Edward's POV
Bella had finally given in and taken her maternity leave half way through her twenty ninth week. Our appointment with Dr. Shea, just two days after Bella finally threw in the towel, told us that twin A was weighing in at a healthy 3.5 pounds and twin B was just a few ounces lighter at 3.2. It was decided at that appointment that Dr. Shea would induce Bella if she hadn't gone into labor by her 37th week.
37 weeks would have been great, hell I would have taken 35. But Bella going into labor at 30 weeks was something that not only had I not prepared myself for, but it scared the shit out of me as well. Thirty weeks was just too early, the boys were too small. Sure the chance that they would make it was very high, but the chance that one or both of them wouldn't was also too high for me. I wasn't prepared when my father came running into the ER, screaming for a wheel chair.
"Dad what happened? What's wrong?" I asked as I ran out the front door after him. My mother was helping Bella out of the back seat of my fathers Mercedes and I rushed to her side immediately.
"She's bleeding, and she's been experiencing contractions for the past hour and a half. But she wouldn't let me bring her in, until she started bleeding."
"Edward, I'm scared. What if they aren't okay?" asked Bella as I helped her lower herself into the wheelchair.
"You and the boys are going to be fine love. Everything is going to be fine." I knew as I said that I couldn't make her that promise, and based on the look she gave me in response, she knew as well.
Dr. Shea was waiting for us when I pushed Bella into the Emergency Room, and quickly ushered us into the elevator she was holding open. We were taken into a private suite in the maternity ward where I quickly helped Bella change out of her blood soaked sweat pants and into a hospital gown before Dr. Shea came in and hooked up the ultra sound machine. She was quite for several minutes, and the more time that went by the more worried I got. I tried to tell myself that regardless of how much trouble one of the boys was in, that we could get them out and into the NICU in less than five minutes. I tried to reassure myself that everything was going to be fine, as I held Bella's hand and stroked the side of her face. But Dr. Shea's silence was just too much for me to handle.
"Kristine what is it?" I asked finally.
"Bella has experienced a severe placental abruption, I'm afraid that we are going to have to get them out of there before the situation becomes graver," she said softly. I felt my heart drop into my stomach as I processed what Dr. Shea had just told me. The placenta had pulled away from the wall of Bella's uterus. There was no way to stop this, this wasn't just preterm labor, and no medication could rectify this situation. My sons would be gracing us with their presence tonight, nearly ten weeks early.
"But I didn't do anything. I don't smoke, I don't do drugs, I'm young, and my blood pressure is good. I didn't do anything wrong," cried Bella as the tears began to fall once again.
"Oh Bella, it's not your fault love. We all know you didn't do anything wrong, you are just more susceptible to this because you're carrying twins," I said wrapping my arms around her and kissing the top of her head.
"We have two choices, both of the boys are facing head down so we can try and induce her and see how well her labor progresses. Or we can take her into surgery now and they will be with us in a matter of minutes. I'll leave you two to talk things over, and I'll be back in a few minutes."
Dr. Shea left, sending my parents in on the way out.
"Oh Bella," said my mother rushing to her side. My father walked in slowly, taking his place beside me wearing a looking that I'm sure looked more hopeful than my own.
"Edward what do we do?"
"What do you want to do love? Do you want to try for a vaginal birth, or would you prefer to go straight for a C-section. At this point we are already at the hospital, if it gets any worse they will get them out of there and into the NICU in less than five minutes. You know that, so it's up to you."
Everyone was quiet, and the three of us stood, all eyes on Bella.
"Maybe we should go back out into the hall until you decide," said my mother finally. She leaned in and kissed Bella's cheek and gave my hand a squeeze before taking my father's hand and leading him out into the hallway.
"Will you hate me if I said I wanted to try?" she asked so quietly I could barely hear her.
I literally felt my jaw drop. The love of my life, the woman who had been my wife for nearly nine years just asked me if I would hate her.
"No, no never mind. You're right; we should just get it over with, no need to risk it."
"Bella, love I could never hate you. If you want to try and deliver them, than you just say the word and I will get Dr. Shea. But if you want to have a C-section than we can do that too, though I can understand why you wouldn't want to have a C-section, it is major surgery."
"You won't hate me?"
"I love you Isabella. Always and forever I love you. And our beautiful baby boys are going to be just fine, promise me that you believe that."
"I do, I believe you," she said softly.
An hour later, Bella's water had been successfully broken, her epidural had been successfully administered and her labor and delivery room was filled with our family. Alice, Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie, along with my parents were doing everything they possibly could to keep Bella's sprits up and for the most part it seemed to be working. Charlie and Renee had been back in Forks visiting old friends for the weekend, but were on their way and would hopefully make it to the hospital before she gave birth.
