Hope for All- chapter 53
Tony cuddled with the twins, eventually lulling them to sleep in his arms. He tried in vain to maneuver himself to get up to put them down but he couldn't figure out a way of getting up without risking waking one or both of them. Instead, he enjoyed the next hour gazing lovingly back and forth between the twins. Angela woke up a short while later, the scene of Tony holding the sleeping babies with a loving smile on his face melting her heart.
"Hey sweetheart" she whispered as she sat up in bed.
"Hey… now I see why you threw the tissue box at me! I can't get up Angela!" he chuckled.
"It's using muscles you didn't know you had! That chair is also pretty deep so you are at a disadvantage!" she laughed as she picked up Anna.
"Ahh my arm! She's tiny but holding on to her after a while… she might as well weigh twenty pounds!" he laughed.
"They should be due for a feeding in about an hour. They want us to do the formula again" said Angela as the doctor came in.
"Hi everyone! How are we doing?" he asked as he reviewed her chart.
"Tired and sore but otherwise good! They seemed to be feeding quite well" said Angela.
"That's great! Your milk should come in soon, probably in about two to three days. Keep up with the formula every third feeding. So the doctor had a cancellation and can perform your son's circumcision now instead of tomorrow. Since that's the case, I'd like to discharge you all tomorrow afternoon since everyone is doing so well" he said.
"Won't Matthew need more time to recover? I know I would!" said Tony as he pulled him closer to his chest.
"He will be fine! We will go over all the proper precautions and make sure you both feel comfortable. You will be worse off than he is, I can guarantee!" laughed the doctor. Tony placed the baby in the bassinet as the doctor wheeled him out of the room.
"Going home a day early! That's good news! And then we are on our own! It's strange… you need to pass a test to drive a car but anyone can have a kid!" he chuckled as he sat on the edge of the bed, gently rubbing Anna's head.
"It is very strange! I know how nervous I am for us to be on our own… I can't imagine young kids or first time parents. At least we've both done this before! I mean it's been over a decade and we haven't done it together or with twins…" she said as the panic in her voice started to rise.
"Eh oh, oh eh! We will be fine! We've got this! It's going to be hard work for sure but that's why we help each other! We make the best parenting team! I mean we've doubled the number of kids so the odds aren't in our favor but we will still make it work!" he said as he put his arm around her back.
"We will just have to lean on each other like we've been doing for almost six years. I think we will have some help from Mother and the kids too" she said as she held one of Anna's hands in her own.
"You kidding? They can barely put them down! I think we will be on our own at night unless Mona gets in early from one of her dates!" he chuckled.
"We will make it work…" she said as she held Anna closer to her chest and kissed her head. Just then, they family came back with some pizza, a salad and some bottles of soda.
"Where's Matthew?" asked Jonathan as he looked around for his brother.
"They took him to be circumcised but he should be back soon. Good news! Angela and the twins should be discharged tomorrow afternoon! We will all get to be home together for our Sunday dinner!" said Tony.
"That's great news! In honor of your homecoming, I will make dinner!" said Mona. All four sets of eyes turned and all four mouths dropped open at Mona's words. Even Anna made a cooing sound.
"What? You don't think I can do it do you?" asked Mona.
"Well Mona… the last time you tried cooking in my kitchen, you set a record for how many times the fire department showed up…" said Tony.
"You're point…? Anyway… Carmella sent enough food for a small army. It will just require reheating in the oven. I can handle that! When the smoke alarms go off it's done right Tony?" said Mona sarcastically.
"I think I better supervise!" laughed Samantha.
"Thank you Samantha" said Angela as she passed Anna to Mona. The family enjoyed passing Anna around as they ate dinner. About an hour later, Matthew was brought back into the room and handed to Angela.
"He did very well! He might be a little cranky and clingy for a while, which is normal. We just changed him so he won't need to be changed for a few hours. Call the nurse before you change him again and we will review how to keep the area clean" said the nurse as she left the room.
"Hey my little one! I hope that wasn't so bad!" said Angela as she gently stroked his head.
"He's a Micelli! He's good to go! Although if the roles were reversed right now I don't think I'd be getting up for a month!" laughed Tony.
"More like a year Dad! Especially after how you reacted to that machine stimulating labor pains!" laughed Samantha.
"Let's just say if it happened to you Tony, we'd all be thankfully these two little ones were here because I'm pretty sure the Micelli bloodline would be ending with them!" laughed Mona.
"Will you guys have more kids?" asked Jonathan as he rocked Anna, looking lovingly into her eyes.
"Jonathan! Don't ask them that! Especially to a woman right after giving birth! But since the question is already out there… you planning on having any more? These two sure are cute!" said Samantha as she looked over at Matthew, grabbing onto his little hand.
"Geesh… we just had these two! Give us a moment to breathe and enjoy them why don't ya!" said Tony.
