Multiple Blessings
(Chapter Seven: Double Take)
Six Weeks Later…..
Olivia stood beside the bed and struggled to button her favorite pair of jeans.
"It's useless," she groaned as she fell back against the bed surrounded by a pile of clothing from her closet.
"What's that, babe?" Elliot asked stepping from the bathroom with a toothbrush in his mouth.
"None of my pants fit!"
Elliot smiled.
"You are pregnant. You are supposed to gain weight and you are probably going to have to get some new clothes."
"I am only eleven weeks pregnant, El. And it isn't just one pair of jeans! None of my jeans fit and even the slacks I wear to work are getting too tight."
"You just wore those two days ago."
"Yea, but I didn't button them," she replied.
"You walked around all day with your pants undone?"
"No," she said with a smile. "Well, not exactly."
Elliot watched as she walked to the dresser and opened a jewelry box to pick up an elastic hair band.
"See," she said as she zipped the jeans as far as she could, then looped one end of the hair band around the button and slipped the other end through the button hole before looping it over the button as well.
Elliot watched as she pulled her shirt down over the jeans.
"You can't even tell," he said kissing her on the forehead.
"Well, thanks. But I believe you have missed my entire point in the conversation."
"And what is that?"
"I'm getting fat."
"You are pregnant. You are not fat," he replied smoothing his hands over the small but noticeable bulge of her abdomen.
"Most women don't show until they are further along. Some women don't show until they are six or seven months along. I am eleven weeks!"
"Most women aren't pregnant with twins. Baby, you have been to the doctor's office at least once a week for the last six weeks. They are closely monitoring everything with this pregnancy. I am sure that if your weight was an issue, he would have said something about it," Elliot replied kissing the tip of her nose. "You worry too much."
"Maybe I eat too much," she said staring at her reflection in the mirror.
"You barely eat at all."
Olivia frowned.
"Mainly because everything I do eat makes me sick. And the morning sickness is awful."
"Your doctor said the nausea is a good sign though. It is the increase of hormones that makes you sick. That means your pregnancy is developing the way it should be. And with twins they take up twice the space, so I am sure you will start showing earlier then women who are carrying one baby."
"Still. It just seems so fast. I've only gained about four pounds and now I can't button my jeans. At this rate I am going to be stuck in sweat pants for the next seven and a half months!"
"I think you look sexy in sweat pants."
Olivia laughed.
"Good answer," she replied.
She reached out her hands as Elliot helped pull her up from the bed. She exhaled and made her way to the closet once more.
"I thought you were ready."
"No, now I have to find a shirt to wear that doesn't make me look like a water buffalo."
Elliot smiled and shook his head as Lucy looked up at him.
"Your mother is crazy," he said to the dog as she wagged her tail.
An hour later Olivia climbed onto the exam table at her doctor's office. She fidgeted trying to get comfortable while Elliot poked his finger at a plastic model on the counter.
"Don't touch that," she whispered in a motherly way as she nudged his shoulder.
"It's cool. Look," he replied picking it up to show her. "It is the baby in the womb. And it shows how all of your organs shift to make room for the baby," he explained touching the plastic fetus with his fingertip and as he did all of the pieces fell out of the model and into the floor.
"Elliot! Put that back," she said looking a bit humiliated as the doctor walked into the room to see her husband scrambling around in the floor collecting plastic organs.
"It happens all the time," the doctor opening his hand as Elliot struggled to make the little plastic infant fit back into the model.
Elliot shrugged his shoulders and handed the piece to the man. He watched as the doctor turned the fetus the other direction and popped it right into place.
"Oh," Elliot replied looking at Olivia. "How was I supposed to know it went upside down?"
Olivia looked at the doctor and smiled as she took Elliot's hand in hers.
"How have you been feeling?" the doctor asked Olivia.
"Sick. Most of the time. I throw up almost every time I eat. And most of the time when I don't. I don't get hungry much, but if I don't eat as soon as I do then I throw up."
"That is normal at this point. It is your body adjusting to the increase of hormone production. Hopefully it will calm in a few weeks. If not, I can prescribe something to help with the nausea."
"And I am already having trouble fitting into my pants. Is that normal this early on?"
