THE SUN WAS BEGINNING TO RISE AS EMMY DROVE BACK TO THE HOSPITAL, Amelia was looking out the window, taking in the view.
"And the babies?"
"They all seem to be doing okay."
Amelia frowned from the lack of knowledge on the babies condition, "What no updates from the doctors?"
"Gigi has literally been asleep for the past ten hours." She said, "Jo doesn't know any Italian and I only know enough to have a basic conversation. Gisele is literally the only one who is fluent, including in medical talk."
"Right."
"You know any Italian?"
"No, but I know German... which isn't very helpful in this situation."
They get back to the hospital an hour later, Gisele was still asleep when they arrived as was Jo.
"I can take you back to the house if you're tired." Emmy offered, seeing how Amelia had long flight.
"No, I want to be here when she wakes up."
"Want to see the babies?" She asked.
Amelia nodded, "Yeah."
They walked through the dim halls and rode the elevator up to the NICU. They pushed the doors open, it was also dim in there, it was mostly quiet except for the constant rhythmic beeps coming from the various monitors around them.
Emmy led them to the triplets private room. Amelia went over to the incubator nearest to the door. She gasped at how microscopic the baby was.
"It's so small." She reached in and gently stroked the baby's tiny arm.
"It's?" Emmy asked.
"I don't know what sex the baby is?" Amelia said, she looked at the pink card taped onto the incubator, the words È una ragazza written on it, "And I don't know how to read Italian."
"It's pink."
Amelia shrugged, "I'm not one to assume, for all I know the Italians use pink for boys."
"It's a girl."
Amelia chuckled, "Wow, three girls. Gisele is going to have her hands full. Especially if they turn out anything like her... or god forbid me."
"Yeah, we were all a handful."
The tiny girl opened her eyes, seemingly starring up at Amelia, she smiled, "Hi, I'm your Auntie Amelia."
After Amelia was done spending some time with each one of her new nieces, the two of them made their way back to Gisele's room. The sun was beginning to rise, slowly bringing the morning light into the halls.
Entering the room, Amelia noticed Gisele waking up. She immediately went over to her side and hugged her.
"Hey, I'm so glad you're okay." She pressed a kiss onto Gisele's forehead.
Gisele hummed, "Me too. You didn't say how tiring pushing out a baby would be." She whispered.
Amelia laughed, "Gisele. You're literally pushing out an entire human out of a very small hole, of course it's tiring. And you did it three times."
"Yeah," she frowned, no matter how much she disliked Owen. Her sister and Owen were supposed to be on their honeymoon, "Why are you here?"
"You thought you were going into extreme premature labor and have complications, and I wouldn't come to be with you."
Amelia sounded offended.
"I didn't mean it like that, it's just you and Owen are supposed to be honeymooning."
"You're more important."
"Did you see them?"
She nodded, "I did. They're..." she trailed off.
"Ugly, and look like featherless baby birds." Gisele said, earning a laugh from Emmy.
Amelia very gently shoved her sister, "Hey, that's mean. They just needed a little more time to cook."
"They're just ugly for right now," Emmy said, "They'll be super cook I no time. I mean, look at their parents."
"About their names..."
"What? You don't like their names." Gisele asked.
Amelia winced, she wasn't sure how honest she should be. Especially, since her sister had just given birth and was full of hormones, "They're... names."
"What's not to like about them?" She asked with a pout.
"You names two of them Cosmo and Alula."
Gisele nodded, "They're cute names."
Emmy cocked her head to the side, "Are they though?"
"Yes, they are."
"Let me put it this way, you're only thinking about naming babies not people." Emmy said, "I mean, would you trust a doctors named Cosmo Shepherd, Dr. River Shepherd, or Dr. Dune Shepherd?"
Gisele emotionlessly stared at her, "My fetal surgeons name is Dr. Arizona Robbins. It doesn't matter what I name my kids."
"I just think Emilia is a beautiful name." Emmy said.
