What to Expect Chapter 6
The beeping sounds of the monitors were slowly lulling Zay to sleep. It was 5:15 in the evening and he and Smackle had been at the hospital with Natalie for a few hours. Zay looked up and smiled when he saw Smackle gently rubbing Natalie's back as she eased her way through another contraction. "She's ready to be a mom." He thought to himself. A knock on the door drew everyone's attention to the doctor walking into the room.
"Well it looks like we've made a good bit of progress Miss Natalie, and I think it's about time those babies are born!" Dr. Simons announced as he entered the room. "Now just to go over the plan that has been set in place by your social worker, once the babies are born they will be checked out by the pediatrician and cleaned up by the wonderful nursing staff. Then they will then be moved to another room where Mr. and Mrs. Babineaux will be able to spend time and bond with the babies while they are kept here for observation for a couple of days. Natalie will stay here and recover, but has opted out of seeing the babies when they are first born.
Zay and Smackle glanced over at Natalie, who smiled. "I still want the twins to have the chance to know me, and I definitely want pictures and updates, but I feel like in the beginning it should be the twins bonding with their parents."
Smackle reached out and hugged Natalie, a soft sniffle escaping her. "Are you sure that's what you want?"
Natalie smiled again. "I'm sure. I've learned a lot in my 16 years a lot about growing up, mostly the last 8 months. These two babies are yours, I knew it from the moment I read about you two, and they were meant to be with you."
Lucas and Maya Friar sat in the art studio of their house out in the suburbs of the city. Lucas patiently sat in the chair on the other side of her paint table, waiting for Maya to decide when she was ready to go to the hospital. He has already gotten a glass of ice water and a snack for Maya, wanting to keep her comfortable, knowing that she'd want to labor at home for as long as possible. All he could do now was wait for her.
Maya sat with her paintbrush poised in midair, waiting for the contraction to pass. "Alright Huckleberry, it's been 5 hours, and my contractions are getting stronger and closer." Maya breathed out through the latest contraction, before setting her paintbrush down on the table.
"It's looking like they're about 4 to 4.5 minutes apart. It's your call, whatever you want to do I am here to support you." Lucas replied as he placed a kiss to his wife's forehead.
"Well as fun as the story sounds to give birth in my art studio, I think we should start making our way to the hospital." Maya said with a smile.
"I texted your mom and dad earlier to let them know that Andrew will probably be making his appearance soon, so they're ready to meet us at the hospital when we call them. And I moved the bags to the front door, grabbed your favorite pillow, and the batteries for the camera are charged so we can get some good shots of him after he's born." Lucas stated, helping Maya to clean up the paints she had been using.
"I think this is as far as I'm gonna get on this work of art here." Maya announced as she looked back at the almost finished painting that she had been working on in between contractions. "I think it's time that we finally get to see the work of art I've been creating for 9 months, let's go have this baby."
Riley Matthews Minkus looked up from her book when she heard her cell phone chime. "Maya just texted me and said that they are on the way to the hospital! She said that she has been having contractions all day and that they finally decided to head to the hospital now that they're about 4 minutes apart."
Farkle glanced over at Riley and saw the forlorn look in her face. "What's wrong Riley? I thought you'd be happy for your best friend?"
Riley gave Farkle a slight smile. "I am, but I'm just a little bit jealous that she's having her baby and I'm still stuck being pregnant."
Farkle put his arm around Riley and scooted closer to her, pulling her into a hug. "Hey now, it hasn't even been 40 weeks yet, and your doctor said that you could go as far as 10 days after the due date, so we've still got some time for her to be born."
Riley hit Farkle in the arm. "Not helping, Farkle. You've just made me realize that I could possibly be pregnant for almost another month." Riley rubbed her stomach. "The doctor said that we are full term now, so you can come any time now, little miss."
"Well just think, if she doesn't come for a little while we can practice with baby Huckleberry, and then when Cordelia is born we will be experts. So really, it's a good thing that he's being born first so we can be better at this than Maya and Lucas." Farkle said with a laugh.
Riley giggled. "Thank you Farkle." She put down her book and slowly stood up from the couch. "We should go make sure that we have everything packed and ready to go, that way when she does decide to enter the world, we will be ready."
At exactly 6:15 in the evening, Finley Grace Babineaux made her way into the world, kicking and screaming. Her brother, Elijah Samuel Babineaux entered the world 15 minutes later, with a quiet cry letting doctors know he was okay before calming down and taking in everything around him. Zay and Smackle were moved into another hospital room, and given hospital bracelets that matched the twins', letting everyone know they were their parents.
Zay sat in the rocking chair content as could be, holding his daughter, who had only stopped crying when she was placed in his arms. Smackle sat on the lounge chair, cradling her son. Zay looked up and caught Smackle's eye. "She's already a daddy's girl." Smackle announced with a smirk.
