It wasn't long before Julieta, Pepa, and Ana left the room so that Mirabel and Max could be alone with Isaiah and Ivan. Julieta had some food of hers on stand by and within minutes after Ivan was born, Mirabel ate some food and she was all healed up. Mirabel was never more thankful for her mom's power than she was after having twins. It made her feel so much better.
At almost the exact same time, both Isaiah and Ivan suddenly got very squirmy and fussy, and Mirabel knew that meant they were hungry. It wasn't like with Rosa where she didn't know what to do. Two years of nursing one baby made her feel like an expert. It took her a minute to get them situated on either side, but it wasn't long before both babies were content and Max was still looking at her in awe. "You are just incredible, did you know that?"
Mirabel smiled at him. "I couldn't have done it without you. Seriously, Max. My memory is probably just foggy, but I swear, it was harder this time than with Rosa. The labor may not have lasted as long, but that was so intense. Even there at the end, when things got very hard, you knew exactly what to do."
"Your mom had to give me a little pep talk, because it was hard seeing you in so much pain."
"Well, it's over now and we have our perfect little boys." She looked between both of them and bent down to kiss each of them on their heads. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She just felt so peaceful and didn't want that feeling to go away.
Ivan was done first and so Mirabel said, "Ready to hold your other son?"
Max smiled from ear to ear, nodded, and he took Ivan from Mirabel. He laid him on his chest and rubbed his hand over his back. A few minutes later, Isaiah was done and so Mirabel handed him to Max as well. Both babies were lying so comfortably on Max's chest. Mirabel smiled at the sight. Her three favorite boys. The only thing that could have made the moment better would be to have her baby girl with them, but it was still very early in the morning and she wouldn't be up for at least another couple of hours.
Everyone wanted to meet the babies, but Rosa needed to meet them first. Julieta and Pepa were up talking with their husbands and Bruno. Julieta said, "I just wish you guys could have seen how amazing Max was with Mirabel through the entire labor. He was incredible."
"Well, he's a great guy." said Bruno.
"I know." She smiled. "I can still remember the first time Diego and he came to my station to heal Diego's broken foot. Max was just so sweet and respectful. I would have never guessed that he'd end up being my son-in-law at the time!"
"The world works in mysterious ways." said Felix.
When Rosa woke up a couple hours later, she immediately asked about the babies. Julieta picked her up and said, "Are you ready to meet your baby brothers?"
"Yay, baby brothers!"
Julieta giggled at the way she said brothers and walked with her to Mirabel's room. She knocked on the door and said, "I have a big sister ready to meet two baby brothers."
"Come in!" called out Mirabel.
Julieta opened the door. Both Max and Mirabel were sitting up in bed with Isaiah and Ivan lying in front of them. They were looking around at everything. This was the moment Mirabel had been waiting for. "Oh, Rosa, come here, my sweet girl." Julieta brought her over and handed her to Max. Mirabel put an arm around her and kissed her on the forehead. "We've been waiting on you to wake up. You have two baby brothers who are so excited to meet their big sister."
"Baby brothers!" she said. She climbed off of Max's lap and sat behind the babies. She looked up at Mirabel and said, "Babies in Mommy's tummy?" She was still confused about everything.
She giggled. "No, the babies aren't in my tummy anymore. This is them right here." She pointed to each one and said, "This is Isaiah and this is Ivan. Can you give them a little kiss on their heads?"
Max held his hands out to make sure she was gentle and she gave a gentle little kiss on each of their heads. "Oh, that was so sweet, Rosa." said Max. "You are going to be the best big sister in the world. Do you want to try holding one of them?"
Rosa nodded, so Max had her sit in his lap and Mirabel handed Isaiah to her. Max pretty much did all of the holding, but Rosa loved her baby brother so much already. She was pointing at all of his little features and admiring him. She was giving him so many kisses. Mirabel could have cried at the sight. Her daughter, her husband, one of her baby boys, and her other baby boy in front of her. Life couldn't get much better than this.
