More Than Us (Ianthony)

Chapter 07: Yoga

Soon after Ian was released from the hospital free of all the listeria bacteria, him and Anthony recorded a proper baby reveal video for all of their fans. Ian was nervous that they wouldn't react too kindly, but much to his and Anthony's relief, most of their fans were over joyed to hear about Ian's pregnancy and even got the hash tag "#BabyPadilla" trending on Twitter. Today, Ian is now 12 weeks into his pregnancy and is now within his second trimester. So far, it has been the best trimester for him. His morning sickness has almost subsided, his cravings are somewhat manageable, and he is less fatigued which is a great thing for Mari and Anthony who have been trying to get him to move around. He is also showing a little now, much to his and Anthony's delight. It just serves as even more proof that they are finally having a baby and it isn't just some amazing dream. His stomach still wasn't that big, but you could tell he was expecting if he wore a tight fitting shirt.

"Jesus..." Ian whispered as he looked at himself in the bathroom's full body mirror. Ian had been watching his abdomen expand over the past few weeks, but this was the first time he had noticed himself in a full view. Ian stared at it, poked it, and rubbed it for about twenty minutes before deciding to leave it alone, but he then changed his mind because he wanted to do one last thing. Ian was never one to share his personal life on social media, but he couldn't resist being "that person" for just a couple of seconds, snapping a photo of his stomach and captioning it:

"12 weeks along. Can't wait to meet our little bundle of joy!" as he posted it to Instagram and Twitter. It instantly got thousands of likes and comments, but Ian didn't have time to read any of them. He was meeting Mari at the gym for some prenatal yoga, but he was already running late because of his baby bump experiments.

"SHIT! Mari is going to kill me!" He exclaimed. He quickly grabbed everything that he needed, left Anthony a note for when he came back from the store, and left as quickly as he possibly could, making it to the gym in under 10 minutes. Ian didn't even make it past the front doors before Mari and her 28 week baby bump came waddling towards him.

"There you are, Ian! What took you so long?" Mari exclaimed. Ian cleared his throat.

"Sorry. I just noticed how large I was and I got lost within it. It was just so... surreal." Mari smiled at him.

"Still hard for you to believe?" She asked, placing her hand on his shoulder.

"Well, yeah. I mean we tried for five years, ya know. It's just... Wow." Mari nodded.

"I'm so happy for you guys, but you and the baby will be even happier when we go do prenatal yoga! Now let's go!" Ian laughed.

"Alright. Me and the tyke are ready for some fancy stretches!" Ian followed closely behind Mari as they walked upstairs to the Yoga room. As soon as they walked in, they were both stared at by not only the instructor, but the other pregnant women as well, but not in a bad way. It was more of a welcoming stare.

"Mari! It's so nice you could join us today." The instructor said. From what Ian could see, the instructor was not pregnant, but the six other ladies that were in the room with him were and was obviously much further along.

"Glad to be here." She replied, taking a place on a yoga mat next to one of the more pregnant women. Ian followed, sitting next her on another mat awaiting to be instructed.

"Before we begin, we have someone new in the class today." The instructor said, looking directly at Ian. "Do you care to tell us your name and how far along you are?" Ian shrugged his shoulders.

"No, not at all. My name is Ian Padilla and I am 12 weeks along." The instructor smiled.

"Welcome, Ian. I hope you enjoy the class." And Ian did enjoy it. There was something about the unusual positions that he was putting his body in that made him feel so much more open and less "sludgy." After the last stretch, they all sat Indian crossed on their mats and began the ending group chat. Today's question was how you felt about being a mom (or dad). A lot of the mothers-to-be, including Mari, gave some nice things to say, but what Ian had to say really hit all of them hard.

"Well, for me, figuring out that I was going to be a "mother" was something out of science fiction." Ian then told them everything. The ectopic pregnancy, the five years of trying, Anthony's discovery, everything. By the time Ian finished, he had seven pregnant women and one un-pregnant one hugging him with teary eyes and sorrowful faces.

"Ian, don't you worry! Despite everything that you've been through, you're going to have this baby and it's going to be healthy. I can feel it!" One of them exclaimed. Ian smiled and hugged back whoever he could.

"Thanks." He whispered. After the group hug and some more emotional reassurances from the women, the class was dismissed.

"So, same time next week?" Mari asked as her and Ian walked out of the gym. Ian nodded.

"Defiantly. That was awesome. Thank you for making me go." Mari laughed.

"Anytime. Be careful going home."

"You too. See ya." Ian called as she walked away.

"See ya." Ian got back home in a little under fifteen minutes and walked through the front doors with a confused glare. All of the lights were off, but Anthony's car was in the parking garage.

"Anthony?" He called. Suddenly, the room lit up with a dim glimmer. He turned his head towards the kitchen where the light was coming from and saw Anthony lighting four candles. Ian laughed. "What is this?" Anthony put out the match he was using and walked over to Ian, taking his hand into his and kissing it.

"I waned to treat you to a candle-lit dinner." Anthony told him, leading him to the table and pulling out Ian's chair for him.

"Why? What's the occasion?" Ian asked as he sat down.

"The occasion is that I have the best husband in the world and that he's carrying the best child in the world." Anthony said, setting down a plate of food in front of Ian along with a can of Mountain Dew. Ian smiled when realized that Anthony had made him the one thing that he had been craving for the past week. Orange chicken with brown rice and teriyaki sauce.

"Thanks baby. You're the best." While they ate, Ian talked about how much he loved the yoga thing and wanted to go back every week until he had the baby. Anthony supported him and of course encouraged it because of his own healthy habits. Anthony then told Ian about the car wreck he had witnessed on the way back. It was only a fender bender, but it had scared him bad enough to tell Ian about it. Halfway through their meal, Ian was getting pretty sleepy. It wasn't too late, but Ian didn't really care. They had nothing scheduled for the next few days and he was carrying another person within his stomach, so that was more than a legit excuse for him. Ian excused himself from the table and gave Anthony a small peck on the lips before retreating to their bedroom to change clothes and to take a long nap.