Top of the World

April 7th 2009

I crept into the house, hoping no one would hear me, even though it was the middle of the day and they would probably have seen my car from the big bay window in the living room.
"Rhys?" Sean's voice rang out from the living room and I knew I'd been spotted. I sighed and went into the living room, where my band mates/best friends were all looking intently at me.
"So? What did the doctor say?" Gavin asked, and I noticed all five of the gazes that were locked on me were concerned.

I'd just gotten back from the doctor, I'd been throwing up quite a lot and I'd been quite short tempered and ratty for the past few weeks, and Snoz, who was my boyfriend as well as my band mate and best friend, had made me go, because they were all getting worried about me. I forced myself to go further into the room, and dropped down into one of the armchairs. They continued to watch me as I cleared my throat.
"Well, he said I have a rare condition-" I started, and they all cut me off with gasps and horrified looks.
"You're not going to die, are you?" Matt asked, and I laughed softly. They were worrying about completely the wrong thing.
"No, I'm not going to die. The rare condition I have is called Elongated Y Syndrome, and what it means is that...." I trailed off with a gulp, and their looks of worry deepened.
"What does it mean? Whatever it is, we'll stick by you..." James told me, and I nodded, closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
"It means that the reason I keep throwing up and why I've been so ratty lately is because.... I'm pregnant." I blurted, and a stunned silence followed.

I slowly opened my eyes, and they were all staring at me with their mouths hanging open in shock.
"What...? But... How?" Gavin finally managed to ask, and I sighed.
"Apparently, having my condition means I also have a womb that I didn't know about." I murmured, and Sean laughed softly.
"But how are you supposed to give birth?" He asked, and I laughed with him.
"I'm not, there's no physical way, so I have to go for a C-section a week before my due date." I told him, before letting my gaze flicker over to Snoz, to see how he was handling it.

He was sitting with a calm look on his face, listening to the conversation. Noticing my eyes flicker towards Snoz, Matt voiced my unasked question.
"You ok there, Snoz?" He asked, and Snoz nodded, a grin suddenly splitting his face.
"Of course! I'm gonna be a daddy!" He laughed, and the tension left my shoulders as I sighed in relief.
"So, when are you due?" Snoz asked, and I smiled.
"The fourth of January, but I'm having my C-section on the twenty eighth of December." I told them, and Sean grinned.
"That's the day before me!" He laughed, and we all grinned.
"So now that's Christmas and two birthdays we gotta spend money on." Matt laughed, and we all nodded, laughing more.

28th April 2009

I wandered down into the kitchen, and was about to wish Gavin happy birthday, when Matt looked over at me and suddenly grinned and started giggling.
"What?" I asked, looking down at myself. Ragged old pyjama bottoms and no shirt, my usual for half nine in the morning.
"You've got an itty bitty baby bump! That's so cute!" He told me, still giggling. I looked closer, and sure enough, my stomach had gone from completely flat, to ever so slightly rounded.

I grinned and wandered over to the fridge, rummaged around, and emerged with a carton of orange juice, a carton of grape juice, a can of diet coke and a tub of chocolate ice cream. I could sense five pairs of eyes on my back as I got a glass from the draining board, and filled it with each drink in turn, then got a spoon and topped off the mud coloured liquid with a scoop of ice cream, stuck a straw in it and sat down, taking a huge gulp through the straw, the others giving me disgusted looks.
"That is actually the single grossest thing I've ever seen in my life." Sean muttered, shaking his head, and I laughed.
"It actually tastes amazing." I told him, still laughing, and he smiled.
"That's only 'cause you're pregnant. Try it again when the baby's about six months old, and it'll make you gag." He told me, and I laughed.
"We'll see." I replied; then hummed as I took another gulp of my concoction.

4th June 2009

Snoz was pissed at me last night, and apparently still was in the morning, so Sean came with me to my scan. I'd had stomach cramp all morning, and I was terrified that something was wrong. When we finally got taken into the examination room, Sean ended up laughing at me, because I squealed slightly in shock when the nurse squirted some freezing cold gel on my stomach. As she ran the wand over my stomach, I prayed that the baby would move, or just do something, so I knew it was ok. Eventually, she stopped, and a loud thumping noise filled the room.
"What's that noise?" I asked quickly, terrified that it was signalling something bad.
"That's your baby's heartbeat." She told me with a smile, and I grinned, grabbing Sean's hand.
"It's ok.... The baby's ok..." I murmured, and he squeezed my hand, smiling.
"I told you it would be; it's a fighter, just like its daddy." He replied, making me grin more.

