Chapter 19 - Tyler

“Hey, Mom,” I said into the phone. “We were wondering if Molly was okay to take a bath after her water breaks?”

“Her water broke?! That means it”s time! Oh, honey, I’m so excited to be a Gigi!”

“I know, Mom! But first, can she take a bath?”

“Oh, yes! A bath or shower is totally fine. But just use plain water. No bubble baths or salts. Just NO sexual intercourse, Tyler! That could cause infection!”

“Ah! Sexual intercourse, really?!” I cried. “I wasn’t planning on that right now.”

“Good,” Mom said. “Now, if we start driving, we can be there in six hours.”

“Five hours if I drive!” I heard Dad say. “Our bags are in the car ready to go.”

“Sounds great! But drive carefully!” I said and hung up the phone. I was relieved they were on their way. “Mom says you can take a bath or shower,” I told Molly as I entered the motel bathroom.

“Ok. That’s good!” Molly said as she was undressing herself and looked down at the wet floor. “I’m so sorry about the mess.”

“It’s part of giving birth, so no need to be sorry,” I told her as I ran the bath water to the temperature I knew she liked. I then helped her climb in the tub and began washing her back.

“Will you promise me something?” Molly asked me. I realized that she had been very quiet since she woke up from her nap and discovered her water had broken.

“Anything,” I said with sincerity.

“Please, don’t eat pizza in front of me while I’m in labor.”

That was not what I was expecting at all. I moved myself over a little so I could look into her face. “Where did that come from?”

“I just had the best dream of my life, except for the fact that you were eating the best-looking pizza I have ever seen. And, of course, it was in front of me while I was pushing.”

I had to laugh and said, “I promise I will not eat any pizza while you are in labor! After you have our babies, I will take you out to your favorite pizza place in Springville, and you can have all the pizza you want.”

Molly sighed and told me thank you. She still had a far-off look in her eyes, so I asked her to tell me more about this dream. While I washed her, she told me all about how her parents and grandparents were there for the birth of our baby. She also said Dominic and my parents were there, too.

“Did you get to introduce Dom to his biological parents?” I asked.

Molly shook her head. “No. It was like they never gave him up for adoption. They already knew him. They told him how proud they were of him and how he was a wonderful big brother. They all told me how much they loved me, too. It was amazing. I was about to tell my Papaw and everyone else our son’s name when you woke me up.”

“So, we had a boy, huh? What was the other baby?”

“I don’t know,” Molly said with a tilt of her head. “We only had one in my dream.”

“Not twins? That’s really weird, isn’t it?”

“Huh,” Molly said and shrugged as she looked at me. “I didn’t even think about that part of the dream. I wonder what that means?”

“Who knows?” I said as I dried off my hands. “Let’s look it up!” I got up, pulled out my phone, and typed it in the search box.

The dream of giving birth to one baby boy evokes feelings of joy, innocence, and new beginnings.

“Interesting,” Molly said.

“Hmmmm. Well, the boy one does work with what is happening to us today. We will have joy when we see our babies. We are bringing innocent babies into the world, and it is definitely a new beginning.”

“I agree with all that totally,” I said and then noticed Molly tense in the water. She closed her eyes, put her hands on her stomach, and tried not to show she was in pain, but I could tell she was. “How far apart are the contractions, sweetheart?”

“I’m not exactly sure. Maybe every 6 or 7 minutes? Make a note of what time it is.”

“I already did,” I told her as I looked down at my phone. “Let me help you get up, and we’ll get you dressed and head to the hospital.”

“I know you called your mom, but do we need to call the others?” Molly asked as I helped her get out of the bathtub.

“Nope, Mom said she would start calling everyone.”

“Of course, she will.”

I wrapped a towel around her and laughed when it wouldn’t go all the way around her. I had no idea how her stomach got to be so big.

“We should take one last belly picture,” I said as I handed her the clothes she had picked out to wear to the hospital. She was going to wear her favorite maternity pajama pants. Her t-shirt said “Napping for THREE” and had two pairs of footprints on her stomach.

