Infinity Chapter 133 - Finding Sexes

[itztigress3]

Chapter 133 –  Finding Sexes

POV:  Zac

Word count: 4324

August 15, 2016

  We were slowly making progress with the new album, writing was a bit more erratic and we were not rushing ourselves but really taking time to write this album and make it the best yet. Added, Taylor and Isaac were expanding the beer selection with my input on topics of flavor, but not Emily’s. We needed Casey most of the time now, with doing some demo’s and even laying down full tracks. We were going to the doctor today to see if they could tell us what sex our babies will be, Casey and Robert were gone now, but Emily’s was this afternoon.

“So, Emily looks like a walking zombie..is she ok?” Isaac asked.

“She is physically but she’s just tired. She’s constantly complaining about being hot as hell, which is why we increased her dresses to like ten, she now has one every day of the week. She just refuses to stay at home and she doesn’t want me to call anyone to come watch them for us.”

“Nikki came in earlier this month and sat with her with the kids, it helped I think but Nikki said she just wasn’t acting like she was with the first two pregnancies. More down and not as spunky.”

I laid the drumsticks down, I had noticed too that she hadn’t seemed quite as excited as everyone else. But, I also had a theory on why, I just didn’t want to raise the subject and her get upset though, because I knew that while not planned at all, she wanted more and while we didn’t think we’d ever have twins, we were happy. I just felt like something was wrong.

“Zac?” Taylor asked.

“She mentioned before we found out about the twins that she wasn’t sure if she could handle taking care of three children plus handling the business, she was nervous about it because really we weren’t planning anymore and we’d agreed to wait until Isabella was in school before making the decision if a third was considered. They weren’t expected or planned and she’s a little freaked out. She realized last month when someone called about making a payment arrangement for Back to the Island that she’s due two weeks after we come back, so she’s afraid I won’t be here.”

“Well, honestly that is a chance Zac. She was right on time with Alexander and two weeks late with Isabella, but this is different. Natalie looked up some stuff about twins and she said they are often early. I mean what if she does go into labor while were in Jamaica?” Isaac asked.

I sighed. “I can’t leave her here that close. I know we usually do it then and its planned but I was thinking about changing the dates to a few weeks later.”

“What?” They asked.

“I can’t leave her and go that far away, she’ll be too close and no one will be here if she does go into labor, Casey and Robert
can’t be there because they’re expecting their own! Eliza will be too close and Amanda will have a newborn. I just…I can’t go those days.”

“We always do it in January, the first week. Most of the attendants have planned for those dates and they may not be able to change.” Isaac said.

“You threatened not to go to Disney, if it weren’t for a contract with them you would have stayed with Nikki. She posted on the site that we were expecting and due in January, fans will understand Isaac. Especially if she told them it was twins.”

It prompted a two hour discussion on all the negative and positives of changing the dates to February and either moving Fool’s up and closer to us or canceling. It was a long discussion and we finally took lunch break. I walked up but I found the playroom to be a disaster and I moved Isabella off the shelf, where she was trying to climb and Alexander had blocks everywhere.

“Emily?” I asked.

“I just gave up, I couldn’t run and breathe. I tried to stop her but just moving was a bit hard.”

“Alexander! No. You do not do that!”

He was about to use a marker on the wall and evidently he had already gotten to one part behind the couch. He stopped and I took the markers and put them up higher.

“It’s time to clean up, we need to put away the toys were not playing with.”

“No!” He stated.

Isabella on the other hand began to clean up what she was throwing off the shelf and it took another three minutes to get him too. I was trying not to use force because he needed to learn some responsibility but he was three! I couldn’t expect perfection.

She looked very tired and given that she had all but given up on getting them to do anything she said, clearly said she needed help or she needed to be at home. Her appointment was in two hours so I sent her to the couch to lay down for an hour or so, even if she didn’t sleep she needed to rest.

