Both Callen and Zoya couldn't believe it. They were having triplets! Callen stumbled backwards onto the chair. Zoya was pregnant with three babies! They were gonna have three babies!
"You sure doctor?" Zoya asked.
"Yes. As you can see here. Here's one heartbeat, here's another and here's the third," Dr. Kidd explained as she pointed at the screen.
"Wow." Zoya still couldn't believe it.
"It's not that uncommon. The older you get the more chance you have of multiple babies."
"Uncle Grisha? Are you okay?" Maya asked but Callen didn't respond. "Aunt Zoya? Is Uncle Grisha okay?"
Zoya looked at Callen who was still sitting on the chair in shock.
"He'll be fine. We just find out we're not having one baby but three babies."
"Like twins?"
"Yes but cus it are three babies it's call triplets."
"Ah okay."
"You okay honey?" Zoya asked as she turned her head back to Callen.
"Huh?" Callen said as he looked up. "Yeah I'm fine." Callen walked back up to Zoya's side. "I'm fine honey. It's just a lot to take in."
"Yeah it is. I can't believe it either. But I'm sure we'll be alright." Zoya turned back to the doctor. "Is it more risk now, since I'm having triplets?"
"Yes, there is more risk. But that's always the case with multiple babies. But we'll keep checking you and monitoring you very closely so I wouldn't worry about it too much. We'll deal with it should the time come. Let me complete the exam and then I can answer all your questions."
"Can you already tell if they are identical or not?"
"I can't see the sex yet but I can see if they are identical or fraternal if you'd like to know."
Zoya looked at Callen. "I think it would be nice to know that at least. We can talk some more if we want to know the sex."
"Yeah, that's fine by me."
"Alright, we'll you are having a set of identical and one fraternal. That means that two eggs were fertilized and one of those eggs split in two, creating two babies so in total three. So that means it will be two boys and a girl or two girls and a boy."
"Well either way we'll have one of each."
"Yes you will."
The doctor finished her exam and took Zoya's vitals before moving towards her desk.
"We already discussed before about giving birth in a hospital. Now that you're having triplets it would be likely that you will be having a c-section but we'll determine that when you go into labor. But it's more common with twins or triplets. Since you're having twins you'll probably go into labor sooner. Thirty-seven weeks is considered full term in multiple pregnancies. Since you're having triplets you're gonna have to follow a nutritious and healthy diet. I will give you a list with the diet. We have to make sure you eat and drink enough to make sure the babies grow. And I'm also gonna give you some prenatal vitamins."
"Alright thanks. Can I still be active with sports and such?"
"Yes you can. Just make sure it's not too heavy like lifting weights and such. But you can still do swimming and walking and prenatal yoga. Running you can do in the earlier stages but I wouldn't recommend you doing that too much. But swimming and prenatal yoga is the best option. You can still be active and they have special classes for expecting moms in swimming too. But it's important to listen to your body."
"Alright. So considering thirty-seven weeks is considered full term, I will likely go on maternity leave around thirty-three weeks."
"Yes around that. But for that as well; listen to your body. If your body says take it easy you can go on maternity leave earlier but yeah I wouldn't recommend working past thirty-three weeks."
"Will I have more checkups now too?"
"Yes, we'll do a checkup every two weeks. That way we can keep a close eye on you and the babies."
"Alright thank you doctor."
"Any more questions?"
"No that's it for now."
"Alright great, you can make an appointment at the desk. Here is the diet list."
"Thank you doctor."
Callen, Zoya and Maya left the doctor's office and made an appointment for two and a half weeks from now before they left.
"You okay honey?" Zoya asked before they got in their cars.
"Yeah, it's just a lot to take in. I mean three babies!"
"Yeah it's a lot. But I'm sure we can handle it, we can handle it together."
"I hope so, it's gonna be a lot of work."
"Yeah it will be. But we can do this." Zoya gave Callen a kiss. "We'll talk more tonight, gotta go bring Maya to school."
"Yes I will see you tonight."
Zoya gave Callen one more kiss before they got in their cars. Zoya brought Maya to school before going to work as Callen went straight to work.
When Callen arrived at work the others were just coming down the stairs.
"We caught a case?" Callen asked.
"Yes we did. I'll explain on the way," Sam replied as he walk towards his car and Callen followed.
While driving to the address Sam explained the case to Callen.
"Yo G? G? You're listening to me?" Sam asked when Callen didn't respond and just kept looking out the window.
"Huh?" Callen replied as he looked back at Sam. "Yeah sorry I'm listening."
"Uh-uh, what did I just tell you?"
"Alright, you got me there."
"Everything okay? Was something not okay with Zoya and the baby?" Sam asked, he knew that they had a doctor's appointment today.