“Cooper said he got you a special shirt.”

“He did,” I said with a laugh. I took off the t-shirt I had worn during my morning run. I grabbed the shirt Cooper had given me just last week. Molly began to laugh and then doubled over in pain while she was laughing.

“Ok, so that was a little more than five minutes apart. We need to get to the hospital.”

“I do love that shirt,” my wife said and read out loud: “Be nice to me. My wife is pregnant with twins.”

I grabbed the hospital bag to take it out to her car while Molly slipped on her flip flops since it was hard for her to put on regular shoes by herself. Luckily, it was a little warm for October in the midwest. When I came back to the door, I helped her walk to the car. The closest hospital was in Springville, so we had a chance to call her doctor and let her know we were on our way. Her doctor advised Molly to only have water or ice chips in case they would have to perform a Cesarean section.

“You better not let Rob deliver this baby,” Molly said after she hung up the phone with Dr. Watkins.

“Why would Rob deliver our baby? He’s a bone doctor.”

“The dream,” Molly explained with a giggle.

“What did you eat before the dream?” I asked with a laugh.

“Popcorn,” my wife said slowly.

“With?”

“I may have drizzled honey, strawberry sauce, and chocolate sauce over the popcorn.”

“That sounds disgusting and messy as hell. Who helped you make that while I was at the gym with Cooper and Hayden?”

“Camden, of course.”

“Oh my gosh. What did Penelope say?”

“That I was cleaning up any mess and that her kids couldn’t try it because it would be too messy.”

“You and these pregnancy cravings. I have to say I won’t miss them.”

Molly just laughed as I pulled up to the front entrance of the hospital. I parked the car and ran around the front to get the door for her. A young nurse, about the same age as us, with brown hair in a bun on the top of her head, was waiting at the entrance with a wheelchair, and it was a good thing because Molly could hardly walk with the contractions every few minutes.

“Hi, I’m Olivia, and I’ll be one of your nurses for the day shift,” she introduced herself. “Dad, if you want to park the car, I’ll be wheeling her up to labor and delivery room 407. It’s on the fourth floor, and you’ll turn to the right and just press the doorbell. One of my co-workers will check you in. Make sure you have your ID with you.”

I gave her a nod and kissed Molly on her temple. “I’ll be back soon.”

“Don’t forget the bag and my pillow,” Molly reminded me.

“I got it, love.”

As they were walking away, I heard Olivia say, “Um, Molly, did you realize you”re wearing two different colored flip flops?” I probably should have noticed that since she couldn’t see her feet anymore. Oops! I was sure that would be part of her labor and delivery story forever now.

I parked the car and headed up to the room carrying the items she asked for. As soon as I got to the nurses station, I realized I left my wallet in the car. The nurse at the nurse’s station just shook her head at me and said she would take Molly her bag and pillow. I liked that they were cautious about everyone who came to the labor and delivery floor, so I didn’tmind going back down to get it.

When I finally got back up to the room, Molly was already in the bed in a hospital gown, and an IV was already attached to her left arm.

“Livie got the IV in on the first try!” Molly exclaimed.

“Wow. That’s impressive!” My wife was known for not having the best veins, and whenever they had to draw blood, it usually took several attempts by several different nurses. “Livie, huh? You’re on a nickname basis already?”

The nurse just laughed and gave a shrug. “I guess so. Molls and I are now social media friends.”

“Of course, you are,” I said with a shake of my head.

“So the doctor will be in shortly to check you and see where we are at.” She turned to me and said, “Right now, the IV is just giving some antibiotics and hydrating her since her water most likely broke. The doctor will check to confirm that, too.”

“Thanks,” Molly told her.

I sat on the edge of Molly’s bed and took her right hand. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I’m ready to have a baby! They are almost 36 weeks, so I hope they should be okay. What date is today?”

“It’s October 16th,” I told her.

“It sounds like a good date to have our babies.”

