Jpov
Its too soon. They cant be doing this. Hes not ready. Im not ready. They are gonna cut her? I didn't sign on to see her get gutted like a damn fish. She made me go to some of them classes with her and watch some videos so I would have an idea of what to expect, but she didn't tell me I was going to have to be in there when they gutted her.
Why is Rose yelling at me? OUCH! OUCH! I am pretty damn sure that qualifies as assault! My arm aint supposed to bend that way! FUCK!
"WOMAN! LET ME GO!"
"You listen here pup! You are going to stand right here next to my sisters and you are going to talk to her and you are going to be here when these babies come out. If you try to move towards that door, I will take a scalpel away from one of them docs and you will be gelded before you make it to the exit. Do you understand me?"
"Uh, yes Rose. I understand you. I wasn't going to leave. I just have a thing against knives. Its kinda a phobia."
"Hey Jasper, is Rose giving you a hard time?"
"No Bella, she's just trying to make sure I am paying attention."
'Well, I think you guys need to find another way to do it because everyone is staring at you."
And they were. The doc and the nurses had briefly stopped all their preparations when I was frog marched in with my arm twisted up behind my back and they were staring at me like I was a recalcitrant mutt trying to make my escape from a chain.
"Sorry about that. Just had a moment where I needed some reminding of what my goal was and coach had to help me."
"Folks? If you don't mind we are kind of in the middle of something here. Could you please take your places and make sure you are out of the way? Bella? Do you feel that?"
"Feel What?"
'Okay, so you are good and numb. Everybody ready? Daddy? I don't know if you are going to be able to cut all the cords or not, but I will do what I can depending on how they and momma are doing."
"Uhh..don't worry about it. Just make sure they are okay."
"Rose? don't you get any pictures of my bits and pieces or I will kick your ass when I am up and around again."
"Oh don't worry about that, I don't even want to go there. Im strictly here for the little ones."
"Okay, I'm extracting the uterus."
"Wait…he's what? What the fuck is that? Oh My God that's her…"
"Jasper?"
Rpov
Son of a bitch! He hit the floor with quite a crash. Lucky he didn't take out the instruments on his way down. I guess there is nothing to do for him except leave him be and hope he wakes up in time to meet his kids before they are whisked off to the NICU. Maybe a kick to the ass will help. Dammit! Guess not. He's going to cause me to have to move and drag him out of the way isn't he? Poor puppy, he's really not used to the grittier side of life is he?
"Jasper? Puppy? Come on honey, wake up! You are going to miss your son."
Jpov
Wait…what is she talking about? Ouch! My ass hurts. What the hell happened to my ass?
"What did I miss?"
"They are just starting to pull out one of the babies. Hurry up and get up here. Come on, change your gloves and pay attention."
"Okay, First out is a little girl! Lookee here! Oh look at you sweetheart."
A tiny little being covered in goo and blood, flailing about and lying briefly limp in the doctors arms until he suctioned out her nose and mouth, was displayed to Jasper and Rose. She was perfectly formed and after her mouth and nose were cleared, she as laid up on Bella briefly so the cord could be clamped and cut and her mother could see her.
"Oh hello beautiful! Tears were running down Bella and Roses cheeks as the baby was quickly taken away to an incubator to be warmed and measured and prepared for the Nicu.
The second baby, also a girl, emerged in much the same way. She was slightly bigger than her sister and she began yelling her outrage at her treatment in a voice that was barely louder than that of an highly annoyed kitten. Jasper couldn't resist and as she briefly lay on Bella's chest, he reached over and touched her back and said, "Its okay baby girl daddy's here." She quieted and lay there until a nurse swooped in and took her away to an incubator next to her sister.
"Okay, here comes the last one. He's hiding from me. Not wanting to come out and join the party. Come here little fella."
The doctors hands finally emerged with the smallest of all three of the babies. It hardly seemed as if he was real. His upper body was easily held in one of the doctors hands and he lay limply as the doctor quickly suctioned his nose and mouth and then worked to stimulate him to breathe. No one in the room made a sound as the doctor worked on the tiny baby, feverishly trying to stimulate him to respond to being in the world when suddenly a sound like that of a small kitten was heard.
"There we go! Its about time young man!" The sound increased gradually in volume as the doctor clamped and cut he cord and as he lifted the baby boy up so he could be seen, laughter rang though the delivery room as he peed all over the doctor and everyone in the close vicinity.
"That's my boy!" Jasper was openly crying as was Rose and Bella. Jasper hugged Rose and bent down and kissed Bella and told her, "Thank you"."Go see your babies, im not going anywhere for the time being."