"Yeah, no, everything was alright with Zoya. And the three babies are doing just fine as well."
"That's good. Wait did you say three babies?"
"Yeah, we found out that we're having triplets this morning."
"Wow that's something. I mean wow, three babies."
"Yeah, it's a lot to take in. I was scared enough to become a dad when it was just one baby but now it are three."
"I'm sure you two will be alright G. You are doing a great job with Maya."
"Yeah but she's not a baby anymore. I have no idea what it's like to have to look after one baby let alone three."
"Yeah I guess it's gonna be hard work but I'm sure you and Zoya take do it together. And if you ever need any help Michelle and I will be there for you."
"Thanks Sam. Now what is the case?"
Sam explained the case again to Callen.
..
Zoya was just sitting behind her desk doing some research.
"Hey Zoya, did you find anything about our victim?" Hailey asked. Zoya just kept staring at her screen. "Zoya? Hello Zoya? Earth to Zoya?" Hailey called.
"Huh?" Zoya said as she looked up. "Oh sorry Hailey, did you need something?"
"Yes I just asked if you found anything out about our victim but your mind seemed to be somewhere else. You okay?"
"Yeah I'm fine."
"Did your checkup go alright this morning?"
"Yeah it went fine. We just got some unexpected news."
"Is everything okay with you and the baby?" Hailey asked concerned.
"Yeah we're fine. But you better make that three babies."
"Three babies?! You're having triplets?"
"Yeah we are."
"Wow."
"Yeah I know. I couldn't believe it either but there are really three babies, I saw their heartbeats."
"Wow that's something. Are you and Grisha okay?"
"Yeah, I think so. It's just a lot to take in and we didn't really have that much to talk about it since we had to go to work and Maya had to go to school."
"I'm sure you'll be alright, so it's two more babies than you bargained for but I'm sure you two can handle it together."
"Thanks Hailey. I will just take some getting used to."
"Yeah I can imagine that."
..
When Callen came home after work Zoya was already home.
"Hey honey," Callen called into the house.
"Hey baby, we're outside," Zoya called back from outside.
Callen walked outside and down the stairs. Zoya and Maya were playing a game of bowling outside.
"Hey honey," Callen greeted his wife again and gave her a kiss.
"Hey honey."
"Hey Maya."
"Hey Uncle Grisha."
"Did you have a good day at school?"
"Yes I did. I was the teacher's helper today."
"That's good."
"Why don't you finish the game with Uncle Grisha while I go make dinner?" Zoya suggested.
"Will you play with me Uncle Grisha?"
"Of course sweetie."
Callen went to play with Maya as Zoya went inside to prepare dinner.
After Maya had gone to bed Callen and Zoya sat outside on the swing chair.
"You doing okay honey?" Zoya asked.
"Yeah I'm okay. It's was just a shock this morning, finding out we're having triplets."
"Yeah I know, it was quite the shock. But I think we'll be alright. So it are two more babies than we thought but I'm sure we can handle it, we can handle it together."
"I hope so. I wanna be a good dad to our kids."
"I'm sure you will honey. You are great with Maya."
"Yeah but she's a little kid already, I have no idea how to take care of a little baby, let alone three."
"Yeah it's gonna be hard work but we've got this, just as long as we stick together." Zoya crawled closer to Callen and lay her head down on his shoulder and Callen wrapped his arm around her. "We'll be alright honey."
"Yeah I think we will." Callen gave her a soft kiss on her head and placed his hand on her stomach. "There are three little babies in here."
"Yeah there are," Zoya replied as she placed her hand on top of Callen's.
"I took us a while to get pregnant and now there are three babies."
"Haha yeah. We had tried for some months without success and now we have three in one go. My body was probably like: well we'll just shoot out multiple maybe we'll get lucky then," Zoya joked.
"Yeah something like that," Callen laughed. "How about we go to the store this weekend to buy stuff for the nursery and such. That way I can get started on the nursery already. It's better to have it finished already since we don't know what our case load will be like."
"Sounds like a good idea. It's a good thing now that we have a big house since we'll be a family of six in a few months. And that we still have some of the money I inherited."
"Yeah it is. Do you want to give their kids their own room or one room?"
"I think at least in the beginning one room, that's more practical, to have all the babies in one room. When they are older we can see about getting them their own room. Maybe then put the two girls or boys in one room and the other in another room, but we'll see it then. For now as babies it's more practical to have them in the same room."
"Yeah that's fine. I was thinking that too. By the way Sam knows about the triplets already, he knew something was up so he kept asking."
"Hailey knows too. Guess we'll have to tell the others too sometime soon."
"Yeah we should."
Callen and Zoya enjoyed a nice evening outside before going to bed.
…
That weekend they went to the store. They went to the Walmart supercenter in Burbank. They took Maya with them as well.
