Bridgette - Chapter Twenty Two: The More the Merrier

I stood in the nursery and looked around at the final touches we had put into it. We had been living in our house for almost seven months and during that time we had slowly chosen how we wanted to decorate the nursery. At first glance no one would have been able to tell what gender the babies were but there were a few hints well placed in the room. The sheets were a dead giveaway. They were one of the only little splashes of blue throughout the room.

I placed a hand on my belly and felt one of the twins kick. One was definitely more active than the other.  I rubbed where I had felt the kick and tried talking some sense into him. 

“Hey there soccer player, give Mommy a break. I know you’re starting to get really squished in there but that kicking isn’t helping Mommy out here.” I felt a pair of arms wrap around me and I smiled.

“Do you want me to have a talk with him?” Carson offered.

“He does seem to calm down when you talk to him.” I admitted. 

Carson walked around and leaned over to talk to my belly.

“Hey there little guy; we’ll have plenty of time to practice kicking a ball when you get out here. In the meantime, just keep chilling out in there and hanging out with your brother.” As if on cue, the other baby started kicking.  Carson noticed and went to the other side. “That goes for you too, buddy. “ He started rubbing my belly and he smiled up at me. “That should do it.”

I laughed at him. “You’re home early.” I commented. Carson had spent the summer doing an internship at a local physical therapy clinic and they had immediately hired him once his internship was over. He really liked his job and I liked it too since every once in a while he was able to come home early.

“Our last patient is making great progress and we finished early. How are you feeling? Are you still feeling tired?”  It seemed like once I got used to feeling a certain way during the pregnancy, I would switch to feeling the complete opposite. The first trimester I had morning sickness and exhaustion, the second I felt amazing; all my energy was back and there was no more sickness. Now in my third trimester, I still didn’t have any more sickness but my energy level had plummeted. 

“I’ve just given up on not feeling tired. Kate told me that it’s almost like your body is preparing you for the lack of sleep your about to have from having a newborn. I’m lucky if I get five hours of sleep anymore. They’re just taking up so much room and I can’t get comfortable anymore. I don’t see how they could get much bigger!”

“Is the doctor still saying you could go into labor at any time?”

“Yup. I wish any time was now though. I am as big as a truck and I’m sure I’m a sight to behold.” He came up behind me and wrapped his arms around me again.

“I’ve told you many times, I think you look sexy when you’re pregnant.”

“You just say that to make me feel better.”

“No, I really do. You’re absolutely beautiful; you’re glowing and you make pregnancy look sexy.” 

“Okay, now I know you’re lying.”

“Look at me. You know when someone’s lying; am I lying to you?” I had to admit that he didn’t seem to be lying. “I’m telling you; you better watch out after this because I seem to be one of those men that is incredibly turned on by their wife being pregnant.”

“Carson Alexander Davila, you need help?!” I laughed at him.

“Why, because I think my wife is beautiful?” He smiled and then kissed me. He was absolutely hopeless. 

He let me go and walked over to one of the cribs. “These look great! I guess the room is ready for whenever the two boys decide to make their appearance.” He looked over at me and I snorted.

“I wouldn’t hold your breath for that being anytime soon. They seem to be happy right where they are.”

“Well if that’s the case, how about I take you out to eat tonight. I don’t think we’re going to have many chances to do that once the twins get here.”

“That sounds wonderful! I’ll get my shoes on and I’ll meet you downstairs.” I walked into our bedroom and got my shoes out of the closet. For months now I had started wearing slip on shoes since I couldn’t see my feet anymore. I had just put on the second shoe when I felt a strange shooting pain on my side. I paused for a second and didn’t feel anything else. I didn’t think anything of it since it didn’t happen again. After using the restroom, I made my way downstairs. I had just finished walking down the stairs when I felt the same pain again but this time I felt something else.

“Bridge, what’s wrong?” Carson had come from the garage where he had warmed up the car for us.

“I don’t think we’re going out to eat.” I admitted.

“Why not?”

“I think my water just broke.” At that moment I saw something I had never seen in my life; Carson Davila flipped out. 

“OH MY GOD, BRIDGE! WHAT DO WE DO?” He asked as he started pacing.

“Well, the best thing would be to get me to the hospital.” 

“The hospital, right!” He started walking to the garage and I called after him.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?!”

“Oh, right! The overnight bag.” I watched as he got the bag that I had packed and walked out to the car.

“He did not just walk out the door without me.” I said to myself. “CARSON!” I heard him run back in. “I meant ME. Aren’t you forgetting ME?”

