Pregnancy - Week 34
"So that went well again." Maks said as he helped Peta into the car after their latest doctor's appointment.
"Thankfully. I mean the week to week not knowing stresses me out but every week that we come and we're closer to the safe zone, I feel more and more relieved." Peta said referring to what they had started calling the safe zone which was Week 35 of the pregnancy where the twins would be the safest if they needed to come early. Obviously anything extra would be amazing but Dr. Salts also said she wouldn't push the bar either so it was most likely that they weren't holding out until her original due date.
"I agree pretty girl. One more week and we're in that zone."
"This is going to be the longest 7 days ever." Peta said laughing slightly.
"Well, how would you feel about a little surprise?" Maks asked trying to gage whether he should keep what was going on at their house a complete surprise or if he should let her on as to not work up his wife when she was supposed to be staying calm.
"Maksim....." Peta said giving him a look.
"It's not really my surprise." He said shrugging trying to get himself off the hook. She had never been one for big surprises or grand gestures but they still happened from time to time.
"You still condoned it if you know what's happening and I don't."
"I love you?" He said slightly as a question which made her laugh.
"Does it have to do with the babies?" She said starting to try to figure out what it was in her head.
"It does."
"Did you get something?"
"Nope, not my surprise remember?"
"Right...hmm. Is there someone there?"
"You could say that."
"Just one someone or more than one someone?"
"Babe, you're going to make me give it away." Maks whined as he took their exit off the interstate.
"But...fine....you do know you're not supposed to work me up." She said with a mischievous look on her face.
"Peta Janeeeeee." He whined again.
"I'm teasing, I'm teasing. I know there's a surprise now so it'll be okay." She said reaching for his hand and giving it a squeeze. Maks texted someone as they pulled onto their street. Peta at that point could see all three of her best friends' cars along the street and had a good idea of what was going on. Maks seen it click out of the corner of his eye.
"Please act surprised." He said as he pulled into their driveway.
"I will, I promise. Everyone's cars are parked on our street though handsome." Peta said giggling.
"Touché pretty girl. I do think we all were worried about surprising you so much that it upset you like at the wedding." Maks said biting his lip as he looked over at her. He still felt super guilty about what had gone done as far as the surprise with Barry showing up at the rehearsal.
"Maks, I told you, that was the best moment ever. I wouldn't trade that or your thoughtfulness for anything. And we're good. I was just shocked that's all. Nothing a little quiet time couldn't fix. Now Sharna?" Peta asked excitedly.
"And Rumer and Jenna."
"I love them."
"Me too babe, me too." He said as he got out of his side and came to meet her. He helped her out and then led her to the door where Sharna was standing.
"Hi." Sharna said hugging her tightly as soon as she was within reach.
"I love you, so much. Thank you." Peta said as she held her best friend.
"I love you too babe. So you figured it out?"
"The cars were kind of a dead giveaway." Peta said letting go and leaning back into Maks.
"Well we figured we didn't want to shock you too bad so we went with the option of just surprising you with everything else. Come with me, Rumer & Jenna are in the kitchen." All three of them headed to the kitchen where they met the other girls. More hugs and thank yous and I love yous were passed around.
"So we know you had a wedding shower/birthday/baby shower when your mom's came around your birthday P, but we wanted to give you a special actual baby shower." Rumer explained.
"And then everything happened with your blood pressure and it just made us want to do it more. We wanted you to have some fun and to know just how much love these two little ones are going to have in their lives." Jenna added.
"We had planned to do something anyway but we ended up deciding to kick it up a notch some and make it extra special which you'll see once we go outside. Which is what I meant by surprising you with everything else. Maks helped us sneak into and transform your backyard into our shower for you."
"See, you did have a hand in it somehow." Peta said smirking at her husband.
"Once again, I love you." He said leaning down to press a kiss to her check before he got ready to leave. He was going to leave the girl's to it.
"Wait, you're leaving?" Peta said suddenly looking sad.
"I was going to let you have girl time and let them celebrate you. And these ladies set up a golf date with the boys." Maks said as he slipped his fingers into hers and squeezed.
"Well but.......they are your babies too." She said softly as she faced him.
"Babe, I know they are. I just wanted you to have some time with the girls and enjoy this. I'll be back." He said gently. He didn't want her upset but he wanted her to enjoy this.
"Fine." She said but he could tell she wasn't pleased with this. He looked at Sharna who shrugged slightly and mouthed stay to him.
"Come here." He said leading her away from the group for a minute. He'd stay if that's absolutely what she wanted but he just wanted to make sure as well.
"I'm fine." She said again after he got them to the living room making her sit on the couch.
"You're not. Tell me what's wrong babe." He said sitting next to her and pulling her into him. He pressed a kiss to her head.
"I don't want you to leave." She murmured into his as her hand grasped his elbow, the fabric of his shirt sleeve brushing her fingers.
