Don't call me Princess!

Chapter 5

Bethany POV

Theo helped me walk to the room where our babies were, and we sat staring at those little bundles under the light, which kept them warm. They had little bonnets on and something that covered their eyes. It was so good to see them at last. They looked so tiny but did not feel that small when they were beside me. I counted the fingers on the hands that I could see and smiled at their sleeping forms; the nurse confirmed that the children were doing well and expected to lose a bit of weight before they started to gain.

Each child, to me, had something slightly different that told me who was who; I looked forward to watching them grow, and two sets of identical twins are going to be fun. Should I dress them the same to confuse others, or would that make them hate each other later for being made the same? I will have to think about that one and maybe have times when they are the same and times to make sure they look different so that they can have their own identities.

I had a little ribbon placed where their name charts were so the person would know their name and could talk to them using it.

Their names are: firstborn was a boy, Matteo; the second was a boy, Maverick; the third a girl, Zoey; and the last was Zena.

The nurses made a fuss as they pinned the names on the cribs. My brother Thomas had come over earlier and brought two pink and two blue teddy bears for the babies. They are in my room, and the nurses have said not to put them in the cribs yet. Thomas was okay with that and said he loved the names. Judy did not come as their little one was getting teeth and was grizzly.

I understood when he said that Nate would have come, but he seemed to want to stay and help Judy with the mini Bob. But Thomas thinks it is more that he has gained an aversion to hospitals since his stay in one. I am not that fond of being in a hospital; it is okay to be a doctor but not as a patient. I have some nasty memories, too, and I cannot fault Nate for avoiding hospitals if he can.

I can go home in a couple of days, but our babies will stay a little longer. I have agreed with Pam that we come and go together; that way, we are not using two vehicles. Theo brought me a seven-seat SUV that was fitted with bulletproof windows and a roll cage like Dad's car. Theo and Scott talked and do not believe we are out of danger. With Pam being a royal and by marriage, so am I in our family, he wants to make sure every precaution has been done, and a tracking device is on the vehicle, not because he wants to keep tabs on me, but because if I am highjacked, he can locate us. I have no issue with him doing that because I made him do the same with his car; he could not win that fight.

We returned to my room for lunch. Theo had brought me some takeaway. The food here was alright, but I was in the mood for something different from what was on the menu.

Dad came in just as we finished eating.

'How are you, Honey?' Dad asked as he gave me a side hug and sniffed the air. He had a smirk on his face as he looked at the wrappers.

'Good Dad should go home in a few days; babies, of course, are staying longer.' Dad looked glowing, and being a new Dad suited him.

'Just saw Wayne, his Jazmin had a baby girl. Did Theo tell you?' He looked at Theo and waited for an answer.

'Hum, not that I remember. He may have done, but I am still a bit scatterbrained at the moment.

'Jazmin named her little girl Jessica; you should see her. She put a little pink ribbon in her hair, or whatever hair she has; it is so adorable.'

'That is so sweet, have you named yours?' I coaxed, wondering what sort of names they would use.

'Pam named them Axel, Alexander, and Austin. What did you name yours? Theo told him, and they chatted a bit about the eight babies all three houses apart and what birthday parties they could give on the same day. I can imagine how a massive number of sixteen-year-olds would take over the street when they hit sixteen. I also noticed she had them all start with A. I giggled at that, considering we had done something similar.

Dad stayed and chatted a bit longer. We had talked about the Sunday games and how we were going to get around so many babies. We would need Thomas to come to us, or only once a month instead of each week, but I am still waiting for an honest answer to that. It would be harder to take the four babies to his home than for him to come to us, at least until the babies are older.

Dad said he would talk to Thomas later and see how he feels; maybe with us having four homes, each of us would take a turn. But this meant he came to our end three times, once to you. I wish he lived closer to us.

Theo and Bob left soon after that, and I slept.

Later that night, I woke to the sound of babies crying. I thought it was mine and climbed out of bed, half in a daze, but I soon woke up when I walked into a wall that was not in our home. I looked around and remembered where I was, and the babies' crying was from another room. I walked down the corridor and found myself staring at my sleeping babies. The night nurse noticed me and called me in.

'The babies should wake soon. Why don't you stay and feed one of the babies?' I could not believe this; I had to feed one.

'Do I feed them in the crib? Or can I hold him?' I was hopeful that I would get to hold one.

The nurse chuckled.

'You can hold him or her.' I sat on the chair she asked me to and waited, willing one of them to hurry up and wake up. Just when I started to yawn, Matteo began to stir. I sat up and watched the nurse carefully pull him out of the crib before giving me a clean, hungry baby demanding a feed.

I held him in my arms, and he settled almost immediately.

'Wow, he knows his mother is holding him; he does not settle that quickly when we hold him.' the nurse smiled as Matteo started to drink.

'What about the others? Do they settle quickly?' I wondered if it was just him.

'No, they all are a little fussy, and it takes a bit to settle them and feed them.' The nurse spoke matter-of-factly. It was as if it was nothing new to her but all new to me.

I watched two other nurses arrive and help to change and feed the others; they never took them out of the crib, doing it all in the glass confines. I saw them fuss a bit, but nothing too much. I was not sure what to expect. The nurse told me a little about what I would see, but seeing and hearing it are two different things. Depending on how fast they put weight on and when I could take them home, one of my babies could not drink from a bottle yet. The nurse said it was not that unusual, as some take a little longer than others, and I should be happy the other three took to the bottle; it would speed up their growth.

When they finished my babies, they started on my brothers. It was only beginning to sink in that Pam's babies were my half-brothers, not nephews; seeing babies as my brothers still felt strange.

The nurse came and took the now-sleeping child from me and carefully placed him back in the crib. I wanted to keep holding him but had to relinquish him so he could get the warmth. I left them behind and headed back to bed. I climbed in, and sleep found me rather quickly.

The next thing I know, I am waking to the sounds of the breakfast trolly and loud noises from outside the room. I had slept a good four hours and was surprised that I had slept that soundly; it must have been because I had held my son for the first time.