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Bella
“Wait a second, did you sayfourheartbeats?” My heart pounded heavily in my chest as I stared at the ultrasound tech.
“Yes, four heartbeats and four little babies. Here, let me show you,” she said, turning the monitor around so I could get an even better view. “Baby A is right here, Baby B is here, Baby C is trying to hide but you can make him or her out here… and Baby D is easy to miss but is right there.”
I stared at the screen in disbelief. Was this the reason I have been putting on more weight than usual? I thought it was all the extra carbs I had allowed myself to eat since I was pregnant, and all the milkshakes I’d been craving. My doctor had been concerned at how fast I was gaining, and well, now it suddenly made sense.
Gabe, the father of the babies I was carrying, hadn’t said a word yet. I looked over at him. His jaw was tight, his eyes staring at the screen, but there was no emotion, nothing that would give away how he was feeling. His hands gripped the side of the bed I was laying in, his knuckles white.
“You conceived through IVF, correct?” the tech asked.
“Yes, I’m a gestational carrier,” I said. Otherwise known as a surrogate, but most medical professions seemed to prefer the other term these days.
“Do you know how many embryos they implanted?”
“Two,” I said, my head spinning as I remembered what the doctors had told me. “Because of my young age, they said implanting more would lead to a higher chance of multiples, we were already prepared for the possibility of twins, but… how? With only two embryos?”
“It looks like they both split,” she said. “Do you have a family history of multiples?”
“No, I’m an only child. My mom is also an only child, while my dad had a brother, but they weren’t twins. I don’t understand how this could have happened?”
“The fertility drugs you had to take to help increase your chances of successful implantation can also cause multiples,” she answered.
I looked up at Gabe who was still staring at the screen. His brown eyes turned to me and we shared a look. He had wanted one baby but said he would be more than happy with twins. How did he feel about quadruplets? These were his babies, and I knew that there were options but I wasn’t sure I wanted to consider those options.
“Gabe?” I managed to choke out.
“Yes?” His voice came out lower than usual.
“Are you okay?”
He took a second before he responded, and when he did, it was a curt nod.
We would have to talk about all of this later, of course. Gabe wasn’t one to talk about his feelings anyway, but in the presence of a stranger, it was even harder to get a response from him.
He turned to the tech, finally taking a deep breath. “What’s next? What do we need to do to make sure all of the babies and Bella are safe and healthy?”
“Well, first thing we need to do is find you an obstetrician that is experienced with multiples and high-risk pregnancies.”
“High-risk?” Both Gabe and I said at the same time.
I wasn’t an idiot, I knew that having more than one baby at a time posed a risk to not only the babies but also me. Still, hearing those words spoken out loud caused me some anxiety. I knew that carrying a baby for Gabe for nine months wouldn’t be easy money, but it was about to get exponentially more difficult.
“Yes, high-risk. With multiples, most women aren’t able to carry to term, yet we want to make sure that the babies aren’t born too soon, either. It also poses higher risk for the mother.”
I had originally thought I’d take a few weeks off from my job toward the end of the pregnancy, but now it was looking like I’d need more time than that. Considering I was a barista, I was on my feet all day, every day.
Gabe spoke up. “It’s fine, we will make sure Bella gets plenty of rest and she will be in good hands.”
I stared at him. I was his surrogate, not his girlfriend or wife, living together was not something we’d ever discussed. Maybe he meant hiring some help for me or paying me enough so that I could quit my crappy job. Both would be acceptable to me.
A little while later in the car, however, he threw me for a loop.
“You’re going to move in with me until the babies are born.”
“Excuse me?” I stammered. “Don’t I have a say in this?”
