Having had four children myself, I know how hard the first few months are. Because of this, I am skipping writing about it. This is what my twins did when I was in labor, the ending being just another memory our family made. It's also a mother's job to embarrass their children throughout their lives. Thanks!
The waiting room was now jammed packed between direct family members of Shelby and Will along with a lot of the glee children and their families.
The twins had not stopped pacing since arriving and Thomas finally asked, "Are you two going to continue pacing until your father comes in here announcing the safe arrival of your baby sister?"
"Of course we are," the answered.
"Aren't you tired from your big performance?" Carol questioned, most of the children resting against each other, their parents, or relaxing in the chairs.
"Oh boy, buckle yourselves in," April announced, receiving multiple confused looks in return.
"Did she just ask that?" Santana said, looking at her sister, never breaking their stride.
"She did."
"Our baby sister is about to make her grand entrance into the world," Rachel started.
"Which means we're about to be promoted."
"We don't even have the car seat set up yet." The grandparents wondered how the girls were responsible for that in the first place but knew better than to question it right now.
"Or the outfit we picked out for her to come home in."
"And the outfits we were planning to wear the day she came home."
"We haven't even put our final touches on the nursery."
"We were supposed to have another month before she make an appearance in the world."
As the girls continued spiraling, Pam looked over at the grandparents and questioned, "Does this happen often?"
"The continued conversations?" Carlos asked.
"You have a name for it?"
"We do. We had to really because they do it all the time," he said.
"They've done it since they were, I don't know…" Maria continued, holding her hand up off the floor waving it back and forth to signal the age of someone very little.
"They do it in school too, mom. Not the pacing but the continued conversations," Blaine added.
"And answer at the same time, it's crazy cool," Sam said.
"Seriously?" Pam asked.
"Anytime the teachers call on one of them, they know to expect both to answer. Most of the teachers just call out 'twins' instead of their names," Blaine said, watching his friends still going as they paced.
"It never gets old to watch," April smiled, Meredith agreeing with the tiny blonde.
"They're truly a pair," Thomas commented, loving his crazy granddaughters more than anything.
"You could call them that…"
"OH MY GOSH, DAD!" the girls screamed, running up to him. Another spiral started although, this time it was directed at their father and all about their baby sister and mother.
"They are both doing well, perfect really. 6lbs 8oz much bigger than the two of you, it's too soon to tell her hair and eye color, I'm sure one of your three sets of grandparents will help with the car seat and take you home to get the outfits you picked out for all three of you, and you two can come with me right now, everyone else will have to wait a bit," Will answered.
The second the father had hugged the grandparents and disappeared with the twins around the corner, Pam had another round of questions starting with the one all the adults who weren't related to the twins were thinking, "Can Will and Shelby always answer all the questions the girls throw at them during these continued conversations?"
"Most of the time, yes."
"Wow."
"Oh my gosh she's so little and cute," they said together.
"I can't believe she's really here."
"Wait a minute, she's not naked under there, right?"
"No babe, she has a diaper on."
Shelby watched the relief flow over Santana's face and laughed. "When can we know her name?"
Will looked at his wife and let her do the honors, he was honestly still in a bit of shock she was actually here. This was all new to him and he was feeling very overwhelmed and extremely overjoyed. Shelby was a rockstar through the birth and he couldn't believe she had done this with twins the first time.
"Beth Isla Corcoran."
Shelby and Will had spoken at length regarding the last name the baby girl would take. Shelby knew how important it was to Juan to take her name when they got married because her career had taken off and it was only right to celebrate. He celebrated everything after all. When Shelby and Will got married, she didn't want her girls to have three last names because their names were already a mouthful, and she would never drop the name Lopez. Although she and the twins didn't use the name Lopez-Corcoran, legally, they still carried the name. Will and Shelby decided to do the same thing with this baby girl; legally her name would be Beth Isla Schuester-Corcoran, but she'd only use Corcoran in school.
"Why Isla?" the twins questioned, excited their parents used one of their first name suggestions.
They now knew where they got their middle names, Marie from Juan and Maria, Barbra from Katherine, not to mention Shelby's idol growing up. When Will and Shelby were choosing a name, they felt really stuck for a first and middle name once they agreed on a last name. They loved the song the twins sang months ago choosing Beth for her first name but had no idea what her middle name should be. Will's mother Rose doesn't have a middle name so that was out, and then they got thinking about their honeymoon. Shelby refused to be away from her babies for an entire week which meant they needed to pick somewhere family friendly. The family spent two weeks in Hawaii, extending the trip because Shelby felt badly their honeymoon was being crashed by the twins, and they've gone every year since.
