Life in our household became nothing but non-stop running, once Tory was born and settled into the family. Jay and I adored our little princess, as we do our two boys. But as busy as life has been for us with three children to care for, and love, our marriage is still just as strong as it was when we first got married, if not stronger now. Jay's painting career is still blooming beautifully, and my work is still going good as well.
Blaine is also a very good big brother, better than I could have hoped for. He doesn't mind keeping an eye on his little brother, Gabe, while I tend to Tory or if I need to get a little research or cleaning done. Their favorite activity to do together is playing peek-a-boo, Blaine taught Gabriel how to play one day when I needed to desperately clean the house since things had been so chaotic that week. It was so cute when I came downstairs to check on the two of them, and I saw the boys engaged in their game of peek-a-boo, it truly warmed my heart and reassured me that Jay and I are doing well as parents.
Somehow though time seemed to fly by, it was probably due to all the busy days I've endured since becoming a mother. Before I knew it, it was time to celebrate Blaine and Tory's birthdays. I just couldn't believe that our oldest child was going to be a teenager now, and that our youngest was already celebrating her first birthday!
Even after Blaine became a teenager, he still had a soft spot for his younger brother, the two of them were nearly inseperable. He is even helpful around the house, and always gets his homework done on time, just as he did when before he started high school.
Tory has also proven to be just as laid back as both of her older brothers are, she even enjoys getting attacked with 'the claw'. She is the most adorable little girl I have ever laid eyes on, and it's almost surreal that she's mine and Jay's.
Soon it was time for Gabriel's birthday, which everyone was really excited for, especially me, since running after two toddlers drained me physically every day. Now our second-born would be starting school in just a few days, and it would just be Tory at home with Jay, while our boys are at school and I'm at work. In a way it makes me sad that two of my three children are going to be in school now, since it means they are getting closer and closer to that age where they'll be faced with high school graduation, moving out, going to college, finding a job, starting their own families... It really opens your eyes to how much time has truly passed in your life.
Blaine helped his little brother to the birthday cake and helped him blow out his candles, with Jay, Tory, and myself standing back a little bit to cheer and sing happy birthday to Gabriel. He grew into a handsome little boy.
As handsome as Gabriel is though, he seems to be serious most of the time, the only time I ever see him smile is when he's playing with his siblings, or spending time with Jay and I. Hopefully he will learn to loosen up a little and have a bit more fun in his young life.
Then after a few weeks of feeling completely awful, I made myself take a home pregnancy test, even though I didn't think that I could possibly be pregnant now. Jay and I are always so careful now that we have three children, and believe me I wouldn't object to having more, I just think that three is a good number.
But then after the three minutes were up, I nervously glanced down at the stick and that's when I saw it, a bright pink plus sign. This is crazy, I thought as my eyes focused more and more on the results of the test... Jay would be happy, that's for sure, I'm happy too but, what would our kids think? Would they be excited or be upset at the thought of another little one around the house? As the reality of it sank in a little more, I gently placed my hands on my belly that has not even begun to show the life that's growing inside.
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As the months progressed, so did my pregnancy, I'm now thirty-two weeks pregnant which makes all of us very excited. The kids took the news better than I could have ever imagined, except for Tory, she is still a bit too young to fully understand. However, Blaine and Gabriel kept their grades up in school and never once did I hear them complain about how there was going to be a new addition to the family or about how many more chores they had to take on around the house. Since Jay had to devote most of his time to his painting career he couldn't keep up with everything that needed to be done as well as care for Tory. This pregnancy my body is constantly sore and my back is constantly aching which causes me to have to sit down or lay down more than a handful of times throughout the day. I had to abandon constantly doing housework to keep myself busy when I wasn't tending to Tory, because it just took way too much out of me.
During the times that I felt okay enough to be waddling through the house, and Jay was taking a break from painting, we would catch each other for a few minutes to just chat and just be us for a little bit. Jay's gentle touch on my growing, round belly always made me smile, and be thankful that my children have such a wonderful man as their father.
Tonight the entire family settled in at the dinner table, except for Tory, she's settled into her high chair with her baby food. The rest of us are eating spaghetti with meat sauce, except for Gabriel since he's a vegetarian and decided that an autumn salad would be better for him than risking getting sick from the meat in the spaghetti sauce. Blaine had made the autumn salad for Gabriel while I was busy cooking up the spaghetti and making Tory's baby food.
Dinner goes by smoothly, we listen to how Blaine and Gabriel's day went at school, then progress into talking about other random things, like what's happening around town and sharing all of our excitement about the new little one arriving in just a couple of months.
After dinner was a different story though. My hands clutched onto my large belly as a contraction hit hard, it took me by surprise and seemed to knock the breath out of me. My face must have twisted into something awful due to the pain because everyone was up and running toward me, asking if I was okay and what was going on. Of course the pain had immobilized me for a few moments, and it was hard for me to even begin to answer any of the questions. All I could manage was a groan of pain, and then it seemed to let up a little. My thoughts were swirling inside my head, I had to get to the hospital and fast. My eyes darted to Jay and the look of fear that displayed on his facial features didn't help to calm me any.
