Chapter 14 – The Nine Month Plan
March

March 14th
2:35am

Alex awoke to a painful cramp in her stomach. "Hey, that's my stomach. You're not that big yet." After a few minutes, the pain subsided and she fell back asleep.

4:14am

Alex woke again. This time the pain was less localized and more spread out over her entire abdomen. She hadn't spent too much time out of bed recently and the babies were resting calmly, so she tried to ignore it and went back to sleep.

5:57am

"Oh come on." Alex said to the little gray fluff-ball and threw off the covers. "I finally get to sleep and you decide its breakfast time?" The kitten licked her face. Alex laughed. "Alright, let's get you fed."

3:00pm

"How long have you been having these pains?" Dr. James asked.

"Off and on since about 2:30 this morning."

"And you just thought to come up here now?"

Alex winced at the cold gel. "I was hoping they'd go away."

"But they haven't?"

"No. They've actually gotten worse."

"Hmm…That would be because you're in labor."

Alex's face dropped. "I'm in what?"

3:15pm

Olivia cancelled the rest of her classes, picked Mackenzie up early from rehearsal and rushed over to the hospital as quickly as she could. They met Alex and Dr. James right as they were checking in at the maternity ward.

"Deidre, what's going on?" Olivia rushed over asking.

"Jenn went into pre-term labor. We knew this was most likely going to happen. It is very common for twins to be born early."

"Are the babies alright? What about Jenn"

"You mean apart from being underweight and six weeks early? I want to run some tests first, but I will probably want to put Jenn on a magnesium sulfate drip if the contractions don't stop and the babies aren't ready."

Alex took Olivia's hands. "It's going to be okay. We're all going to be okay."

8:47pm

Alex was resting comfortably listening to the fast, rhythmic beating of her babies' hearts. She had been put on magnesium sulfate when she first arrived and it was finally starting to kick in. She was just about asleep when Dr. James walked her little self in.

"How are you feeling?"

Alex cleared her throat. "Tired."

"You've had quite a day."

"What do the test results show?"

"Their lungs are under developed and they are fairly small, but we knew this was most likely going to be the case. We'd like to keep you pregnant as long as we can. However, in case the magnesium sulfate doesn't work," She added another bag to Alex's IV. "This should help. It'll help their lungs develop faster and gain weight until the magnesium sulfate stops working."

Olivia closed her eyes and prayed the first prayer she'd prayed in a long time.

March 28th
5:50pm

"Alright now Jenn push."

"No…I can't…It's…too soon. They're not ready."

"They're ready Baby." Olivia said.

"Don't you talk to me, you're the one who did this to me." Alex cursed.

"The first is right here Jenn. Just a few more pushes." Dr. James instructed.

"No!" Alex tried so hard not to push, but her body was far beyond her control now. The drugs had stopped her contractions and kept her pregnant for another two weeks and developed the babies' lungs to the point where it was safe to have them delivered here and now.

"Come on Jenn, one . . . two . . . three . . . "

"NOOOOO"

"Four . . . five . . . six . . . "

Olivia wiped Alex's forehead. "Come on Sweetie, you can do it."

"Seven . . . eight . . . "

Mackenzie gripped her mother's hand tighter.

"Nine . . . "

"AAAHHH"

"Ten."

"Wah Wah."

At 5:56pm on Tuesday March 28th Alexandra Victoria Cabot and Olivia Nicole Benson welcomed their first daughter together, a healthy 5lbs. 8oz baby girl with a very healthy set of lungs. In that moment, time stood still. There wasn't a whole cartel after then, there wasn't a group of people they'd left behind in New York, there wasn't this huge secret they were keeping from everyone in their lives and there wasn't a doctor who had worked so incredibly hard to have this baby born healthy. There was only this baby – This tiny little child with piercing blue eyes and a full head of downy blonde hair. She was all that mattered. Not the past months, not all the obstacles they had crossed just to have her born . . . just her.

Deidre turned to Olivia. "Would you like to cut the cord?"

Olivia looked at Alex. "Yeah." The doctor handed over the scissors and told Olivia where to cut.

After the cord was cut, Deidre put the baby up on Alex's stomach for a brief moment and allowed the couple the first glimpse of their child. Then the nurse took her away to get cleaned up and everything and the doctor got right to work delivering the second baby.

"Jordan, go with your sister and don't let her out of your sight." Alex instructed. If she couldn't be right with her baby, she was going to make damn well sure that someone was.

"Alright, same as before Jenn. Deep breath, and . . . push."

"One . . . two . . . three." Olivia counted.

"Head's out. Stop pushing Jenn, the cord's around her neck . . . Jenn, you need to stop."

Alex tried. "I . . . can't."

With some quick finger work, Deidre untangled the cord from around the baby's neck and quickly delivered the second little girl. At 6:04pm on Tuesday March 28th Alexandra Victoria Cabot and Olivia Nicole Benson welcomed their second daughter together, a healthy 5lbs. 2oz baby girl, but there was one problem.

"She's not breathing." Dr. James yelled to the nurses. Quickly, three of them rushed over and took the baby.

"What's wrong?" Alex asked. "Where are they taking her?"

"The nurses are going to try to get her breathing started." The room became dead silent and even Mackenzie, who was now holding the first baby, stood frozen in place.

"Now Jenn, we need to focus on getting the placenta out, okay? Just a few more pushes." This time she didn't even argue. She just did what the doctor told her and was done in a few seconds.

"Now you see, if you'd just pushed the babies like this she would have been out a lot sooner."

But the humor was lost on Alex as all she was focusing on was her baby across the room who had yet to take her first breath. The seconds passed by like the days of the year-long, slow and painfully. But then they heard it.

"WAHHHHHH!"

And everyone in the room let out the breaths they hadn't been aware they were holding.

The nurse brought the baby over as soon as she was cleaned up. "Here you go Ms. Taylor. All cleaned up and breathing wonderfully. You're going to have your hands full with these two. They both have great lung capacity."

Alex laughed and started crying all at the same time as she took the tiny baby from the nurse's arms. Olivia kissed Alex's forehead and took the baby Mackenzie was handing over.

Alex carefully took her newborn daughter in her arms. "Thank-you."

"So," Deidre began. "Do they have names?"

And yes...a cliffhanger. MWAHAHAHAHA...I am evil, yes I know. But there is a reason behind the madness.

Okay, no there isn't...I just felt like cutting it off here. lol
R & R