"Isla means island—"
"And we go to Hawaii every year," the twins responded, cutting their mother off.
"Does she have two last names like we do?"
"She does," Will answered.
"Which one is she going to use though?"
Shelby gave her husband a knowing look as if to say, 'I told you so'. Will was confident the girls wouldn't notice but Shelby knew they would notice and make their opinions known if they were unhappy with their parents' decision.
"Corcoran, just like you two."
Relief washed over their faces for the second time since meeting Beth and all Shelby could do was laugh again as Will shook his head because of the fact his wife was right, as usual. The twins took the next half an hour taking turns holding her which caused Shelby to cry, there was something so special about seeing your babies holding your baby.
"How'd you do this when we were babies, mom?" Santana asked, looking down at Beth who was in her arms, unable to imagine holding two of them.
"Carefully," she answered with a laugh.
"Seriously mom, how?"
"You just do it, babe. The first week you two were home, your father and I didn't hold you at the same time unless I was nursing you, and then…we got the hang of it."
"I can't believe we fit inside you…together," Rachel said, looking from her own stomach towards Beth and back to her stomach feeling really thrown.
"Yeah, you were like, totally fat just with Beth in there."
"Santana!"
"What? It's not like mom's fat all the time, just with a baby jammed in there. It was really your fault, dad," Santana said, looking at Will who had scolded her.
"Okay, why don't you give Beth to your father very carefully and go get your grandparents, babe."
"So rude," the girls commented to each other on their way out causing the parents to shake their heads.
"I still can't believe she's really here," Will said, kissing Beth's head.
Shelby suddenly flashed back to 16 years ago as a memory washed over her.
"They're so perfect, hermosa. Feliz cumpleanos bebes! Es tu papa quien habla, queria decirte cuanto los amo a los dos mas que a nada. Your mommy and I are going to celebrate you girls and everything you do in life."
"Being a father is my favorite look on you to date, Juan."
He smiled his thousand-watt smile and Shelby let her tears openly fall as he sat down on the hospital bed with her. "I love our little family, and I promise to always take care of you three until my dying day."
"I love you, Juan."
"I love you too, beautiful."
Shelby never would have assumed Juan's 'dying day' would happen so shortly after the precious moment he held their baby girls for the first time.
"Mom!" the twins said, ending her flashback. Once she was looking at them, Rachel said, "Abuelo wants to know what you want for dinner, he's going to get something with grandpa and Uncle Shawn for all of us."
"Surprise me, babe."
"Whatever you say, mom," she said knowing her uncle would be choosing which didn't give Rachel any confidence because he could barely cook according to the twins meaning they'd never let him pick.
After a family dinner the twins said goodbye to their parents and baby sister for the night, promising them to bring a change of clothes and the baby bag the following morning so their sister wouldn't have to be naked anymore.
Maria and Carlos were already in town for the twins' performances, meeting their third granddaughter was just a bonus for them, not to mention they could stay with the twins. They were very impressed their granddaughters weren't falling down after the performance earlier and the one yesterday by the time they got home, Rachel and Santana were still going strong though.
"Looks like it's going to be harder to get them asleep tonight than we thought," Carlos said to his wife. While the rest of the grandparents have put them to bed many times over the years, they hadn't because Shelby was always with them in New York, not wanting them flying alone.
"No kidding. I'm exhausted for them."
"Girls, you two need to go take a shower and get into your pajamas before watching a movie," Carlos said in hopes of gaining some control over the singing and dancing teens.
"Abuelo," they whined.
"Go," Maria pointed, and the girls took off up the stairs.
"I still don't get how that always works for you," Carlos commented. Juan was the same way as a child, full of endless energy and when he asked him to do something, he didn't get too far until his wife made herself known.
"Grandmothers touch." The grandparents were both thinking it, neither said it though: mother's touch.
"I've read about this level of sleep deprivation in all the books, I didn't imagine it being this hard though," Will said to his wife during the third feeding of the night. She had made it clear there wasn't anything for him to do when she nursed and to try and get some extra sleep, but Will wanted to be there for everything, including in the middle of the night.