"We haven't discussed it yet but I wouldn't say it's off the table. Just need to have these two a bit older and past the stage of getting little to no sleep!" said Angela.
"You'd really consider doing this again?" asked Tony as he looked down at her in awe and amazement. He remembered Marie not wanting to even think about a second kid for at least a year after Samantha was born and by then she started to get sick.
"I'm not saying yes but I'm also not saying no… possibly!" she laughed. Just then, Matthew started to cry.
"I think he might be happy it just being us four kids!" laughed Jonathan.
"I think it's more like he's hungry!" chuckled Tony.
"Well I think that's our cue to head out!" said Mona as they hugged them all goodbye and headed home. Tony helped Angela get set up to feed the twins. Both babies had some difficulty latching but were able to feed for about twenty minutes followed by their formula bottles. After they were burped, Anna fell asleep in Tony's arms but Matthew continued to fuss until he was in a full on cry.
"Maybe he needs to be changed? Or he's still hungry…" said Angela. She checked him but he didn't need to be changed. She kept burping him to see if he was gassy, but the crying only intensified.
"Okay little one! Let's see if you're still hungry…" she said as she re-latched him. He latched right away and started eating like he was starving.
"I guess he's still hungry!" laughed Tony.
"Apparently! Ouch! Slow down!" she said as she readjusted him. She let him feed for another ten minutes but he continued to scream. Tony put down Anna in her bassinet and took him to walk around the room.
"Matty boy! What's going on? You can't still be hungry! Let's try and get a good burp out of you" he said as he tried in vain to burp him. Finally, he gave out a little burp and settled into Tony's arms. The peace and quiet was short lived as after a few minutes he was back to crying.
"Here let me take him again. He might just need to fall asleep nursing. Jonathan had to do that whenever he hit a growth spurt" she said as she took him back. Sure enough, after another fifteen minutes of nursing, he fell into a deep sleep. She carefully unlatched him and gently rubbed his back until he burped, finally content to sleep in her arms.
"How about we all try and get some sleep" said Tony as he took Matthew and placed him in his bassinet. He cuddled into Angela as best as they could on the bed and were soon asleep. Their sleep was short lived as both babies woke up to be changed an hour later. The nurse came in to show them how to take care of Matthew's wound.
"I have a feeling the honeymoon is over and we are in for a long night Angela! Why don't you try and sleep?" he said as he tried to soothe a crying Matthew.
"I won't be able to sleep while he's crying like that… it's still too early for their feeding but maybe we should try a pacifier. I think he needs the soothing" she said.
"We packed some right? I know I sanitized a whole bunch last week" he said.
"Yes- they are in the inside pocket of their bag in a plastic bag" she said as she took Matthew from Tony. Trying to soothe him while still holding Anna was proving to be quite the challenge.
"Here they are! Alright Matty here goes nothing!" said Tony as he carefully put the pacifier in the baby's mouth. He fought it at first but soon was sucking away, content now in Angela's arms.
"Should we try it for Anna?" asked Tony.
"No… not unless she starts to fuss. I read somewhere that pacifiers can cause them to be confused when nursing. I don't see Matthew having an issue but since she's still getting the hang of it, I don't want to set her back" she said.
"Well why don't I take Anna and see if I can get her back to sleep for a bit" said Tony as he took Anna and started walking her around the room. He started to sing her a lullaby and after about ten minutes, she was back asleep. They were able to put them down and get another hour or so of sleep before they needed to be fed again.
"I think it's safe to say we can throw away all our alarm clocks in the house when we get home!" laughed Tony as he helped her get settled on the bed.
"I'm just hoping at some point we can get more than an hour or two of sleep at a time! Although I'm not holding my breath!" she laughed as both babies latched well. They were getting into a nice routine of feeding and burping. Both Matthew and Anna were still fussy after their feeding so Angela latched them again. Both fell back to sleep during the last feeding, were burped and put back down. This continued for most of the night, allowing them to get between an hour or two of broken sleep.
The morning came early for a very sleep deprived Tony and Angela. After the first feeding of the morning, the twins were taken for one last round of tests and bloodwork, allowing Tony and Angela to get another two hours or so of sleep.
"Alright you two! Today is the big day! We're going home! You're gonna love it there! Your room is all set up- not that you'll be sleeping in there right away! Your Mommy and Samantha did such a great job decorating! We will even have our first Sunday dinner all together in the dining room!" said Tony.
"Lets see how much dinner we can get through before they have other plans! I'm just looking forward to sleeping in our bed and taking a shower again!" she chuckled.
The rest of the morning was spent getting them ready to be discharged. Angela was checked out again and given a clean bill of health. She needed to make a one week check up appointment for herself with her doctor as well as for the twins with their pediatrician. After lunch and the twins' last feeding and diaper change, they started changing the babies into their going home clothes.
"Angela this outfit is adorable! The little overalls and shirt! He looks so cute!" gushed Tony as he finished buttoning up the overalls.
