Chapter 152
The team rolled Lindsey's bed up to the twins' incubator. She tried to sit up more but Addison gently pushed her down. "Just take it easy, we'll move you to a good spot" she smiled. Tegan watched Lindsey's face as she saw her babies for the very first time. Tears burst from her eyes as she took in their tiny bodies. "Oh my god... Tegan... they're so beautiful" she said. Tegan put her face right next to Lindsey's and breathed into her ear. "We're so blessed. They're perfect" she whispered. "I'm so happy Tegan" said Lindsey. "Are they okay... there's so many monitors" said Lindsey. "Yeah they're okay... it's standard for premies... they're small for their age but they're doing so well. We hope to have them both off the vents and on CPAP by tomorrow" said the paediatrician. "We're going to give you a moment" he smiled and walked away.
"Our little miracles" smiled Lindsey through her tears. "They really are miracles... you three scared me so much" said Tegan. "I want to hold them so bad" said Lindsey. "Me too... nurse said that we would probably be able to do some kangaroo care as soon as they're off the vents" said Tegan. "Oh geez... my breasts are leaking like nobody's business. I'm like a dairy farm" laughed Lindsey looking down her gown. "Mother's instinct kicking in" smiled Tegan and pulled the sheet over Lindsey's boobs. "I love you" smiled Lindsey and rest her head on Tegan's shoulder. They stared at the babies for a few minutes in silence. "They look like you Tee" said Lindsey. "You think so?" smiled Tegan. "Yeah! Look Casey's already got heartthrob hair" laughed Lindsey. "Has Jeremy seen them?" asked Lindsey. "Yeah... he was pretty overwhelmed. He just... I don't know... he rushed out of here and since then I haven't been able to get hold of him on his cellphone or at home. I don't know what's up with him" said Tegan sounding upset. "I'm sure he's just... I don't know... it must be hard for him too" said Lindsey. Tegan sighed... "I guess. I don't know how to handle him" she said.
Sonia and Sara joined them a few minutes later. Sara couldn't stop gushing. "Can you pleaaaase tell us their names now!" whined Sara. "Yes! Grandma, aunt Sara... please meet our little princess, Casey Sonia Quin" said Tegan. Sonia burst out in tears and Sara took her in her arms. "Oh my gosh guys... she has my name" Sonia cried. "Of course she does... named after the strongest, most amazing woman we know. As you know, Sonia means wise" smiled Tegan. "Thank you! That's amazing. And I love, love, love Casey" said Sonia. "Casey comes from Cassandra, my grandmother's name" smiled Lindsey. "It means brave" said Tegan. "That's perfect" smiled Sara. "And this is our little king... his name literally means little king. It's his father's second name. This is Ryan Stephen Quin" said Lindsey. Sonia smiled, still in tears. "Your father is going to be on cloud nine" she smiled. "What a strong, wonderful name" said Sara. "I'm going to phone dad with the news soon" said Tegan. "Congratulations again guys... they're perfect" smiled Sara. "Thanks Sara" smiled Tegan. "I want one!" said Sara. Tegan laughed. "Well go make your own... these are ours!" she joked.
"Tegan, how do you feel about your first diaper change?" asked a nurse a few minutes later. "Really? You want me to change their diapers?" smiled Tegan. "Well you have to get your hands dirty some time!" laughed the nurse. "This is going to be priceless... Sara where's the camera" laughed Lindsey weakly. "I've got it" said Sara taking out her iPhone. "You do video I'll do photos" said Sonia.
Tegan stood next to the incubator, ready for action. The nurse gave Tegan instructions. "That's all there is to it... go for it" she smiled. Tegan put her hands through the two holes started to open Ryan's diaper gently. Her hand was just about the size of his entire torso. "I'm shaking" said Tegan with an awkward laugh. Lindsey smiled at her. "You can do it sweetie" she encouraged Tegan. "Oh dear, this diaper is so big. Where's mommy's big boy? Look at you... so handsome" she gushed. "Just be careful of the wires" smiled the nurse. "Wow... his legs are barely thicker than my finger" said Tegan. "He's going to be picking up weight soon" said the nurse. Tegan opened the diaper and inspected it's contents. "Well, our boy is quite... well endowed" she laughed. The nurse laughed. That's just hormones... all newborns are, it will shrink back down to a more... modest size in due course" she smiled. The next minute a stream of wee shot into the air. "Close it up!" giggled the nurse. "Hey joker... that's not funny" said Tegan. "Boys! You have to be very quick. As soon as they feel that freedom of being diaper-less they usually let it rip" laughed the nurse. "Well... lesson learned" laughed Tegan.
