Page 104 of Living for Truth
“What?”
“Water broke,” I manage to say, clutching my stomach as a wave of anxiety pummels into me, and tears fill my eyes. It’s too soon. I’m not ready yet. They aren’t fully cooked!
Morgan pales, and it takes him a good thirty seconds to process what I said. Meanwhile, I’m still dripping onto the floor.
Iris rushes in with towels and a change of clothes. “Change into these, and I’ll have Axel drive you and Morgan to the hospital. Aly will stay with us, and we’ll take care of everyone coming for the shower. We’ll grab your bags from your house and meet you at the hospital, okay? Don’t you worry about a thing. This isn’t uncommon with twins, everything will be okay. Morgan, help her get dressed then get Hannah to Dad’s truck. Now.”
“Dressed. Truck. Got it,” Morgan rasps as he gently takes my hand and leads me to one of the spare bedrooms to change out of my wet clothes.
“Are they going to be okay?” I ask when he kneels down to help me slip out of my leggings.
He kisses my stomach reverently. “They’re going to be perfect,Butterfly.”
The drive to the hospital felt excruciatingly long and super short at the same time, and now I’m on the labor and delivery floor being checked in. Morgan is irritated.
The nurse checking us in asked if we were sure my water broke, confirming I didn’t just pee my pants, and Morgan snapped at her that I would know my body.
I guess it’s protocol to test it no matter what, so when she pulled the strip of paper away from me and confirmed it, Morgan rolled his eyes.
Then they had trouble finding my veins for the IV, and Morgan looked like he was going to pass out with how many times they poked and prodded at my hands. They finally got it with a vein finder and a seasoned nurse, and now I’m in a room with a band around my belly and a fetal monitor for each twin attached to it.
Dr. Badar walks in and gently explains that because the babies are early, a vaginal birth may not be the safest route to go, and she highly suggests they do a cesarean section to make sure both me and the babies have the safest delivery.
I knew this was a possibility, so I sign the papers agreeing to have the procedure done, and they prep me for surgery.
Chapter 48
Morgan
I’m going to be a dad today.
Well, I’m going to be a dadagain.
I swear my heart fell out of my butt when Hannah said her water broke, I barely remember getting here. I’m glad my dad drove us because it was probably safer than if I had.
We had to wait a few hours to do the cesarean procedure because Hannah had eaten today, and they didn’t want to risk aspiration.
Now, I’m waiting outside of the operating room in a white jumpsuit, mask, gloves, and a hat while I wait for Hannah to be prepped for her c-section, and I’m agitated becauseIwant to be in there. They’re doing a spinal block to numb her, and they won’t let me be there to comfort her or hold her. I can hear her pained whimpers from the other side of the door, and it’s killing me.
Dr. Badar peeks out the door and guides me into the room, telling me to keep my hands to my chest so I don’t touch anything. I’m directed around the anesthesiologist to sit on a stool the size of a dinner plate at Hannah’s head.
She looks half asleep, most likely from the anesthesia and stress of everything happening with her body. Her eyes keep blinking open and closed, and she looks paler than ever. She gives me a small smile as I sit down.
I’m handed a bag in case Hannah feels like she needs to throw up—which feels like something that should absolutelynothappen when she’s being cut open—and they’ve put up a curtain over her stomach so we can’t see what the doctors are doing on the other side.
Good, I don’t want to watch that.
The doctor narrates everything she’s doing, and part of me wishes she wouldn’t. I just want to know if the babies are okay.
Hannah winces, and I look over to see why. From my vantage point, I can’t see anything surgical happening, but I can see the doctor from the hips up pushing herself on top of Hannah trying to push one of the babies out. It looks like the doc is doing deck-ups out of a pool on Hannah’s stomach,Jesus Christ—but I’m assured it doesn’t hurt, it just feels like a lot of pressure, and then tiny little cries fill the operating room.
“Here’s baby number one, and she sounds great. Dad, you can follow the nurse over to the vitals station and watch her get cleaned up.”
I’m torn because I don’t want to leave Hannah while she’s still being operated on, but she gives me a small nod, so I follow the nurse with our first babyto a small room off of the operating room where she sucks the goop off of the baby and then checks her vitals.
“She’s four pounds, nine ounces. Which is a pretty good weight for twins born this early. She seems to be doing well…” The nurse keeps telling me things about the baby. Things I should probably listen to. She keeps gushing about the head of blonde hair matted to her head, but my attention is pulled back to the operating room wondering if Hannah and our other baby are okay.
I don’t know how long I stand there, staring at the tiny human under the blue bili lights, but after what feels like an eternity, another nurse brings in my second daughter, and she isn’t crying as much as her sister.