"Be grateful there's only one of them this time," Shelby laughed, kissing the top of Beth's head as she nursed. When the twins were babies, she and Juan felt like they were getting up every fifteen minutes because they weren't on the same schedule in the beginning.
"I've never been this tired in my life."
"I have, and I was much younger that time."
The next time Beth started screaming the bedroom door opened and two sleepy teens walked in, face-planting on the end of their parents' bed. "How can she possibly be hungry again?"
"This coming from you, babe?" Shelby said with a laugh, running her fingers through Santana's hair now that the girl was snuggled next to her, Rachel cuddled up with Will on the other side of the bed.
"At least I don't cry when I'm hungry and wake my sisters up in the middle of the night."
"You cried last week when you realized we didn't have any more cookies, Tana."
Santana harrumphed in response to her twin and a comfortable silence fell over the family until the feisty brunette broke it. "When is her hair going to turn dark like ours is, mom?" The question came to mind while looking at her sister as her mom played with her own hair.
"It may not, babe."
"But we all have brown hair," Rachel said, her upper body lying over her dad so she could see the tiny human who has messed up their sleep cycles.
"Daddy has blonde hair."
"No! Dad's hair is like, a really, really light brown and yours is brown; brown plus brown doesn't equal blonde."
"Hair color isn't just determined by parents, babe. Nana and papa have brown hair like I do, and Uncle Shawn has dirty blonde hair. Nana's dad, my grandfather was blonde, something that carried to Uncle Shawn."
"It's too early for a history lesson, mom."
"Biology, babe."
"Mhm, that's the one."
Within ten minutes, Santana and Rachel were sound asleep again snuggled up to their parents, their little sisters' eyes fluttering. Will looked over at his wife once the baby was asleep and said, "What the heck are we going to do about all of this?"
Rachel was spread out over Will, Santana spread out over Shelby, their hands interlocked, blankets all over the place, the boppy pillow discarded down by Shelby's feet with a few burb cloths; Will's nightstand had four water bottles, a few pacifiers and the stack of books he still wanted to read even though they were how to books, Shelby's nightstand had one water bottle, a handful of pacifiers, burp cloths, diapers, wipes, and anything else she had pulled from the baby dock in the middle of the night.
The twins thought because their house is so big, the easiest way to not have to leave the room if a diaper needed to be changed was to set up stations on wheels. They have two upstairs, one in the music room, one in their parents' bedroom (skipping the nursery because obviously everything in there was already for the baby), one in the living room, one tucked away in the kitchen and in the laundry room because it's directly across from the cheer room.
Last night was beyond rough with Beth though, Shelby had been trying to explain what the hell she needed to Will as Beth screamed her head off. They knew a better system needed to be put into place today and knew the girls would willingly help as well when they got up.
"Celebrate it," Shelby whispered.
"Celebrate it?" Will asked, not understanding; he didn't know if it was because he was so exhausted, Shelby was so exhausted, or both.
"This stage in life only happens once, so we're going to celebrate it. Before we know it, these two will be in college, and this one will be in kindergarten. Life's too short to worry about a messy bedroom and sleepless night."
"Come on Beth, you can do it," Rachel prompted.
"You're almost there, come on you're so close," Santana continued.
The twins, Quinn, Brittany and Puck were outside on the grass under one of the umbrellas Will had set up so he and his wife could be by the pool with the kids and their friends all summer with the baby. Beth was so close to rolling over and the twins were trying everything in their power to make it happen before they went back to school.
Beth pretended like she was about to do it, changing course at the last minute causing the kids to groan and throw their heads back. "Such a tease, Beth."
The cooing and smiles made her big sisters stick their tongues out at her, ahh sisterly love, gotta love it. "You do realize she's just a baby," Shelby said with a tray of lemonades for everyone.
"She's so close though, mom!"
"Beth will roll over when she's ready, babe."
"We were rolling over at three months old, she's four months…"
"It's not a competition, Santana," Quinn commented, taking the words right from Shelby's mouth.
"She also doesn't have another baby pulling on her bows helping her complete the roll," Shelby said with a laugh. When Santana and Rachel were learning to roll over, they'd grab at each other's bows when one of them made it onto their side which only helped them get onto their stomachs.