Tegan gently but awkwardly cleaned his bottom and private parts with constant encouragement and instructions from the nurse and followed with some bum cream as instructed. "You're doing great babe" laughed Lindsey. "He's so tiny I feel as if I'm going to break him" said Tegan. "They don't break that easily" smiled the nurse. "His skin is so soft... and warm" said Tegan as she lifted his legs to close the diaper. "Okay there we go, fold down the top bit so that it's below his bellybutton, we're still giving him some medicine through it" said the nurse. Tegan gently closed the diaper. "There we go Ryan... all done. Next customer please" she joked as she moved on to Casey. "Look at this tiny little bum... there's hardly anything there. Mommy's pretty little girl. You're so beautiful... There we go... what a little lady... no weeing on mommy" she said softly while cleaning. "You're a natural Tegan" winked the nurse. "You sure are! I may just leave this job up to you full time" joked Lindsey. "I don't think I'll even mind" shrugged Tegan. "Oh I'm so sorry Casey... is that cold? Almost done honeybun" cooed Tegan as Casey squirmed under her hands. She put her finger in her girl's little hand and the fingers closed automatically. Tegan let out a sob. "There we go, hold on to mommy's hand... I'm right here sweetie" she whispered.
"Great job Tegan. We weigh the dirty diapers to check how much they're urinating so you can just hand me those. Let's close their little box so they can stay warm. Maybe they'll be ready for a bath... well a wipe down rather, this afternoon" said the nurse. "Can't wait" smiled Tegan. "We need to get you back to your room now Lindsey" smiled Kate. Lindsey looked weak and tired. "No... Please let me stay here" said Lindsey. "I'm sorry Linds... you need some rest and we need to get you monitored properly. You gave us quite a scare in the OR" said Kate. "Just a few more minutes" begged Lindsey.
"I've got a surprise for you" said Kate pushing Lindsey back into her ICU room a few minutes later. "I miss them already" said Lindsey as if not even hearing Kate. Kate took the TV remote and flipped it on. "We usually don't have TVs in the ICU but for new moms we make an exception" said Kate and changed the channel. A live video feed of Casey and Ryan in the incubator appeared on screen. Tegan grinned. "This is great. Why didn't we have this last night" said Tegan. "Because we didn't want you watching TV the whole night... just kidding... they system was down, they only repaired it this morning" said Kate. "Cool" said Tegan. "So, now you can see what they're up to all the time" said Kate and started to examine Lindsey again. "You're doing great but I can see you're really tired. The meds I just gave you will probably knock you out soon. Get some rest now... you too Tegan. You can see your kids again this afternoon" said Kate. "You too Kate" said Tegan. "I will" smiled Kate and left the room. "Sweetie... lie next to me" said Lindsey. Tegan kicked off her shoes and gently got on to the bed next to Lindsey, careful not to hurt her. She put her arm under Lindsey's neck. They stared at the TV screen. "Best show on TV ever" said Tegan. "That's for sure" said Lindsey sounding sleepy. Lindsey nodded off almost immediately as the drugs started taking over. Tegan felt her eyelids go heavy. She truly relaxed for the first time since they came into the hospital. "Thank you" she whispered and closed her eyes. Kate walked back in a few minutes later and smiled. She put a blanket over Tegan and closed the blinds.
