Anne quickly groaned in pain as her heavily pregnant belly weighed her down. Despite all of her concerns, the pregnancy didn't result in a miscarriage and she was new due to give birth next week. The doctor had routinely assured her that the baby was healthy and there were no signs that there was anything wrong. Even though she had been going to the hospital more than was required, Anne couldn't help something was wrong. She couldn't tell if it was with the baby or something else, however.
Just then she heard a scraping sound and the familiar baby babble.
Fearing something was wrong with Toby, Anne rushed as fast as she could into the kitchen. She sighed in frustration when she saw Toby in the kitchen with his two friends, named Jessica and Lucas. Ivy and Carver had their baby boy six months ago and had met Jessica's mother at a Mommy & Me class. They then introduced Jessica's mother to the Tripps. They started having playdates together and the rest was history. Anne examined the kitchen and sighed when she saw that Toby had managed to open the fridge again and was trying to pull things off the lower shelves.
"Toby! You kids know shouldn't be playing in here!" Anne exclaimed as the infants all laughed and ran away at full speed, almost running face-first into the glass patio door. Anne groaned and after closing the fridge door, she bent down to pick the three infants up and let them outside. However, she severely misjudged the weight of her pregnant stomach and started to struggle to stand back up. Seeing this, Ivy quickly walked over and held onto Anne as she picked up the kids.
Ivy opened the patio door and they let the children go out into the backyard that was bustling with life.
The grown-ups had a baby shower for Anne. The event was full of bright and colorful decorations and upbeat music was playing in the background. They had invited all of their friends, neighbors, and family over to celebrate their newborn. Everybody was talking among themselves and some were playing games. Along the fence, she could see Mike's sister, Miriam, in front of a blackboard, taking bets on the new baby's weight. On one table were dozens of plates full of food and on another were piles of presents, though most of them were baby books.
When they were organizing the baby shower, Mike asked all of the guests to bring a book instead of a greeting card.
She could also see Mike creating a keepsake guestbook to remember the occasion. Anne took in the happy moment and checked on the three babies. She saw Toby standing up and trying to reach up towards the sweets on the table. But Mike was smart and made sure that they were well out of his son's reach. The last thing they wanted was spilled food and drinks. Jessica, who had only started learning to walk a couple of weeks ago, was standing up and giggling at the sky, reaching for the clouds and the birds flying overhead.
Lucas was sitting down on the grass and was facing one of her rose bushes.
He was babbling loudly at the bush as if he was having a conversation with the plant. The brunette chuckled at their antics and once she was sure they were alright she returned to the party.
"Gosh, you can hardly tell she's gained any weight." Mike's cousin Kyle suddenly commented as they watched Anne talking to some of the guests. Just then, she suddenly turned over and accidentally knocked over a table with her giant, pregnant stomach. "I mean, you know from behind." He chuckled nervously and went to mingle with the other guests. Mike rolled his eyes and went to greet his mother, who had just arrived and she immediately gave Toby and his two friends some chocolate coins.
The trio took the coins and crawled under the table.
They greedily gobbled up the chocolate, smearing the treat all over their faces. But Mike was scared they would knock over the table and quickly took them out.
"Come on kids, out from under there." He smiled and the kids climbed out from under the table, accidentally bumping into Anne's stomach as they did. Ivy laughed as Carver tried to herd the little ones away and Anne shook her head fondly. Jessica's mother, Charlotte, walked over, and as per usual, she was talking to her assistant on her cell phone. Her father, Odin, had been invited but claimed to be too busy to attend.
"I'll get back to you in a minute, I've got to say hi to the life of the party," Charlotte told her assistant before hanging up. "So, how's our little man?" She smiled as she gently patted Anne's pregnant stomach.
"I told you, Charlotte, the doctor says it's a girl."
"That windbag thought Jessica was intestinal gas." She scoffed and Anne looked surprised for a moment. Although the doctor had told her and Mike their baby was a girl, the couple didn't want to impose any gender stereotypes on their child so as a result most of the things in the new baby's nursery were bright yellow and white color. Just then, Charlotte's phone started ringing, interrupting her conversation, and she immediately answered, ignoring everyone else.
"Well, the doctor is the expert; I don't see any of you with a Ph.D. in Latin." Anne lightly scolded her friends.
"Yeah, pig Latin maybe." Ivy huffed, remembering going to the same doctor and being told she was having twins, scaring her and Carver half to death. Thankfully Lucas was their only child, but that still left them with more than double the baby items they needed. Honestly, Ivy was surprised that the doctor still had his medical license. "Let's hope for Toby's sake it's a girl; I'd hate to think how much your kids would be squabbling if they were both boys."
