Quinones #YOLO

  It was 9 in the evening before I went into labor. The contractions were sharp, precise, and rather excruciating. Yea, I ignore the pain tearing through my body, and slowly trudge my way to wake up Marcello.

"Baby wake up," He is such a heavy sleeper. OW! Contraction! Deep breaths; 4, 3, 2, 1.., "Marcello wake up!." I lean over and shake him with my weak arms. His eyes flew open, and saw me hunched over, my arms crisscrossed over my stomach, as I doubled over with every contraction.

"Oh god, Addie what is wrong?!" Marcello sits straight up, and before I could respond he has me laying down, and is hovered over me, with his hands over my stomach. "Is it time? Oh, my bendito*...." Marcello gabs my hand and sits at my bedside. "Do you want to go to the hospital?' H asks breathlessly. I nod a brief nod, and like a bullet he picks me up, carries me to the car, and heads for the interstate. I wince. The pain is so extreme that It is knocking the wind out of me. I feel like I can't breathe. The contractions are growing more and more excruciating, and each time the baby moves with the contraction, I scream. It kills Marcello to see me in this much pain, I know. I do not want to worry him, but time is going fast and I am losing energy.
Then suddenly, I feel something. The baby is moving downward, away from the Uterus and towards the cevical ending. The amount of pain that is overlapping each painwave is exruciating. It is the most painful thing a person could ever feel. I want to scream like hell. I want the pain to subside. The baby stops moving, and I know it is about time to push. I have a newfound urge to push, but I retain it. I fight it away, and out of my system. I can not push until the doctor says it is safe to do so.

" Baby, step on it!!" I yell, he has hold of my hand.
"Why, what... Baby I'm already going 7 miles over the limit. Ah, bullcrap. A cop is behind us, flashing his lights.". Marcello sighs, but obediently pulls over.
Oh no, Lord please help us out of this tiff. The cop arrives at the window. I expect to hear him say "Get out of the car, hands on the roof" so on and so forth. However, he does not say that.
" Uhh-um, you do know you were speeding, right?" The policeman states, in a weary but concerned voice. But I know he is not concerned about him speeding, " Um, nevermind. Just um, be a bit slower. Traffics' heavy, " The man pauses, his nametag reads Markus. " Is she in labor?" Markus asks Marcello.
" Yeah, thats' why we are speeding. I did not do it intentionally, officer. " Marcello replies. " We are headed to the hospital right now."
The officer just nods his head, and makes a slight hand gesture toward the road.
" Please, carry on. Be safe, wear your seatbelt, which I see both of you have already done..," He stops speaking for a brief moment, " Go ahead and I'm letting you off the hook, this is something to speed over. Just please be careful. Do you want me to notify the hospital that you are coming?"

"Yes that would be wonderful, please do. I'm in alot of pain." I cry, trying not to screen. I copuld have sworn I saw Marcello's heart break at the sound of my voice. The cop nods and returns to his vehicle. I can see him through our rearview, he is speed talking to someone on the phone. About 2 minutes pass, and he returns to our car.
" The hospital knows you're on the way. Heres' my card," Markus pauses, " Call me if you ever need me." Marcello and I thank him. Marcello and Markus shake hands. The officer comes to my side of the car and gives me a soft pat on the back. "Congratulations."
I tell him thank you, and Markus and Marcello shake hands one last time. Then, he puts the car back in drive, and heads back for the hospital.

Minutes later, we arrive. He hurries to carry me out of the car and through the front doors. The emergency staff immediatley asks "Are you the ones that were called in by Officer Markus?". We reply "Yes". The staff spoeaks no more words. Someone instantly rolls out a hospital bed, and Marcello lays me on it. Another person puts a pillow up under my head.
It takes 5 minutes for them to get me into a L&D room. After I am in one, one nurse asks if I want an epidural.
'hELL FREAKING YES!!!!!" I scream. "Make this pain stop!" I hate to hollar, but the pain is growing worse by the second and I can't breathe because of the severity of it.
The nurse is startled bu the screech, but hurries off to find the doctor. It took literally 10 seconds before the doctor came in, all to my delight and relief. They have me sit up, and have Marcello sit in front of me.
" This won't hurt, we have numbing cream to give you. Afterwards, you will feel a little pressure in one or both legs. That is normal." The doctor finishes speaking. I sign the approval papers, and Marcello holds my two hands in his. He whispers I love you. I feel the needle go into my skin, but the sensation of it is not pain. It is simply pressure. When the needle is finally removed from my skin, I am allowed to lay back down.