 

“Oh my gosh, Bridge! I’m so sorry!” He said as he ran to me and then helped me to the car. By the time we got to the hospital my contractions were 4 minutes apart and I was rushed into a room.

  

Soon the doctor came in. “Well, it looks like it’s going to be very soon! Not long now, and you’ll be meeting your sons! I’ll be back in a little bit to check you again.” 

She left the room and I looked at Carson. He had calmed down considerably which I was glad since I really needed his calming presence.

****Carson****

I looked over at Bridge as she had another contraction and I held her hand. I had always known that Bridge was a strong woman but watching her as each contraction got stronger and closer together gave me new insight into just how strong she was. In between one of the contractions she looked over at me. “Did you call our families?”

“I did right after we got here. They’re probably in the waiting room now.” She started having another contraction and the doctor came in.

“Well, I think we’re ready to rock and roll! Looks like you two are going to get an early Christmas present.” I helped prop Bridge up and she started pushing with each contraction. It wasn’t long before our first son came into the world. Trevor Carson was born on December 21^st at 7:27 pm. He had been the little kicker inside and he came into the world screaming.  After several more pushes our second son, William Jefferson was born at 7:41 pm. He came out and quietly started looking around. I looked at each of them and was amazed at how they already seemed to have distinct personalities. 

The boys were taken over to two bassinets and several nurses were hovering over the babies, cleaning them off, measuring and weighing them. I looked down at Bridge and I kissed her. “You were amazing, Beautiful.” I whispered in her ear. She smiled up at me. “You owe me a dinner.” She joked.

“I owe you a lot more than a dinner. Thank you for giving birth to our amazing boys.” I kissed her again and she told me to go check on them. 

I walked over to where the nurses were and looked down at our sons. So far they both had blue eyes but it was too soon to know if either of them would end up with Bridge’s beautiful eyes. I looked back at Bridge and told her I was going to check to see if our family was waiting. 

It wasn’t a long walk to the waiting room and as I turned the corner to walk in, I was immediately met by our parents. “Are the babies here?” “How’s Bridge?” “Who do they look like?” “What are their names.” I chuckled. “Give me some space and I’ll tell you.” They backed away and I looked at their anxious faces. We had never told them what we were having so I started with their names. 

“First, at 7:27 Trevor Carson was born.”

“Oh a boy!!” Mom squealed.

“And then at 7:41, William Jefferson was born.” I first looked at Dad and then at Jeff and they both looked shocked.  Since Trevor had my name for his middle name, we wanted our other son to have a combination of our families’ names.

“Bridge is doing great. I mean, she was amazing. As far as who they look like, I’m not sure. They’re still kind of scrunched up.”

“What about hair? Do either of them have hair?”

“Neither of them really have any hair so we'll have to wait a while to find out.”

“Can we see them?” Amanda asked. 

I took our parents back and they visited with the babies and us for a while. They soon left though since they saw how tired Bridge was; she kept nodding off while they were in the room.

Several days later we were back home and that’s when the chaos started. Bridge would feed one of the twins and then the other one would want to be fed. Just about the time the second one was done, the whole process started again. I felt absolutely helpless as I watched her struggling. I did what I could; held them when they were awake and not eating, making dinners, doing laundry, trying to do whatever else I thought would help but I always felt like I should be doing more. There were several times that I caught Bridge sleeping in one of the nursery chairs.  One time I tried to pick her up and carry her to bed but she woke up and got upset with me. As my time to go back to work approached I became more and more concerned about leaving. I knew Bridge could handle it, but I felt bad that I was leaving her.

****Bridge****

I jolted awake and looked around. I had fallen asleep again sitting in one of the nursery chairs and one of the babies was crying. Before I could even get out of the chair Carson was quietly, but quickly walking into the room to take care of which ever baby was crying. I was pretty sure it was Trevor since these cries were loud and Wills cries were much quieter. I was proven right when I saw Carson walk up to Trevor’s crib and pick him up.

“Hand him to me and I’ll feed him.” I sleepily told him.

“That’s okay, I’ll hold him for a little bit and see if he calms down first.” I watched as Carson started holding Trevor up and talking to him. “Whose my little man? That’s you, isn’t it? Who’s got his mommy’s fiery personality? You do, don’t you?” I smiled as I watched him continue to hold and talk to Trevor.  

 Soon Will was complaining and I went over to get him. “Bridge, I can get him.” Carson offered but I ignored him. I picked Will up and we both stood there smiling at each other as each of us held one of our sons.

“What if I stay home from work for another week.”

“Carson, you’ve already been off from work for three weeks. You don’t need to take any more time off from work.” I tried to reason with him.

“But I feel awful leaving you here alone with them and I’m going to miss them so much.”

