To Philly With Care

*** This is all in Jass’s POV***

I sat in the front office for Dr. Jack Sykes my OB/GYN. I was really nervous this time, unlike a few weeks ago. Now I knew what was going on with me and just how precious the cargo I carried really was. After telling Max’s family after we found out, his mother delighted in sharing many stories from when Max was a baby. When I told my family the reaction could _not_ have been more different. My mother actually told me not to come to any public events until after I gave birth. My sister did one crueler. “In fact, just do not come around until you look better than before.” My grandmother had been the only family member to be happy for Max and I. I sniffled a little bit as I remembered how horrible my family had been to me.

I got called back and went into the room indicated. Seeing that Dr. Sykes was my normal OB/GYN he already had all my medical history so that wasn’t needed. This was my first pregnancy so Nurse Diane came in and began explaining all of the tests she was about to put me through. Most of them were done with blood work, but I found the idea of the urine test gross.

After those were done Dr. Sykes came in smiling. “So, I’d apologize for dropping this bomb over the phone, but I’m hoping that you and your partner have had time to process everything. Do you have anything you want to ask?”

I chuckled. “Do you mind if I call Max and have him sit in on the phone?” He smiled and shook his head. I dialed Max and quickly explained what was going on. Max was thrilled that I called him. “I guess the first question I really have is, how the heck is this going to effect me? I’m not exactly a stress free person but I know that too much stress is really bad for the babies. First and foremost we want healthy children.”

Dr. Sykes just chuckled. “Jassmine, I know what your job is and how important it is to you and many others. I would say first of all keep off your feet as much as possible during the day and delegate things to others around you, especially if they might be very stressful. If you can’t do that I _will_ limit the amount of time you are allowed to work.” Oh he knew me too well… “Now, seeing that we _are_ coming into knowing about these two late, let’s go into the ultrasound room and take a good look at them. Then we’ll come back in here and go through the rest.” He led me, in the gown of course, to the ultrasound room.

Once I was up on the table and covered in goo, Max asked his first question. “What are you looking for?”

Dr. Sykes smiled and spoke up. “There’s a few things we’re looking for. The first thing we want to do is confirm how old these two are so we might be able to get a more accurate due date for them. Then we’ll look for some specific bones to measure how big they are and how well they are growing, though by the look of your belly you’re going to be just fine. Check on the placenta and the cord to make sure they are doing their jobs well. Not to mention we might be able to find out who’s coming, if they cooperate.” He began looking for his first point as I described what I saw to Max.

Dr. Sykes also spoke to us both about what he was doing. Near the end he spoke up. “Ok, I need to know if you do want to know who’s coming or not.” Max didn’t want to at first, until I convinced him it would be easier to set up the nursery if we knew, then he caved. “Ok, here we go. Let’s take a good look at Baby A.” He moved the wand around and found a great angle. “Oh this one is very cooperative.” He found the perfect angle and grinned. “Baby A is a boy.” He labeled the picture with It’s A Boy and pointed arrows to how he could tell, although it was rather obvious by the angle. He then printed that picture. “Time for Baby B. Let’s see if they are as helpful.” More wand movements and pressing and he found the same angle as the first one. “You ready mom and dad?” We both chuckled nervously. “Baby B is… a girl. Congratulations you’re having fraternal twins.” He typed in It’s a Girl and printed this picture as well. “Let’s get this goo off of you, get that urine sample and go back into the other room for the rest of this.”

We got back into the room, the pictures clutched in my hand. Max and I were a bit shocked. Twins didn’t run in either family that we knew of. Fraternal made more sense. Once we were settled again, he spoke. “Well the very good news is that you have two healthy babies growing very well. According to the scans your due date, which you didn’t ask about when we last spoke, is January 7th, next year. Being that you’re having twins it will more than likely be about Christmas or a little before.”

Having a due date made me breathe a sigh of relief. I now knew how long we had for everything to be ready. “So, what are the do’s and don’t’s of having twins? Other then not drinking, limiting caffeine intake that is. When you told me to take prenatal vitamins I started that very day and then did some research. I had been craving foods high in a lot of the vitamins that I need, lots of various veggies and oh god the red meat. Chicken turns my stomach right now but red meats are wonderful. Max is an athlete so we already eat a healthy diet and only have whole grains in the house. What else should I be doing?”

The doctor just smiled. “I know who you’re having these two babies with and I know what his dietary needs are, similar to yours now. Give in to your cravings as long as they are food. If you start to crave odd things, things that aren’t food call me. You’re not on any medications we need to worry about and the paperwork we’ll give you had a list of medications you _can_ take while pregnant without harming the twins. It also has lists of foods that are good and bad for you now, but it sounds like you have that handled.” He paused to give himself a chance to breathe, I pounced on it.