I had finally been able to breathe a sigh of relief when the bleeding stopped. The constant beeping of the heart monitor that was attached to both Bella and the babies was like music to my ears and I found myself glancing at the monitors once every few minutes, just to be sure.
The fight for now was over; as long as Bella was in the hospital the boys would be fine, at least until she gave birth. Her pregnancy could not continue due to the severity of the placental tear, and though thirty weeks was entirely too early for me to be comfortable with the odds were still in our favor. Though that still wasn't comforting.
I sat in the corner of the room watching my family talk to Bella as I reviewed the weeks of development in my head. By thirty weeks all organs were developed and functioning, except for the lungs. I had already anticipated that the boys would be having an extended stay in the NICU, and if all went well they would be out in no time.
The hours ticked by slowly and somewhere around two a.m. Charlie and Renee finally made it to the hospital. Renee was crying and we went through the whole explanation again, though this time Bella was able to keep her composure. Thankfully she seemed to be getting more hopeful as time went on.
Dr. Maxwell came in for a visit just after four and on his way out Dr. Shea came in.
"Kristine I thought you were going home," scolded Bella.
"Not a chance, I'm going to be here to deliver these babies."
All I could do was laugh as Dr. Shea donned a pair of gloves to check Bella's cervix.
"Well?" I asked as I made my way to Bella's side once again.
"We're looking at about eight centimeters. All the grandparents are here?"
"All present and accounted for."
"Then what do you say we start pushing?"
I have never in my life been so thankful that I was not a woman, than when I sat at Bella's side holding her hand as she pushed her way through the delivery.
It took twenty minutes of pushing before twin A came out, and though I was allowed to cut the umbilical cord, he was whisked out of the room before he even started crying. This, if I was being honest, scared me quite a bit.
"Why isn't he crying? Edward he wasn't crying, why wasn't he crying?" asked Bella clutching at my shirt as she watched them take our son from the room.
"He's fine love, right now you have to concentrate on delivering the second baby."
The next eight and a half minutes were the longest of my life but thankfully twin B came out screaming, though he too was whisked away just seconds after the umbilical cord was cut.
Dr. Shea stayed with Bella as she delivered the after birth, but quickly left the room to check on my boys. If I hadn't been so worried about them I would be ecstatic to be able to call them that. They were finally here, now I could only pray, as I stood by my wife's side, that they would be okay.
Finally after a ten minute absence Dr. Shea came back into the labor and delivery room.
"Kristine, why wasn't he crying?" I asked as she approached the bed.
"He did, it just took them a few minutes to get him going again," she said softly.
"Get him going?" I questioned, even though I didn't need an explanation.
"He wasn't breathing, but they are both in the NICU right now. They've been hooked up to a ventilator to breathe for them, and they will start a round of steroids to help with their lung development."
"He's going to be okay? No brain damage?"
"You know we have no way of knowing that yet," she said slowly raising her eyes to meet mine. "But we don't expect it; he was breathing and screaming on his own within a minute of delivery."
Becoming a father changes everything, quite literally in a matter of seconds. One minute I was finishing up my shift, anticipating the moment that I could pick my wife up from my parents and take her home, and the next my father is wheeling her into the hospital.
Bella fell asleep quickly after being cleaned up. She looked peaceful as she slept, and though I knew it was in large part due to the medications she was on, I was jealous. She didn't have to worry, she didn't have to wonder. Dr. Shea seemed very confident in the fact that our boys were going to be fine, and the only thing that I could do, was believe her.
The boys had been in the NICU for nearly an hour before my father came in for an update.
"You're really scaring your mother Edward," he said as he stood across from me.
"I'm sorry," I said.
"Are they okay?"
I looked up at him for the first time since he had entered the room and as hard as I tried to fight them back, I felt the tears burning my eyes.
"I don't know," I said finally.
It took hours before I was finally able to bring myself to go to the NICU. I know I was being selfish and Bella probably would have killed me if she had been awake, but I just couldn't do it. What if, despite all my medical training there was still nothing I could do to save my sons? What if despite the fact that Bella and I had done everything right during the entire pregnancy there was nothing we could do to fix the brain damage caused during birth? It's not that I would love my son any less, I would just feel like a complete failure as a parent and I hadn't even taken them home yet.
I can't explain the feeling I got when I held the boys for the first time. They were so tiny that they very nearly fit in the palm of my hand. Twin A, as he was still known, was doing well and his brain activity was normal for the time being. As I held Twin B against my chest and rocked him gently as he slept I couldn't help but feel proud. I was a father, and no matter what happened and regardless of what was wrong with my boys I was going to love them with everything that I was.