“I know, but you have to go back eventually. We’ll be fine.” I reassured him.

“I want you to promise me that you’ll take naps when you can; and don’t worry about anything else. I can cook dinner when I get home and do anything else that needs to be done.”

“Carson. . .”

“Promise me.”

“I promise.” He smiled and put Trevor back in his crib and then took Will from me and placed him back in his crib.

He walked back over to me and kissed me. After several minutes I stopped him. “You do know that’s what led to the two of them.” I said and motioned towards the twins.

He let out a quiet chuckle. “We did say we wanted a larger family. . .”

I shook my head at him. “Three weeks; they’re three weeks old and you’re already talking about having more? You are crazy!”

“Crazy about you.” He said while stroking my cheek. 

“I don’t care how much you sweet talk me, we are not having another child until these two are at least two or three years old.”

The next several months passed and things started to calm down a little. The twins started mostly sleeping through the night when they were three months old which helped me feel human again. I had started to feel like a walking zombie the first three months. As I started to feel more energized, I started doing more and more housework which Carson complained about at first but once he realized that I was really feeling okay he relented. As each month passed we enjoyed watching the twins first smiles, rolling over, and they had even started to babble a little by the time they reached six months old.

I was at Mom and Dad’s house several days after the twins turned sixth months old when I started getting the first indications that something was wrong.

“Bridge, are you okay? You didn't eat much of your lunch.” Mom asked.

“I’m fine, I’m just not very hungry today.” I partially lied. I wasn’t hungry but what I didn’t tell them was that I didn’t feel hungry because my stomach wasn’t feeling well.

“I hope you’re not coming down with something. You should probably wear a mask around the twins if that happens.” Mom offered.

“I can always ask Carson to bring some home if that happens.” Hoping that would end the conversation. “Hey Mom, do you mind if I run to the store real quick? I have two bottles in the diaper bag in case the boys get hungry. I’d like to pick up a couple of things and it would be so much easier if I went by myself.”

“Do you think I’d say no to watching my grandsons? You go on; we’ll be fine.”

I quickly walked to the SUV and drove to the store. Before the twins were born I had traded in my small convertible for a more family friendly SUV. It had been a God send with having the twins. As I walked into the store I headed straight to the aisle that had the pregnancy tests. The last time I had felt this sick was when I was pregnant with the twins and I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t pregnant. I didn’t think there was any way I could be. I wasn’t taking any birth control but I had heard that it was very unlikely that you could get pregnant while breastfeeding. I walked up to the counter, paid for the test and drove back to Mom and Dad’s. After chit chatting for a little bit the twins and I headed home and I put them down for a nap while I went into our bathroom to take the pregnancy  test. Since I was sure it would be negative I didn’t think I needed to tell Carson about it. I would take it, it would be negative, and he would never know about it.

I leaned against the bathroom wall as I waited hoping and praying that it would be negative. I started doing the math in my head. The twins would be a little over a year old. We would have one year old twins and a newborn. I couldn’t be pregnant, there was just no way.

I looked at the clock and saw that five minutes had passed. I slowly walked over to the counter and picked up the test. I stared at it for several minutes hoping that the result would change but it kept staring right back at me. I was pregnant, again. I slumped down on the floor and started crying. Why now? Why not a year or two down the road? What am I going to do? I barely can handle the twins and were going to add another?!

I heard the bathroom door open and Carson walked in. “Bridge, what are you doing. . .What’s wrong Bridge?!” He knelt down next to me and I handed him the pregnancy test.

He stared at it, blinking for a while before saying anything. “Why didn’t you tell me you thought you were pregnant?”

“I was sure I wasn’t; I was just taking it to be sure.” I started sobbing. He pulled me up and started hugging me.

“Bridge, it will be fine.”

“Fine?! The twins are barely six months old! When this baby’s born they’ll be a little over a year! What am I going to do?! In the next couple of years we’ll have three toddlers running around!”

He kept holding me, trying to calm me down. “Bridge, you’re not in this alone. I’m here, we have our families, we’ll be okay.”

I pulled away from him. “You can try to convince me of that Carson, but it won’t work, not right now. I need time to wrap my head around this.” I walked past him and went into my painting studio. I put on my headphones and started to paint. It was the only thing I could think of to do that I thought might clear my head.

****Carson****

I watched as Bridge walked away; I knew she needed some time to think things through. I needed time to think things through. She was right that having another child so soon after the twins were born was going to be a challenge. We were definitely going to need help but thankfully our families were close by and I knew once they found out that we were expecting another child they would offer to help.

