateful of Owen, who understands her passion to her work, he fully supported her throughout the 2nd phase of her trial, he even helped her by endorsing to the board the need of printers for the research facility of Grey Sloan.
She is in her lab, now with 3 printers, having a meeting with Ross and her two bioengineers for the new material they will used for the conduit that they will be printing tonight. At first, she was hesitant of hiring bioengineers for her trial, but they would help to lighten her workload, for to be with her son and husband during the end of her shift.
They just started printing, when her pager beeps, its from Arizona \\ Pediatric Wing. She immediately thought it was one of her patient for her trial so she hurriedly went to the pediatric wing with Shane to check if there are complications with the conduit they have just implanted to a toddler.
She came into the pediatric wing but surprised to see Arizona checking not a patient but her son, THEO!
Cristina was shocked and so as Ross, she immediately moves besides the nurse and Arizona.
Cristina: Oh my god. What happened to him?
Theo is frantically crying, he has swollen eyes and he seems so irritated. He looks really sick.
Arizona: I think it's Baby's Flu but it can only be confirmed once we had the test results. He has sore throat and dry cough. The day care attendant notice he is irritable so she manage to tell Owen and hand him Theo, he knows that you are in surgery for your trial so he ask me instead. He was here earlier but got paged down the pit. I am checking him up for you, guys. I know that you wouldnt easily trust anyone to attend him, so i think i'll be responsible until you are done. I know you both are busy people... and i am trying to calm him down but i am not doing well .. obviously..so i paged you.
Cristina: Thank you, Arizona. *she looks at Ross* Can you tell the guys what we have talked about then I'll call you once Theo is fine.
Ross: Sure, Dr. Yang. I'll be glad to take over for the meantime until your son is well. I fully understand.
Cristina: Thank you. Come back when there is a problem or if there are results but go check our patient first to do post op. Okay?
Ross: Yes, Dr. Yang.
Arizona handed Theo to Cristina. She hugs her child and calm him down. Theo curled up and his whimpers soften until he felt safe on his mother's arms. Cristina can feel how warm he is, and knows he have a fever.
Arizona: I think we better admit him overnight for observation. You know that his temperature needs to subside. I would recommend that he would take acetaminophen for pain relief since he is so uncomfortable. I paged Owen as well, so he'll know that you are with Theo. And uhmm. He is 6 months right? i also highly advised for Owen and you to talk about giving him the flu vaccine.
Cristina: Oh right. Sorry. Thank you for taking care of him, Arizona. I appreciate it.
Arizona: No problem, Cristina. Im glad to help.
Cristina felt guilt to see her child, really sick, because of being focused for the major surgery she has done earlier , she missed the possibility of her son being unwell and now he has baby flu. She made a mistake and blames herself for being irresponsible. She and Owen are doctors and used on this kind of situation, but it really feels different when it involves your own child.
Owen came in on the hospital room where Theo is admitted. He saw Cristina asleep on the couch beside the bed, he gently put his hands on her cheeks for her to wake up.
Owen: hey there. Is he okay? How's your surgery?
Cristina: He is fine, he still have a fever but i am hoping it will subsides soon. As for the surgery, i was able to successfully implant the conduit again but i asked Ross to take over for a while again since Theo is not well... Owen? Why did this happen to him? I told you im a bad mother.. see? He is sick because im not good enough on this role, I wish im just her doctor.. but im not.. im his mother, Im nervous something else will happen, thank god the result only shows Flu. What if its pneumonia? Or much worse? How can we handle that?
Owen: Cristina, this is a part of being parents. We made mistakes and we learn, i told you that the first time we met right? There is no manual for this,everything is unpredictable and for a child like him, sickness is inevitable.
Cristina: I know.. but see?I manage to be hyperfocused on my work and forgot about our son. I even asked the interns or residents to look for him when I cant. Im not good enough. Maybe he catches the flu from them, or from the day care?
Owen : Cristina..*still thinking how he will uplift her mood and calm her down again* We will take care of him here, He will be fine. Okay, he will be fine. We will need more time for him, i made a mistake too. I allow ourselves to be like this...
He was cut off by Cristina, who looks infuriated of what he just said.
