Thank You for the positive feed back and reviews! I always cringe a little when I push the publish button, afraid someone won't like my story. So Thank You! Side Note-I chopped a chunk off the side of my right-hand ring finger using my Mandolin slicer. I literally couldn't type at all for two weeks. Lol!
Chapter 24
"How in the world did you just deliver two babies, and you barely broke a sweat?" Carlos was in awe of his wife.
Amy shook her head. "I definitely broke a sweat." She admitted. She couldn't stop smiling at the pink little squishy bundle in her arms. "The birthing classes I took during my pregnancy with Lexi were more focused on listening to your body's own cues and doing what feels right, versus just laying in bed."
"When you and Dr. Sayre had talked about how you wanted to handle labor and the delivery, I have to be honest, I hadn't really thought it would look anything like this. You seriously made it look so easy."
"Yeah well, I'll be wearing diapers for the next couple weeks. I can assure you it wasn't easy." Amy said with a chuckle.
Carlos sat down on the edge of her bed and leaned down, lightly kissing her before resting his forehead against hers. "Thank You, Amaya Leigh, for our two baby boys."
A tear rolled down Amy's cheek. "Thank You for turning mine and Lexi's life into a fairy tale."
Carlos could only smile in response. He pressed his lips to hers again then leaned down and gently brushed his lips against Theo's hat-covered head.
"You really should go update your parents. I'm sure Lex is dying to see her new little brothers."
"Are you sure you're ready for them?" Carlos sat back.
"Yes. More than ready."
"Okay, I'll be right back."
Both boys were happily swaddled and fast asleep when Ric and Marie walked in the room with Lexi in tow.
"Come here sweetie," Amy patted her bed.
Lexi jumped onto the bed and right into Amy's arms.
"Hi baby, are you ready to meet your brothers?" Amy helped Lexi get comfortable on the bed next to her so she could help her hold the babies.
Lexi nodded excitedly, "What's their names?"
Carlos put a sleepy little bundle in Lexi's arms while Amy helped her support the baby's head. "This is Gabriel."
"Gabriel. His face is kinda wrinkly like Papa Ric's." Lexi scrunched her nose up.
Carlos threw his head back and laughed, and so did everyone else in the room. "That's just because he's a fresh baby," Carlos explained. "He won't be quite so wrinkly tomorrow."
"And that is Theo." Amy said, pointing to the other bassinett.
Marie scooped Theo out of his bassinett and walked over to Amy. "Amaya, these two boys are beautiful. You and Carlos made two very handsome little boys. Thank You." She leaned down and kissed Amy's forehead.
Amy felt her cheeks heat at the compliment. "You're welcome, Mama. We think they're pretty handsome ourselves." She admitted, shooting a quick glance to Carlos.
"How are you feeling?" Ric asked Amy as he came over to stand next to Marie to admire his new grandson.
"Tired, but good. I'm so happy to have these two boys here earthside with us at last." She helped Lexi adjust her arms to cradle Gabriel closer to her.
"Well, we won't stay long. I'm sure you would like to rest." Ric said, gently stealing Theo from Marie's arms.
"You guys don't have to go anywhere." Amy smiled as Ric intently watched the squishy little bundle in his arms. She caught Carlos' attention and pointed to their digital camera.
While Carlos observed and caught pictures of the boys being held by everyone, Amy was happy to finally be able to relax. No more bed rest, or worrying about the babies coming too early and having health issues. In a couple days, she and Carlos would have all three of their kids under one roof and be able to start establishing a new family routine at home.
Lexi thoroughly enjoyed having her very own real life babies to hold. However as soon as Gabriel started to make some noises she got scared and was more than happy for Amy to scoop him out of her arms. But she sat by her mom and watched intently as Amy secured him in the crook of her elbow and gently swayed and bounced him back to a peaceful slumber.
After about an hour of visiting, Ric and Marie could tell that Amy was quickly losing steam, and could use a nap. The babies were both starting to get fussy as well.
"We'll just take Lexi with us and head back home. We'll come back a little later, give you guys a chance to get some rest." Marie leaned over Amy and gave her a hug and a kiss. "Thank You, darling girl," Marie whispered in her ear. "For giving my Carlos a chance and for these beautiful babies." She pulled back, her own wet cheeks matching Amy's.
"You're welcome, Mama. Thank You for giving Lexi and I such a wonderful new family." Amy squeezed Marie's hand before Ric came over and gave her a hug as well.
"You're stuck with us now," Ric teased. "You just get some rest momma."
"Lex," Amy waited for her to scramble back up on her bed. "You are more than welcome to stay here. You can hang out with us for a while if you want to." Amy didn't want Lexi to think she had to leave too.