Tegan woke up a few hours later with Lindsey still sleeping in her arms. She looked at the TV screen and smiled. She never knew it was possible to be this happy. Kate walked in a few minutes later. "Hi" she whispered with a smile. "Did you get a bit of rest?" she asked. "I slept like a log" whispered Tegan. "That's good. I want to give you a quick check up" said Kate. Tegan nodded. "Everything still okay with the bambinos?" she asked. "Yeah, they're doing great" smiled Kate while checking Lindsey's monitors. She didn't say anything but fiddled around with some IVs and put a thermometer in Lindsey's ear. Tegan frowned. "Everything okay?" she whispered. "Sure Tee... just have to check her temp regularly to make sure there's no post op infection" said Kate. Tegan relaxed again, staring at the screen. "Temps normal" said Kate. "Good... I really, really need to wee but I don't want to wake her up" whispered Tegan. "You won't, she's going to be sleeping for a while still. Those meds hit pretty hard" said Kate and helped Tegan get her arm out from under Lindsey.
When Tegan came back from the bathroom Kate sat her down in a chair and proceeded to examine her thoroughly. "I'm fine Kate" complained Tegan. "Uh huh... humour me" said Kate. "Well, your BPs a bit lower than I would like it and so is your pulse ox" said Kate. "I'm just tired" said Tegan. "Yeah, I'm sure that's it. Come on supermom. Sit down in the recliner and relax. We'll check again in a few minutes after you've had a cup of tea. If we need to we'll just give you a bit of extra oxygen and we may need to give you a bit of IV fluids later" said Kate. Tegan just rolled her eyes. "Okay... you're the doctor" she said sarcastically.
Tegan sat down in the recliner and switched on her phone. She read through the many congratulatory text messages grinning. She opened up Instagram and selected a photo of her two newborns. "So incredibly proud to announce that our perfect little twins, Casey and Ryan were born yesterday weighing in at 3 pounds 5 ounces and 3 pounds 4 ounces. We are both so in love! Thank you to the wonderful doctors and staff of this hospital for taking such incredible care of Lindsey and our two angels. Lindsey was an absolute star! I'm so proud of her. She had a really rough ride but I'm so happy that she's doing well. She's still in ICU but she's resting comfortably and she's stable. Our little super stars are so tiny but so strong. The peads team are confident that they will be off the ventilators soon. Can't wait to hold them and write them a thousand songs. They're amazing. It still feels unreal... I'm a mommy. XOX TRQ" She posted the message on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and their website. She followed that up with a photo that Sara sent of her changing diapers. "First diaper change, done and dusted. Proud mom!" she captioned it.
A few minutes later Sara walked into the room. She held up her phone. "I think you just broke the internet... the fans are going nuts" she whispered and laughed. Tegan just smiled and shrugged. She took a sip of her tea. "Sara... any word from Jeremy?" she asked. "No not yet. I tried calling him but his phone is off. Erin says he's not at the pool house either" said Sara. "Fuck... I'm worried about him" said Tegan. "Hey relax... you've got more than enough to worry about. Jeremy's a big boy. Quite frankly, I'm a bit pissed off with him right now for just disappearing like this" said Sara. "Give him a break Sar... I'm sure he's trying" said Tegan shaking her head. "Hmmm... I'll keep trying to get hold of him" said Sara.
"Where's mom?" asked Tegan. "She's taking a nap in the family room. Don't think she got much sleep last night" said Sara. "Neither did you... Sara... Thank you for being here for me. I really needed you last night and you were there for me... as always" said Tegan. "And I always will be Tegan... I'm so proud of you" said Sara. "I hope our twins have the same kind of bond we have" smiled Tegan. "I'm sure they will" smiled Sara looking at the TV screen. "Oh my god look at that... they're holding hands" said Tegan tearing up. "Well... I don't know if you can classify that as holding hands" said Sara laughing. "Yes you can, look at that... they're holding hands" laughed Tegan. The twins weren't really holding hands as such but Ryan had his arm over Casey's and their hands were close together. "They're so beautiful" smiled Sara. "Well, they have your DNA" smiled Tegan. "Yeah... come to think of it... they do! No wonder they're so gorgeous... and I'm sure they're going to be super smart" joked Sara and smiled proudly. "I'm going to spoil these two rotten" she said softly. "When are you and Kate going to make these two some cousins?" smiled Tegan. Sara smiled. "Soon I hope... we both really want this but we're not sure if it's too soon... but... Kate makes me really happy. I have no doubt that she's the one" said Sara. "Just trust your gut Sar" smiled Tegan.
A/N: Two chapters in one day! Hope you enjoyed the soppiness! Review please!