I really did like when she was pregnant, she constantly said she looked huge but I think the little belly just made her much more attractive. I caught her up with what she was doing and it wasn’t until Casey and Robert came in that she woke up.

“Well?” She asked.

They smiled and handed us sonograms, turns out there twins were going to be a boy and a girl. They were not certain on names though. We didn’t get to spend much time with them because we had to leave and she went to the bathroom beforehand.

“How’s Eliza and Amanda?”

“Both are good, Amanda is showing way more now and Eliza is beginning too. Compared to them, I look six or seven months.”

“Well, you have two beans compared to their one.”

“Yeah. Eliza goes next month to see what they’re having and there little wedding was so sweet. I can’t believe they moved that fast.”

“You know, we could have moved that fast.”

She glanced at me and smiled. “We wouldn’t have had unprotected sex and gotten knocked up.”

“As I recall we often had unprotected sex. The only actual protection was your birth control at the time.”

“I guess that is true, but I think we would have had it not been there.”

I parked in front of the office and looked at her. “Maybe, I mean there were times where there wasn’t much pre-thought to sex.”

She smiled. “I know. I’m just…She moved very quickly and I guess to some degree I don’t want her hurt in the end.”

“She’s a big girl Emily, I am sure she is aware of those things. Come on, let’s find out if we have little me’s or little you or both.”

I went around to help her get out of the truck and then we headed inside, I waited through the normal routine testing, urine and blood samples and the exam portion. Dr. O’Brian came in about 2.

“How are things going?”

“Pretty good, just tired as hell.” Emily said.

“It’s expected, it’s a little more taxing to carry two or more than it is one. Your weight seems to have stabilized.”

“Yeah, I feel like I’m not gaining rapidly.”

“You may a bit later on when they get to needing more.”

Emily didn’t seem to notice it, but I did. The confused doctor look as he looked at the paper in front of him and then he began to flip back. That wasn’t good.

“Have you had any episodes of passing out? Fainting?”

“No. Not explosions, no extreme emotional responses. I’m just tired.”

“Are you still working?”

“Every day, but with them not doing much it’s manageable and I’ve been giving Sean more tasks, like he trained the new employees and I just over saw what he taught them.”

“What is wrong?” I asked.

“Her blood pressure is rising but not majorly, just a few points each month. But if it continues..”

“What can we do to keep that from continuing?”

He looked at us both and I already knew the answer to that question.

“Bed rest obviously, not straining yourself so much, perhaps letting Sean do a whole lot more and you only coming in one or two days.”

“I’m sure we can do something.” I said.

Emily didn’t say anything to that and I was beginning to worry about what was going on inside her head again, she wasn’t as excited, she wasn’t as upbeat. In fact, I felt like she was depressed as hell and not wanting to speak it out.

“So, your just under 20 weeks, we’re going to go ahead and do a anatomy scan and see if we can tell you what sex you’re expecting.”

He patted her knee and then headed out and she got re-dressed, but even that seemed to make her short of breath. It was good that once she was in the sonogram room that it took some time to get the technician back in. Instead of removing the dress for a second time she just covered up and pulled it up.

“We added something new, as I am scanning here you can watch up there. You’ll see everything I do.”

“Wow, that wasn’t available last two.”  I said.

“Yeah, we finally caught up with the times.” She joked.

Emily and I watched amazed as she measured leg bones, heads, showed the spine and it was just odd to see that as she was doing it and marking things but it wasn’t quite the first time.

“Looks like Baby A is a boy, you can see here that it looks like a penis.”

“Are we sure it’s not the umbilical cord?”

“I am pretty sure that is not the umbilical cord.” She smiled.

“Just checking, our last one was a boy until she was born.” I said.

“Ahh, I can understand. It looks like baby A is fine, developing well and strong heartbeat.”

She moved and you could clearly tell there was no difference in the amniotic sac.

“Are they going to be identical?” I asked.

“It looks like it, I don’t see any detection in separate sacs.”

