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Trinity
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I had predicted the responses that we would be getting. I knew that we would have everyone calling and texting about it. There were multiple people asking if they could come for a visit as soon as we got home. And some of them even wanted to come to the hospital to meet the four little ones.
Mom, Dad, Lila, Grandfather, Reagan, Rika and Talia were already on their way here to meet the babies. That was something that I was excited about. I wanted to see how the kids reacted to their little siblings. And I wanted to see how adorable the grandparents acted when they each got to hold a baby at the same time without having to wait their turn.
The constant stream of calls and messages had slowed down to a little trickle by the time our first set of visitors arrived. I had known they were coming and was therefore expecting them, but I didn't think that they would be so loud about it.
It seemed to me that the moment that they all got off of the elevator, they were celebrating. This was a trip they had all made several times already, visiting me over the last week in the hospital. But today was the first time that they were cheering when the elevator doors opened up.
.....
“We have four babies! Four babies! We're on our way to see the four babies!” It sounded to me like Dad and Grandfather both were singing that little song. At the same time, Reagan, Rika and Talia were all singing their own songs.
“Mommy came to the hospital without me, and said there were going to be one baby, two babies, three. Now we come to see her once more and we find out that there were four.” I have no doubt that it was Reagan who made that little rhyme of theirs up. He loved music so much.
“Nona and Lola coming to the babies. Time to see the lovely little babies. Trinity came here expecting three, now she surprised you and me. She had four. Talk about a surprise galore.” Yeah, they were all singing and I thought it was the cutest thing ever.
As I listened to the songs that were being sung, I turned to look at Reece as I remembered his impromptu song last night.
“I guess everyone likes to sing at random times, huh?” I laughed at the idea of it all. I couldn't believe that they were all singing so happily, and so loudly, as they walked toward my room. And as I thought that, I heard the nurses calling out to them.
“Welcome back to you all, Eve and Lila, you have such wonderful voices, Wesley and Samuel, you are off key and out of sync. Rika, Reagan and Talia, your song is so cute, did you make it up yourselves.” That was hilarious. She was being savage toward my Dad and Grandfather.
“My brother wrote it.” Talia called out happily.
“That is nice.” The nurse, who sounded like one of the usuals that was in here, responded to them. “Now, all of you, I know you are excited and happy, the whole ward was excited about the surprise last night, but I would prefer it if you all were a little more respectful of the other patients. Perhaps you can all wait to start singing until you are in the room, especially you two.”
“Hey, that wasn't nice.” I heard Dad say as he laughed, in fact they all laughed, including the nurse.
“We will keep it down. I am sorry for the interruption.” Mom apologized and they all started to walk again, based on the sound of the footsteps.
Being here in the hospital, I tend to block out the sound of the people moving around me. I can't be bothered so frequently by the sound of them all walking around me, it would drive both me and Reece insane if we couldn't choose when to hear better like that and when not to.
A few moments later, the door to my room opened up and three little bodies hurried in.
“Mommy!”
“Mom!”
“Momma!” All three of them were running at me, but they also knew to keep their voices down so that they didn't wake the babies.
“My babies! I love you! I missed you so much!”
“You just saw us last night, Momma.” Reagan smiled at me in embarrassment when I squeezed him tightly. I didn't like that he was already getting embarrassed by me.
“I know, but it feels like it's been so long. I missed you all more than you know. So much has happened since you were here yesterday, so it just makes sense that I would miss you.” I pulled the three of them in and hugged them tightly.
“I missed you too, Mommy.” Talia, the sweet little angel that she was, squeezed me tightly.
“We all did, Mom.” Rika buried her face in my neck as she spoke.
“Didn't you miss me?” Reece pretended to pout about them ignoring him.
“Who are you again?” Rika's joke was savage and made me laugh so loud that the babies instantly woke up.
“Oopsies.” I can't believe that I had woken them. I started to get up from the bed so that I could get them, but Mom put her hand on my shoulder.
“You just stay put, Trinity. We will get them for you. Why do you think we're here? Huh? You and Reece rest with Reagan, Rika and Talia. It's time for the grandparents to handle things.” Aside from my mom's determined words and love filled eyes, I saw that the others were nodding in agreement as they wore similar expressions on their faces.
“Thank you, Mom.” I grinned at her while the kids climbed onto the bed.
“I will let them hold the babies for now, but soon it is my turn.” Reagan was sliding up next to me with his eyes glued to my mom's back as she leaned over the fourth bassinet. She was going to hold Zaley first.
“Not just you, Reagan. I want to hold them too.” Rika snapped at him.
“Don't forget me.” Talia glared at the two of them.
“OK, enough fighting. You will all hold them soon enough.” Reece called out to them as he sat by my feet. “Right now you need to pay attention to your mother. And then you can all hold the babies. We will even take pictures of you with them all.”
“Yeah, that sounds good to me.” Reagan, trying to be mature and grown up like his daddy, agreed instantly and acted like he had been the voice of wisdom all along.
I talked with all three of them while the others took turns holding the babies. Obviously, there hadn't been that much that had happened since I saw them last night. They slept most of that time away. However, they did talk excitedly about the babies. They told me that they were going to work hard not to mix the boys up and that they were so happy to have their little sister as well. They were surprised and Talia most of all was happy that she was here. Knowing what she had known about it all, she must have been so relieved that she was born alive.
“Look at you, so cute. All of you are so adorable. And there is almost enough of you to form a baseball team. Mommy and Daddy just need a couple more babies and we can have our own baseball team. In a few years we can all play together.” I could tell that Dad was joking, but it kind of made my heart freeze over for a moment.
“I think we are going to be putting a hold on the baby factory for a while Dad. You might not get that baseball team for a long time.”
“That's OK. We're immortal. I can wait a century or so. Then they can all be on the Whitton Wolves. See, I already have a team name ready for us.” He was not looking at me, instead he was looking into Zayden's face.
“Shouldn't that be the Gray Wolves.” Reece countered as he went to look over my dad's shoulder. “I mean, they're all Grays after all.”
“The Whitton's Gray Wolves. There you go. That is perfect.” Dad was not letting it go, and what followed was a long discussion about possible team names and formations. They talked about it for a long time, so long that I just ignored them.
“Do you three want to hold the babies now?” I asked the kids and saw excitement fill their eyes. After they all nodded vigorously, I had them get ready.
Mom, Lila, Dad and Grandfather all came over with the babies and passed them to Reagan, Rika Talia, and me. I held Zaley while helping Talia make sure that she was holding Zachary properly. After that, we all turned to face Reece who was ready to take a picture with his phone.
“Get your butt over there.” Grandfather said as he took his phone from him. “This can't be a family photo without you in it.” With that, Reece squeezed onto the bed and wrapped his arm around me while my grandfather took a picture of us all.
The nine of us talked and admired the babies while they slept in our arms. I know that they all wanted to stay all day long, but they didn't really have the time. Not to mention, I knew that there were other people wanting to come and visit us. I didn't know if they would be here today or sometime this week. The babies and I were going to be here for about a week since they were so little. And I was not leaving them at all.
There were a lot of pictures taken, lots of hugs given, and of course, lots of love given. It was a good start to our day.