"I can't believe I found a matching dress to go with it! Although it's a little big on her!" she chuckled as she finished changing Anna.
"Oh I have to take more photos of them! They are just too cute!" he said as he took almost a whole roll of film.
"How many rolls have you used so far? I think you've gone through at least five!" laughed Angela.
"Eh oh, oh eh! There can never be too many photos of these two! With Samantha I was gone so much I barely had the time to see her let alone take photos! Gonna make up for it with these two!" he said as he finished off the roll.
"Alright you two! Get used to your daddy taking photos! And I'm guessing your grandma will pull out her camera soon too! Okay Tony… are the bags packed? I think you are going to need to make a trip to the car with all the balloons and flowers, not to mention the bags and gifts! They will be sending a wheelchair for me soon so I think you should go now" she said.
Tony grabbed all of their belongings and headed to the car as Angela finished getting the babies ready. On his way out the door, he almost ran into Mary from the childbirth class.
"Tony! How are you?" asked Mary.
"Hi Mary! How are you? How's the baby? As you can probably tell our twins just arrived the other day! A boy and a girl!" said Tony very proudly.
"Congratulations! That's wonderful!" said Mary.
"How's your baby doing?" asked Tony.
"We've had a rough couple of months with Hannah. She spent a few weeks in the NICU as was to be expected but she was able to come home just as my husband came back. We were home for about three weeks when she developed a cold, which quickly turned into pneumonia. She has been back and forth in the hospital for the past month trying to get her lungs strong enough to come home hopefully for good. I just stepped outside for some fresh air as it can get a bit stuffy up there" she said.
"Oh I'm so sorry you've had to go through all of that. I hope you are getting support from your family and friends" said Tony. His heart sank just thinking of something like that happening to the twins.
"Yes thankfully. My sister has been helping me around the clock now that my husband was deployed again. You actually just missed her. She left about twenty minutes ago" said Mary.
"Tell her I said hi! I hope everything works out well and she gets better really soon" said Tony as they wished each other well and headed their separate ways. Tony got all the stuff into the van and pulled it into the temporary parking spot. He headed back into Angela's room just as they were bringing in a wheelchair. Tony came over and gave each baby a kiss as he wiped away tears in his eyes.
"Tony what's wrong?" she asked with worry in her voice.
"Nothing Angela… it's just we are so lucky that they are here and healthy. I don't ever want to take that for granted…" he said.
"Are you sure about that being it?" she asked as she sat down in the wheelchair with Anna. Tony picked up Matthew and handed him to Angela as the orderly wheeled them out of the room.
"Actually… I ran into Mary in the way out. Her baby has been in the NICU for the past few months, most recently from a cold that turned into pneumonia. I… I just can't imagine going through that… seeing your baby so sick and feeling so helpless. I hope we never have to experience that…" he said as they headed down the hallway.
"Oh Tony… I hope the baby is okay! It's my greatest fear that something could happen to them… but like you tell me time and time again, we can't focus on the what if's. We have to stay in the moment and do our best to make sure they are as loved, healthy and well cared for as possible. That's all we can do" she said as she held the babies tighter to her body.
"You're right Angela. It's all we can do…" he said as they approached the car. Tony took Anna from Angela and opened the car door. He placed her into the car seat and fastened the belt. It took him at least three times to get it right- she looked so small and delicate that he was afraid to make it tight. The hospital worker came over and helped get the adjustments right as Angela put Matthew into his car seat. After both babies were given the safety check, Tony helped Angela into the car and they headed home.
"We're home little ones! Welcome to your new home!" said Angela.
"That was a much more relaxing hospital ride than the first one!" laughed Tony as they got out of the car. Angela went to get Anna out and Tony took out Matthew before handing him to Angela so he could unpack the car. He grabbed the stuff and they walked up the front path to a very impatiently waiting Mona, Jonathan and Samantha.
"Welcome home!" they all shouted.
"Thank you! It's so good to be home! I think these two will really like it here!" she said as she headed into the living room. Tony placed all the belongings by the coat rack and came to stand next to Angela. A bright pink and blue banner with the words 'Welcome home Matthew and Anna!' was hanging over the mantle.
"Look you two! You've got your own welcome home sign! Too bad you can't read yet! Oh! A photo! We need to take photos of them in front of the banner and a family one too!" he said as the family all collectively rolled their eyes.
"C'mon! Just a few photos! We need a family one of all seven of us in our house!" said Tony as he got out the camera. They begrudgingly allowed him a bunch of photos before their patience ran thin and they wanted to hold the babies. They walked over to the sofa where Angela handed Anna to Samantha and Matthew to Jonathan. Angela took the seat next to the door, while Mona sat on the opposite chair. Tony sat on the edge of Angela's chair and put his arm around her back as they all gazed lovingly at the two newest members of the family sleeping contently in their siblings' arms.