She found baby B sitting on her right side and the same was seen, femurs, spine, strong heartbeat.

“They look quite big…” Emily said.

“Yeah, I was going to say for your weeks they seem to be a bit above average, which means there getting enough nutrients and oxygen, likewise there doesn’t seem to be major differences in their size either.”

This one however was more shy and every time she would try he or she would move, but I leaned over and despite the cold jelly, moved my hand there. It seemed to work.

“Well, looks like baby b is also a boy. Which is not unusual given their identical twins. Most identical are the same sex, rare that we see one of each and in those cases there is a greater chance for problems.”

“But there ok?” Emily asked.

“Yes.”

She printed us some pictures and got things cleaned up. Dr. O’Brian came in before leaving.

“I saw the scan, healthy little boys. They are a bit over average but that’s ok and we’ll keep a check on that. I would like for you to monitor your blood pressure for the next month, it doesn’t have to be four times a day just like once a day.”

“Ok.”

“Just bring those in with you next time unless they are coming back fairly high to begin with. I’m going to have them check for protein levels in the urine but the last check was fine.”

“Anything I should avoid besides stress?”

“Not really, just stress.”

We nodded and he let us leave. Our intention was to head straight back but I sent Casey a message and asked if they were ok, when he indicated they were both fine, I detoured.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m starving, I know you’re hungry too. Casey indicated that they’ve had lunch and Isabella was down for a nap already. You and I can take some time to have a decent lunch.”

“But I have…” I’d looked at her and she’d stopped.

“You have nothing that has to be done today Emily.”

I really wanted Mexican, but the last time we’d had that she’d had horrible heartburn afterwards so I went to Caz’s instead where she could get something not quite so spicy. I intentionally sat us away from everyone else and once we ordered it got quiet.

“We should tell everyone.” She said.

“They’ll all be fine for a bit longer.”

She looked around. “So, this isn’t just because your starving. Why are we here?”

I looked at her. “What’s going on Emily? You gave up earlier today just let them do whatever, you didn’t even call for me or anyone else. You don’t seem happy, in fact your acting very depressed and if that’s the case then maybe you should see Dr. Lints or tell me what’s wrong.”

“Nothing is wrong.”

“I’m calling bullshit on that Emily and the last thing I want to do is upset you but if that’s what it takes to get you to talk to me then I will risk it.”

“You’d risk it? What the hell Zac?”

“I’m worried about you. If you’re not happy then it can affect them too. I can’t help you when I don’t know what’s wrong.”

Our salads arrived and she didn’t say anything as she ate her salad nor did she say another word for the rest of the meal and I really didn’t want to upset her. I didn’t want to risk another violent episode like before or her being put on bed rest for the rest of the pregnancy.

I paid our bill and as we walked out I just assumed she wasn’t going to dignify me with any answer at all and that I’d have to get louder and I didn’t want too.  But she didn’t go to the truck, she instead went toward Guthrie Green, so I just followed. Granted the walk was rather slow and she chose a bench when we got there, I’d noticed that walk had been quite strenuous for her as well. It got quiet as we simple sat and enjoyed the bright sunny day.

“I’m not depressed, if I was I would have already told Dr. Lints. I don’t visit but I do call sometimes.”

“You do?”

“Yes. She’s helped but seeing her is hard right now with being pregnant and having them without the ability to just take you away.”

“If you’re not depressed why are you acting like it?”

“Because I don’t know what to do.”

“About what?”

“Everything? I heard the three of you arguing over the dates for Jamaica. I heard Taylor and Isaac both say it shouldn’t matter to you when I am due because they did things that put them miles away when their wives were expecting too.”

“And like I told them, their wives had plenty of help and they didn’t have to worry about early labor or problems, they all had
singles.”

“I know that but I can’t be there with our current two and the twins. I don’t think I can do anything until there at least six months old and then it really just depends on how they are. I mean, you guys are doing an album and then a tour and I just…”

I pulled her to me and I let her cry, I didn’t care that people gave us weird looks. It was none of their business and I’d tell them that if anyone dared asked. Thankfully, no one did. I didn’t much care about them at the moment, what mattered was how she was feeling. When she’d calmed down I used my shirt to clean her face back off.