"Can I sit in the cart Uncle Grisha?" Maya asked once Callen had grabbed a cart.
"Sure." Callen picked Maya up and put her in the cart.
They first went to the nursery furniture. They picked out a white crib and changer combo for all three. The crib had an arched backside and a dip in the front side. On the right side of the crib was a changing table. Underneath the changing table was a shelve and two drawers. The crib was a convertible so it could be changed into a toddler or kid bed. They picked two glider chairs with ottoman. The chair was white and the cushion pattern was white with green chevron print. They also bought three white dresses with six drawers. The edges were in a bit of a crescent shape. They also grabbed three matrasses for in the cribs before moving to the nursery decor. Since they were having both a boy and a girl they went to find some decor that could fit both. They decided to go with green. For curtains they picked out a green blackout curtain with white polka dots with a green vallance over it with forest animals on it. With the same kind of animals they picked out a tree wall decal. For above each crib they grabbed a music mobile in the shape of a tree with a fox, raccoon, deer and squirrel. From the same collection they picked out a ceiling light and a crib sheet as well. Next they moved on to the strollers. They were looking if they had something like a double stroller since they would have to put three babies in it. They did have a triple stroller at Walmart but that was a seating stroller so that was more for when the kids would be older so they would look somewhere else for a stroller. They went to the desk to order the furniture items. They got a receipt to show at the register. They moved on to the car seats.
"You know G, we have to get a bigger car. Cus we're gonna have three babies and we have Maya too so four kids won't fit in the back seat," Zoya remarked.
"Yeah that's right. Guess we'll need to get a minivan or something."
"Yep we do."
Well a minivan, that's something Callen never thought he would own. But yeah they needed to get one cus otherwise not everyone would fit in de car.
For the car seat they picked a grey convertible car seat so they could still use it when they would get bigger. They walked further and came across the maternity clothes section.
"We'll let's get you some maternity clothes since none of your pants fit anymore," Callen said.
"Yeah yeah," Zoya replied as she looked through the racks.
With a lot of clothes in the cart they walked to the changing rooms. Zoya went into the changing room as Callen and Maya sat on the stools waiting.
"Seriously G?" Zoya spoke from inside the cubicle and opened the curtain slighty to reveal a dress that Callen had put in with the clothes.
"Please just try it, I'm sure you look beautiful in it."
"Alright fine."
Zoya went back into the cubicle and tried on the dress.
"Did you get it on? Please show it to us. I'm sure you look beautiful in it," Callen spoke after a few minutes.
Zoya looked into the mirror. She was not really a person who wore dresses a lot. She turned sideways and saw her baby bump showing through the dress. A few seconds later she opened the curtain and showed it to Callen and Maya. Callen looked at her mesmerized. She looked so beautiful in the dress. It was a red knee length wrap dress. The bottom flowed beautiful over her baby bump.
"Wow," Callen said. "You look beautiful."
"Really you think?"
"Yeah."
"Uncle Grisha is right, you look beautiful Aunt Zoya," Maya added.
"Thank you."
Zoya went back into the cubicle and tried the other things on. She bought some new panties and bras, a few jeans, a grey with white polka dot tunic, a dark green shirt with a sash on the side, a grey plaid blouse, a red plaid tunic, some workout clothes, a grey and blue striped blouse, a green army print pajama pants with a green shirt and blue striped pajamas.
The last thing they needed for now was paint and a wallpaper border for the nursery. The other baby items they would get later. They picked out white paint for the nursery and a wallpaper border with owls and foxes. With everything in the cart they went to the register. The smaller items they could take with them and the furniture would be delivered in about a week or three. A few thousand dollars lighter they walked out of the store. Callen loaded all the items in the back of the trunk as Zoya got Maya in her booster seat. Before driving home they stopped by a car store. Since they wouldn't need a minivan for work they wouldn't be able to get this via work. After cruising through a few car shops they decided on the Chrysler pacifica minivan in blue color. It had two seats up front, two seat in the second row and three sets on the back row. They could pick it up in a week. They drove back home and Callen unloaded the stuff from the car. Maya went to play as Callen got started on the nursery. They would use the other bedroom at the back of the house for the nursery. While Callen was busy with the nursery Zoya looked online for a stroller. Maya wanted to play outside so Zoya sat outside on the deck as Maya played. She found a stroller online that could fit triplets. Most strollers in the baby stores where only for twins. But this stroller had a frame where you can put three car seats on and once the kids would get bigger you could change it for seats. So they could do with this stroller for a while. They already bought car seats at Walmart. But they could put those in the minivan and these they could just leave on the stroller or put it in the other car should they need it. She left the site open so she could discuss it with Callen. Zoya was just about to get up and get something to drink when she heard a crash coming from the yard.