January 2016
At 18 months old, the octuplets were growling fast - in fact, too fast for Sam and Tom to keep up with how they were developing sometimes. A few weeks ago, they had been moved into toddler beds which had small sides by their heads to prevent them from falling out in the night, and there were the three boys in one room, Megan, Leah and Summer in another room, and Bella and Ellie in the third. There were baby gates around the house because now that the octuplets could walk more than a few steps without supervision, their parents found it hard to keep track of them.
"If I had a penny for every time I've counted to eight in these last few weeks to check that they're all here, I'd be a millionaire." Sam proclaimed as she watched her octuplets play in the second living room that had been child proofed completely with no sharp corners on furniture or ways to escape.
There were baby gates on both entrances to it, and the only things in the room were toy boxes, and beanbags - nothing breakable, and a nice soft carpet to break any falls.
"We already are millionaires." Tom stated smugly.
"Mm." Sam was leaning on the gate as she watched her children play with each other alone when Leah walked up to the gate.
"Mummy wee wee."
"What? You need your nappy changed?" Sam queried.
"No. I wee wee now." Was what Sam could make out of her babbled that only her and Tom could ever seem to comprehend - even Fletch found it difficult to understand what they said and he spent a lot of time with them. Sam watched as the girl had a face as if she was focused on something for a few moments before she looked back up at her mum. "Now I change mummy."
"Yep, okay." Sam leant down and lifted Leah over the gate before she balanced the girl on her hip. "I think we should start potty training Leah." Sam suggested to her husband.
"What? Just Leah?" He questioned.
"Well it's not fair to keep her behind if she's ready and the others aren't. I mean, I've seen her before and she usually goes in the corner when she needs to go, or she goes away from the others so she must have some control." Sam explained.
"Well, okay. What do you want me to do?" Tom asked.
"Nothing. You can potty train the boys when they're ready, and I'll do the girls."
"But we both know the boys are going to take forever." Tom moaned.
"Mummy." Leah whined.
"Okay, okay. Let's go upstairs." Sam smiled before she carried the girl up to the ensuite bathroom. Sam placed the girl on the floor before she stood up properly. "Right, I just need to go and get something. Can you stay here for me?" Sam asked slowly and clearly.
"Stay here?" Leah used her mother's words before she sat down on her bum on the bathroom mat.
"Yeah, good girl. I'll be right back." Sam smiled before she left the room. She quickly returned with a pack of wipes, a pair of princess pink underwear, and a bright pink potty. "Right, you've seen mummy go to the toilet before haven't you?" Sam asked, as she and Tom had always had to leave the bathroom doors open since the kids had learnt to walk because they followed them everywhere and they knew by watching their parents go, they'd learn how to use the toilet too.
"Mmhmm." Leah nodded.
"Well how about you start using this as your little toilet?" Sam suggested as she squatted down on the floor and placed the potty firmly on the flat floor besides the normal toilet.
"I... C-co... Con..." Leah stuttered.
"Confused?" Sam asked and Leah nodded. "Well, if you want to, we could start you wearing big girl underwear, and you wouldn't have to wear nappies anymore. And then when you need to go wee wee or poo poo you go in here." Sam explained. Leah held her hand out towards Sam as she looked at the underwear, so Sam let her hold the underwear and get the feel of it. "What so you say?"
"So I, only go here?" Leah asked as she pointed to the potty.
"Yes, that's right." Sam nodded.
"Um... O-k." Leah nodded.
"Well, let's get you changed then first. And then we can go back downstairs and see how it goes." Sam smiled before she got ready to change the young girl out of her wet nappy.
Just two hours after introducing Leah to potty training, there had been no accidents as the children played in their living room and tumbled around on the beanbags. Sam was just tidying some of the toys that were no longer being used away into a box when she felt someone tug at her skinny jeans.
"Mummy wee wee now." Leah said desperately as she crossed her legs.
"Okay, good girl, c'mon." Sam carefully picked Leah up and had her fingers crossed that she would make it to the potty as she made it up the stairs after leaving Tom in charge of the others. She entered the ensuite, placed Leah down on her feet and the little girl pulled down her own trousers and underwear before she sat down on the potty.
"Is dis wight?" Leah queried.
"Yeah, exactly like that. Good girl." Sam praised as she squatted down so she didn't look as intimidating at such a height. "And then once you're finished, you can use a few sheets of toilet roll to wipe yourself clean. And then we wash our hands." Sam explained as the little girl took a while before she felt comfortable to empty her bladder. "It's alright, take your time, there's no rush." Sam said reassuringly as she stayed kneeling on the floor.
"I finish." Leah stated as she stood up, so sam pulled a bit of toilet roll off of the roll for her and put it in her hand.
