The Guard To My Sanctuary

Chapter 27

Elm

Our meeting with Dr. Nussbaum for my end-of-the-first-trimester check-up went pretty well. We got to see our babies looking somewhat like humans instead of aliens, which was a nice change, considering I had the irrational fear that they wouldn't come out looking like people. We also learned that each baby had their own separate placenta, indicating we were having fraternal triplets. Dr. Nussbaum explained that a line between them almost always guaranteed fraternal multiple births.

This made my pregnancy even more unique since fraternal triplets rarely occurred naturally. I also felt the morning sickness lessen over the previous weeks and started showing more than just a little hump. Now, I looked more like I was bloated all over. I was still relatively small regarding my weight, so Dr. Nussbaum recommended some alternative foods and vitamins, saying that I was probably going to carry small even though I had triplets, which meant more cramps later down the road. That news was really not the highlight of my day. I hated pain more than anything, and cramps were some of the worst pains I could deal with.

"Baby, we're here," Marco said happily next to me, rubbing my thigh. His joy was almost infectious and ever-present, but I was feeling this sense of weariness about becoming a dad that I couldn't shake no matter how many of my psychiatrist's techniques I employed in my day-to-day life. I did not feel prepared in the least for the changes that were about to happen to me physically and had already occurred. It was scary to think about, and I still wasn't sure what kind of parent I would be to our children. I was sure the hormones were turning my dramatic notch up to about a hundred, but the fear was still accurate.

Marco got out of the car and opened my door so I could step out. He shut it once I was out and standing firmly on the ground. Now unconfined, I stretched my arms and yawned from needing a nap. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed he had the shopping list Dr. Nussbaum wrote down for us. I wished he would let me pay for things, but he had this determination to be the breadwinner in the family. He told me one night about his family and how he felt this need to be a super dad for his children, so I stopped complaining about him buying everything and let him do it for me and the children as long as it didn't harm the relationship.

Seeing the smile on his face when he could purchase the things we needed was enough for me to stop feeling like I was not contributing to the family we were creating. I checked to make sure my phone was in my jogger sweats, which were almost the only type of pants I wore since my skinny jeans were out of the question as of late. When I was sure my cell phone was secured in my pocket, I took Marco's hand, and we walked into the supermarket, grabbing a cart before we started to shop.

"Here you go, Honey," Marco said, picking me up and placing me into the metal basket like a toddler. Before he let me go, he tickled my sides, causing me to laugh from being extremely ticklish to the point that I couldn't get a pedicure because I couldn't remain still through the process. I got comfortable as he pushed his way to the vitamin section of the store. Marco was the worst shopper that I knew. He would follow whatever was first on the list and go from there. We could be in the food section, walking over to the clothing section, and back to the food section. It drove me crazy, but he argued that ensuring everything was accounted for was the best way. Marco was all about efficiency, so he would schedule our day down to the second if I didn't keep an eye on him.

He looked at the vitamins' labels. He picked out my folic acid, vitamin D, calcium, vitamin C, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, and a host of other bottles with complicated names printed in bold Helvetica. We then walked over to the infant clothing section, and he picked up three cute little bibs. I allowed him one set of gender-neutral clothing items since we didn't know the babies' genders. I had to push for gender-neutral clothing because he would have gotten everything in blue.