"Because you want me to be here or because you're scared?" He asked gently holding just a little tighter.
"Both." She admitted.
"Babe."
"It's okay, I'll be fine. You go." She said as she went to pull away from him however he didn't let her."
"That's not it pretty girl. I'll stay, that's not the problem. I just want to know what's going on in that head of yours."
"I don't know Maks. I really don't. I just don't want to be away from you. I feel safer when you're here and right now I need that, I want that. Because as relieved as I am that today's appointment went good and nothing has gotten worse, I'm still terrified that the other shoe is going to drop and something is going to happen, to them or me or even you. And just, just you being near settles a tiny bit of that. We can't fix it and we can't take it away but just having you here helps okay?" She said as she eventually leaned back to look at him.
"Okay. I love you." He said leaning down to kiss her. He knew there wasn't a whole lot that he could say because as much as he could argue with her to not worry, he was just as worried. So if him staying for the party would make her enjoy things that much more then he'd do it in a heartbeat.
"I love you too." She said sinking back into him. He held her for a tiny bit longer before pulling back so they could head back to the girls.
"Are you sure you're okay staying?" She asked once they stood.
"More than okay pretty girl. I promise." He said kissing her again before leading them out to the kitchen where the 3 girls waited.
"Everything okay?" Sharna asked concern apparently on her face for her best friend.
"Yeah, I just needed a moment. Are you guys okay if he stays?" Peta asked sheepishly.
"Nope, he has to go. Boys have cooties." Rumer teased before grinning at her friend and nodding her head. "We're definitely okay with it."
"We are for sure. Now let's take you outside!" Jenna said making everyone laugh at her excitement. She was clearly more than ready for Peta to see the transformation of her backyard. The girls had worked hard the past few weeks figuring out all the things they had wanted to do and what they could actually accomplish. Jenna was more than proud of the three of them for what had come together.
"I'm ready." Peta said smiling. Sharna laced her arm through Peta's while Peta's spare hand found Maks's as she squeezed it gently. He squeezed back and then followed the girls out into the yard.
"Surprise!" The three of them said as they stepped out onto the patio.
"Oh my!" Peta said in sheer shock at the transformation of the backyard. The girls had transformed the yard so that it looked like something out a storybook. There were lights and lanterns everywhere as well as prince & princess decorations.
"Guys..." Maks said in shock as well. He couldn't believe how much they had done and transformed the yard.
"Do you like it?" Sharna asked looking at the two of them nervously. She just wanted this to be perfect and their looks of shock on their face wasn't giving much hope that she had been successful.
"I don't like it." Peta said in a whisper almost.
"You don't?" Rumer said in shock.
"I love it." She said as she stepped away from Maks and began to walk through the yard. There were 3 rows of tables that had silver tablecloths on them and then the center of each table was decorated with branches, greenery, and tiny flowers. Every few feet there was a mason jar with moss around the base then a tiny candle in the inside. Ella Rose & Joseph Adam were written in black calligraphy lettering so that the glow from the candle illuminated their names. In between the mason jars were small flower arrangements of wild flowers that had sticks in them with a princess crown and a prince crown that also had their names on it.
"How did you..." Maks trailed off as he followed Peta through the yard taking in all the decorations and everything. They had tiny lights strung through the trees as well as lanterns so it tied in with their wedding theme. At one corner there was a directions sign with different fairytale lands on their as well as showing people where the gift table, food, drinks, and presents were located.
"Go explore, we'll explain when you're done." Jenna said laughing as she realized that neither of them were going to hear anything that anyone had to say at that moment. They just stood still and watched as their friends circled their yard which had been transformed into fairytale land.
"Pretty girl." Maks said softly as he caught up to his wife and saw the tears hanging in her eyes.
"I'm okay...I promise. It's just so beautiful and they did it all for us." She said as she wiped a few of the tears that did fall away.
"I know, I'm overwhelmed too. I mean I knew they were doing a party for you and everything but this...this is amazing. It's so gorgeous and as far as I know they've only been working on it for a few weeks. It doesn't even look like our yard." He said as he slipped his hand into hers. They strolled through the rest of the yard before going back to the girls.
"Sit." Sharna said as soon as Peta appeared next to her friend. She pulled out a chair and sat her friend in it, handing her a bottle of water at the same time. Maks moved behind his wife and rested his hands on her shoulders.
"I honestly can't thank you guys enough." Peta said as she looked through the yard once more.
"Me either."
"Well, the rest of the guests are coming in the next hour. We figured we'd give you some time to relax and breathe between this and them." Sharna said still worried about her friend.
"Babe, relax, I'm in awe not panicked." Peta said laughing to which she received quite the look from her friend.
"Okay, so I want to explain." Jenna said still excited.
"We want to hear." Maks said as his fingers started to gently rub Peta's shoulders. She sunk back into the chair appreciatively as she looked at her friends. They pulled out chairs and settled around so they could talk for a bit.
