Page 43 of Catching Dreams

“As long as you take a shower,” I said with a grin.

“There is a couch over here with your name on it,” Susan said to her son. “We

wouldn’t have expected anything else.”

Ty turned around and hugged his mom. “Thank you for taking care of Molly and the babies and for bringing her here.”

“Of course!” Susan said and hugged him back. “We already got a hotel room close by. We won’t be far if you need us. But Molly is right. You do need a shower.”

A new nurse I hadn’t met came into the room. She was wheeling a small table behind her with a computer on top. There were lots of wires and handles hooked up to the computer. “So, twins, I see! How exciting! Are we finding out the sexes of the babies?”

“No!” a collective cry around the room sounded.

“We want to be surprised,” Tyler said.

The doctor excused herself to check on other patients but said she was on call tonight and to let the nurses know if she was needed at all.

“I see it here in your chart now. I always ask because sometimes people do change their minds,” she explained. “I’m Tia, the ultrasound tech. We want to just check in on these two and make sure everything is okay.”

“Do you want us to go out in the hallway?” Emma offered.

“Are you kidding? You guys are more than welcome to stay,” I said.

“Well, we usually recommend anyone other than the significant other go in the hallway. If something is wrong and needs to be discussed, it can be done in private.”

“If something is wrong, I’ll want my family here more than anything,” Tyler said as I squeezed his hand. I agreed with him.

“Alrighty,” Tia said and lifted my hospital gown. She squeezed some gel on my stomach and warned me it would be cold. She took a cable from the computer and hooked it to the monitor that had been showing the babies’ heartbeats. The screen went blank. She took the wand from the side of the computer and began moving it around. We heard the thump thump thump of a heartbeat, and I felt the tears streaming down my face.

“Here is Baby A,” she said. “As you can see, they are very active and moving around wonderfully. Baby A is measuring a little behind schedule at 23 weeks, but that is normal for twins.”

“Look at that cute little nose!” Susan exclaimed. “We will be able to get pictures of this, right?”

“Of course, ma’am,” the ultrasound tech said. She then moved onto Baby B.

“Awww, this baby is a little bigger. They are measuring right on schedule at 25 weeks. This baby is also very active. They must be keeping you on your toes already.”

I had to laugh. “I love how active they are.”

“I took a couple pictures of some things the doctor asked for, and she will go over the scans before speaking with you. The babies are active and measuring well. If there are any signs of complications, Dr. Cowan will let you know.” She handed me an envelope of ultrasound pictures and smiled at my family. “I made four copies of each picture.”

“Thank you so much!” Susan exclaimed.

Soon, Susan and Mike left for their hotel. Emma gave us hugs, and we promised to chat soon about all the plans we talked about at the game.

Tyler tried to lay on the couch for a whole half a second, but he was just too tall. I got a good laugh from his legs sticking out over the arm of the couch.

“We could switch,” I offered. “That couch would fit me perfectly.”

“No way, baby,” Tyler said with a laugh. “Move over. I’m joining you on the bed.”

I knew that was exactly where he wanted to end up. He lay on the opposite side of the bed from all my wires. I lay my head on his shoulder and snuggled into him as close as I could with the bands still around my stomach. While we lay, there I told him all about the new plans Emma and I came up with. We also had a good laugh about how his dad acted at the game. He said he usually tried to tune out the crowd, but he had been able to hear his dad.

“You know Montgormery wanted to come to the hospital with me. He was worried about you, too.”

“I’m so glad you have a good friend on this team,” I said. “I really like him.”

I must have fallen asleep while we were talking. I woke up to the night nurse coming in to check my vitals.

---