I walked down the hall and heard Bridge in her studio. Painting always made her feel better so I left her alone and went downstairs to fix dinner. I turned on the baby monitor so I could hear if the twins woke up and started fixing dinner. I had just finished when I heard Trevor start crying. I started to walk up the stairs when I heard Bridge’s voice through the monitor.

“Oh come here my little sweet angel.” I froze and kept listening.

“You know, you’re going to be a big brother again. Yes you are.” She said in a cute baby voice. I smiled and continued to walk up the stairs. I quietly entered the nursery and walked up to her. “We’re going to need to fit another crib in here, yes we are.” She was still talking in a baby voice.

I touched her shoulder. “Dinner’s ready, why don’t you take Trev and I’ll get Will.” We carried the twins downstairs, put each of them in a swing and then grabbed dinner.

“Thank you for making dinner.” She said quietly.

“I figured it was the least I could do.” I smiled at her.

We ate most of dinner in silence. I didn’t know if she was ready to talk about having another child so I patiently waited for her to let me know when she was. She finished eating and got up to put her plate in the dishwasher. “Bridge, I can do that.” I tried to stop her before she finished but she kept walking into the kitchen. I heard her open the dishwasher and then close it. That’s when I heard her start crying again. I rushed over and held her.

“I’m sorry, Bridge.”

“What are you apologizing for?”

“I almost feel like this is my fault.”

She looked at me like I was crazy. “Why would this be your fault?”

“Well, I’m the one that’s been hinting at having more before you’re ready and here we are finding out were going to have another just six months after the twins were born. I don’t know, I just feel like this is somehow my fault.”

She shook her head and smiled a little. “You do know it takes two people to make a baby, right?” 

I chuckled. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’ve got that figured out.”

“Well then, stop acting like this is your fault. Are you. . .upset that we’re having another?”

I couldn’t believe she was asking me that. “Of course not. It doesn’t matter to me when we have another child. You know me, the more the merrier.  But I do realize that this is going to be more stressful for both of us then if it had happened a couple years down the road. Are you upset?”

She looked at me for a moment before she answered. “No, I’m not upset; but I am worried. I know we’ll get through it but I’m worried that my time will be spread too thin, that I won’t be able to give each one of them the attention they need. I don’t want them to grow up and be resentful that because they had siblings close in age that they got cheated out of something.”

“I honestly don’t think that’s going to happen, Bridge.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’re afraid of it happening. If you didn’t care, then maybe that might be the case but our children aren’t going to grow up in a home where they feel that they aren’t loved or cared about. I mean, look at our families. I know that besides you and Charlie we weren’t born as close to our siblings as our children will be, but we don’t have small families and we didn’t feel cheated.  I think if anything we’ve both been thankful that we had our brothers and your sister.” She nodded. “I know that if we just love them and are here for them when they need us that they will never feel resentful or cheated.”

She sighed and smiled at me. “When did you become so wise?”

“I’ve always been wise, Beautiful. I mean, I married you so that must prove it.” She laughed and kissed me.

“You are a riot, you know that?” She said and I winked at her.

Several days later we went to the doctor and once again they confirmed that Bridge was pregnant. They did an ultrasound and the doctor told us that she looked to be about 5 weeks pregnant. We didn’t tell or families right away so we could give ourselves time to adjust to the idea of having another child. After Bridge went in for her 12 week ultrasound we decided to let the family know and they were of course thrilled. 

The months passed and the twins got bigger. One month before their first birthday Bridge was scheduled to go in for her 20 week ultrasound where we could possibly find out if we were having a boy or a girl.  It was a cold November day and we had just dropped the twins off at my parents’ house. I drove us to the doctor’s office and the whole way there we talked about which boy and girl names we liked.  By the time we reached the doctor’s office we realized that we had a pretty long list. It was going to be a good thing that at least one of the lists was going to hopefully be taken away if we found out what we were having.

Just like the last time, we waited impatiently in the waiting room. Once we were called back they got Bridge ready for the ultrasound and soon the doctor was coming in. “Well, hello again! How have you been feeling, Bridgette? Has your morning sickness gotten better?”

“Yes, much better!”

“Wonderful. Well, let’s see if this little one will cooperate and let’s see what you’re having.” The lights were dimmed and she put the ultrasound wand over Bridge’s belly and the image came up on the monitor. It amazed me how at just 20 weeks you could see the arms and legs and even with Trevor at 20 weeks, you could see him sucking his thumb.

“Well, let’s measure a couple of bones to make sure we’re measuring at 20 weeks and then we’ll look and see about if it’s a boy or girl.” The doctor used the instrument to measure arm, leg, head bones and made comments along the way. I was half listening since I was too excited about finding out what we were having.