"So we wanted to tie it into the wedding because it was something that you loved." Jenna said
"But we wanted to change it up a little because it's for the babies." Rumer interjected
"We ended up finding a Once Upon a Time theme that we all loved. And then that expanded into fairy tales and magical forests which is what we decided to go with." Sharna said as she handed over one of the invitations to Peta so she could see. It read Once Upon a Time there was a beautiful princess just waiting for her fairytale to begin, let's make her dreams come true. Join us for a baby shower honoring Peta Chmerkovskiy, Ella Rose & Joseph Adam.
"I love this so much." Peta said as she took in the mixed coloring of the invitation so that it didn't overshadow boys or girls.
"We also included cards that requested each person bring a book with a tiny note inside for the babies rather than cards. We figured it was a good way to incorporate the theme and keep you from getting a ton of cards."
"I love it." Peta said as she laughed. "Sorry I keep repeating that but I just....it's crazy."
"Well as long as you love it, that's all that matters to us. We wanted to give you some time to show you all the love and support you have." Sharna said reaching to squeeze her best friend's hand.
"Well it's definitely exactly what you wanted it to be then." Peta said.
"So who is all coming?" Maks asked.
"Babe, hold on, I love you and your fingers but you're going to put me to sleep." Peta said as she looked up at her husband. He chuckled and leaned down to kiss her before grabbing a chair and settling next to her. She flipped her hand up and he slid his fingers into hers. The three girls just smiled at their relationship.
"Well so basically our cast, Wit, Emma, Linds, Brit, Kym, then Beau, Tye, and Oksana. Some people from the studios."
"And well now the boys. I texted Val and explained Maks was going to stay so he asked if it was okay if the guys would just come here. I told him that was perfect. So add Val, Serge, Nyle, Merv & Yaron to that list. And well Val is ecstatic, he was upset that he wasn't invited in the first place." Jenna said giggling.
"And Beau & Tye only got invited on principle because well they are them." Rumer added.
"Then there's a good handful of people who wanted to be here but well obviously couldn't cause of distance. Your moms, Lana, Nic, Jill, and Jos. They all sent presents and books though which are what is already on the gift table."
"Wow." Peta said looking at her husband and then she got a sheepish expression on her face. "I'm sorry I crashed the golf date.
"Pretty girl...." He said softly and leaned over to kiss her. "I'm where I wanna be. And I'm sure baby shower games will be interesting with the boys."
"Oh my god." Rumer said as she realized exactly what that was going to be like.
"Exactly." Maks said laughing.
"Heyyy." Emma said as she and Britt rolled came into the backyard.
"Oh my god, it looks like a magical forest back here!" Britt said looking in awe at everything in the yard.
"That was the plan." Jenna said winking.
"Congratulations! Oh my goodness you look so cute." Emma said hugging Peta as Brittney waited her turn. After that it was just a slow stream of people that came into the yard soon it was full of people celebrating Ella & Joe. The boys were quite the addition. Everyone did their best at keeping Peta seated and her feet up so she wasn't stressing. And for those 3 hours that everyone was there she didn't stress at all.
The shower was a great time, the girls had set up a few games including a hilarious one that the boys made into quite the experience. There was a catch phrase from different stories, fairytales, and movies and you had to put which one it came from. The boys knew their stuff but when it came to remembering the names that's where it got dicey. Some of their answers were hilarious.
Sharna had found a cool idea where all the guests were given a block or two and then they each had to decorate it for the twins using the letter they were given so they'd have these blocks that all the people that loved them made. Nyle somehow ended up with X and everyone teased him relentlessly for choosing Xerox, however his picture was perfect of the little copier. Maks and Peta knew they'd treasure these blocks forever.
"Cake time!" Sharna finally announced. They had kept this a surprise because all three girls were in love with the cake they had found. It was made to look like three books stacked on top of each other. Each one's binding had a different story on it. The best part was the writing around the cake. In neat calligraphy it read "Every story has its star, we're ready to be a part of the Ella Rose & Joseph Adam story. We love you so much already."
"Guys!" Peta said as tears finally started to fall. Maks's eyes got a little misty as well but he kept his at bay as he wrapped his arm around Peta.
"We love it." He said gratefully.
"That's what we were hoping." Rumer said with a grin. After they all enjoyed cake and time together, it was present time. Both Ella and Joe got tons of clothes, books, and things they'd need. Maks and Peta were both thrilled with everything they got. The shower was the perfect distraction for Peta as well as a perfect reminder of all the love they had in their lives. She was so thankful for each and every one of these people that had shown up and for the ones who couldn't make it.
*** Two in a week!!! I got this! I promised I'd get back on track for all of you. I hope you guys love this one. Don't forget to like it up and let me know what you thought in the comments! Love you guys, thanks for the support!