It had been a week since Emma brought her newborn twins home, or at least that's what they say even if it felt so much longer, probably due to her wrecked sleep schedule. As one of the babies's cries woke her, she looked over to her clock and sighed, it was just barely past 6 am.

As Emma climbed out of bed she felt a pain in her midsection, the incision from her caesarean was still causing her pain. She made her way over to the cribs gently picking up Aaron. She carried him upstairs to the kitchen where she prepared his bottle. As she sat feeding him his bottle, she thought about how the last week had given her a new respect for her mother and everything she went through.

As Aaron finally drifted back to sleep, she carried him back down to her room, she kissed him on his head as she placed him back in his crib. As she headed back to her bed she heard Madison begin to stir, Emma let out a weary sigh as she did the same thing with her.

After feeding and getting Madison back into her crib, Emma saw it was 6:30 by the time she climbed back into bed. She tried to sleep but her mind wandered about what would happen once school started back. Her only responsibility right now was them and she was exhausted, how would she handle things once she had to deal with school? She felt a tear slide down her face as she finally drifted off to sleep.

By the time Emma had woken back up, it was almost 11:00 am. She groggily looked at her phone to see she had a new message. She opened it to see it was a good morning text from Sean, she couldn't help but smile. She dialled his number waiting for an answer which she eventually got.

"Hey." Sean answered.

"Morning." Emma replied sleepily.

"How are you feeling?" Sean asked.

"Tired...still hurting. It was a busy night. The twins kept waking up " Emma said.

"How about I stop by after work and help out with them?" Sean asked helpfully.

"I wouldn't mind, I'm sure they'd love to see you." She said playfully.

"I'll see ya then." Sean said.

"See you tonight." She said as they hung up.

As she hung up, she thought to herself she should start the day already but couldn't get motivation to climb out of bed, between the exhaustion and the pain she was drained, this all changed when she heard both of them beginning to stir. She sighed forcing herself out of bed to repeat the routine again.

After feeding and changing them again, she took them upstairs to the living room where her mother sat while Jack watched TV. Madison lay in her bassinet while Emma held Aaron. "Rough night, sweetie?" Spike asked.

"Rough morning more like it, I was up at 6 with both of them." Emma said wearily.

"Why don't you leave them with me and you go get a shower?" Her mom suggested.

"Thank you!" Emma said gratefully hugging her mother as she placed Aaron in his bassinet heading upstairs.


Ever since coming home from the hospital, Emma wasn't able to do something as simple as shower everyday as most of her day was dedicated to caring for her twins, somedays it was like they'd take shifts needing attention while others they'd simultaneously be crying and need taken care of. She did genuinely love them but she'd be lying if she said it wasn't frustrating.

Emma sat on the floor of the shower letting the water wash over her, cherishing the brief personal time. As she climbed out of the shower she reached for a towel catching sight of herself on the mirror. It was like she didn't recognize herself anymore, she always had issues with her pre pregnancy body but now she felt she had taken it for granted.

Emma traced the red, sore stretch marks on her midsection, she didn't want anyone, especially Sean, seeing them. Her eyes went from the stretch marks to the weight she had put on from the pregnancy, she heard stories of some women who were never able to lose the weight, she began worrying if she'd be one of those women. She thought to herself how she needed to get back in shape but she knew how hard that'd be.


After getting dressed she went back downstairs to find Manny had arrived and was sitting with Spike and the babies fussing over them.

"My adorable little niblings! I'm going to spoil you two so much, yes I am!" Manny said as she held Aaron talking in her excited baby voice to them. Emma collapsed on the couch next to her, as nice as the shower felt, she was still exhausted. "They keeping you busy?" Manny asked, her voice filled with concern.

"I haven't gotten any real sleep since they came home. You think with how much I run around for them I'd at least be able to lose the pregnancy weight." Emma said defeated.

"Well I have been meaning to get in better shape for the spirit squad, what if we did it together?" Manny suggested.

"I'd love that..." Emma said, grateful for her friend. Emma watched as Manny continued fussing over the twins, Emma wished she had that level of energy with her own kids. As much as Emma loved the fact her best friend adored her children that much, part of her was jealous of Manny's energy while interacting with them.

Later that night Sean had arrived as he promised. He sat on Emma's bed with him holding Madison while she held Aaron, both babies on the verge of falling asleep. "And then Manny said we should try it together." Emma told him.

"You know you don't have to try and impress me right?" Sean replied.

"I know it's just...I feel gross and I want to get back to my old body." Emma said sadly.

"Just promise me you won't go overboard with it like those people who starve themselves." He said concerned.

"No...of course not." Emma said softly


Authors note: hey I'm back! Hope this was worth the wait and as usual any feedback or kind words are appreciated!