Throughout the rest of the morning, the rest of the family came in to meet Isaiah and Ivan. Just like with Rosa, she only had a few in at a time. It made her anxious to think of them all coming in at once. Everyone loved the babies, especially the kids. Maria and Gabi were very familiar with new babies coming into the family, but they were just as excited as if it was the first baby. They each got to hold a baby and they loved it so much. Mateo was really excited about it, as well, and got to hold a baby. Carlos and Emelina were just very confused. They were only a year old, so they didn't understand much. Antonio was a natural and held both babies at the same time effortlessly. He never wanted to put them down. These babies made it the 7th and 8th great grandbabies for Abuela and she felt beyond blessed to still be around her great grandchildren. They were all miracles to her.
When Max's grandparents and Diego came to meet the babies, Max said to his grandmother, who was holding Isaiah, "Guess what this baby's name is?"
"I have no idea, but I'm sure it's the perfect name to match this perfect little boy." His grandmother looked down at the baby, who was sleeping so peacefully in her arms. He was already a perfect mix of his parents. They both were. She leaned down to kiss his forehead.
"Isaiah."
She looked up at them and tears filled her eyes. "Oh, Max. That's the most amazing way to honor your parents."
"It was Mirabel's idea." said Max and he wrapped his arm around her.
Mirabel smiled down at Ivan, who decided he was hungry again. She leaned her head on Max's shoulder and said, "I've had the idea for a while. I decided that if we had a girl, I wanted to name her Elena and if it was a boy, Isaiah. It would have been cool to have one of each, but that just didn't happen." Max still didn't know the part about naming one of the babies Elena if it was a girl. "I just thought it would be something special."
Max wanted to cry at her kindness and her willingness to honor his parents in that way. He put his hand on her cheek. "I love you so much." He pulled her in for a quick kiss.
"And what about the other baby?" asked his grandfather.
"This is Ivan." Mirabel ran her hand over his head. "I let Max pick it out."
"Aww, I love that." said his grandmother. "These baby boys are just so perfect. You guys did good."
Once Max's grandparents and Diego left to go downstairs, Mirabel realized she was very hungry. She had Max go get her some food and just like it was after Rosa was born, she scarfed the food down as if she hadn't eaten in days. He also got a plate a food for himself. While she was eating, Isaiah decided he needed to eat, so with one arm, she fed him, and with the other hand, she continued eating her food. Both babies seemed to be doing good with nursing and she was glad she had the experience with Rosa to make it easier. That experience would help her ease back into feeding not one, but two newborns every 2-3 hours.
Max smiled at the sight and said, "Mother of the year," Ivan was lying on the bed in front of Max, fast asleep.
Mirabel giggled. "Mama and baby both have to eat, so I learned quickly how to multi-task."
After she ate, the exhaustion hit her. She started yawning a lot and was blinking heavily. Max realized he was tired, too. They tried to lay the boys down in their bassinets, but neither one of them wanted to lay down. They had a fully belly, too, but didn't want to sleep anymore. Mirabel knew her family was dying to spend more time with them, so she told Max to take both of them down to the family and come back up so they could sleep. She gave each of them a kiss on the head and then Max took both babies downstairs to the family.
Everyone was thrilled to see Max come down with Isaiah and Ivan. They could also tell he was exhausted. "Someone looks tired." joked Julieta.
He nodded. "They don't want to lay down, but we are wanting to sleep. Would you like to hang out with them?"
"Oh, we'd love that." Max handed Ivan to Julieta and then Isaiah to Pepa. "We'll be okay. We'll only bring them back if they need to eat." This was the first time Julieta was getting to hold Ivan. She held Isaiah when Ivan was born. She just couldn't get over the fact that her babies were having babies. The love she felt for her grandbabies was indescribable. All of the kids surrounded her and Pepa and admired the babies.
Max knew the babies were in good hands, so he left to join Mirabel in bed. He chuckled when he saw her already asleep. He climbed in next to her and wrapped an arm around her waist. She sighed deeply in her sleep and leaned against him. Within minutes, he was asleep. They needed all the rest they could get.