Jasper walked over to where the nurses were working on his babies, measuring and weighing and tagging them like the results of a weekend hunt. They were all soo damn small! His daughters were a fairly respectable 3.8 and 3.5lbs each, but his son? His son was only 3 lbs even and barely 13 inches long while his sisters were 15 and 16 inches.
"Oh little dude! You are soo tiny! Good thing you got all the hair. Can I touch him?" Jasper was trying to stay out of the way of the nurses who were working over his son, but he was pulled to be close to him as well as his baby girls and he cringed when he saw the nurse run a thin tube up his sons nose and suction even more goo out of him, inciting him to begin crying even harder.
"Yes, you can touch him, but we may have to take him to the NICU pretty soon, he's having a bit of difficulty remembering to breathe on his own so we might have to support him."
"Oh lil dude, Come on. You can do this. Hang in there." Jasper stared at his children, his daughters with their identical features looking like tiny, doll-like bookends with perfect little fingers and toes and peach fuzzed skulls. His son was tinier with a head full of dark hair that stood up all over the place in wild corkscrews, his eyes looked almost Asian in form, and his nose was more pug than that of his sisters, but other than that and his over all tininess, Jasper couldn't tell what made him soo different.
"Sir? We have to take him. He's having a more difficult time. Once he's stabilized in the NICU you can come see him again, Okay? We will take good care of your babies."
"Cant I go with him?"
"No sir. We need to move quickly and there are some places you wouldn't be allowed in. We have to go now, Sir. Please?"
"Jasper, come on. Let them go. We will go see him in just a little bit." Rose had come up behind him and gently put her arms around him. "They will be fine and he will be well taken care of. Come on, they are going to be finishing up with Bella and getting her moved, so we need to go to the waiting room now."
Jasper stood and stared as his children were hustled from the room, the monitor on his sons bed going off and as the nurses hustled it out of the room at a rapid pace.
"Come on puppy, lets go find our clothes and get you some food. They will be fine. Sis, we will see you after while."
"Rose, take good care of him."
"You know I will."
Rpov
'Did you see them? Did you see how perfect they are? They are absolutely perfect!" Jasper was almost ranting as we changed clothes in the dressing room. His eyes were shining and his face was as flushed as the rest of him as he hunted for his drawers.
"Jasper? Puppy?" hes still rooting around in the pile of stuff on the bench, buck naked and ranting on and on about the babies seeming to forget that I am a woman and not Bella.
"JASPER! Would you listen to me for a minute?"
"Huh" Oh he really didn't need to turn around. Does the boy have no self-consciousness at all? Of course, if he doesn't, I can kinda see why…
"Jasper, You didn't have any underwear on when we changed to go in there, so would you please put your britches on and put that thing away. I think its done enough damage lately."
Oh, there we go. Now he has realized who he is naked in front of. Interesting where all he turns red. That's soo cute! He's trying to cover himself and find his pants at the same time? Wonder if Bella would get mad if I snapped a quick pic? That one is going up on Facebook after I explain to Marcus so he doesn't kill him.
"What? Why would I take a picture of you, Puppy? Oh no. I was just looking at the pictures I got of the babies. Ill send them to your Iphone as soon as we get a spare minute. Why don't you finish getting dressed while I go out and let everyone know what's going on?"
"That sounds good. Ill be out in a minute."
Everybody in the waiting room looked like they were on tenterhooks as I walked through the door.
"They are here, doing good and Bella is doing fine. I have some pictures!"
Talk about being mobbed! "Hang on just a minute! If you will let me I will send them all to your phones, just let me sit down and sort them out. Eddie, get out of my lap! I cant think with you breathing down my neck! Oh this stupid thing is giving me fits!"
"But Rose! I want to see! Hang on, I can do it faster, let me see the phone!"
"Oh dammit! Here! Do it then. Don't send the one of Jasper though, that ones just for Bella when she is feeling better."
"Oh Jeeze! You did take a picture! I knew it!" Jasper had just come walking into the waiting room as the pictures were arriving in everyone's phones.
"Oh my goodness! They are soo tiny and cute! How did my brother get all the hair?"
"Uh, Rose? I sent those to all your contacts, is that okay?"
"What do you mean you sent it to all my contacts? Even my twitter and face book?"
"Uh, yeah?"
'I guess that's okay. Wait…did you send ALL those pictures?"
"Yes."
"Including the one of Jasper?"
"Uhh Yes."
"Well, I guess momma and daddy and meemaw and pawpaw will have a real good idea who the father of their grandbabies is after they see that. As for Pastor Jack, I guess he will just pray a little extra hard for us all."