“What about exercise? How hard can I push myself? I like to walk, swim and weights, can I still do that?” Max pushed me to chill over the phone. “Stop that, I want to know if I have to give up the small things that make me happy, like our walks at night and my yoga and pilates.” We found out that I didn’t have to stop but I would have to modify my classes and join ones for pregnant women. That lead me to my next question, how much weight should I be gaining? Ideally he wanted me to gain about 40 pounds all total, some of it would come off immediately after birth and I’d have to work off the rest.

Max pulled us back to the caffeine issue and asked just how much was safe. “Honestly we know that it does cross the placenta and it reduces absorption of important nutrients and blood flow. I normally counsel my moms to cut it off by weaning yourself off, to avoid withdrawal.” He excused himself and left the room. I liked coffee, it helped in the morning, but I didn’t drink a lot of it. When Dr. Sykes came back he had some more papers in his hand. “I’ve been doing my own research on what is known to be safe around the world. I’ve found that herbal teas have been used to great effect in other countries. The easiest to find here are Peppermint and Rooibos. Both of those are used around the world for moms who need a morning routine. Read the ingredients on your favorite teas and avoid any with caffeine.”

Then we got down to brass tacks. I wanted to know how he felt about medical interventions both before and during birth. I knew that I wasn’t great with pain so I wanted some relief during labor. He smiled. “I prefer to do some non-invasive monitoring during labor just to keep an eye on things, if I have to do more invasive monitoring it will be with your informed consent. As far as pain relief goes, I had a patient sum up how I felt quite well. You are becoming a mother, not a martyr. Whatever you want is what we’ll go with. That being said, if these two do become at risk I will not hesitate to throw your ideas out the window to give you healthy children. I will do my best to talk to you about it first, but there might not be time.”

I was given a ton of paperwork to take home and look over, most of it things we covered today. I loved that he had a sheet for stress relief. “Because we’re starting later than we normally would, I might have overloaded you with the paperwork. Remember that you are doing well and the kids are growing as they should be. I didn’t see any issues while we were doing the ultrasound. While you have the energy, you should look into gathering your nursery supplies and building a starting point for their needs. Please feel free to look things up on the internet and ask about them. There’s a list of websites that already have good information in the stack so those you won’t have to worry about. As I said I look at things from other countries as well so some of them are from those sources. Ask your friends who have kids for tips, have them write them down even. You never know what might help. Other than that you’re doing wonderfully. Keep your feet up as much as possible and your stress down and this should be a wonderful time for you two.”

That was the end of the appointment, I was booked for another in 4 weeks when I would be at 24 weeks and I went home. I decided that reading the paperwork could wait, the first thing I wanted to do was go look at nursery things. I called Dani up and she cleared her schedule so we could go shopping. Of course the first place we hit was Babies R Us, cause well it sounded perfect.

Oh my goodness who knew there was so much baby stuff?! I started to panic when we walked in. Dani moved me into a glider while she knelt in front of me. “Hey, you can do this. This is no different than furnishing your place was. We tackle one thing at a time. In fact why don’t we start right where we are. You want a glider for either the living room or their room right?” I nodded weakly. “OK, so that’s where we’ll start.”

We started by finding what color of wood I wanted for the nursery. I always had dark wood in my room and hated them, so I chose a honey color that would look good in either a boy or girl’s room, it would also go well with the rest of my furniture for after the kids didn’t need it. I found, upon looking at the gliders they had here, I didn’t really like any of them. They were too small. What I needed would be a 1.5 seat chair so I could nurse them both at the same time.

Then Dani brought me over to cribs. “Now remember we’re not buying anything right now. We’re looking to see what you like. The honey color is a great idea so let’s stick with it.” As we looked I found I didn’t like the Storkcraft cribs but I did like the DaVinci ones. As we looked and read about them I found I liked the Kalani the best and it had the most diverse dresser options, not to mention a matching changing table. So we put all of those on the list we were making.

Then the hard part came, bedding. I knew what our individual diaper bags looked like so I decided to see if I could find bedding to match the color. I had an idea for a backup plan but waited to see if I could find what I really wanted first. Looking through I found that I didn’t want a theme for the nursery more like a color palate. In the end I found 4 sets that I really liked and had to get that day. 2 were dragonfly sets, in green and purple; 1 was raspberry, black and white and the last was blue, white and chocolate. Dani just laughed at me. “Well I guess this way you can change the look of their rooms like you would yours.”

