Whiskey 'n Lace

~ Chapter Thirty-Nine ~

It seemed that after the baby shower and revealing the gender of the triplets, Olivia’s pregnancy started to fly by. She knew that her pregnancy would be coming to an end sooner than if she was carrying just one baby, which meant when she hit thirty weeks, she was much closer to a possible due date than ever before. The expectant parents were excited, however, and couldn’t wait to meet their three tiny blessings.

“Liv? What are you doing here?” Rafael asked when he saw his very pregnant wife waddle into his office. 

“Cragen decided that I should probably be done for the day. Maybe until after the babies are born.” Olivia frowned. 

“What? I thought we decided that you’d start maternity leave at the end of the next week. Dr. Morrison said you’d probably make it till thirty-three weeks, maybe even a week or two longer.” Rafael frowned as he stood and moved to his wife. 

He wrapped his arms around her waist before helping her over to the sofa. They sank down together, and Olivia let out a weak and tired sigh.

“I love being pregnant and I cannot wait to be a mother to our babies, but I also just wish I could still do my job without them getting in the way.” Olivia frowned.

“Did something bad happen?” Rafael asked quickly, and Olivia shrugged as she held her stomach.

“I guess? I was having practice contractions today, and everyone acted as if one wrong move would cause Atlas to be born right there. They were coddling me all day, and wouldn’t even let me get up to get lunch. Amanda warmed it up and brought it to me, and Fin offered to push my chair to the bathroom so I wouldn’t have to walk.” Olivia sighed. 

“Babe, they just care so much about you and our babies… that they didn’t want anything bad to happen. I get that they can be overbearing, but I am guilty of the same thing, but it is out of love.” Rafael smiled softly. He gently smoothed his wife’s hair, before looking her face over.

“Do you think I should take leave now?” Olivia whispered, and Rafael nodded.

“Yeah, I do. I went along with your plan so I didn’t make you angry, but now I think I should be in charge. Let me take care of you.”

“Can you take a quick break and drive me home? I would just borrow your car and drive myself home and then come back later to get you… but I’m way too big to sit behind the wheel.”

“Of course I’ll take you home. I think you could use a nap anyway.”

///

Olivia ended up taking a surprisingly long nap, and she didn’t wake up until her babies started to squirm as much as they could in the limited space they had.

“Hey! You are finally awake, sleepyhead.” Rafael smiled as he came into the room.

“I probably could have slept longer, but between the babies moving and having to use the bathroom, I didn’t have another choice.” Olivia yawned.

“How are you feeling?”

“I’m feeling okay. Why?”

“I’m just worried about you, Liv. Today was rough, and I’d like to touch base and make sure everything is good.”

“Rafa, I honestly don’t think I’ll make it to thirty-three weeks,” Olivia admitted quietly. She had been thinking a lot about the weeks to come, and it scared her to think that her kids might not be ready when her body finally gave up.

“Are you having real contractions now?!” Rafael exclaimed.

“No! Not yet… but Rafael, things are getting super real now. Atlas is always on my bladder, Viola and Ginny seem to love either punching my organs or shoving themselves under my ribs… They are running out of space and I’m so dead all the time that I feel like this is just coming to an end.”

“I guess we should do the finishing touches on the nursery, huh?”

“Probably… and I just want to apologize for everything that is going to be hitting us in the weeks to come. I’m going to be even more emotional and touchy than I usually am.” Olivia breathed.

“I know what I signed up for, Liv. So I will support, love, and care for you through everything that is to come. Now, why don’t we go downstairs and eat? I ordered pizza.”

“Exactly how I have been craving it?” Olivia asked, and Rafael nodded.

“Duh, love. I live to make sure you are happy.” Rafael smiled before kissing his wife deeply.

///

Everything started to get tenser since that night Olivia thought she was in labor. It took almost a full day for her contractions to fade out and for her to feel better, but it was scary either way. 

“Alright, you and the babies are still looking great.” Dr. Morrison smiled, as she finished Olivia’s thirty-one-week checkup. As Olivia got closer to her predicted due date, she was going in every week for a checkup. Dr. Morrison wanted to make sure she caught Olivia’s labor as early as possible, so Olivia could get to the hospital with plenty of time to spare.

“Yeah?” Olivia breathed.

“Yeah, Olivia. Atlas is very low, so he is going to be the cause of much of your lower back pain and hip pain.” Dr. Morrison replied.

“Should I be worried about that? Or-”

“Olivia, relax. You are in great hands. Babies drop and that is a good sign that they are getting ready to be born. In your case, I’m still hoping for you to wait at least two more weeks.”

“And if they come sooner?” Olivia whispered as tears burned her eyes. No matter how good Dr. Morrison said she was, Olivia was having a hard time believing her. All she could think about was how scary last weekend had been with the painful contractions.

“We will all be ready to help them out. They will probably need help breathing and staying warm, but we are prepared for that. All you need to do is focus on yourself and these babies, and I will focus on everything that has to do with their births.”