"Hospital.. Now.." That was all I could muster up the strength to say, tears began to well up in my eyes, but I refused to let them fall in front of my kids. They didn't know that something isn't right. I shouldn't be going into labor already at only thirty-two weeks, something had to be wrong. Jay must have been waiting for those words to come from my mouth, because as soon as they came out, he was by my side helping me toward the door. He even managed to grab the packed hospital bag, that was by the front door in case of an emergency like this, he quickly pulled it onto his shoulder by the long strap and before I knew it we were in the car and he was driving me to the hospital. Thankfully Blaine was old enough now to stay home and watch the two younger kids, and it was close to bed time anyway, so all he really had to do was put Tory in bed and make sure the dishes were cleaned up before him and Gabriel fall asleep.
Within five minutes we were at the hospital, there were more contractions but I fought through them as I managed to walk inside the hospital with Jay. The nurses saw the fear and uneasiness that was displayed on both of our faces, thankfully they hurried us to a room that had just been cleaned and ready for a new patient. Lucky for us my doctor was on call tonight and had just finished checking in on another patient when her eyes locked onto mine, she instantly knew that something was wrong and followed us into the freshly cleaned room.
In only a few minutes I had already been completely stripped of my clothes and dressed in a hospital gown, and was in position on the bed for delivery. My doctor had confirmed that my water had already completely broken and I was completely dilated and thinned out, so this baby could come any time now. As soon as the team of nurses that would be cleaning up the baby and giving it medical attention since it was going to be born premature, I began to push.
Two hours passed, and things weren't progressing correctly, my body was already becoming tired and I was growing frustrated, I have never had this much trouble delivering a baby. But somehow I kept finding the inner strength to keep trying and fighting against having a cesarean section. However, after another thirty minutes of trying to have this baby naturally, I went ahead and signed the form to have a cesarean section performed. In a matter of minutes the first part of the preparations for surgery were complete, and I was wheeled into the OR. Jay held my hand all the way up to the doors, before he had to let go so that they could get me on the table and finish the preparations for the surgery. By now I was crying, scared of what was going to happen, and if Jay was even going to be with me during this. The anthesiologist administered the numbing medication through a needle that has to be stuck into my lower back, but pretty soon everything from my chest down to my toes has been numbed. A curtain has also been put up, to keep me from seeing everything that was going on during the surgery, which is good because I really don't think I could handle seeing a surgery performed on me while I'm still awake. Then I hear the doors open and more nurses come in, but then I see a male figure, and a smile grows across my face as I realize it's Jay! He's dressed in sterile white gown/jumpsuit looking outfit, with a hair net on, I sort of laugh at the sight of him, but the thoughts of what's going on with our unborn child has me worried still. He takes a seat beside me and gently strokes my hair, and holds my free hand, the other is strapped down so I won't accidentally hit the doctor or knock anything over if I get really freaked out.
"I love you..." My voice is soft, and shaky. It's filled with happiness that Jay is here, but it's still filled with fear for the health of our baby.
"I love you too... Everything is going to be okay, Estelle.. You'll see. Just try to relax.." His voice soothes me into a slightly more relaxed state, and I nod slowly biting on my bottom lip.
A nurse comes over to me and places an oxygen mask over my mouth and nose, after I indicate to her that I prefer having an oxygen mask instead of the tube that has two smaller tubes on it that goes in my nose. After that she is back over with the rest of the nurses and doctors that are waiting patiently for the surgery to begin and to start giving care to the life that's inside of me.
"All right Estelle, I'm starting the surgery now. All you should really feel is pressure, and some pulling and tugging but no pain." My doctor says quickly. I nod and manage a reply, but fall silent once more as I feel the pressure and know exactly what she was meaning by the pulling and tugging. It felt like an eternity before I heard my doctor speak once more, but this time her voice was filled with surprise. "We need more hands on deck, there's more than one baby in here!" Now that wasn't what I was expecting at all... More than one baby, wow, no wonder I went into labor so early. Quickly I turned my head to face Jay and the look on his face was filled with as much shock as mine was. This was definitely going to be a fun twist for our family, once everything was cleared and the babies would be allowed to go home. The surgery ended up going very smoothly, and my doctor did a great job with closing my incision.
Just as I had expected though, the babies had to stay in the NICU for a few weeks. But luckily, they didn't have a ton of health issues, but it was still nerve-racking and scary to have more than one baby in the NICU. However, they were all allowed to go home soon, which is when the real fun began for us.
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Triplets. Jay and I were lucky enough to be able to bring home triplets, two girls and one boy. Our bedroom was now extremely cramped with four cribs, plus our bed, dresser, and clothes hamper. Our house was now in need of an expansion, and fast!
Now, introducing the Rodriguez Triplets:
Maci was the first of the triplets to be born, and she is in the red crib on the far left corner of the bedroom. She was born at 12:02 am weighing in at 3 lbs even and measuring 18 inches long.
Mya was the second triplet born. She came at 12:09 am, weighing in at 2 lbs 12 oz, measuring 17 1/2 inches long. She is in the violet/purpley crib close to our bed, across the room from Tory.
Miles was the last triplet born, and he came into the world at 12:15 am, weighing in at 2 lbs 10 oz, measuring 17 1/2 inches long. He's of course in the blue crib in the far right corner of the bedroom.
All three of my babies were now home, which meant that the chaos will begin in the morning of trying to parent six children: a teenager, a child, a toddler, and three newborns. This is definitely a very interesting new chapter in mine and Jay's life together.
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