I squeezed her hand as my phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out and saw a message from Ivan.

Ivan: I heard Molly went into labor. Good luck! Camila says to just do what nurses say. Wish I was there, Ty. You’ll be a great dad!

“See, I told you the phone chain would go around quickly.” I showed Molly the text, and she gave me a huge grin.

Dr. Watkins came in about half an hour later and confirmed that Molly’s water had broken, and she was already 3 centimeters dilated and fully effaced. I wasn’t sure what all that meant, but the doctor said we would be having babies today or tomorrow at the latest.

“So, just relax and practice your breathing, and we’ll keep monitoring you.”

“What about an epidural?” Molly asked.

“I want to wait until you are at least 5 centimeters dilated before we do the epidural. If that is something you think you’ll want, I will let the anesthesiologist know.”

“I’m all about it, if possible.”

About an hour after the doctor left, Penelope, Dominic, and Emma came to visit. They were excited that the babies were officially on their way. Pen said that Camden and Peyton were both mad at her because she wouldn’t let them come but were excited to meet the babies soon.

“So, I have some news, but I don’t want to steal your moment, guys,” Dominic said.

“We’ve got some time, and I want to hear what your news is!” my wife exclaimed.

“Well, I signed with Silver Line Athletes last night,” he paused with a smile and then looked at me. “I have the paperwork in my car for you to sign if you still want to be my first client.”

“Hell, yeah, I’d love to be your first client!” I said and stood up to give him a hug.

“I’m so proud of you!” Molly said with a huge grin and then groaned as a contraction hit. I looked at the monitor to see that, based on the wavelengths on the screen, it was a big one. I walked back over to Molly and rubbed her back.

“Are you okay?” Dominic asked, suddenly pale.

“She’s fine. Just a labor contraction,” I assured him as I let her squeeze my hand.

“I’m fine, Dom,” Molly said as her contraction subsided. “Go get that paperwork. I want my husband to be my brother’s first client!”

Dominic nodded but still looked worried about his sister. At her insistence, he went to his car.

“So, I know we don’t know the genders, but do we have any names planned?” Emma asked from her seat on the couch under the hospital room window.

“Well, if we have one girl Hazel will be her name, without a doubt.”

“I love that name! You don’t hear it too often,” Emma said to Molly. “And a boy”s name?”

“For a boy, I want to use my mom’s maiden name, Sawyer.”

I added, “My baseball coach in high school was Coach Hudson, so I want to use Hudson if we have two boys.”

“Hudson and Sawyer are adorable together!” Penelope said. “What if it’s two girls?”

Molly and I looked at each other and shrugged.

“I am like 80% sure baby B is a boy. It’s always kicked harder on my right side. We never even considered any other girl names.”

“Well, you have time now,” Olivia said as she entered the room with her tablet in hand. She began looking at the monitors and making notes. “You are more than welcome to use this white board over here to write down name ideas.”

“Emma and Pen, this is my new friend and our nurse, Olivia. Livie, these are two of my best friends.”

“Nice to meet you, guys!” Olivia said with a sweet smile.

Emma jumped up and got the dry erase marker from its holder. She wrote down the names Hudson and Sawyer in one column and put Hazel in another column.

Molly grabbed her phone and was typing in something in her search bar. “What are you looking up?” I asked her.

“Baby girl names that go with Hazel,” Molly said with a shrug. “I figure we can look at a list of names and see if there are any that jump out at us.”

“We might as well find a few other boy names, too, just to see what else we might like,” I suggested.

“Ok, what’s popping out to you, Molls?” Pen asked.

“Sophia is cute,” Molly said. “We could call her Sophie. How cute is Sophie Stone?”

“That is cute!” Emma said as she added it to the girl column.

“Let’s see this list,” Pen said as she walked over to Molly and peeked at the phone. “Oh! Penelope is on the list as a cute name to go with Hazel!”

I rolled my eyes but chuckled at the same time. “We’re not using any friends” names. Sorry.”