Lexi didn't look too sure of what she wanted to do, and she shrugged her shoulders. "There's not really much to do here."
"No, there's not." Amy admitted. "There is a playground Carlos could take you to for a little while."
Lexi seemed to consider it, then one of the babies started to cry. Carlos had just scooped Theo out of his basinett to calm him down when Gabriel started crying too.
Carlos looked to Amy, "Feeding time?" He looked a little scared.
"Probably," Amy grabbed her nursing pillow and started getting situated.
Carlos deposited Theo in Amy's outstretched arms and then quickly picked up Gabriel.
"I'll just go with Nana and Papa," Lexi said.
"That's perfectly fine honey," Amy put an arm around Lexi and hugged her. "Well, I've never fed both boys at the same time yet, so unless you all want to see a lot more of me you might want to scoot." She said, half joking.
"We'll call before we come back," Marie said as she hugged Carlos and kissed Gabriel's forehead. "Please let us know if you guys need anything." She added before ushering Ric and Lexi out the door.
Carlos closed the hospital room door behind his parents. He turned back to Amy, still gently bouncing Gabriel in his arms. "So how do we do this? What do you need?"
Amy tackled her very first tandem feed with the boys, with some assistance from Carlos. He also got to change his very first diaper. Amy couldn't help but laugh while he struggled with getting the diaper secured. The nurse and Dr. Sayre both came in to check on everyone. Happy that the babies had successfully had their first feeds, and were bundled back in their basinets, they both left so the new parents could rest. Amy was asleep before the door had even latched behind them.
Carlos stood watch over his boys for a few minutes, enjoying the quiet moments to really study and their little faces. Gabriel had the cutest little dent in his chin, and his little face scrunched up every time he yawned or was getting ready to cry. Theo had the most adorable little furrowed brow, so he always looked so serious. They both had very dark hair, not surprising with their Cuban heritage. He couldn't wait to see if they favored him or their mother, and what their personalities developed into. After stifling a yawn, and satisfied that the boys seemed like they would stay asleep, Carlos settled himself down in the chair next to Amy's bed and finally closed his eyes.
Two days later, Carlos was walking down the hallway to the hospital's exit with a baby carrier in each hand. Amy was walking slowly with him while a nurse escorted them. Carlos had already taken all of her bags and other items to their waiting car. The nurse supervised Carlos putting the baby seats in the Yukon, and satisfied that everything seemed to be in order she congratulated them again and sent them on their way.
The drive back home to Princeton was a bit surreal. Carlos kept Amy's hand in his, both of them smiling and constantly looking into the seats behind them to check on their precious cargo. The boys made some noise now and then, but thankfully they seemed pretty content in their seats.
Amy was surprised to see loads of blue balloons tied to the iron gates at the end of their driveway. She couldn't help but laugh. She wasn't surprised when she looked over at Carlos and his face showed both annoyance and a little bemused pride as well. The entire driveway was lined with blue balloons and streamers. When Carlos made it to the house they saw the painted wooden swan cutouts, one for each of the boys. They had the boys' names and birth date on them. And in the courtyard between the garages their family and some close friends stood waiting to greet them.
"I told mama to give us a couple days to settle in before having a party." Carlos said as he pulled the car into the garage.
"It's fine," Amy said. "We can have a late lunch with everyone and then send them home. None of them will be upset that we don't want them to stay long."
Lexi was perched on the couch with the nursing pillow on her lap to help her support Theo, who was fast asleep. Marie was sitting next to her, keeping an eye on her to make sure she didn't need any help. Amy was sitting at the kitchen island stuffing her face with some of Claire's homemade lasagna rolls and French bread, along with a salad to make Carlos happy. Whoever said that pregnancy cravings were bad had clearly never breastfed twins. Amy had never felt so hungry.
The boys tolerated being held and passed around pretty well, but about an hour after they got home Theo started to get a little restless. Amy scooped him up and stood next to Carlos swaying a bit to try to sooth him. But it only took a few minutes before Gabriel joined his brother.
"I'm going to take the boys to the bedroom, it's time for them to eat. Thank you, everyone, for your love and support. We really appreciate it." Amy accepted one-armed hugs from everyone while she held Theo to her chest.
Carlos took Gabriel from his dad and put an arm around Amy. "I'm going to help Amy get settled, I'll be back in a minute to see you all out."
"Nonsense." Marie waved a hand at Carlos, "We are all perfectly capable of seeing ourselves out." She walked up to Amy and gently embraced her, careful not to squish Theo. "Call me, day or night, if you guys need any help at all," she said to Carlos and Amy. "I mean it." She pulled back and put a hand on her son's arm so she was touching both of them. "I'm just a phone call away. I would love nothing more than to help you guys out."