"Now wipe front to back. So from this side by your belly, to your bum." Sam said clearly. Leah did so before she stood up and Sam pulled her underwear and trousers up as the little girl looked mesmerised at the puddle of urine in the potty. "Good girl, I'm really proud of you." Sam said softly before she kissed Leah on the top of her head.
"Milk?" Leah questioned as she reached her hands up as though she had earned a breastfeed, but Sam had weaned them off weeks ago.
"No, but once you've washed your hands, you can have a cuddle. Come on." Sam said as she placed the stool by the sink and lifted Leah up onto it. They had the foam kandoo soap because it encouraged the children to wash their hands properly, and Sam washed her hands with Leah before she dried them for her with a towel and she stepped her down from the stool.
Sam had just exited the bathroom with Leah toddling along holding her hand when she bumped into Tom.
"Um, Jonny said he's got a tummy ache so I've put him down for a nap." Tom explained.
"Any diarrhoea or vomiting?" Sam asked curiously.
"No, nothing. I think it might be constipation, when was his last bowel movement?" Tom asked.
"I can't remember, there's 8 of them." Sam admitted before she ran her free hand over her face.
"Right, do you want to go and make sure he's settled down alright and I'll take Leah downstairs?" Tom suggested.
"Okay, thanks." Sam smiled and Tom lifted Leah up onto his shoulders before he made his way downstairs so Sam padded along the hallway until she reached the boys' blue bedroom. "Hey, I hear someone's not feeling very well." Sam said softly as she crouched down besides the boys bed where he was tucked under a duvet. She felt his forehead to check for a fever - which there was no sign of - before she brushed his hair out of his face. "You know mummy's a doctor?" She asked and Aaron nodded slowly. "Well I think if I give your tummy a little rub, I might be able to make you feel better. Can I try that?" Sam asked kindly as she sat on his bed next to him but he shook his head. She knew that a gentle palpation on his lower abdomen could stimulate his bowels to move to help if he did have constipation, but she knew it could be a little uncomfortable if he was already unhappy. "Do want to get some sleep?" Sam asked and he nodded his head. "Okay, I'll leave you to get some sleep." Sam said quietly as she got up and closed the curtains.
"Mummy!" Ellie smiled as Sam entered the living room and closed the baby gate behind her.
"Hello Ellie." Sam smiled. Only she had begun to notice the dull ache in her lower abdomen that she had had when she woke up that morning too.
"Mummy, me hungy." Charlie whined as he toddled over to his mother and tugged on her skinny jeans.
"I suppose it is about time for your afternoon snack. Do you want to go and get some satsumas and grapes?" Sam suggested to her husband.
"Yeah sure." Tom nodded as he got up.
"And could you get me some ibuprofen too please?" Sam asked as she hovered her hand over her abdomen which gave Tom an indication as to why she needed pain relief.
"Yeah sure." He smiled before he left the room.
Sam played with her children on the carpet for five minutes until Tom returned with a tray that he put on the table out of the children's reach. He gave Sam the box of ibuprofen and a glass of water, before he handed her her 'Mummy' hot water bottle.
"Thanks." Sam smiled.
"Go on, you jump on a beanbag and get comfy, I'll feed these lot." Tom offered as he grabbed the bowl of grapes and sat down whilst his children surrounded by him with their hands ready to grab food. "Ah ah, use this first." Tom ordered as he grabbed the bottle of hand sanitiser and put tiny amounts on each of the toddlers' hands and they they rubbed it in, whilst Sam crawled over onto one of the large beanbags and curled up with her knees up to her chest.
She smiled to herself as she watched Tom hand each of the children a segment of a satsuma which they quickly devoured and then asked for more from their father. Unfortunately, the hot water bottle and ibuprofen were taking a little longer than she had hoped, to work and so she quietly groaned to herself in agony before Ellie came over and held her arms out.
"You want a hug?" Sam asked as she forced a smiled before she lifted the child onto her lap and gave her daughter a warming cuddle. Sam closed her eyes as Ellie had her arms over her mother's shoulders which made her feel so loved by her child, but she was interrupted when Sam heard little feet pad over.
"Mummy." She heard before she felt a little tug at her skinny jeans. Sam opened her eyes to see Leah standing there twiddling her fingers. "Wee wee." She said simply and Sam internally sighed.
"Leah, c'mon. I can take you." Tom offered as he placed the two empty bowls on the table whilst the other children went off to play in the room.
"No. No daddy no. Me want mummy." Leah said firmly as she folded her arms across her chest.
"But mummy isn't feeling very well." Tom said softly but obviously Leah didn't understand it, she was only 18 months old.
"It's fine, I don't mind." Sam forced a smiled as she pulled apart from Ellie, only she noticed that the little girl was getting sleepy. "Right, we'll take Leah to the toilet quickly. And then we'll put you down for a nap." Sam whispered as she stood up and balanced Ellie on her hip, and then took Leah's hand before they headed upstairs.