"Well of course, this little girl already has me wrapped around her finger. And let's not forget that Eli is gonna be all about his mama." Zay replied.
"I knew I loved them, but I didn't realize how much I could love them until they were here. Like, I didn't even know that this level of love for someone could even exist, let alone for 2 babies at once." Smackle whispered towards Zay.
"Right? You know I love you, more than life itself, but I would use you as a human shield to protect these babies." Zay said with a soft chuckle.
"I'm glad we're on the same page then." Smackle responded with a wink towards Zay.
Maya and Lucas arrived at the hospital, parking the car before calmly walking into the building. Lucas followed behind Maya, carrying her bags and her pillow. The couple headed towards the labor and delivery center, approaching the lady at the desk. "Dr. Friar, I didn't think we'd see you back here so soon. Tired of the private practice and ready to come back to the hospital?"
Lucas smiled. "I'd only come back to working at the ER for you Judy." Lucas responded with a wink. "No, private practice is good, it's allowing me the time to be there for my wife, Maya."
"Well congratulations on the baby, Dr. Friar. Let's go ahead and get you all checked in Mrs. Friar." Judy announced, gesturing for one of the nurses' assistants to get a wheelchair for Maya.
"Wow Huckleberry, if I'd have known I'd get this kind of treatment just for you having worked here, we'd have come to the hospital a lot earlier." Maya said with a chuckle.
After a couple minutes of paperwork, Maya and Lucas were taken to a private birthing room. Once Maya was settled into the bed, Lucas sat down in the chair beside her. "I texted Katy and Shawn and told them that we're here and checked in. They said that they were leaving the house and will be here soon." Lucas softly spoke as he brushed the hair away from Maya's face. "I also texted Riley and told her that we made it, and that we will let them know when he arrives. She said that she is really excited to meet her nephew and that she's sorry she couldn't be here with you, but that she doesn't want to scare herself too much about the actual giving birth part just yet."
Maya smiled at her husband. "Huckleberry, you are too good to me. Did Zay and Smackle ever text back?"
"No, which is weird, but I'm sure they have a good reason." Lucas answered. "How are you feeling? I'm gonna go and grab some ice water for you, I'll send him another text while I'm out there." Lucas stood up and gave Maya a quick kiss before stepping out of the door.
Maya took a moment to look around the room before closing her eyes. She thought about how her son would be here in just a few hours, and that calm quiet moments like this would come few and far in between.
There was a soft knock on the door, and Maya opened her eyes to see her parents walking in the door. "Hey baby girl." Katy quietly whispered as she walked over to give Maya a hug.
"Hey kid." Shawn said, hugging Maya. "Where's Lucas? Did he walk out on you? Cause I swear, I'll kill him."
Maya chuckled. "That's funny, that's the exact thing I said to Riley when she told me that Farkle left her to go buy ice cream. No, Dr. Huckleberry is just getting me some ice water, he says it's good for me to stay hydrated before I'm hooked up to all the IV's and things."
There was another knock on the door, and all three of them turned towards the door to see Lucas walking in carrying a small pitcher of water.
"Hello Hunters!" Lucas greeted, pouring a cup of water for Maya, and carefully passing it to her. "So I found out why Zay and Smackle haven't answered their phones. I saw a door with their name on it. Apparently their babies are being born today."
"What?! Do you know if they've been born yet? Are they here? Can we go see them? What kind of doctor are you, sneak in and get me information!" Maya shouted, excited that her friends were finally getting to meet their children.
"Shortstack, I have no idea if they've been born yet. And you know I can't do that. We have to wait until they text or call us and let us know about the babies, and if Andrew isn't here yet, or if you still have some time before he's born, we can see them, but for now, we wait." Lucas responded.
"Damn, Lucas the Good strikes again, never letting me have any fun." Maya said with an exaggerated pout.
"Maya, you're so cute when you pretend to be angry." Lucas said back with a chuckle.
Maya gave a quiet laugh. "It's pretty amusing that 2 couples are here having their babies, now all we need is Riley and we'll have the whole group here."
Riley Matthews Minkus was trying her hardest to take a nap. She just couldn't sleep very well. She tossed and turned, but couldn't find a position that was comfortable. No matter how she laid in bed, she still had a little bit of pain in her lower back. "I really hope this pain goes away when I try to go to sleep tonight." She thought as she finally sat up and climbed out of bed. She picked up her phone from her bedside table and read the message from Lucas. Here at the hospital now, just waiting for Andrew to be born.
Riley smiled and typed out a response to Lucas's message. Awww yay! I can't wait to meet my nephew soon! Tell Maya that I love her, and that I'm sorry that I can't be there, but that I don't want to scare myself with the actual giving birth part yet. Good luck you guys!
Riley could hear Farkle sitting in the living room, singing the theme song to Red Planet Diaries. She smiled and decided that since she couldn't take a nap, she'd just go and snuggle beside Farkle and watch tv with him. Now if only this back pain would go away.