It had been a little while since they decided to wait. But when they did finally decide to try again, they tired to take every precaution and helpful trick to ensure they'd get pregnant, and keep it. The two did it all. Nothing went untried, regardless of how ridiculous it may have sounded.
They tracked every single thing in Richie's cycle, and the moment that fertile window was even remotely open, they it constantly. Every single position, or at least the ones Richie deemed good enough to repeat more than once or twice. And for a while, Richie couldn't even feel his legs.
But now, now came the moment of truth. Eddie bought the most accurate pregnancy tests, from each drug store had different brands. It may have gotten old a little too fast, but after a wild goose chase, they were in the bathroom. Richie had the largest case of deja vu. He sat on the edge of the bathtub, watching the last of the 5 minutes tick away on his phone. Just like last time. Three tests laid on the bathroom counter. Richie didn't even want to get his hopes up. Not after last time. Or the time before that.
When the timer went off, it managed to break Richie's little trance. He silenced it, and then stood to actually read the results. Richie truly did expect negatives. One line, or the two words "not pregnant". Or maybe even a false positive. What he didn't expect, was for all three to have the brightest sets of two lines he's ever seen.
"Oh my god..." Richie couldn't keep his eyes off of them. He was home alone. Once they were back home, he had practically forced Eddie to leave for work. If they were going to try for a kid, they'd need money for if or when they'd get lucky. And if he was taking the tests, Richie wanted to be alone for it. Now, not so much. He didn't want to see the disappointment on Eddie's face when Richie came out and shook his head. But this, this was the opposite of what he expected.
The entire day, Eddie's nerves were like a live wire. He knew that Richie wanted to be alone, but now, he should've stayed... . "Rich! I'm home!" Eddie calls, tossing his keys into the little dish by the front door. When he was met with silence, he didn't know what to expect. "Richie?" He calls again.
When Eddie got home, Richie felt his heart race. This was actually happening. This was real. "Bedroom," Richie calls back. He was too stunned to have any actual feelings towards what he just learned. How could anyone blame him?
Eddie immediately rushed up the stairs to their bedroom, coming to a stop and standing in the open doorway. There, he saw Richie sitting on his side of the bed, staring at something in his hands. And upon further inspection, it was a test... . "How'd it go?" He asks, carefully sitting next to his husband.
Richie took a deep breath, but he didn't say a thing. He simply handed the test over without making any eye contact whatsoever. He was too stunned to really react any better.
Eddie himself was hesitant. But he took it from Richie, and looked anyway. The male's brown eyes widened when he saw the two lines. Bright pink. And the other one he saw on the bed, "pregnant". "No way..." Eddie couldn't help when his lips turned up at the corners a tad. "Are you serious?!"
Richie simply and slowly nods. "But I'm not getting my hopes up," He says. The first, and the second, and even the third time had taught him not to. They didn't have fantastic luck. He heard his husband sigh, before feeling arms wrap around him and lips pressed against his hair. Richie leaned into the touch, closing his eyes.
"We'll be okay," Eddie murmurs. Richie hoped he was right. They've always come out alive in the end.
As time managed to pass by, Richie didn't know what to do, what to think. It took forever until he didn't feel crippling anxiety. Now, it was more tolerable. At least sort of. He was past the four week mark. A whole month in, and so far, nothing bad had happened. Richie was sick as ever, so much worse than the other times. He was so scared, it ended up being taken as an omen. Eddie liked to think it was because their baby was a little fighter. But Richie... he took it the exact opposite.
He was so sick, something had to be wrong.
To be on the safe side, they'd already scheduled Richie's appointment. If something were to happen, they wanted to nip it in the bud.
Eddie gently knocks on the open bathroom door, leaning against it. "Rich, c'mon, sweetheart. Your appointment's in an hour," Eddie says, tugging Richie from the depths within his mind. They had to go, or they'd be late. But he understood, and he'd be patient. When your husband is hugging the toilet for hours, it's easy to learn that he needs time.
"Yeah, okay.." Richie responded, standing silently. He didn't want to go, didn't want to deal with the heartbreak again. But he also wanted to see. See their baby. See how it all went. If there was anything wrong already. Or if there wasn't. He didn't know what to hope for anymore.
Richie had spaced out for a while. There was a lot on his mind. A lot of it, he didn't want to share. Before he realized it, they were at the office. With the tiles too white, and the air smelling too sterile. He had gotten blood drawn, and after a bit of a wait, it was positive. Richie was indeed pregnant, at least hormonally. Now came the ultrasound. He leaned back on the bed and closed his eyes. Here goes nothing...