Sam placed the potty next to the toilet again, and then squatted on the floor, with Ellie curiously watching her sister.
"Are you going to go?" Sam asked but Leah seemed distracted.
"No." She said firmly as she gave a Sam-style glare at Ellie.
"Look, you've seen me go all of the time, there's no need to be embarrassed." Sam was pleading in her mind as she just wanted to get Ellie off to sleep and then sit down for a while whilst she waited for the pain relief to kick in. "And you always share baths together." Sam added.
Surprisingly, Leah seemed to understand some of it as she pulled her trousers and underwear down, before she sat on the potty.
"Y'know, you're doing really well at not having any accidents Leah. Mummy and Daddy are really proud of you." Sam smiled as she lifted Ellie onto her lap to prevent the girl from wandering near her sister.
"Mummy why she nappy and me no?" Is what Sam could comprehend from Leah's babbling.
"Because you're older than Ellie, so you're ready to start using a big girl toilet, and she's not." Sam explained simply.
"I wee wee!" Leah giggled as she went in her potty, and Sam smiled at how the young girl was so easily amused.
"Mummy I tired." Ellie whined.
"I know, you can have a nap in a minute." Sam whispered. She reached across and took a bit of toilet roll off for Leah for when she was finished, and after washing her hands and Sam cleaned the potty, Leah was ready to go back downstairs. "Right, Leah come with me for a minute." Sam ordered as she held her hand whilst she carried Ellie to her and Bella's room. She tucked the girl in bed under her duvet and kissed her on the forehead. "Call me when you want to come back down okay." Sam whispered as she pulled the curtains, before she exited the room with Leah and then closed the baby gate behind her.
"Mummy." Sam looked down just as Leah collapsed onto her bum as she had obviously walked as far as she could despite it only being a little way.
"Okay, I just want to check on your brother and then I'll read a story to you." Sam said as she picked Leah up, and then entered the room after opening the baby gate, where she found Jonny climbing out of bed.
"Mummy nappy." He announced and Sam could tell by the way he was waddling that it had been more than a wee.
"Are you feeling better now?" Sam asked and Jonny nodded eagerly. Great, another thing to do on her full list - a nappy change.
After a nappy change, Sam carried Jonny and Leah downstairs into the living room and closed the baby gate behind her.
"Mummy!" She looked over and saw Bella waving a toy at her as she placed Leah and Jonny on the floor.
"No mummy. Play me." Charlie ordered.
"Sam?" Tom queried worriedly as she swayed back into the wall.
"Mummy?" Leah looked up at her mum confusedly.
Sam was about to collapse to her side but Tom grabbed her before she fell on top of the toys, or worse, the children.
"Leah, just move out of the way for me. Good girl." Tom said as he gently laid Sam down and cradled her in his arms. She was still conscious, but she wasn't fully with it. "It's alright, you're just pushing yourself too hard and you've been on your feet all week. Take some deep breaths for me, and don't worry about anything okay. Everything's fine." Tom said softly as he stroked her hair.
"Mummy?" Aaron babbled worriedly. The kids didn't understand a lot of things, but they clearly knew something was wrong with their mother as they all went over to her and either tugged at a part of her clothing or held her hand.
"Mummy?" Aaron repeated when she did not reply but she was too dazed and tired to speak - she didn't have the energy.
"Mummy's fine, she's just tired." Tom said reassuringly as he knew he needed to let her get some rest some how...
It was evening by the time Sam opened her eyes, and she realised that she was lying on a row of beanbags in the living room that was only dimly lit. Oddly, the room looked tidy and all of the toys had been packed away. In fact, she'd even go as far to say that it looked like the floor had been hoovered and the table had been polished.
She slowly got up and then padded into the kitchen were she found all eight of her children sitting in their high chairs at the breakfast bar, scribbling with crayons on sheets of paper, and Tom had an apron around his waist as he was stirring something on the hob.
"Ah, take a seat." Tom said softly as he helped Sam onto a stool by the breakfast bar island in the middle of the kitchen. "How are you feeling?" He asked curiously.
"What happened?" Sam asked.
"You collapsed. I don't know whether you had a period pains and that might've contributed to it, but considering you've been fast asleep for a few hours, I'm guessing that it was mainly due to exhaustion." Tom explained as he hugged her from behind and rested his hands on her abdomen and his chin on her shoulder. "You need to take it easy. And that's not a request." Tom said sternly. "I've called Zoe and she's letting you have tomorrow and Tuesday off of work, but the nannies are going to come as usual, so I want you to get plenty of rest."
"Mm, I should collapse more often then." Sam joked halfheartedly. "I'm starving." She admitted.
"Yeah, that was another thing I wanted to bring up. Did you even have anything for lunch?"