“Okay, let’s have a looksee and see if they want to reveal themselves to us.” She moved the wand down a little further and smiled. “Well, it looks like you’re having another boy.” She said and showed us on the screen.

Bridge and I smiled at each other and she started commenting about how she was going to be way outnumbered by boys now when we heard the doctor. “Huh.” She said. We looked over at her and she was looking at the monitor. She moved the wand to the other side of Bridge’s belly and kept staring at the monitor. “Bridgette, do you mind if I poke at your belly for a minute?” The doctor asked.

“No. . .” Bridge looked at me with a confused and scared expression. The doctor pushed down on Bridge’s belly several times and then went back to the ultrasound machine. She placed the wand back on her belly and started looking hard at the screen.

“Well I’ll be. . .” She said.

“What is it? Is there something wrong?” Bridge asked.

The doctor chuckled. “No, there’s nothing wrong but someone’s been hiding behind her brother. Looks like you’re having twins again. One boy and one girl.”

I heard the last part of what the doctor said right before everything in the room went dark.  The next thing I knew, I was on the floor and the doctor and nurse we’re trying to wake me up.  Once I was sitting back up in the chair the doctor chuckled. “I’ve had dad’s faint during delivery but never during an ultrasound. Are you okay, Carson?”

I looked around at everyone. “Did you really say we were having twins again, and that one of them was a girl?”

The doctor smiled. “I sure did.”

I looked at Bridge and she looked concerned but also amused. “Are you okay?” She asked.

“I’m fine, I guess I was so shocked I blacked out.” I was embarrassed to admit it.

“Well, if you’re sure you’re okay then I’ll give you the ultrasound pictures and we’ll see you back here in three weeks.” She walked out and Bridge and I stared at each other.

“Has anyone in your family ever had two sets of twins?” I asked her.

“Not that I know of; Mom’s never mentioned it.”

“A girl? We’re actually going to have a girl?” I couldn’t believe it. I loved our sons but I had been hoping that at least one of our children would be a girl.

“I guess that means our name list isn’t going to get any smaller.” She joked.

Soon it was December and the twins turned one. We had a small birthday party at our house with just some of our family since Bridge, who was six months pregnant, was starting to feel tired.  By their first birthday it was obvious that Trevor had gotten Bridge’s hair and eyes while Will had gotten my hair and eyes.

The next several months passed slowly and we anxiously counted down the days to Bridge’s due date. Everyone knew we were having twins and that one was a boy and one a girl, but we hadn’t told anyone the names we had picked.  

March 3^rd seemed like it was going to be like any other day. I woke up and went for a run; Bridge got up sometime while I was running and greeted me when I got back from running. I got ready for work and snuck into the nursery to see the boys before I left. After checking on them I came back downstairs to tell Bridge goodbye. As I turned to go into the kitchen I saw Bridge standing there holding her belly.

“Are you okay, Bridge?” 

She turned around and I knew instantly that she wasn’t. “I think I’m in labor.” I stood there stunned for a minute. “Carson, did you hear me? I think I’ve gone into labor.”

“Oh my gosh! I have to call someone to watch the boys. I have to call work. I need to call the hospital. I need to get the overnight bag. I need to get you to the car.” I couldn’t stop rambling.

“Carson! Relax! I’ll call the doctor, you call one of our parents. The contractions aren’t that close yet, we’ll be fine.”

I called my parents and then I called work while Bridge talked to her doctor. While she was on the phone her water broke and the doctor advised us to go to the hospital. My parents arrived and we made our way to the hospital.

It seemed like everything went faster this time. Soon she was pushing and before I knew it our third son was born at 8:32 am. 

“What’s this little guy’s name?” The doctor asked us.

“George Fredrick.” I told her. We had both liked the name George and we thought it would be nice to give him Charlie and Chuck’s middle name.

At 8:48 our daughter was born. “And who do we have here?” The doctor inquired.

“Charlotte Grace.” Bridge told her. We picked Charlotte since it was similar to Charlie and Chuck’s name and we picked Grace since it was Kate’s middle name.

The nurses cleaned the babies up and I looked down at Bridge. “I love you, Gorgeous. Thank you for giving birth to our son and daughter.”

She smiled at me. “Let’s just not do this again for a while. I love them all but if we’re going to have any more, let’s put some more time between them.”

“Deal.” I said and kissed her. “I think we’re going to have our hands full for a while.”

Credits:

Poses:

Mypalsims' - Third Couples Set and Sick Bed

Neelie's -  Sadness

Aeoverse's - Affection

Skylar Arden - Zutara

Jamee's - Labor Poses