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“Dad, would you like to do the honors this time?” the doctor asks, handing him the scissors. He slashes the tube quickly and effectively.
Fear takes over. “Are there any more?” Still dizzy from all the pushing, I start to worry there may be more, many more. I had some very vivid dreams about there being more.
“You don’t know?” The doctor sounds shocked, checking with his nurses to see if it can be believed at all.
Isa confirms with a shake of her head. “She never got an ultrasound.”
“Well!” he exclaims. “Just two babies, Mom and Dad. Congratulations, everyone.”
Isa comes to me with my baby daughter, placing her on my chest while my boy is being cleaned up. He comes to me a few seconds later, and I have them both. My twins.
Drex beams at me proudly. “And they call me a warrior? I’m in awe of what you just did there.”
“No kidding, Sophia. That was amazing.” The beam on Isa’s face is as big as mine. I can’t remember if I’ve ever felt so complete. So whole. Hours ago, I was fretting that I'd have to raise my baby, now babies, without him, while Armstrong sinks like a stone. Each fear was replaced by another so many times I felt like I would drown in them. Now my heart aches with another kind of feeling. I never knew you could be so happy that it hurts.
“Shall we weigh them?” the nurse asks, holding a rudimentary scale. “Let’s start with baby A.” Isa hands the baby to the nurse reluctantly, who sets her on a sling lined with a small soft blanket. Then she lifts from the joists. “Baby A is 5.9 pounds. Pretty big for a twin.” Drex takes her proudly, cradling her tiny form in his massive body. My heart melts to see him hold her so tenderly.
“Time for Baby B.” The nurse sets out the system again. “Sorry, our micro scales broke with the last air raid. We get to do this the old-fashioned way.” The lights flicker on top of us, a subtle but instant reminder that outside our bubble, Armstrong remains precarious.
“I promise,” Drex reminds me before the thought can even enter my brain. “I’m here now. I’ll take care of everything.”
“Baby B is at 6.2 pounds. Good healthy babies, both.” It’s such a relief to hear. After days of food shortages and mornings with my head in the toilet, I worried every day of my pregnancy that I hadn’t done enough to care for them properly. Seeing that my baby, both babies, are the picture of health made the moment all the better.
“See? They're amazing. You were amazing.” The nurse hands the baby to Isa, who brings her to me.
We’re quite the sight. Two babies, I can hardly believe it. My heart seems sure to burst. I've never been so happy. I thought I’d be exhausted, and I am, but I've never known this level of joy. My heart breaks to be so happy, and I fully understand for the first time how much I would do for my babies. I’d do everything a thousand times over just to feel this way.
My eyes tip back into my skull as the fatigue takes over. Drex comes and plants a sweet kiss on my lips, dipping me further in the fantasy feel of the moment.
“You can rest now, love,” My gaze drifts from Isa with Baby A to Drex with Baby B. They hold onto my darlings, but it is I who feels truly held.
24
DREX
Sophia is sleeping peacefully at last. Her dark waves rest neatly on the pillow after a long night of feedings. We were told they would most likely sleep for a whole day together after birth. I don’t know what happened to that nurse, but when I find her, she and I will have words.
Shintak’s tits! I didn’t know I could be so tired. Baby A has been up for a feeding every hour on the hour. She’s filled so many diapers that the hospital had to switch us over to cloth before she burns through their reserves.
My eyes are screwed up trying to recreate the sheer wizardry the nurse magicked together when she demonstrated it. I've got the sheet. The baby. Then, there’s a twist, I think? Fumbling with the pin, I manage to get the sheet twisted underneath her. Just as I’m about to have it in place, she flicks her tail, hurling the safety pin needlepoint first to my face.
“What the?” My voice shatters the stillness in the room, forcing a groan from Sophia’s lips. C’mon Drex, you’re a Kaleidian warrior.
“Okay, kid. It's you. Me. And this diaper. There’s a good girl, keep that tail still while Daddy, yes, there she does it!” Sundry military operations pale in comparison to the pride welling within me when at last I present to my sleeping mate a diapered baby.
Placing her at her mother's side, she latches to her breast right away. The slurping sounds coming from her tiny mouth spring a smile to my face. Sophia sleeps on, to my utter shock, as if there isn't a life form feeding from her. Now to check on Baby B.
Unlike his sister, Little Man has slept for hours. He’s slept so much that his mother has begun to worry. Repeated attempts to get him to her breast have failed. Leaning over him in the bassinet, his tiny chest rises and falls with each breath. The doctor assures us he will wake eventually, and very hungry, too.
In the meantime, I marvel at how different they are. She’s feisty and temperamental. He’s calm and reserved.
“Babe?” Sophia’s voice says weakly. “She peed. She’s soaked.”
“Of course, she is.” I tuck her into my arms, sincerely ready to do battle once more. My instincts are toned this time for her flicking wayward tail.
“What about Little Man?”
“Bring him here, let’s try.” I change Baby Girl in a flash, now that I’ve got the aptitude to master cloth diapering like the nurses and have her changed and in the medi-bassinet. She’s half asleep as soon as I lay her next to her snoozing brother, her belly full of mother’s colostrum. A tinge of yellow gold still hangs on her lips.