He was too scared to be let down again. Richie wanted a baby so badly. And it was so easy for some couples. For the couples who didn't even want kids, or weren't trying. But when it came to them; a couple desperate, it was nearly impossible. It infuriated him some days.
It was silent for a while. Silent, and tense. Until he heard three faithful words. "There it is," Richie's eyes snapped open. He looked over frantically, his eyes widening when he saw the little black and white blob he's seen so many times before. The little bundle of cells making up tissue that would eventually be their baby.
None of this felt real almost. "Is that.." "Mhm. That's a fetus," The technician says, smiling gently. The woman continued to move the little wand around his belly. She's seen them before. Everyone in the clinic had. They'd been trying for a while now. Richie's eyes watered despite himself, Eddie's too. Their baby. It was actually there.
The two looked at one another for what felt like forever, until the technician spoke again. "Well then..." Richie immediately stiffened when she said that. What did that mean? Something was wrong... He just knew it. It was like deja vu all over again.
"Oh god," Richie's hormones had him in a vice grip already. His panic was tenfold. He could feel his heart race.
"No! No! It's not that, I swear!" The technician frantically spoke. She didn't mean to freak him out. She looked at them with a big smile before she went further. She pointed to something, content. "This here is the sac, all of what holds the fetus. The placenta," She pointed to something with her mouse, "Gives it nutrients and oxygen for those 40 weeks." She smiles a bit.
Eddie, who already knew all of this, did the math. He blankly stared at the screen. "Then how come... Oh my god.." His eyes widened in surprise. Richie's heart sped up at that. He didn't know what was happening, and he didn't think he had the courage to actually look over at the monitor screen.
"Will someone please tell me what's happening?!" Between the trauma, anxiety and early-pregnancy-hormones, the cocktail of it all made him think the worst. His eyes were already flooding in tears. "Did I lose another one...?" He asks, his voice wobbly. If that was the case, Richie wouldn't know what to do. Losing another one... it would kill him.
Just the look on Richie's face was enough to break his heart. "Oh honey, no," Eddie soothes, brushing his curls off his forehead with a sad smile. "Just look over for me. I promise, you'll feel better,"
With that, Richie gulped, and willed himself to look over at the screen. When he saw it, it didn't click for a moment. Until it did. The sacs were circles, with a bright white little blob in the middle. One... two... wait-
"Three?!" Richie couldn't believe what he was seeing. "Are you sure?! Check again!" He says frantically.
The technician laughs a bit and smiles at him. "I'm sure, Richie. There's three alright. And everything looks healthy," The woman smiled as she watched the two's eyes water. Hopefully tears of joy.
Eddie smiles tearfully, hugging Richie close as his husband tried not to cry. But he also knew Richie would cry eventually. He himself was about to cry. They've been trying for so long, and this... this was huge. And then it dawned on Richie. He'd get huge. But he didn't care. Not at all.
"They're all okay, right?" Richie asks, looking over at the technician again. He needed that reassurance. Three babies... . One for each of the babies they've lost. That in itself made him want to bawl.
"From what I can tell, they're perfect," She says, smiling before wiping the gel off of Richie's stomach. "Congratulations, you two," It was heartwarming, seeing them cry over finally having one that looked good. The whole clinic would hear the news sooner or later.
When they got the news of triplets, healthy ones at that, they decided not to tell anyone at first. Just in case. Everything was uneventful so far. Average. Even if it didn't seem like it was average. The endless amount of calls to the doctor is the only thing that reassured them. Richie was so sick, all he could do was stay in bed all day. And when he wasn't in bed, he was on the couch trying to fight the nausea. It was terrifying, that constant fear of whether they'd loose these babies or not. He couldn't handle it some days.
But Eddie was excited for the both of them. He held Richie close as he cried, listening to all of his worries and fears. Anything for his husband. Anything at all. They're married for a reason. And Eddie wouldn't stop his promises now of all times.
Richie was 12 weeks, and his belly had already grown a bit. Everything was so real. But at the same time, it all felt like a dream. "You okay so far?" Eddie asks, sitting next to where Richie laid in bed. "No cramping? Bleeding?"
Richie couldn't help but smile. Eddie always worries. It was reassuring in a way. He scoots over and let's Eddie lay in bed with him. "I'm okay," And so far, he was.