Amy found herself getting emotional again. "I will call you the second we need a little help." Amy smiled. "I've never handled two babies at once, and Carlos, though quick on his feet and has done wonderfully so far, doesn't really have any baby experience."
"I know you will both handle it just fine." She kissed Carlos on the cheek and then Amy. After lightly brushing a finger down each of the baby's cheeks she joined Ric in getting ready to leave.
"Bye everyone," Amy called as she walked down the hallway to the master bedroom.
Carlos continued to hold Gabriel while Amy settled in the comfortable rocking chair they had installed in their bedroom. Once she got her nursing pillow set and Theo situated on one breast, Carlos helped get Gabriel situated on the other side.
"What do you need?" He asked Amy.
"A huge ice water. Thank You." She gave him a quick smile before looking back down at the boys.
Carlos leaned down and kissed the top of her head before leaving their room. He returned a few minutes later with her requested large ice water-complete with a straw so it would be easier for him to help her drink it. He'd also grabbed a protein bar, a container of her favorite almonds, a banana, and an apple. He put the snacks on her bedside table. "Just in case you need a snack."
Amy yawned, "I'm good. As soon as the boys are done eating, I'm going to pass out in bed."
"I think Claire is making your favorite for supper, salmon, risotto, and roasted Brussels sprouts." Carlos sat in the chair next to hers, watching her.
"Sounds good." Amy said quietly, not taking her eyes off the boys. They had both quickly become pros at nursing, the little sounds they made as they suckled were adorable. "Where did all of our bags from the hospital end up?"
Carlos got up and walked towards the door. "I think they're all here." He picked them up and set them on the bench at the foot of their bed. "What do you need?"
"In the extra stuff for the babies, I know the nurse said she was going to put in a bunch of little pre-mixed formula bottles, just in case we needed them. Can you take those out to the kitchen? I really hope we don't need them but if we do, they might as well be out there where the bottles and the warmer are."
"Anything else?" Carlos asked, having located the case of individual bottles of formula.
"No," Amy yawned again. "I'll get the rest sorted out later."
Ten minutes later Carlos and Amy were each changing a diaper, then swaddling a baby. Both boys were passed out, they laid them down in the divided pack and play/bassinett and couldn't help but stand there with their arms around each others waists just watching the boys sleep. Gabriel was dreaming, they could see his little eyes moving around behind his closed lids. Theo was just out, a little bit of breastmilk leaking down from the corner of his mouth.
Carlos turned his head and kissed Amy's temple then just leaned his forehead down to her head. "Have I told you lately, just how amazing you are and how much I love you?" He whispered?
Amy turned and put her other arm around his waist, "Yeah, you've mentioned it a time or two." She teased.
He leaned down and kissed her firmly on the lips, "I love you, so much more than I thought possible. And I am incredibly lucky to have you, and now these two boys and Lexi in my life." He kissed her again. "But now," he grabbed onto her shoulders and turned her around, steering her towards the bed. "You need a nap. I'll take care of everything else, you just get some rest." He pulled the blankets back, after tossing the throw pillows over to his side of the bed. "In you get." He helped her into bed and actually tucked her in. "Sleep, my beautiful wife."
Amy smiled, and she barely managed to get out an "I love you, too." Before she was falling fast asleep.
The first night home with the twins was rough. Amy thought they got lucky when both boys nursed and passed out around nine pm. She took a little time to get ready for bed and happily passed out at ten pm. Only to be rudely woken up by two very unhappy baby boys a little before eleven pm. After that she nursed the boys, switching them from side to side, every sixty-to-seventy minutes until five am. That was when Carlos threw in the proverbial towel and warmed up a small one-ounce bottle of formula for each of the boys. He and Amy each took a baby and fed them the formula, the boys only drank about half an ounce each and proceeded to pass out. They swaddled the boys and laid them back in the bassinett. Carlos and Amy both crawled back into bed, utterly exhausted.
Amy heard one of the boys just beginning to fuss, she opened one eye and was completely surprised to see how bright the room was. It was morning. She looked at the clock on her night stand and panicked, launching herself out of bed to go look at the boys. It was nearly ten in the morning. Four hours since the boys had last fed. Four hours since she had practically fallen into bed. She leaned over the babies, Theo was the source of the fussing while Gabriel was just started to wake. Amy straightened up and put a hand to her chest to try to calm her racing heart.
After taking a few moments, she picked Theo up and took him to the dresser/changing table they'd added to their room for the boys. She stripped him down, changed his diaper, and put a clean sleeper on him before depositing him in one of the baby seats by the rocking chair and repeating the same process for Gabriel. She was just getting sat down to get the boys fed when Carlos walked in.
"What time did the boys wake up?" Carlos asked as he walked over to help Amy get both boys latched at the same time.
"Just fifteen minutes ago. Theo started to fuss and I completely panicked when I realized how light it was." Amy cringed a bit when the boys started nursing, feeling a bit sore from the constant feeding during the night. "What time did you get up?"
"About an hour ago. I got a quick workout in. Claire has breakfast going for us. I'll bring you back a plate so you can eat while they eat." Carlos started towards the door and turned at the doorway. "Do you need anything else?"
"Water, coffee, ten hours of sleep, my breast pump, a shower, more coffee, and did I mention sleep?" She managed a tired lop-sided smile for Carlos as she looked up at him.
"I'll be back." Then he was gone.
A few minutes later he was back with water, Amy's favorite iced coffee-decaf, which she wasn't happy about, and an omelet with some fresh fruit.
He set everything down on the table beside her chair, then sat on the foot stool in front of her. "I think your pump is already in here. Are you going to need it?"
Amy nodded, "They ate constantly most of the night and then I slept for three and a half hours, I'm full of milk right now." She looked over at the plate of food and sighed. "I can't eat until one of the boys is done."
"I can feed you, if that's okay." Carlos picked her plate back up and started cutting the omelet up.
"Please, I'm starving."
Carlos obliged her and forked a bite of eggs and veggies to her mouth. "We really do need to keep a bin of snacks right by your chair don't we?"
Amy nodded as she swallowed. "I thought pregnancy cravings were crazy, but I constantly feel like I'm starving right now."
Carlos presented her another bite. "We'll get something set up for you today. It's a good thing I insisted on a mini fridge in here."
Amy just nodded again as he continued feeding her. Once the omelet was gone she took her first drink of her iced coffee. She frowned at Carlos. "Decaf?"
"You're nursing."
She gave him a very unhappy look, "I can have some caffeine. And after the night we just had, do you really think withholding my caffeine is wise?"
He smirked. "Yes, because as soon as you finish your fruit and water you, my darling wife, are going to pump and then go right back to bed."
She shook her head, "I'll have to store the milk and get my supplies washed to use again. I need to shower."
Carlos shook his head. "You can shower later. I will get your milk put away and your pump parts washed. You need more sleep."
"I…"
"No," Carlos interrupted her. "I can run on little sleep, I'm used to it. You need your rest. Take another nap and I will take care of everything else."
As soon as Theo was full and starting to doze again, Carlos took him from Amy. He burped him, changed his diaper and then laid him back in the bassinett. Amy was just burping Gabriel when Carlos was done with Theo. Carlos found her breast pump bag at the end of the bed with the rest of her bags from the hospital the day before. He took it to her and scooped Gabriel out of her arms to get him changed and put down as well.
It had been a while since Amy had pumped, and she had been thankful the lactation specialist had stopped in to see her a few times while she had been in the hospital. In a couple minutes she was set up and the pump was going. Carlos kept her company until she was finished. As soon as she was done Carlos took the bottles and parts from her.
"I've got this. Go ahead and lie back down." Carlos watched her get back into bed.
"I don't know if I can go back to sleep." Amy was lying, she could absolutely go back to sleep. Her eyelids were already getting heavy.
"Just try." Carlos said quietly. "I'll be back in a few minutes."
When Carlos came back to their room five minutes later Amy was asleep.
At their two-week check up, Gabriel weighed in nine pounds and five ounces while Theo was up to nine pounds and eleven ounces. Both boys had gained nearly two pounds each their first two weeks. Amy wasn't the least bit surprised since the boys ate every three hours around the clock, with one four hour stretch at night. Carlos was still at home most of the time to help Amy when she needed it. He went in to the office a few afternoons a week, but he was surprised at how much he actually enjoyed spending time with Amy, Lexi, and the boys.
By the time Theo and Gabriel were six weeks old, Amy insisted on Carlos going back to work. She had no problems getting the boys fed on her own. Claire was at the house if she needed help. Lexi was on summer break from school, and she loved just sitting with the babies on the floor and practicing her reading to them or shaking a rattle for them. The boys always had someone watching over them, even though they weren't even mobile yet.
Ultimately, after some back and forth between Carlos and Amy, they decided she would stay on maternity leave until the boys were six months old. Amy went back to work part time, working from home a couple days a week and going in to the office a couple days a week. She was usually off on Friday's. The arrangement worked out well. If one of the kids was sick, Carlos and Amy both usually ended up taking the day off-one to take care of the sick child and the other to keep the healthy ones on their normal schedule. They truly took a team approach to everything they did.