"Not really... But I was too busy feeding these lot, and then they wanted to play and-"
"There's no excuse Sam, you need to eat." He stated. "Which is why me and you are having a filling portion of homemade chicken tikka masala with rice and naan bread, and these lot are having little bits of naan bread too, with rice, and some small chunks of plain chicken breast." Tom explained. "And I've got everything under control, so don't worry." He added before he returned to cooking the meal.
"Mummy." Megan said as she picked up a sheet of paper and accidentally screwed it up a little bit as she held it out. Sam reached across and took it from her, to see that there was a mess of pink and purple scribbles on page but to her daughter, it was clearly something to be proud of.
"Well done, look, I'll put it on the fridge." Sam smiled as she used the alphabet letter 'M' magnet to stick it on the fridge/freezer. She stuck a few other finished masterpieces up on the fridge before she sat back down.
"By the way, Leah had a little accident and she didn't want me to change her so she had to do it by herself. She took ages but she was adamant that I couldn't help or see her while she got changed." Tom whispered in her ear.
"I'll have a word with her." Sam replied. "She's just being a bit shy." Sam added.
"Here, have some of these while you're waiting." Tom offered as he placed a plastic box of pompadoms next to Sam. "You need to take care of yourself."
"Tom, I get the point." Sam moaned.
"Alright, I'm just making sure." He protested. "Do you want any more ibuprofen?" He queried kindly.
"No thanks. I'm just gonna pop to the toilet though." She admitted she slipped off of the stool.
After dinner, the children had already made a mess of their living room once again with toys everywhere. The room was noisy as usual but thankfully the children all got on and played together.
"Leah, come with me." Sam smiled as she held her hand out. The girl kept a hold of the toy ambulance in one hand and her mother's hand in the other as she followed Sam out of the room into the hallway, where Sam squatted on floor in front of her so she could speak to her alone.
"I in twouble?" Leah's bottom lip quivered as she didn't like being shouted at.
"No, no. Not at all sweetheart." Sam said reassuringly. "I just want to talk about when you go potty." Sam stated.
"I sorry I accident when you sleep." Leah mumbled.
"No, not that, you're bound to have accidents Leah. I'm sure you didn't mean to. What I wanted to talk to you about, is why you won't let daddy help you but you'll let me?" Sam asked softly.
"Because daddy stands and... I don't want to stand." Was what Sam managed to understand from her rambling before tears began pouring down her face.
"No, Leah. Don't cry darling." Sam said as she pulled her little girl into a hug. "Look, you're not in trouble I promise you. But even though mummy and daddy go the toilet differently, doesn't mean you do. He won't make you stand." Sam had to stop herself from laughing at the little girl's vulnerable and innocent side. She pulled out of the hug and sat Leah on her knee. "Shall we go and see daddy and ask him?" Sam suggested as she stood up and balanced Leah in her hip.
"O-k." She agreed reluctantly and Sam made her way back to the living room where Tom was playing with the children. He stood up as the approached him as it looked as though they had something to say.
"Daddy, if Leah lets you take her to her potty, you won't make her stand up when she goes would you? She can sit down." Sam queried as she and Tom exchanged a look of humour.
"No, of course you'd sit down, boys stand up, girls sit down when they go to the toilet." Tom replied.
"Oh... I sorry." She apologised sincerely as she reached her arms out for her father.
"It's okay." Tom smiled as he took his daughter into his arms and gave her a cuddle. "Right, how about we read a story?" Tom suggested.
"And sounds?" Leah queried.
"Yes we can read a book with sounds." Tom smiled and Leah giggled out of happiness.
After a long, tiring day Sam and Tom had cuddled up in bed together to keep warm as it was only January and temperatures outside had plummeted.
"Can you rub my stomach please?" Sam requested quietly as the house was in complete darkness except for the night lights in the children's rooms and all was tranquil - they didn't want to disturb the kids.
"Sure." Tom grinned as he was happy at how much his massages tended to relieve her of her pain, and that made him feel better about himself, as he could end her suffering. He slipped his warm, soft hands under her pyjama vest and gently palpated her scarred abdomen with love and kindness. "I won't wake you tomorrow when I leave for work so you can have a lie in - the nannies will take over from me." He stated.
"Mm, and I might just have a candle lit, hot bubble bath all to myself." Sam whispered with pleasure.
"Well don't interfere with the nannies, remember you're off of work to rest."
"God, you treat me like you treat the kids. Do this, do that." Sam moaned.
"It's only-"
"Because you care." Sam interrupted. "I know, but it gets annoying sometimes." She admitted. "Right, night night." She whispered.
"Good night, sweet dreams my beautiful wife." Tom whispered into Sam's ear before he pecked her on the cheek and nuzzled his nose behind her ear as they shared a pillow. Slowly, they slipped into a deep slumber in each other's arms.
Thanks for reading, please review :)