"Every woman's body adapts differently to pregnancy. You are a petite woman, so gaining just a few pounds is more noticeable than it would be on a taller or heavier built woman. But I am not seeing anything to worry about. Carrying twins, it is normal to notice the weight gain earlier on or to start showing earlier in pregnancy. You have not had any bleeding or cramping since I saw you last week?"
"No."
"I'd like to do another ultrasound, it's been about three weeks since we did the last one and I'd just like to see how they are getting along in there."
"Do you think we'll actually be able to make out the babies this time?" Elliot asked.
"It may still be a bit early. But as they get bigger it will become easier to tell what you are looking at."
Elliot sat down beside his wife as they stared at the monitor watching for some sign of their babies to appear on the monitor.
"There we go," the doctor said as he moved the wand around on Olivia's abdomen and watched the movements on the screen.
"I think I'm starting to figure this out," Elliot said as the doctor stopped over one of the babies. "Here's a head," he said touching the first baby on the screen and smiling a proud fatherly smile. "And here is the second baby, behind the first one. Then this looks like…." he squinted to stare at the grey fuzz on the screen. "Maybe I don't know what am looking at. Because to me, that looks like another head."
The doctor moved the wand around to get a closer look at the area.
"That is another head," the doctor replied.
"Our twins have three heads?" Elliot asked with a worried look.
"Three babies?" Olivia asked watching as the doctor moved the wand to the other side of her abdomen to inspect that area as well.
"I'm counting four," he replied.
"Four?" Elliot asked in disbelief.
"The original two I saw right off the bat. They are here in the center," he said marking them with the letters 'A' and 'B.' "Then if you look behind baby 'B'…. see the head right here."
"I'll be damned," Elliot said as his jaw dropped.
"And down in front is baby 'C.'"
"How is that possible?" Olivia asked.
"Well, two embryos implanted giving you twins. It appears that each of those embryos has divided. I can see along here there are the two lower fetuses share an embryonic sac and the two in the back share one. Double identical twins."
"Two sets of identical twins?" Olivia asked in disbelief.
"It's very rare. Although New York has the highest birth rate for quadruplets, the chances of having quadruplets are only about 1 in 571,787 pregnancies," the doctor replied looking at some statistics on the ipad he carried with him. "And the chances of that set of quadruplets containing two sets of identical twins is even more rare. But the babies all appear healthy at this point. This just became an even higher risk pregnancy," he said looking at Olivia.
"Have you ever delivered quadruplets before?" Olivia asked.
"I have not. But a colleague of mine does have experience in this area. With your permission I would like to contact her and bring her up to date on your case. When it comes time to deliver these babies it is going to take a perfectly assembled team of doctors and nurses to ensure the best care for each infant. We will need to come together, with the two of you and create a plan for the delivery of these babies. Normally we let you get as close as we can to your due date while making sure that you do not go into labor. The longer we can keep these little guys….or girls in there, the better the chances they come out with fully developed hearts and lungs. We will schedule a date and deliver the babies by cesarean. We will have medical teams on hand to care for each infant and incubators ready and waiting if they are needed. That is about as much as I know. But I will schedule a meeting with Dr. Georgia Mason. She has been through this once or twice before and is a remarkable doctor. She will be more equipped to answer your questions about delivery."
Olivia trembled, scared for a moment as the reality of the situation began to sink in.
"I want to continue to see you twice a month. You need to try to stay off your feet as much as possible. And more than likely we will eventually have to put you on full bed rest. If you have any cramping or bleeding page me and get to the hospital immediately."
Olivia nodded in agreement.
"And don't worry about your weight. According to this medical journal, a woman is expected to gain 40-100 pounds during a pregnancy with quadruplets. You need to make sure you are eating enough and eating healthy. Like I said I can write you a prescription for the nausea. You should also increase your dairy intake. Your body is going to need the extra calcium and vitamin D. Drink milk with every meal and maybe with snacks too. It is good for you and good for these babies. Exercise is good up to the point when you go on bed rest. A brisk walk is a good way to get your heart rate up and get out of the house. But no running or anything strenuous and I don't want you exercising alone. And no lifting. At all. No groceries, laundry, I don't even want you using the vacuum cleaner. From this point forward you need to have your cell phone on you at all times, just in case. Just think things through before you do them and if something feels painful or like it is putting strain on you, don't do it."