The nurse started moving the wand over my stomach again, and the thumping noise filled the room again.
"Did the baby move?" I asked, confused slightly, as the nurse started moving the wand again, looking closer at the screen.
"No... It's the other baby..." She replied slowly, and I sat up slightly.
"Other baby?!" I asked loudly, and she gave me a surprised look.
"Did you not know it was twins?" She asked, and I laughed.
"Does it look like I knew?" I asked, and she smiled.
"I guess not, but it's definitely twins, and we'll be able to tell the sexes in a month's time." She told me as she wiped the gel off my stomach.
"So, if they're both ok, why did I have cramp all morning?" I asked, and she smiled.
"That was just your womb stretching to make room for them both; it's nothing to worry about." She reassured me, and I nodded as I jumped down from the table, taking the prints of the scan from her as we left.

When we got home, I found Snoz in the living room, still scowling. I stood silently beside the armchair until he acknowledged me.
"What?" He snapped, scowling at me as I slid one of the prints from my pocket and held it out to him.
"We're having twins." I told him softly; then turned to leave, only for him to grab my hand.
"Twins?" He asked softly, and I turned back to him, squeezing his hand lightly and smiling.
"Yeah, we won't know if they're boys, girls or one of each until next month." I told him, and he smiled, stroking the scan lightly with his finger.
"Twins..." He murmured softly, making me smile more.
"I'm sorry about last night..." We murmured at the same time; then laughed softly.
"I shouldn't have gotten angry..." He murmured sheepishly, and I shook my head.
"It's my fault; I shouldn't have pushed you away just because I feel fat...." I murmured, and he looked up at me sharply.
"That's why you pushed me away?" He asked, and I nodded.
"You're not fat, you're pregnant, there's a difference." He told me, and I laughed slightly as I nodded.
"Yeah, you're right, I won't push you away anymore, promise." I told him; then kissed his forehead, lay down on the couch and fell asleep almost instantly.

22nd July 2009

I've learned something: pregnancy and the hottest summer in Britain in twenty years can make you seriously ratty. I've been bitching at the others all week, my bitching getting worse as the weather gets hotter, but they've just been taking everything I have to give, no arguments, no complaints. When I asked Gavin why they weren't bitching back or anything, he told me it was because they knew I couldn't help it, and I swear, I've never loved my friends as much as I do right now.

That was probably why I took all five of them with me to the scan, I was full of love and they seemed like they wanted to come, so we somehow managed to squeeze into the examination room, all five of them getting teary eyed with me as we watched the twins swimming around on the screen. But after watching them for a minute or so, I saw Gavin frown from the corner of my eye.
"How come one of them is so much bigger than the other?" He asked slowly, and we all took a closer look, realising that he was right; one of them was twice the size of the other.
"That one's just growing slower, trust me they're both fine, it happens quite a lot, it just means one of them will be bigger when they're born." The nurse told us as she moved the wand around a little; then smiled.
"I can see the sexes, do we want to know or is it to be a surprise?" She asked, and me and Snoz looked at each other and grinned.
"We wanna know." We replied in unison, and she smiled, moved the wand to the side a little; then turned to us.
"You're having two boys." She announced, making all six of us grin widely.
"Where you hoping for boys?" The nurse asked, noticing the grins.
"Actually, we got what we were hoping for five minutes ago: healthy." Matt told her, and she smiled; then turned back to the machine, at the same time as I felt a strange squirming in my stomach.
"Did you feel that?" She asked me, and I nodded.
"That was the bigger twin moving around." She explained, and I grinned.
"Would we be able to feel it?" Sean asked, and the nurse shook her head.
"Not until they start kicking in a few weeks." She told us, just as I felt a much smaller squirm.
"There's the little guy moving now." The nurse told us, pointing to the smaller baby as he wriggled noticeably on the screen.