I smiled. “Gotta teach them that decor can change early. Besides, they already have individual diaper bags in a raspberry color and a chocolate color. When they are little, however, we can still use both sets as they will share a room at first.” We had grabbed a cart so we had a place to put our purses, so I added the bedding to it. “I know, I should just put them on the list but I want them now.”

Dani laughed. “Girl I know you. All this shopping means you’re getting something. Besides at least you found something you _know_ you like. This gives you time to wash it all. What do you want to look at next?” We wandered the aisles looking at all the baby clothes. “I know you’re getting those, so let me get a couple things for you too.” Then she spotted something another friend of ours had sworn by. “Jass, it’s those HALO baby bags Holly loved so much.” They were great for swaddling babies. She picked up both the blue puppy and the pink cupcake ones. “You’re getting these, but you’re not buying them.”

Then we hit the aisle of mom, meaning we got to where all the things for moms were. “Ah ha! Here it is!” Dani grabbed a few items off the shelf and wouldn’t let me see them. “You can see these when we get back to your place.” We kept looking at the aisle until she asked an odd question. “You having back trouble yet?” I looked at her oddly and she sighed. “You’ve been rubbing your back. So I’m going to solve it.” She began looking at belly bands. There were 4 different kinds. She asked me a few questions and picked the Boppy Tummy Support Band. She then began looking at various pillows. She found the Boppy Pregnancy Bolster and added that to the cart. “One more thing, I hope Max loves me for this too.”

It took her a while to find what she was looking for this time, and a phone call to Holly. ”Holl, Dani. Look Jass told you she’s knocked up right? Yeah, we’re at Babies R Us and I’m looking for that pillow you slept with. Yeah the little one.” She began digging through and laughed. “I found it! Thanks Holl. No, he’s up north still. Sure what time and what can we bring? No problem, see you then.” She hung up her phone and added the pillow to the pile.

We checked out and went back to my place. That’s where I found out that Dani had gotten me things to help with stretch marks. “Oh my god I love you.” I put on the Tummy Butter from Palmer’s. Dani pulled out the Tummy Support Band and I put it on. I didn’t realize how much stress my back was already under until I got it on and moaned in relief. “You’re a front runner for godmother, you know that right?” She just laughed.

After a delicious dinner with Holly and her family. Both Dani and Holly helped me tackle the mountain of paperwork I got, organizing it so I could read it in chunks. I also found out that Holly was looking for a job. “That’s great. Dr. Sykes has told me I have to delegate, maybe working for my family’s foundation would be good for you.”

“I love your foundation. I know the Board already which makes it easier. I know that Batsion de le Securities & Le Placard both teach good lessons and there’s no reason to change them. Do you think your family will be upset if you start giving up direct control?” I shrugged, I wasn’t sure what my family would think except for my grandmother who wouldn’t care as long as everything was running smoothly. “Great, should I meet you at 9 at Bastion?”

I smiled. “That sounds perfect. Gran is running the day to day stuff while we’re in Montreal so I’m sure she’ll be happy when she finds out I’m going to be worrying about myself first for once. I go back on Friday afternoon so you know. Our plan is to be back here for the season before Labor Day.” After nodding in understanding, Holly went to put her little one to bed and I called Gran. “Hi Gran. No, everything is fine. I wanted to let you know that Dr. Sykes has told me that I’m to start delegating now so that when they get here I’ll be good at it.” She and I both laughed. “Actually Holly is coming in to see if she can take over being the Foundation’s Head. I don’t want to pull completely out of it, but I have a feeling I’m going to have to so I’m listening to it.” Gran agreed out of anyone she would prefer someone she already knew. “Then we’ll be there at 9 tomorrow morning. Yes, Gran I will have all the baby news including the pictures with me. Ok we’ll see you tomorrow.”

When I got home I was more than ready to sleep. I called Max to tell him good night and curled up with the new pillow Dani got me. As I did, I must have let out a moan. “Something feel good love? You’re sure you’re alone?”

I scoffed. “I’m alone. I just, Dani bought me a couple things for me to help with the kids. I moaned because I just curled up with the Mini Side sleeper pillow and it’s taken all the stress off my belly and knees.” He chuckled. “Hey be proud of me. Dani and I found a great crib set that I didn’t get, we figured out that I really need a 1.5 seat recliner to feed them right and I’ve found someone to take my position as the Head of the Family Charitable Foundation, my friend Holly.” I heard him smile and then wish me good night. “I’ll see you Friday with pictures.” I hung up and drifted off to sleep.