Chapter 25

It was 1am. I had just got back in bed from going to the bathroom. With three babies on my bladder I was going constantly. I gained 25 extra pounds. My feet and legs were swollen.

Charlie rolled over on his side.

"Har?" He whispered in the darkness.

"Yeah?"

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah...I'm sorry for waking you again...go back to sleep."

He turned back over on his other side and sunk his head into his pillow. I had a pillow between my legs, and two for my head, but I was still uncomfortable. Despite this, I still fell asleep because I was so tired. Around 4:30 that same morning I had to get up and run to the bathroom. It was more like fast walking. My stomach cramped, my back ached and I had to throw up. I held my hair and gagged into the toilet. I felt my body jolt as I leaned forward. It was hard to stand up so I sat down and contiued to vomit. When the moment passed I flushed the toilet. I then contiued to sit in the floor waiting for another horrible round. About that time Charlie came in.

"Harmione...you okay babe, need some help?"

"Can you get me some ginger ale, and a pack of crackers?"

"Yeah sure...give me just a second."

I scooted away from the toilet so he could use it. I watched as he unbuttoned a flap in his boxers. I turned away and held my head.

"You know Char...

"Yeah?" Charlie put his hand on the wall and grunted as he began to urinate.

"We should look for a bigger house."

"Yeah...we should. When would you want to do that?"

"It'd have to be before Thanksgiving...I'm not gonna get any smaller, but I am gonna get bigger; and by that time...I won't be able to help you move- to help you move stuff." I swallowed a bit of my bile. I then couldn't take it. I pulled our trash can over to me and vomited into it. Charlie finished his business and washed his hands.

"Let me get you that stuff first, and we'll worry about moving house later."

He ran from the bathroom. My morning sickness was alot worse than what it used to be. Teaching in the mornings felt like a nightmare. I felt weak, and like I couldn't wake up. The long hours were killing me. I spend almost eight hours in school and six hours at home. I try to get at least eight hours of sleep, but I feel like that still didn't help. There didn't seem to be enough time in the day. I did have an additional two hours to spend with Bryan doing whatever we wanted, but I always felt too tired to do that too. These triplets were already a handful. Each check up they kept getting bigger and bigger. We were so excited for their arrival. All three were now about the size of an apple.

It was Monday morning, and I wanted to teach the kids a sharing exercise. Most of the kids in my class had a problem with sharing.

"Mrs. LeMay I don't want to share my crayons with Tommy." Ariel said loudly as I made them share something of value with each other.

"Ariel it's okay...Tommy won't break the crayons...he knows they belong to you and he will be extra careful with them, right Tommy?"

"Yes Mrs. LeMay." Tommy piped up softly.

"Good. Now boys and girls, As you know I'm expecting three babies, I'm going to find out the genders soon, who knows what gender means, Cammy?"

"It means boy or girl." She said proudly.

"That's right...now I have a set of blue crayons up here, and pink crayons. Our blue crayons will represent boys, and pink for the girls, together I want all of you to come up with your own idea of what gender my babies might be, but as you can see I don't have an even number of the colors so you'll have to-"

"Share!" They said in unison.

"Great! Now come get your colors, draw what you think, no fighting now."

The class began to ask each other if they could borrow each other's crayons. I smiled from my desk. They were shaping up to be the best group of students in the school. They learned how to read and write all in the first few weeks. They learned the alphabet, and I give regular spelling tests. I hardly have any child make below average. They come in prepared and ready to work, and I think it's because they love me so much. They are skilled in many different areas, and have advanced to more difficult forms of education as well as devolved a lot of their social skills. I don't take all the credit. My credit goes to my kids. My class is the reason they are the way they are. The future starts in my classroom. I also have Bryan to thank. At which I would not be able to nurture and support them as well as I do. Technically I have Bryan, and my soon to be triplets, and my class of 20. As I told Charlie we did need to find a bigger and better place, and before long we found a beautiful six bedroom, three bathroom house up by the University in the middle of town. No longer were we stuck in the suburbs. I would miss being so close to my parents and the lake, but bigger things were in store. Bryan loved his new room. He even picked it out himself. We moved immediately.

Following the move, the next week after that I was slowly entering my second trimester. I went in with Charlie that Friday to find out the genders of the babies.

I lied back on the exam bed, and was prepped for my ultrasound. The nurse looked at the monitor. I looked at Charlie. He was smiling at the screen and didn't even notice my gaze.

"And there's your babies all one...two...three...four of them."

Charlie's eyes widened at her words.

"Four?! He shouted.

"Three...excuse me...that one there had its leg up looked like another head."

Charlie sighed immensely.

"Charlie...don't worry hon."

He leaned down and kissed my cheek."

"I'm not. I just wasnt prepared for that."

The nurse laughed.

"You know we nurses make mistakes too...anyway...it looks like let me see...one...I see two...no...three girls. All three of them are girls."

"Girls?!" Charlie spoke out. " Oh gosh Bryan and I are gonna be out numbered."

I laughed and stared at the monitor. I couldn't believe it. We were going to have three baby girls.

"Congratulations. I'll get you all set up for your next appointment, which we will start every week instead of every three weeks." The nurse finished up the ultrasound. She gave us the pictures and stepped out in the hall.

"I'll tell Dr. Payton about today's exam."

The door closed behind her. I sat up and held the picture tightly. I couldn't stop looking at it.

"Charlie...can you imagine it...three girls."

"I know...here babe I'm gonna go pay for the visit, why don't you get ready to leave."

"Okay."

He stopped by the door.

"Girls...wow." He said breathlessly.

I grinned as he left. I picked up my coat. It was getting colder. Soon I would have to buy three new coats for the winter time. Girl's coats. I couldn't wait to get out of there and tell the family. I left the exam room and stuck the picture in my purse. I walked past the nurse's station down by the maternity ward. I entered the main lobby where the check in and out station was. What I saw there is an image I'll never forget. It burned itself onto my brain. I closed my eyes and opened them again. I thought I was dreaming. I gasped out a whimper not meaning too. I fought back a cry.

Charlie was in the waiting room area. He was just out of view of the other people. Pushed up against the wall, was a blonde nurse. He was kissing her. I felt my heart shatter. I ran out of there as fast as I could trying to erase what I saw. I broke down when I got to Charlie's truck. I thought all of the pain and the abnormalities ceased. Dad's advice was not helping me this time. Charlie was stepping out on me. I couldn't believe it. I whimpered and cried loudly in the parking lot. My heart was so broken.