"That is what I am here for," Elliot replied rubbing her shoulders. "Whatever you need. I'll wait hand an foot on you if you need me to."
"There you go," the doctor said with a smile.
Olivia forced a nervous smile.
"Okay," she said softly with a nod.
"Other than all of that, everything looks perfect."
"Thank you doctor," Olivia replied as he left the room.
Elliot helped her to sit up and watched as she wiped the goo from her belly.
"What are you thinking?" he asked as she looked up at him.
"I am scared to death," she said with a soft and nervous voice. "And I am just praying that things go smoothly and our babies are born healthy."
"Me too baby," he said brushing back her hair to kiss her forehead.
"This is the scariest news I have ever gotten."
"It's good news."
"It is great news. It is just so scary, so much is at stake here. I mean we wanted a baby so badly. Now we have four and we could still lose them all."
"We can't think like that. We will take every precaution and be as prepared as we can for their arrival. We are going to have the best doctors and nurses. And prayer. The faith to believe that God is on our side."
Olivia took a deep breath and exhaled.
"That is always comforting to know."
That night laying in bed neither of them could sleep.
"Four babies," she said softly as she placed Elliot's hand against her abdomen.
"Four times the diapers and formula and hospital bills."
"Four cribs…..four cars."
"Four times the college tuition."
"Four times the memories and the love. El, do you really think that we can do this?"
"I know we can. Together, we can do anything."
"I hope you're right," she said as he kissed her tenderly.
"I'd better get started on the nursery."
"You don't think it is too early?" she asked nervously.
"No," Elliot replied with a smile. "I need to work on it now so that I can make it exactly the way you want and you are able to pick out all of the stuff you want to put in there. And if it is finished early that is one thing I can check off the list. Then I wont have as much to do later and I will be able to focus all my attention on helping you while you are on bed rest."
"You've really though this through, haven't you?"
"I have. And I have also been thinking that this apartment just isn't going to be big enough anymore."
"Now you want to move before I give birth too? Isn't that kind of adding stress to the situation?"
"Baby, this little two bedroom apartment is not big enough for six people and a dog."
"You're right. I just don't know if adding the stress of a move is such a good idea right now."
"Well, we could go ahead and start looking for a place. Get a few ideas at least. Find a place and wait to move in until after the babies are here. I can set up a nursery here for them to start out until we get things settled into a new place."
"Is the spare room even big enough for four cribs?" she asked.
"Some people just use two cribs for the first few months and put two babies in each one. We did that when Dickie and Elizabeth were first born. Mainly because we didn't have the money for a second crib just yet and the babies were so used to being together they seemed to sleep longer through the night when they were together."
"We will have to remember that trick. But I really want each baby to have their own bed."
"I will find a way to make it work. You may not be able to open the door all the way, but I will fit four beds in there."
Olivia giggled and smiled.
"Or you could just fit one."
"You want to put all four babies in one crib?"
"No, I meant our bed. We could move our room into the smaller bedroom and use the master bedroom for the nursery. There is more room in here. It is big enough for four cribs and a couple of dressers for storage."
"You would give up your private bathroom?"
"For my kids, yes. And I wouldn't have to give it up, it is just down the hall. Besides, it will be a while before any of these guys are big enough to need their own bathroom. This could also buy us a little more time in looking for a new house."
"Very true. We could save up a little more money."
"Not bad for our first real plan as parents," Olivia said with a smile as Elliot kissed her.
"You really need to get some rest. You heard the doctor."
"I'd rather get something else," she said with a devious smile as she pulled his shirt to bring him close enough to kiss.
"Are you sure about this?"
"I'm not talking crazy jungle sex, El. But we can be careful and be intimate at the same time. It wont be long and I wont be able to at all. I would really like to make love to my husband while I still can."
"Alright, but if it hurts or if anything feels bad or out of the ordinary we stop. Deal?"
Olivia smiled.
"Deal," she said leaning forward to kiss him again.