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 21st 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 3rd 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:
