'*Broken Strings - James Morrison*'
FRIDAY 07.02.2025
Day 25. Day 25 in this hospital. Day 25 that Tom spent in the same room. Day 23 since Olivia and Adam were born. Day 23 since our babies took their first breath. Day 13 since the first time we were able to carry our kids. Day 13 since my first breastfeeding. Day 2 until my husband's birthday.
Adam now weighed 2.7 kg and was 47.4 centimeters long. Olivia now weighed 2.6 kg and was 46.2 centimeters long. For the past 13 days, my husband and I spent most of the day in the small room behind the NICU with our babies. I was breastfeeding Adam 12 times a day and Olivia 11 times a day so my breasts were completely destroyed. When one baby was breastfeeding, the second one was in the arms and against their father's bare chest and so on.
When our babies were both done nursing, we had to put them back in their incubators and put them back in the NICU room before the other premature babies. Then we would go back out into the hallways since we no longer had a room in the hospital. And we would wait, we would wait for our babies' next meal while sleeping on a bench.
Tom had returned home a few times to pick up things or to visit our animals, but I had never once set foot outside this hospital. I didn't have the courage to leave our babies alone. We were both completely exhausted and took short naps whenever possible.
I couldn't have had a better husband by my side, he was simply the perfect father. He took care of our babies and me while I took care of him and our babies. Basically, we took care of each other while putting Olivia and Adam's needs first.
Today, we were finally going to be able to go home together. We would have liked to introduce our babies to Tom's parents and sisters but we were the only two people allowed in the NICU room. So, for the moment, my in-laws didn't even know our babies' names yet and had never seen them without a large glass window separating them.
Two nurses had taken us to a children's hospital room to do a final check on our two babies before we took them home. For the first time since their birth, Olivia and Adam were experiencing something other than the NICU room or the nursing room behind the NICU room. Even though they were still in the same hospital and only a few feet away from where they had spent their short lives, I felt relieved.
Once all the checks were done, our babies slept peacefully in their little cribs while we picked up all the stuff they would need at home. My man and his broken hand could not yet carry both babies at the same time, but he took turns holding our sleeping babies and kissing their foreheads.
My husband's parents were going to meet us at the hospital to take us home. I couldn't have wished for in-laws who were as available, as caring and as kind as Diana and James. They had taken care of their son, their grandkids and me during our entire stay in the hospital.
While waiting for my in-laws, I looked at our two babies who were sleeping peacefully. I was so in love with Olivia and Adam that I could spend a whole day just looking at them. Tom wrapped his arms around my hips and placed his chin on my upper shoulder. I let my back crash completely against his chest as I linked my fingers with his.
"We have to most beautiful babies on earth Love," he whispered in my ear, sending millions of shivers down my body.
"We do. Thanks to you because they both look exactly like you Lovey," I replied with all the happiness of the world.
"Are you kidding me? They are 100% like you princess. They take after their beautiful mother," he said as he kissed my neck.
"They look like the both of us then. We really made beautiful babies," I confirmed, turning around.
I hooked my hands behind his neck while his had not left my hips. Standing in the middle of a hospital room, we kissed with all the delicacy and patience in the world. Through our lips, we shared our relief, our pride and our love. We were finally reunited and looking forward to going home together. We were finally going to start our new life today.
Our babies had just been fed and changed into warm clothes, so they would sleep for a few hours before crying for food again. As soon as one twin cried, the second one cried too. We fed them at the same time so they were hungry at the same time. Breastfeeding two babies together was not an easy task.
A knock against the bedroom door forced us to break our kiss which had grown passionate and urgent. Diana's head slipped through the half-open door before she entered the room, followed closely by her husband. A wide smile was planted on their faces and didn't seem to want to leave.
"Can we hold them?" James asked as he looked at his grandkids.
My husband and I both nodded as we looked at the two deeply happy people. Diana took Olivia very gently in her arms and whispered a few soft words to her as her husband took Adam against him, rocking him gently while looking at him with love. I personally had never been close to my grandparents, but I knew we could count on Tom's parents to give our babies love and attention.
