Bonus chapter today because I'm bored and I want to post. I tried to keep this chapter minimally graphic while still being a realistic depiction of childbirth.
Chapter 27: Ten Episodes Later
Wanda and Victor had been members of Twinless Twins for over ten years now. Since they'd been living together in the States, they'd tried to attend as many events as possible. Still, it came as a surprise when their regional coordinator moved to California and asked Wanda personally to be his successor. She spent a month shadowing him, beyond grateful to be participating even more in the organization that changed her life. By the time August rolled around, she was in charge, with no supervision. It was both empowering and terrifying, especially at over thirty weeks pregnant.
Her first solo idea had been to have a Twinless Twins social, just so they could get to know the other people in their region without having the entire focus be on grief. The rest of the board was all over it and they booked a venue for the evening of August twenty-second. A Monday night was a bit strange, but many of the twins were retirees and weeknights were the times they needed company the most.
Wanda spent all of Monday morning double-checking that all the plans were in order and enduring hours of off-and-on Braxton-Hicks. By the time she and Victor were ready to leave, they'd subsided, and she wasn't going to let anything stop her from attending the first event she planned independently. They were the first ones to arrive, alongside Wanda's coworker, and neither of them let her do anything but give directions when it came to setting up. She wouldn't complain; her back had been sore pretty much constantly for the past few weeks and she was pretty sure the Braxton-Hicks were coming back again. People started filtering in half an hour later, and the environment was noticeably different from any Twinless Twins event she'd attended before. There was no pressure to talk about trauma or feelings. The air was lighter.
Wanda bounced around from person to person, enduring the well-meaning but eventually annoying, once she'd heard a dozen of them, questions about when she was due or comments about how she looked "ready to pop." She hated that expression. One person even called her cute, and she had to resist the urge to laugh in their face. Fortunately, another tightening in her belly helped stifle the laughter, and she merely smiled through gritted teeth and said "Thank you" with as little sarcasm as possible. She did her best to politely change the subject once she got tired of discussing it.
Wanda was mid-conversation with a woman at least fifteen years her senior who lost her identical twin to a brain tumor when she felt that same tightening again, confirming that this was not merely Braxton-Hicks. With one hand on her belly and an interested smile plastered on her face—she was well-practiced in masking pain from months of psychosomatic headaches—she let the woman finish speaking before politely excusing herself and dashing away to find Victor. Naturally, he was talking with the two oldest people at the event. She stood in his line of sight and waved to get his attention.
He finished his sentence and excused himself. Wanda pulled him into the corner of the room and whispered urgently, "I think I'm in labor."
Victor's eyes bugged right out of his head. "Are you sure?"
"I just had my third contraction in the past half hour. I'm sure."
"Okay. What do we do?"
"Let's start by going home, shall we?" They could call Dr. Goodner on the way there.
"Okay. Can we just leave…or should we explain ourselves? I don't want to be rude."
"I'm in labor, I'll be as rude as I want to be." She tugged him towards the door. The one person who looked at them funny she shot an apologetic smile, and then they were off. Wanda called Dr. Goodner, who said to come to the hospital when her contractions reached six minutes apart or if her water broke and contained a lot of blood. She didn't know how much blood constituted a lot, but hopefully it wouldn't come to that.
"What did she say?" Victor asked frantically.
"Time the contractions; go to the hospital at six minutes apart."
"Are you sure we shouldn't be on our way there…right now?"
"Yes. Relax, we're probably hours away." Wanda looked at the clock as another contraction seized her. Still ten minutes apart.
Victor sounded anything but sure when he said, "Okay."
When they got home, Wanda marched right upstairs to change into more comfortable clothes. By the time Victor even got inside, she'd already settled on the sofa with the Brady Bunch playing on the TV. He froze in place when he saw the setup, a look of bewilderment on his face. "You okay?" Wanda asked.
"Me? I'm fine. I believe the more pressing question is…are you okay?"
"So far so good." Another contraction began and her breath hitched. Victor tensed like he'd just heard a gunshot. Wanda should've expected he would worry even more than she did. She patted the sofa beside her. "Sit down. You can help me time them."
"Okay." He pulled out his phone and readied the stopwatch app.
Wanda squeezed his hand and told him the contraction just ended. He started the timer. She turned her attention to the TV, knowing it would be a while before the next one, but Victor couldn't focus on anything but the timer and her. Wanda shifted to a more comfortable position and tried to enjoy the episode without worrying about Victor. "Will the Real Jan Brady Please Stand Up?" was one of her favorites. She'd started recording episodes a few months into her pregnancy, hoping to gather enough to last her through all of early labor.