The doctor tells me I am at the point where I can push. I look over at Marcello, who is near tears and has a smile on his face. He leans over and kisses my forehead. " Do you want to videotape it, like we earlier discussed?" I suddenly change my mind. "No, I want you right here next to me". Although I'm no longer in pain, I still want him to be there holding my hand. He says nothing, instead just sits on the bedisde and holds my hand. The doctor informs that I have to push for 3 seconds, every 2 minutes. I nod, and push.

I can not remember how long I push. I have to quite a bit tho, because the baby is stubborn and obviously does not like to move. Marcello keeps rubbing my arms and hands, speaking encouraging words in my ear. I allow his motivation to overtake me, as I push right on through...
Until I hear my baby girl cry for the first time.

"Aww...," I hear one of the nurses say. "She's beautiful." After she is cleaned off, she is immediatley put on my chest, I hold her close, look into my baby girl's eyes.
"Oh, well..," The doctor stops, "Looks like little one there has a sister!".
What?
"Oh..., " I am so happy, more happy then ever. I cry tears, a huge smile plastered on my face. I am, instructed to push one last time. I do. After a few seconds, I hear another sweet baby crying. The previous routine is repeated. She is cleaned off, then given to me, placed right next to her twin that I didn't even know existed. I look up at Macello, he is crying... alot, actually. He kneels down next to my beside, kisses me gently, and kisses both his daughters cheeks. One of them laughs a little, smiling up at their daddy, who is also smiling and cooing.
I carefully cradle one of the girls in my arms and place her in his. "Goodness, you sure look alot like your mama." He cooes to his little girl. " You got her eyes, her hair, her nose." He looks at me, smiling.
" Veronica? " I question him.
" Veronica." He answers.
"Victoria?" I ask him, gesturing to the other baby girl sleeping on my chest. His eyes light up.
"Victoria." He confirms.
"Veronica.... Faith?" I ask him, we had never before discussed middle names.
"Beautiful," He replies, "Victoria Christine?", He asks me.
"Lovely." I confirmed with a nod and a smile. I pat the spot next to me. Marcello lays beside me. We have become parents. I have become a mother, and he has become a daddy. And he is quite proud. He is lost in Victoria and Veronica's eyes.
"They look just like you, baby." He tells me, following a carressed cheek and a small kiss. "They have their mother's beauty."
I simply chuckle. I see alot of Marcello in both of them. " They have your looks too, baby. They have your skin, your lips, your cheekbones, your eyes.." I trail off when he kisses me again.

" Baby, I love you". We both say in unison
_________________________________________________________________bendito*- Poor baby in Spanish________________________________________
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Chapter 2: The Coming Home

    I was in the hospitaL for over 3 weeks after I gave birth to my 2 daughters, Victoria and Veronica. After the birth, the ob-gyn told me she had seen what had looked like an infection in my cervix. Of course, both the girls had to be checked over for any kind of infection. Veronica had a small ear infection, but she was otherwise healthy. They cleared up the infection quickly with antibiotics, and it was gone within a day.

  Victoria had a perfect bill of health. Absolutely no illness or disease, not a single scratch, bruise, or blemish. She was flawless. But so was Veronica. They were Marcello's babies, after all. Of course, they were stunningly beautiful.
  Marcello woke me up around 11 in the morning on december 17th, and told me we would be able to go home with the twins that evening. Man, was I excited.! I was so sick of the dull gray hospital. The only color I really ghot to see were the ones on Marcello's clothes and the pink blankets wrapped around our daughters.
' Our daughters'. Oh, How he loved to say that. We had been trying for so long, for over a period of 3 months, and we were finally blessed with our little girls. Words can not possibly explain the amount of enthusiasm we now had grasps on. We were so happy.. but now we wanted another one, and it wasn't even 6 months later when we found out I was pregnant.,. again!

Wow, the joy I couldn't retain. This time it was a boy, you should have seen the grin on Marcello's face. He'd always wanted a son, and so had I for that matter.
It didn't take long to come up with a name for our first son: Marcello Vincent Quinones Jr. Yeah, call it cliche, call it whatever, but we both loved him like no oe else.