“Violet is cute!” Molly said, “I also really like Darcy.”

“There really are a lot of adorable girl names!” Emma said as she wrote down both of the names. “This will be a hard decision.”

“Oh! And Charlotte. We could call her Charley!”

“Harper, Hannah, and Hayley are cute,” Olivia said as she looked at the list while she also watched Molly’s monitor. “Not sure if you want to do all ‘H’ names with Hazel and Hudson both at the top of the list.”

“I’d rather not give them names with the same letter or rhyming,” Tyler said. “I was really glad that all three of us have different names that start with different letters. Nothing against people who name their multiples with similar names, but I’d rather not. Did you know Mom almost named us Caden, Jaden, and Aiden?”

“I didn’t know that! Who would you have been?” my wife asked.

“I think probably Jaden since they did the alphabetical order for us now. Carter, Landon, and then me.”

“I totally agree with you and want our babies to have their own identity,” Molly said. “And you definitely are a Tyler and not a Jaden!”

“I’m glad Dad talked Mom out of the matching names.”

“So, if they are a boy and a girl, do you think you’ll use Hazel and Sawyer then?” Emma asked as she looked at the names.

“Yes, unless another boy”s name jumps out at us,” I said as Emma put a star next to Hazel and Sawyer”s names.

“I’ve seen a lot of crazy names for multiples over the years,” Olivia said with a laugh. “I like that you’re not going to do anything like twins born last week named Madeline and Madelyn. Talk about confusion when they get older!”

“Hazel and Maya,” Emma suggested as she was also looking at her phone for ideas. “Or Hazel and Evelyn?”

“Not a fan of either of those,” Molly said with a shake of her head. “Nothing against the names, just not for me.”

“How about Hazel and Lucy or Hazel and Willow?” Pen asked.

“Oh, I like both of those!”

“I really like Willow,” I said as Emma wrote down those names.

“Willow is my sister’s name,” Cooper said as he entered the room with Hayden and Dominic right behind him. I was glad to see Coop and Hayden had both showered and changed after going to the gym together. “Darcy is also a sister of mine.” He pointed at the names on the board.

“Damn, man, you have too many siblings!” Penelope said.

Cooper nodded in agreement and then walked over to Molly and gave her a hug.

“Ok, so erase any family’s siblings” names,” Molly said.

“Family?” Cooper asked with Molly still in his arms.

“You’re stuck with us for life, so you’re family!”

“I love you, Shorty!” Cooper said with a huge grin on his face.

We took a break from the names to read over the contracts from Dominic, and soon all three of us signed to have Dominic as our agent. Molly insisted that I sign first, and we all just laughed.

“Wait a minute,” Molly said suddenly to Dominic after I signed the paperwork. “Does this mean you won’t be playing anymore?”

“Yeah, but I’m okay with it. I’m excited about this next chapter.”

“Okay, as long as you’re alright with it.”

“By the way, I think Charlotte is my favorite name on the board,” Dominic said.

“Quinn is a cute girl’s name,” Hayden added as he took a seat on the small couch under the window and looked back at the white board.

“Isn’t that your ex-girlfriend”s name?” Cooper asked.

Hayden just shrugged and said that it was still a cute name. I told him I liked it, but we wouldn’t be using any ex’s names for the babies.

Olivia just shook her head and said she’d be back soon to do another check.

We added the names Owen, Emmett, and Milo to the list of boy names we liked. As Emma wrote the names on the list, I looked over and noticed that Molly’s eyes were getting heavy and starting to close.

“Hey, guys, we really appreciate you coming, but I think Molly needs some rest. If you want to go home, we can call you when things progress more or once the babies are here.”

“And miss the announcement? No way in hell,” Cooper said.

“Yeah, we’re here for the long haul,” Dominic added.

“Thanks, guys,” my very tired wife said. “I love you all.”

“Let”s go hang out in the waiting room. Emma, do you have that card game with you?” Penelope asked.

Emma laughed. ”Cards Against Humanity is in my car. I can go get it!”