Oh and here come the first of the phone calls.
"Hello momma! Yes, she is doing fine. Yes they are doing fine. Yeah, that was him. Uh huh, me too. No, Marcus likes him. Yeah, I agree that was a bit of a surprise. No. Oh, momma, got more calls coming in, looks like meemaw is calling. Can you call Pastor Jack and apologize to him for me? A friend sent those out and that one of him was supposed to be just for Bella. Yes. We will send more later. No momma, I am not sending you more like that. Mom! He's Bellas! Eww! I will talk to you later!"
Okay, now I have to go bleach my brain.
Jpov
Where are my babies? What is going on with my son? Someone needs to come out here right the hell now and tell me. I cant see a damn thing through this little window in the doorway.
"Jasper? What do you want to eat? Im sending Em and Eddie after some food. You need to eat something so you wont pass out on your babies when you get to go back and see them."
"I don't care Carlisle, just anything will do."
Who can think of food right now? I have no idea what they are doing to my kids. No one is telling me anything. I don't even know where they are. Why isn't anyone telling me anything? What the hell is going on?
"Jasper? Jasper? Sit down son. Slow your breathing down. You are going to give yourself a panic attack if you don't calm down.
"Where are my kids? What are they doing to them? How come no one is telling me anything?"
"Son, they need to get them admitted into the NICU and run some basic tests as well as manage any issues your son may have. Just relax and sit here with Mark and Rose and I will go see what I can find out, okay?"
'Okay, thank you."
Cpov
The Nicu is one of the most tightly controlled places in the entire hospital. Babies who are at their weakest and most vulnerable are admitted there for management and sometimes the end results are not the happiest. The nurses there are the best of the best and often the most dedicated amongst their profession, taking every fight for a tiny life to heart and bearing every loss as a weight that marks them hard.
" Dr. Cullen here, I'm wanting to get an update on the Whitlock triplets?" the nurse sounded harried over the intercom but she admitted me to the antechamber where I scrubbed up and donned a mask and gown.
"Dr. Cullen, we have them over here. The twin girls are doing fine and seem to have no immediate issues other than those typical of being premature. The little boy is the one who is really struggling. He went into respiratory distress as we were bringing them down and we have him incubated so we can support him better. He's very flaccid and while the initial ultrasound has revealed no cardiac complications, he is slightly cyanotic and he seems to forget to breathe. He also has a very weak suck reflex and his initial Apgars were low as well. Much of this is typical of Downs, but I anticipate this little guy has a hard fight ahead of him. We are going to run and NG tube for him later and as soon as we can find a vein on him, we will be pumping some antibiotics into him, he has an infection working as well that is contributing to the problems. The next 24 hours will tell us how this is going to go."
'Can his father come in and see him? He's very concerned and wants to be here for his children. The mother is still in recovery, but the dad is pacing a hole in the waiting room floor."
"Yes, as a matter of fact it might be good for the little guy to have some skin to skin contact for warmth and its just a good thing for them to have as much time as possible to bond, in case…"
She didn't need to finish her thoughts, I knew what she was thinking . The little boy, who as yet was unnamed because of Bella's insistence that it would jinx them, might not make it the 24 hours and the precious moments could never be recovered so Jasper needed to be able to have as much time as possible with him.
Jpov
This place is like a damn spaceship! All the lights are blue and weird and there are beeps and whirs and other sounds that are confusing. I think my hands are the cleanest they have ever been in my whole entire life and even Rose about scrubbed the paint off her nails when they told her all the things they were trying to prevent. Im glad she came with me. I forgive her for the picture, I don't think she meant anything by it, and besides, in the grand scheme of things it's the least of my worries what her family and friends think of me.
"Okay, papa. You sit down in the rocking chair and unbutton your shirt for me."
"Say what?"
"Unbutton your shirt. I'm going to put him against your chest to help him stay warm and so he can feel your heart beat. It helps to keep them calm and its good for bonding."
"Oh, okay." Oh my God. Soo many tubes and things coming off of my boy. What the hell? Why is there a needle in his scalp? They shaved a place on his head?"
'Jasper, don't you cry! You are getting tears on him and making me cry. He's going to be okay. You just gotta believe it and talk to him. Tell him how you feel and how he's gotta fight."
He's wiggling against me and I snuggle him closer and breathe in the smell that is just baby. His entire butt and half of his back fits in the palm of my hand and his little feet are as small as my thumbs. I have never held anything so tiny and fragile in my entire life other than a kitten, and even the kitten felt more sturdy. Rocking back and forth talking and telling him about all the things we are going to do when he gets out of here we pass the time until they kick me and Rose out.