“First off I know what they said and as I pointed out to them, they’ve been at home for every single child they’ve had, even when we toured because we made accommodations for them. We moved the dates and we’ve alerted the fans going and even gave a discount for new and repeat users because of the change. BTTI is settled, they’ll still be very young but I am sure we can arrange it. As the doctor said you probably won’t make it until the end of January anyway.”

“I may…I mean really Isabella was two weeks late.”

“Ems, let’s be real here. I doubt you’ll make it until the end of January.”

“Well, I’m going to try to make it to January!”

“We’re also aware that with twins the odds are that you can’t be there and even if you are, you will be more aware of them than
business. We can talk to Taylor and Isaac about our options either one of us can take some tasks or we can give some more to Sean and hire additional people. You don’t have to think that we can’t change things. We can change whatever is needed because I am sure they’ll understand.”

“It’s not even just that, I mean really we’re not ready either.”

I kissed her forehead. “How about we take a weekend in September, we’ll see if Ace and Nathaniel want the kids and we can just get what we need and figure out where we’re putting two more.”

She seemed skeptical about letting them go that far for the weekend. She didn’t voice it, but it was there.

“It’s been over a year Emily. Nothing has happened and they’ve been wanting to take them. They’ve taken Jasmine and Trevor, they’ve taken all of the others but ours. You said that the kids needed to not be kept away because of something stupid. Let them take them for the weekend.”

She took a deep breath. “Ok.”

I kissed her temple. “We should head back, I’ve felt my phone go off.”

“I did too. Not sure I can walk that far.”

I smiled. “Want me to come pick you up?”

“You would?”

“Sure, just wait right here.”

I ran to get the truck because while the idea of the kids being with their Papa’s, I was still a little afraid she’d vanish. But, she was waiting for me and we headed back to the studio. Casey was waiting impatiently.

“You said lunch, damn where did you go? Texas? Kansas? Did you go see Maddi without us?!”

“No, I wanted time to talk with her to see what was going on. She chose Guthrie Green.”

“Ahh, you should have said that dude.”

Taylor and Isaac were there but Emily chose to do a text message which was sent to everyone at once. Simply stating “Two
More Mini-Zac’s! Be afraid, be very afraid!”

I’d wondered why Robert and Casey dissolved into fits of giggles and then I got the same message. I simply rolled my eyes and since Isabella was tugging on my shorts I picked her up.  Her language skills seemed to be slow, but she was talking some with simple words, we weren’t worried and neither was the doctor but we often made sure we talked to her and got her engaged.  Taylor and Isaac came up.

“That text Ems, hilarious. Are they sure there both boys?”

“Yes.”

“I was hoping for girls.” Taylor said.

“I was hoping for a single boy, I got two, so hush.”

I took the opportunity to realize that everyone pertinent to decisions was right here. So, I called a meeting. Confusing my brothers and the two other men in the room. Emily just chose the couch but the rest of us kind of huddled around in the floor, where the kids picked a person and a toy. Isabella seemed to favor Uncle Isaac over Uncle Taylor.

“What’s up?” Taylor asked.

“Well, you know we moved BTTI to a later date and why, but the doctor is concerned about her blood pressure and his
suggestion was to not be here as often. You know she’s out for a while once there here but it may be much sooner than we expected. No guarantee but we need to be prepared.”

They exchanged looks. “By not here do you mean at home or here just not working?” Isaac asked.

“That really depends on her truly, I can’t really say that she can come in or not. The problem is at home no one would be there to help her with the kids, if she’s deemed bed rest then someone will have to stay. It’s not right to ask Casey or Robert, given
that Katrina could need them at any time as well. Aside from your wives, everyone else is pregnant, in school or too young.”

