Chapter Fourteen: Two Times the Fun

Soon after finding out I was pregnant, Chuck and I decided that we needed to convert the guest room into a nursery.  I had just started to look at furniture for the nursery when we got yet another surprise.

“Twins?! Are you sure they said twins?!” I had just returned home from my 20 week checkup and the nurse had definitely seen two babies.

“She was more than sure. Not only that, I have the ultrasound pictures to prove it.”

“Did you find out if they’re boys or girls?”

“No, we talked about wanting to be surprised so I just let the nurse tell me we were having twins.  I don’t know why you’re so surprised. Remember, I do have a set of twin sisters so it runs on my side of the family.”

“I just never thought about it.  I guess that means we’ll have to buy two of everything.  It’s a good thing the spare bedroom is a good size room.”

After getting over the initial shock of finding out we were having twins, Chuck and I started to read as many baby books as we could find. I also became increasingly worried about getting the nursery done and spent my free time decorating it.

I had finished writing the movie score and it was being recorded by an orchestra.  The movie premier was scheduled to be soon after the twins’ birth so I wasn’t going to attend. I was a little sad but there was no way I was going to leave them that soon after they were born.

Chuck continued to talk and rub my belly.  Watching him do it always brought a smile to my face. I was finally far enough in the pregnancy that whenever he talked to them, one or both of them would kick.  At first, it didn’t feel like much, but as the months went on, having two babies kick and punch from the inside sometimes took my breath away.

When I was close to being seven months pregnant we finished painting the nursery.  I was standing in the room admiring how it looked when one of the twins decided to use one of my ribs as a soccer ball.  I reached down and rubbed my belly trying to calm them down.  

“Stop fidgeting in there. I know you’re running out of room but Mommy’s turning into a house out here.”

Chuck came up behind me and placed his hands on my belly. “You’re not turning into a house. You’re beautiful and pregnant.  The room is coming along nicely! We just need to move some furniture in”

“Are you scared? You know that we’ll mess up and they’ll be horrible people because of something we did?”

“Honey, I think everyone has those fears when they’re about to become parents; maybe even more veteran parents. All we can do is the best we can and love them.  Besides, with an awesome mom like you and a cool dad like me, how could they not be the best kids in the world.”

I laughed. He always knew what to say to make me feel better.

By early June, I was miserable.  The last several weeks of the pregnancy seemed to go in slow motion.  I couldn’t put on my own shoes (Heck, I couldn’t even see my feet),  my feet and legs were continually swollen, and if I walked for more than 10 minutes my back felt like it was going to break.  One morning Chuck and I were snuggling in bed when he had an idea.

“What if we had a little party?”

“What do you mean a party?” How could a party make me feel any better?

“It can help get your mind off of it. We could invite the gang and since Honey’s pregnant too, you’d have someone to trade stories with.”

I still didn’t understand how talking with Honey was supposed to help keep my mind off of being nine months pregnant but it did sound like fun to see everyone one last time before Honey and I had our children.

A couple nights later everyone showed up at the house. Honey and I stood next to each other comparing our bellies. Honey was actually overdue by four days and I was one day from my due date.  I had to admit it to Chuck that he was right, somehow talking to Honey made me feel better since she completely understood what I was going through. 

I had just walked away from Honey to talk to Tom when I heard her yell out.

“John! I think my water just broke!”  Everyone started running around the house trying to help. The men went outside to help John with the car and Josy and I helped Honey walk to the car in between contractions.  Josy and Tom decided to ride to the hospital with Honey and John while Chuck and I stayed behind to clean up the house a little bit before heading to the hospital.

I was in the middle of cleaning off the dining table when I felt a little pain in my lower abdomen.  It didn’t last very long so I thought maybe I had twisted my muscles the wrong way and continued cleaning.  About ten minutes later, I felt the same pain again.  I started to become suspicious but didn’t want to alarm Chuck yet.  We continued to clean up and we were about to walk out the door when it happened…

“Chuck…um…honey, I think my water just broke.” Chuck ran over to where I was and immediately started to panic.

“Oh my gosh!! What do we do?! We have to get the bag! I need to get the car?! Do we have the carriers?”

“Chuck!” He stopped panicking and looked at me. “The bag is in the car, the carriers are also in the car, but you need to get me to the car!”

He rushed over to help me and we were quickly on our way to the hospital.  I was in labor for several hours before the first of our twins was born.

Bridgette Rose Hobble was born at 1:12 in the morning. Bridgette was Chuck’s mom’s name and Rose was my Mom’s middle name (and one of my sister’s first name).

Very soon after, our next twin was born.

Charles Frederick Hobble II was born at 1:30 am. He of course was named after Chuck but we planned on calling him Charlie.

Soon after the twins were born we found out that Honey had given birth a couple hours before to a girl that she and John named Katherine Grace.

All the babies were healthy and we were all able to go home a couple days later.  It was becoming very apparent that Bridgette already had her daddy wrapped around her finger. I couldn’t blame him, she was such a cute little baby girl.

As we walked into the nursery I looked down at Charlie.

He made a gurgling noise and I put him up to my shoulder.  I had never been so happy and scared in all my life. I had two beautiful children with the man I love but at the same time, I knew that we were about to embark on a long road as parents and that was just a little overwhelming.

Credits: (Poses)
Babymoon - Pregnancy Couple Photography Poses by Elexis