"Let's not do any gender stereotyping, after all, Mike and Nathan are brothers, and they get along just fine." Anne smiled, completely missing Mike and Nathan arguing about the flavor of punch he had bought for the baby shower. As Anne enjoyed the party some more, she felt a kick and winced, putting her hand over her stomach. There was another hit harder than the last one and Anne bit back pain. A sudden thought hit her and she could feel her blood run cold.
Another hard kick confirmed her fears.
She was in labor early and the baby was not going to wait.
"Oh! Ivy, it's happening!" She gasped through the pain to her friend.
"It's time already? Oh, boy." She gulped before her eyes narrowed and she quickly took charge. "Everybody to your stations, people! Mike, get the car! Charlotte, call the hospital!" She ordered as Anne began her rhythmic breathing and the other grownups picked up the kids.
"Up we go, little sprout, we've got a baby to deliver." Stanley smiled as he picked up his grandson. Unfortunately, all the noise and panic scared the three infants and Toby let out a scared wail as soon as Stanley picked him up, and less than a second later the sprinkler system in the backyard malfunctioned and sprayed everyone with a blast of cold water. Everyone screamed and rushed to save the gifts before running inside, soaked to the bone.
"Now, that's what I call a baby shower!" Stanley laughed lightly before taking Toby and rushing off to be with his daughter...
Within five minutes three cars pulled up outside the Dr. Wilhelm Hoffman Center for Holistic Birthing. It was one of the best maternity centers in the state of Oregon and was said to offer the modern parent state-of-the-art within primitive birth alternatives. As soon as they entered the building they were greeted by a statue of a doctor holding several babies. After Mike helped Anne into a wheelchair, they hurried over to the front desk to check in.
The front desk had a board above it that displayed the names of mothers giving birth, in a fashion of the arrivals and delays board at airports.
As the group arrived at the reception desk, a nurse hurried over to greet them. After signing the couple in, the doctor met up with them and quickly escorted the group towards the birthing room. Only Mike's brother and Anne's father stayed in the lobby to watch the three toddlers. By watching, they meant placing the children in a playpen while they sat at a table nearby, playing cards. Within minutes Mike and Anne were scrubbed up and led into a separate room while their loved ones were instructed to remain outside.
Hanging outside the birthing room were all of Anne's friends and family, waiting impatiently as they listened to Anne's screams of pain.
Every time Anne screamed, they would all freeze and clench up. It took everything her mother had not to rush in there and be by her daughter's side. Inside the room was even more hectic. The room she had chosen was the usual, ordinary birthing room. Nurses and doctors rushed around, trying to gather up all the necessary equipment. Anne's rhythmic breathing continued, though it was now at a much faster pace. The staff worked on Anne while the doctor kept giving orders.
Mike was by his wife's side and was trying to get her to breathe more calmly, yet that was proving pointless.
She was currently feeling the worst pain of her life. Her entire body was bathed in sweat. She felt a horrible, piercing pain that almost rendered her into a fetal position. Her whole body felt like it was going to be split in two as she desperately tried to do what nature intended. The doctors had offered her some pain relief, but she had quickly refused any sort of drug to enter her system. She had been carrying this baby successfully for nine months and she was so scared that something could still go very wrong.
"All right, Mrs. Tripp, you can do it, push now!" The doctor encouraged her from his position in between her legs. "Have we got a good reading on the EFM?" He asked the nurse when Anne suddenly released her loudest scream yet and gave one final push. "Here it comes! Get ready!" The doctor smiled as the baby was pushed into his waiting arms and Anne slumped down in exhausted relief as the baby started crying very softly, and kind of adorably.
"Honey, she's so beautiful." Mike smiled tearfully when the doctor allowed him to cut the umbilical cord. "She's... she's a boy!" He suddenly cried in shock, but Anne couldn't care less if that baby was a boy or a girl. All that mattered to her was that he was healthy.
"Hello, my sweet baby boy." She smiled tiredly and her new son was wrapped in a blue blanket and handed to her, still softly crying and hiccuping. Mike wiped the tears from his eyes as Anne let the baby grab her finger.
"Well, I guess we won't be naming him after my Grandma." Mike sighed in disappointment as the baby quieted down and gaze at his new parents.
"He doesn't look much like a Nicola." Anne agreed and gasped at an idea. "What about Nickolas? It's close enough, right?" She suggested and Mike hummed in thought over the name.
"Nick Tripp?" The nurse commented as she wrote down the name. Mike and his wife heard what the nurse said, and realized what a great name it was.
"Yeah... I like it." Mike smiled proudly as he gave his wife and son a gentle kiss...