“Zoe isn’t that young Zac.”

“No, but she is still in school and can’t be there all day.”

“So, what are you proposing?” Casey asked.

“Well, we really don’t know. Right now it’s just being very tired and cautious. It means she can be here but Sean might be handling a vast majority of the work and she’ll just be watching them. If Dr. O’Brian puts her on bed rest then either we put a bedroom here for her or I have to stay home. Someone has to watch them.”

“That impacts the album.” Taylor said.

“Yeah, adversely so.”

“Would she have to stay in her bed?” Robert asked.

Emily giggled. “No. Bed rest is like the last thing I want honestly. Last time it was a week and I was bored senseless. I can only handle so much TV.”

“If it comes to that then why not stay at our house? You can have the couch and downstairs, the kids have toys there also and your close to the studio. I’ve been working from home a lot, so I can stay there with you and if needed or if Katrina needs one of us then Zac is close by.”

“That’s a really good idea.” Casey said.

“Again, I don’t want that.” Emily said.

“Call it plan B. Plan a is you don’t need plan b.” Robert said.

She rolled her eyes at him and leaned back, clearly she wasn’t amused by plan a or b.

“Well, I hate to disagree with Emily but he’s right. We can’t do an album with Zac at home and with you there, if needed, then your close if you need him and there is someone there to help watch them.”  Isaac said.

“I’m agreeing and again, that’s if needed. I don’t think with us doing so little that her taking time off would be bad really. Sean is doing a great job and I think that with extra responsibility he’d be fine. That frees you up to just chill and watch them.” Taylor said.

I expected more of a argument really, but I was glad they weren’t arguing as much on this topic, but then again anyone can tell she was exhausted.

“So, are you ok now? You seem a little more upbeat.” Taylor said.

“I’m a worry wart Taylor, just worried about everything.”

“Don’t be, yes we were upset when he said change the dates but after being blessed out by Natalie when I complained to her, I see the point. You can’t be left alone that close and with two children already. Isaac and I have been home for each of ours and
Zac should be too.”  Taylor said.

“Yeah, Nikki wasn’t pleasant with me either. She them presented me with her research on single versus multiple pregnancies and while they resemble a lot there are a lot of differences too. I just didn’t realize how different it was.”

“Believe me, I do.” Emily said.

“Well, you don’t have to worry. We’ve been schooled by our wives and really, neither of us ever considered that even after they are here it’s not like a single.”

“Oh great, thanks for the confidence.” Casey said.

“Hey, you two will be well rested when they arrive! Neither of us will be.” I said.

“True.”

We cleared a few more plans before calling it a day and heading home. I let her rest with them while I fixed dinner and then while I cleaned up after dinner. Once the wild ones were bathed and in bed we got to lay down too. Laying down she was much more evident in the baby bump, it helped that her gowns would just outline.

“I think while I’m with Amanda tomorrow I’m going to get some more pants.”

“Why? It’s hot as hell.”

“Because it’ll start cooling off in October, I really don’t have anything that fits. I’ll need winter clothes.”

“True. Well, grab some while you’re out.”

“I think we’re taking the wild ones.”

“Why not take her and leave Alexander with me? It won’t be as hard on you two.”

“Because we’re going tomorrow and you’ll be recording. I doubt Robert would mind watching them but really, feel like we use him for a personal babysitter.”

“Oh…Well, in that case good luck? And um, Robert doesn’t mind watching them. He said it was practice.”

“Oh, come on, you know Alexander would do so much better at the drums. Yeah, I know.”

“No lie, in a few years he may be the one doing it.”

She curled up beside me and got comfortable. “Or he’ll be into heavy metal..”

“That is a very scary thought..”

The image of my wild child being in a heavy metal band wasn’t that farfetched, but still let’s hope he didn’t decide that until he was on his own, I’m not sure our nerves could handle that. I went to say something and found Emily was sound asleep. I kissed her forehead and decided sleep was important to me as well.