She saw her twin's minds racing and shook her finger immediately, "Uh-uh, don't you dare think about it. You didn't know better as babies, you do now."
"We weren't going to hurt her."
"We just wanted to help her get a head start...literally."
They commented at the same time, their friends laughing in response. With the kids looking at Shelby, Beth took the opportunity to roll over and when they looked back at her, they all gasped and tried to get her to do it again. Shelby made sure to catch the next few times on video because all the kids were so excited, and she knew Will would want to see it. He was helping Emma move, the woman finally relocating into a condo closer to Carmel High instead of commuting almost forty minutes each morning from her apartment.
The end of the twin's freshman year and summer had been absolutely incredible. 4.0 GPA's, 2 National titles, they somehow became closer with their parents, were in love with their baby sister, and had the best time with their friends. Pool parties, bbq's, family gatherings, sleepovers, and so much more. A lot of the time Shelby found herself nursing Beth is disbelief the twins were going into their second year of high school, remembering nursing them like it was yesterday.
She and Will had a lot of discussions regarding going back to work and what they were going to do with Beth. When Santana and Rachel were babies, Juan took off three months of work much longer than traditional parental leave, and Shelby planned to go back after their first birthday. Then life took a dramatic turn and the plans changed. This time around, they were planning on starting work when the school year began—by that time, Shelby would have spent four months with Beth, Will three and a half because he taught the last two weeks of school after taking off the first two of Beth's life off.
Katherine and Rose were going to be taking care of the baby while Shelby and Will were at school and were beyond excited. Katherine was thrilled for a repeat of fifteen years ago, and Rose was excited for her first opportunity as she wasn't in the picture when the mother and girls first moved here. True to their word, Maria and Carlos loved Beth just as much as the twins vice versa with Robert and Rose. It never mattered to them that the twins didn't share their DNA or last name, they were just thrilled to have grandbabies. The only thing that truly mattered was love, something they all had plenty to give.
"I cannot believe we have homework the first week of school, so freakin' lame."
"Seriously though," Rachel agreed. The only good things about being back in school were the glee club, the cheerios, and having class with all their friends.
"Why are there so many numbers on this piece of paper?"
"This is math class, Britt."
"Oh."
The bell ringing brought the twins and Quinn out of their thoughts about the quirky blonde, knowing it was going to be another year of carrying her through; they didn't mind though, Brittany was one of their best friends, they'd do anything for her. Their next class was English with their mom where a few of the guys were talking about Shelby being skinny again. Santana looked at her mom and rolled her eyes because she remembers saying the same exact thing when they were in the hospital and got in trouble for it. She felt saying she wasn't 'always fat' was the same thing at least.
"Take a seat everyone. I hope you all had a great summer with your family and friends. I wouldn't traditionally do this, but I've already received multiple questions so I will be passing around a picture of the twin's sister, Beth for all of you who haven't met her. There will be no more questions once it's circulated the classroom, please."
The mother knew she needed to get it out of the way because there was no way she'd be able to get them to focus until she did. Shelby had printed numerous pictures that went up all over the house, the last few for Will's desk and one for her own. Will wasted no time showing the pictures to the faculty while sharing his favorite memories from the summer, Shelby wasn't so vocal at work though.
By the time the picture made its way to the back of the classroom where the twins were sitting, Shelby received a death glare from her girls seeing as they were in the picture with the baby wearing matching outfits. The girls never matched anymore, the day the picture was taken though; they were at Shawn and Meredith's home to celebrate their nana's surprise 70th birthday party, everyone was wearing a white shirt covered in splatter paint and jeans. Katherine was a painter and art teacher so Shawn thought it would only be fitting to fill a bunch of squirt bottles with different colored paints to spray each other with, something he and Shelby did as children, and Katherine did with the twins when they were little. They were mortified their mother chose this photo to put on her desk, nevermind show their classmates seeing as she had a phone full to choose from.
"Nice matching outfits," one of the hockey kids said high fiving his buddy.
"Zip it, loser," Puck said giving the kid a threatening look with his fist held back.
At the end of class, Santana and Rachel made sure to give their mother a mouthful to let her know just how embarrassed they truly were. "You three look so cute though."
"We're printing some acceptable pictures for you when we get home."
"Emphasis on acceptable."
Shelby watched her girls exit her classroom as she laughed, turning back to the picture with a thousand-watt smile on her face. They really do look adorable.