"There are absolutely beautiful," Diana marveled with little tears in her eyes.
After what seemed like an eternity but also a single minute, we were all settled in my in-laws' car. James was driving the car, Diana was in the front passenger seat, Tom was sitting behind the driver's seat, Olivia and Adam were in the middle and I was sitting behind Diana.
"Excited to get home princess?" Tom asked me as he joined his hand with mine.
"So excited. And looking forward to sleeping in a real bed tonight," I replied with a big smile. "How about you?"
"Same. I'm so tired," he informed me, smiling back.
"We'll go to sleep early," I whispered in his ear as I kissed his cheek.
Even though the hospital we had stayed in was very new and had fairly large rooms and good showers, it was really not the same as at home. It had been many days that I slept in a chair or stuck to my husband on a bank and it wasn't exactly comfortable.
The sun was starting to set when we finally arrived at our house. The sky that February evening was a very dark blue while large gray clouds covered most of the last of the sun. It was good to see something other than the endless white walls of the hospital.
Our dog and cats had come to greet us at the front of the house while my in-laws had left, explaining that they had put a few things in the fridge. Tom sat on the floor with Adam, petting our pets who he had missed so much. I squatted on the floor while holding Olivia in my arms to introduce her to the rest of his family. As Thor and Loki sniffed they intently, Bobby began to lick our kids' fingers, putting a wide smile on my and my husband's faces.
"I think it's time for bed little ones," I said, kissing our babies forehead.
The house was rocked by a crazy calm, a calm that I had missed for many days. The smell inside was so familiar but yet so different, showing that no one had lived there for a long time. I had missed everything. I missed our house, I missed our animals.
Followed closely by my husband, I went up the stairs to our bedroom. A small wooden sign that read 'open me' hung on the door opposite our bedroom. This was the door behind which we wanted to make a nursery for Olivia and Adam before all this drama happened.
Tom slowly opened the big white door and suddenly stopped in his tracks. Through the small opening, I could see a crib, a changing table and some small children's decorations. Immediately, tears formed in my eyes as I realized that my husband had been creating a nursery while a was in the hospital with our babies.
Two walls of the room were painted a light grey color while the other two walls were still white, like the ceiling. Under the twins' bed, a round white carpet had been laid out. Diapers and other materials were placed on the changing table next to which was a trash can. In the other half of the room, a large white armchair and footrest were arranged, giving me a perfect place to nurse Olivia and Adam. Against the wall, just above our babies' bed, a frame with a picture of an angel was hung - probably an angel for the first baby we lost, our babies brother or sister that was watching them from up there. The room was arranged so that we could move around easily but also so that we had everything we needed at hand.
"This is absolutely beautiful. Thank you so much Tom," I said, crying softly.
"Chris did most of the work since I can't use my right hand," Tom said as he slipped his arms down my stomach and pressed his chest against my back, holding our son in one hand.
We stood there for a few moments, looking around the room and the decorations with sparkling eyes. Olivia was still in my arms, deeply asleep as her little hands twitched from time to time. Adam, who was sleeping in his father's arms, was only making small movements with his thin lips. The two babies dressed in warm onesies looked like two little angels. One after the other, we placed them in their new beds before pressing kisses on the top of their foreheads.
"This nursery is absolutely magic Lovey. You're the best husband and dad in the world," I smiled as I joined my husband who was adjusting the baby monitor.
"I'm glad you like it darling," he nodded, turning around.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed my forehead against his upper torso. My husband wrapped his hands around me as well, resting his fingers on my lower back and pressing his chin to the top of my head.
"It feels good to be home with my three favorite people," he whispered as he kissed the thin, cool skin on my neck.
"Best feeling in the world," I replied, turning my head a little.
In the middle of our babies' nursery, our lips met without difficulty to share a few moments of happiness. Even though we had kissed when we were in the hospital, it was a whole different feeling to do it at home. The kiss lasted for many seconds, making me forget all the events that had happened in the last few days. Only three things mattered to me now: my husband, our daughter and our son.