On the Ice a Jonathan Toews love story

they're here

I felt this pain surging through my body as I sat in the dressing room waiting for John to get changed. the team had kept all the media out of the room but I'm sure they could still hear me every time I had a contraction.

El had brought Matthew to the game and once I went into labour she rushed down to the dressing room to help me out. the guys all looked terrified but I couldn't blame them.

John finished getting changed and he helped me up. we walked out to the car and had a quick drive over to the hospital with El sitting in the back with me holding my hand. the team had to stay at the rink to do interviews but promised to come as soon as they could.

John sped the whole way to the hospital and once we pulled up he helped me out of the car and walked me up to the hospital. he sat me down in the waiting area while he checked me in.

I felt another contraction coming on and let out a small cry. some people were looking at me and some recognised john and I but they kept their distance out of respect.

soon John came back pushing a wheelchair and some nurses helped me in before pushing me down a few hallways and into my room. we waited a couple of minutes before our doctor came in

"so you're having twins, Mrs. Towes, and you're a month early."

"um were actually not married." I said feeling a little awkward

" oh of course my bad, I'm going to check how far along you are." there was silence until he said " you're only two centimetres dilated so it could be a while. do you want an epidural?"

I saw El nodding at me and knowing the pain I was in now I quickly agreed. after the epidural things got a bit better. John called his mom and she was taking the next flight out so she could help me when John went on the road trip in four days.

the doctor would check every once in a while but I was progressing slowly. the team got there about two hours after the game and one by one they came in to see me. some of them brought flowers or balloons and I could see the media waiting outside the hospital doors. eventually the hospital staff got them off the property but they were persistent.

7 hours later and I was only eight centimeters dilated I had had to get another epidural because the other had worn off. most of the guys were still there waiting and John had sent Patrick to go and get his mom from the airport. I was trying to get some rest when John's mom walked in. she rushed right over to me completely ignoring John and gave me a hug.

soon after she arrived the doctor came back in to check on me.

"it's time to push."

the doctor cleared the room except for John, his mom and El. john grabbed one of my legs and El had the other while John's mom held my head up and kept a cold towel on it. I was pushing for two minutes when the doctor said

"I can see a head." on the next push she came out and the doctors whisked her away but I could hear her crying in the background.

everyone was smiling and had tears in their eyes at me and after a short rest the doctor told me it was time to push again. my second one took only a minute to come out and when she did she started crying right away. I laid down exhausted and the doctor brought my girls over to me. once they were resting on my chest I started to cry. John kissed me on my forehead before he picked up one of our girls and his mom grabbed the other.

it was amazing seeing John with our daughter, he looked so scared holding something so small and new in his arms while his mom looked totally calm. the nurses had to take the babies to get examined since they were a month early. I quickly fell asleep after over 12 hours of labour.

when I woke up it was time to feed the babies and I had to change their diapers but it was actually pretty easy. John decided to go and tell the team while I was asleep and they had been waiting anxiously to come and see them. so when the doctors cleared them to come visit our room got packed. it was funny watching all those big hockey players fusing over these little babies. the funniest though was coach Q for once he didn't have a stern look on his face but rather a big grin as he made goofy faces at the girls.

everyone kept asking about names but John and I hadn't thought of any. once the boys had left John's mom ran out to get some last minutes baby supplies and John and I laid in the hospital with our girls.

we were looking down at them when John asked

"what should we name them?"

"I always liked the name Skylar." I said looking at the girl I was holding

"I like the name Rylie" he said

"at least we can tell them apart Skylar has your brown eyes and Rylie has my Blue ones."

John took a picture of the four of us and I tweeted out

proud to announce the birth of our two baby girls Skylar Marie Towes and Rylie Isabella Towes along with the picture of us

from that moment on I knew my life would never be the same again but I couldn't wait to see my girls grow up. being a mom was going to be my new full time job for the forcible future but I knew I was going to love it.