She squeezed Victor's hand when the next one began, significantly more painful than the one before it, and according to Victor's count only nine minutes and eight seconds from the previous. They got through three episodes before Wanda stood to take a lap around the house, contractions now eight minutes apart.
"Can I get you anything, darling?" Victor followed her like a lost puppy as she made her way through every room in the house.
"No thanks."
"You sure? You don't want a snack or anything?"
Wanda shook her head. "Probably shouldn't eat, in case they have to…" her words stuttered to a halt as she contemplated the possibility of a C-section. Wanda did not want to go there. Just the thought of surgery mortified her. Last time she had surgery, she lost her sister.
"Okay."
Another three episodes later, she was down to only seven and a half minutes. She took a longer walk around the house this time, hoping it would help speed things along. This process was starting to wear her down. At seven minutes, Victor proposed heading to the hospital anyway—just in case—and Wanda had to convince him they could wait. It could be another two hours or more for her to get down to six minutes.
Two episodes later, she was relying on breathing techniques to get through each contraction. Victor was borderline frantic. She finally hit six minutes halfway through their tenth episode of the night. He was ready to yank her to her feet the instant the first six-minute interval concluded, but Wanda stopped him. "Let's at least finish the episode." It was the one where Jan got glasses, another of her favorites.
"Are you crazy? Dr. Goodner said hospital at six minutes."
"There's only fifteen minutes left. What difference does two contractions make?"
"I don't know, but it could be an important difference."
"All the websites say to go when the pattern persists for an hour or more. We can wait fifteen minutes."
Victor knew arguing with her was futile. He didn't sit down, though, he spent the time double-checking everything packed in their hospital bag. The episode ended and, much to Victor's relief, they headed to the hospital in the wee hours of the morning. Dr. Goodner met them there. "How are we doing?"
"Great," Wanda reported, at the same time Victor said, "They've been six minutes apart for half an hour now."
"Sounds good. Has your water broken?"
"No. Is it supposed to?"
"It probably will soon. Let's get you changed and see how things are progressing, okay?"
"Okay."
They wanted her laboring in an operating room in case they needed to do an emergency C-section. This had already been explained to her weeks ago, but they still repeated it, and Wanda still shuddered at the reminder that she might end up needing one. The first thing Victor noted was how bright the lights were, and Wanda agreed. "Where's Vision?"
Victor dug the teddy bear out of the hospital bag and handed it over. Wanda had decided weeks ago that she wanted it with her. Every time she looked into its little black safety eyes, Tony's words from all those years ago echoed in her head. "Maybe this bear can remind you that, despite what you lost, there's always more out there for you. Always new things to see." Wanda's vision for her family was finally coming true before her eyes, and she wanted Vision to be there to see it happen. It was the closest she'd ever get to Pietra being here.
Within the first fifteen minutes of her arrival, she met to the rest of the extensive list of people who would be involved in this process: Dr. Goodner's fellow OB, a pediatrician, two neonatal nurses, another nurse, and an anesthesiologist. Wanda's head was spinning by the time Dr. Goodner got around to examining her.
"Looks like you're at about six centimeters. Have you felt the urge to push yet?"
"No."
"Okay. If you do feel that before you're fully dilated, try to resist. We don't want you pushing until there's room for the baby to go."
"Okay."
They did another ultrasound to check the position of the babies. The first was head down and ready to go; the second breach, though Dr. Goodner assured her that was normal for the second twin. Another contraction began, more forceful than any of the previous. "Sračka!" she muttered, suddenly glad her mother wasn't here to chastise her for her choice of words. Victor squeezed her hand and reminded her of the breathing they'd practiced. Goodner spoke to the anesthesiologist, and they set up for the epidural. Wanda probably wouldn't have opted for one if it weren't so strongly encouraged—again, because of the risk of having to suddenly switch to C-section. Once it kicked in, though, she had no regrets, especially considering it took her another two hours to reach ten centimeters.
Having fought the urge to push on the last several contractions, it was a relief to finally be given the go ahead to listen to her body. On the third push, her water finally broke, which Wanda noted as the most disturbing feeling of her life, right behind waking up separated from Pietra for the first time ever.