"Yeah, it is but I'm not naming them that."
A while later, a nurse came in, instructing Gisele to get up out of bed and walk around. At that point, Jo had also woken up.
Gisele groaned, all she wanted to do was lay down in bed and sleep. Emmy and Amelia helped Gisele out of bed.
She had barley managed to walk a lap around the floor. Gisele was sat on a nearby bench, catching her breath. She didn't know how patients didn't tell them to fuck off when they made them walk around.
"Are you okay?" Jo asked, concerned how out of breath Gisele was.
"Fine, I just need to breathe."
"Buongiorno," Gisele looked up, it was Dr. DeLuca approaching them very happily, "È bello vederti sveglio."
"Se preferisci stare a letto." Gisele said.
"I know but it's good for you to be on your feet and walking."
"Sure it is." She grumbled to herself.
"Want to see the babies?" The doctor asked.
She shrugged, "Sure."
The doctor waved over a nurse with a wheelchair and she was wheeled up to the NICU. Then to the secluded room the triplets were in.
The doctor glanced between Emmy and Gigi, "Do you two have any names? We would like to refer to them something other than the Lopez babies."
Amelia, Jo, and Emmy furrowed their brows, confused as to why Gisele's children had Emmy's last name.
It had dawned on Emmy that she had filled out the paperwork incorrectly and the triplets were considered hers. She shivered at the thought.
"Uh, the babies-they ar—" Emmy began, but Gisele cut her off.
"Their names aren't decided yet." Gisele said.
"Thank god." Jo muttered.
DeLuca nodded, "Well, when you do, let us know."
"Okay."
"Would now be a good time to inform you on the bambinas condition?" She asked.
If it were just her, Gisele would've said no and gone back to bed, but everyone was staring at her. So she just nodded.
"So, normally I'm not the baby doctor, but since all of the experienced ones are on holiday, I'm filling in for them." She informed, "Since they are such complex cases, our top three neonatal specialists are flying back in as we speak."
"That's great." Amelia said.
"All three are on high flow oxygen as of now. Baby a and c are both hypoglycemic, but seem to be responding to treatment."
It was already way too much information for Gisele to grasp.
"We've performed newborn tests and they've passes a few things, which is anticipated since they're born so early. But we have concerns about baby a's hearing in her left ear. I honestly wouldn't about it too much since it's still early and they have some time left to develop."
"So, she's deaf in the left ear?" Amelia asked.
"We can't be too sure, as I said, it's very early." She said, "Lastly, baby b has a grade 1 brain bleed that we are monitoring and doesn't seem to be getting worse."
"That's everything?" Gisele asked.
She nodded, "For now, yes."
Gisele nodded, soaking up all the information. If she was being honest, she expected so much worse. These things she could handle.
"And as you can see all three have ng tubes."
"None of them need surgery?" Jo questioned.
She shook her head, "None, no. They are doing surprisingly well for being so early." She assured, "Would you like to do skin to skin with them?"
Gisele glanced at the three incubators and she just felt drained.
She shook her head, "Not right now. I'm very tired."
The doctor waved her off, "That is fine, your recovery is important. I will be by later, once you wake up to check on you."
"Okay," Gisele looked up at her sister, "Take me back?"
Amelia nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah, let's go." She wheeled Gisele out the room.
"Can we hold them?" Jo asked, once Gigi was out of the room.
"Of course we can, they're my kids too." Emmy said, trying to hint to Jo.
Jo and Emmy both sat in their respective rocking chairs, swaying back and forth, each with at least one baby on their chest. Jo had two.
"Something's up with Gigi." Jo stated.
Emmy immediately knew what Jo was hinting to, Gisele seemed distant and a little cold towards the babies.
"Yeah, well, she did just have a traumatic birth out on the ocean, she deserves to act however she wants to."
"You're right." Jo said. "At least she changed her mind on those god awful names."
Emmy nodded, "Right."