Cristina: Wait. Are you saying that I should stop my trial or be a part time doctor or something?
Owen: oh.. cristina. Please can we not.. start a fight? Theo is sick and we should be looking for him...I dont blame you for being a surgeon and continuing your trial. Im just saying , our son needs us. He will be more protected when we are around. We should change our approach, for him to be better. Okay?
He hugs Cristina to avoid more argument. Cristina cried and hugs Owen back.
Owen: I told you, you are a natural. You are worried for our son that's why you are saying all this, you have the right to be this anxious.
Owen also felt changes with Cristina. She was more hands-on and spend time reading medical journals and researching on her laptop on Theo's room rather than her research lab. She even asked Ross to do the consult of their trial to Theo's room. But whenever she needs to see the scans, she will bring Theo with her.
After 3 days, Theo seems so well , despite of this, Cristina became cautious and only trusted few people to hold her son. She even ask the day care attendants to sanitize themselves whenever she needs to leave Theo in the daycare.
Meredith notice the difference of the pre-mother Cristina to the mother Cristina and she was really glad she was able to witness this.
She went to the attendings lounge and finds Cristina and Theo there.
1 year old Theo lays on his blanket in the couch and Cristina is putting on his son's shoes. She is tickling him on his belly and the child let out a laugh along with his mother.
Cristina: let's whose feet is ticklish *tickles Theo's right foot then puts on his shoes*.. let's see whose neck is ticklish *kisses Theo's neck and cheeks*
Theo is laughing so hard and Cristina is hugging her and kisses her son's face. This is lovely picture to see Meredith said on her mind. Cristina looks up and saw Meredtih staring at them, she assisted Theo to sit up on her lap while she folded the blanket and put it on their bags.
Cristina: Oh hello Mer? Shift over?
Meredith: Yeah, just need to change and i'll go home to have that tickling time with my babies.. It's fun to look at really! Anyway,
Cristina: *laughs* Yeah, especially when your kids smells so nice.
Meredith: True! Anyway, Why are you still here? Why dont you go home early with Theo instead of staying here?
Cristina: We are just waiting for Owen, he will go down in few minutes.
Meredith: Great! Uhmm...So how's your trial?
Cristina: Fine, i guess. I'm mastering time management for working for my patients, looking for funding , thinking of plan B to Z and for him – *stares at Theo* We are in few more steps to the third phase and we are just finalizing everything for the presentation happening in few weeks
Meredith: That's good news. I'm happy for you. You are managing it well.
Cristina: Yeah, i need to do the right thing? I must... because I chose this.
Meredith obviously knows that her friend is upset. She's thinking of a way how can she boost her mood.
Meredith : You are Cristina Yang! Of course, you are doing the right thing! And you are great! Some kind of weird sometimes, but great.
Cristina: oh now.. im weird? Im being a mother here.
Meredith: I know, you dont have to explain yourself to me. Anyway, would you like to have some quality time with me and the kids? We can go to the park and mall tomorrow?
Cristina: Let me just check my schedule *scroll down on her phone's calendar* Yeah, good thing Im free tomorrow starts at 1pm i guess. I need to go back here tomorrow morning for my trial but yeah im good to go after that.
Meredith: Good then, the kids can play at the park then we can sit at the benches to talk.
Cristina: Find then. I need some air somewhere.
Then Owen came to fetch his wife and son.
Owen: Cristina? Ready to go home?
Cristina: Oh yes. *she handed Theo to Owen* there.. go.. with your daddy. *smiled*
Theo laughs so hard as he was tickled too and carried by his Daddy.
Owen: Say bye bye to Aunt Meredith, Theo. Say bye.
Theo: Baayyi (Bye)
Meredith: you are so cute. Bye Theo.
Owen came out of the attendings lounge. Cristina get their bags and on the way to follow her husband and son. Meredithstill amused with the scene. She looks at Cristina and said:
Meredith: Your son is so cute, he's an angel. Be safe going home.
Cristina: *chuckles* I know that, He's my son of course he is charming like his mother. Anyway, see you tomorrow. Mer.
Meredith: Looks who's gloating.. *laughs* See you!
She feels happy when she saw her friend smile.