Now that the babies were officially en route, the activity in the room increased to frenetic. The room was so packed with people that there was hardly a single tile on the floor without a foot or some piece of equipment on it. Victor was as removed from the chaos as possible, standing up by Wanda's head and holding her hand, but between the bright lights of the OR, the sound of two fetal heart monitors, and the dynamic horde of people, she could see he was struggling. The hand that wasn't holding hers was methodically rubbing that spot on his forehead. Another contraction struck, leading to another flurry of activity. One of the nurses walked up to check her IV and bumped into Victor in the process. He recoiled violently and snapped at the woman with uncharacteristic rage. Wanda had seen him like this only once before, and estimated that he was mere minutes from a meltdown. She couldn't let that happen; she needed him present for this.
"Stop." She didn't shout, knowing that a raised voice could easily be the stimulus that sent Victor over the edge, but she laced her tone with deadly urgency. Dr. Goodner immediately removed her hands and stepped back. Wanda took a deep breath and let her head list ever so slightly to the right—to Pietra's side. "Can we thin the crowd?"
Nobody answered immediately. The request must've taken them by surprise. Wanda knew they were focused solely on her and the babies, but if they so much as glanced Victor's way, they should realize the necessity of toning down the amount of sensory input in here.
"Please," she reiterated. "There is no way that every single one of you is needed right this second. If you're not essential, kindly get out."
The threat did exactly as she intended; Dr. Goodner sent the second OB, both pediatricians, and one of the nurses out. "Thank you." She knew the next contraction couldn't be far away, so she hurried to finish her request before the effort once again reduced her to huffing through clenched teeth and swearing in Sokovian. "Turn off the sound on these monitors and give Victor some space." This time, there was no hesitation to comply. Wanda could see some of the tension leave Victor's body and he squeezed her hand in thanks. Seconds later, she was squeezing back as both her body and Dr. Goodner urged her to push again.
"That's great," Dr. Goodner encouraged. "Just a few more, and you can get him crowning."
Wanda nodded and set her jaw with fresh determination. Ten minutes later she heard, not a cry, but Victor's awestruck voice. "Hi, Tommy." The crying began seconds later. Wanda let go of Victor's hand to hold him for a brief moment. The pain disappeared in an instant when she looked at that little face, scrunched up and wailing at his abrupt departure from his home of nearly nine months. "It's nice to meet you, Tommy," she whispered. A proper introduction would have to wait, though, because baby number two's heart rate began to slow. The nurse took Tommy back to check him over and clean him up. Wanda braced for part two. This is where she knew things could start to go wrong. She let Dr. Goodner feel around for the baby's position, hoping they could get him out naturally.
"He's a bit sideways, but I think we can turn him manually," Dr. Goodner explained.
"Do it."
She and the nurse gently but firmly pressed on her abdomen to turn the baby. Wanda couldn't feel much of it, but she could hear them say that it worked and that they were going to go ahead and break his water—a sensation which beat the first one for unnaturalness by a landslide. Once that part was over, she wondered if she even had the energy to repeat the entire process. "The second one's always easy," the nurse assured her. It took a few minutes for the contractions to come back in full force, but once they did it took practically no time at all for baby two to make his way out. When Goodner placed him on her chest she wanted to sob in relief. Both of her babies were out here in the world, safe and sound. Wanda kept her promise.
The nurse took Billy back to be examined and Victor leaned down to kiss her forehead, his hand once again entwined in hers. "You are incomparable, darling."
She loved it when he used big words. "Thanks, Viz. Go see our babies."
He kissed her again before going over to see Billy and Tommy. Wanda tilted her head against the pillow and closed her eyes, almost too tired to help Dr. Goodner deliver the placenta and give her the go-ahead to repair any tearing. Pietra, you're an aunt, she thought. In that moment, she wanted her sister to meet her children so badly that it hurt worse than any aspect of labor. The mix of emotions hurtling through her mind gave her a wicked headache, almost like the ones she used to get right after Pietra died. Distantly, she wondered if the stress of childbirth had burst one of the blood vessels that used to connect her to her sister, but then she saw Victor cradling Billy with the purest smile on his face and the pain vanished.
He carried the bundle back to Wanda and handed it over, just as the nurse brought him Tommy. Wanda looked around, from one baby to the other and back to Victor. This was it. Their family of four, together for the first time ever. Without even consciously deciding to do so, she began singing an old Sokovian lullaby that Mama used to sing to her and Pietra at bedtime. Billy gazed up at her with big, beautiful eyes, captivated by every word. Wanda knew she'd never love anything the way she loved these three people right here.