Found

Distress

Tobin POV

"Push, cmon Alex you're almost there." The doctor said. She squeezed my hand so tight I thought it might fall off.
"Here we go, first baby is a male." The Doctor said as he handed the baby to a nurse. I smiled and turned to look at Alex.
"You hear that babe? We got a boy. We got a boy!" Alex's eyes seemed to be rolled back in her head and she was breathing oddly.
"Baby?" I asked putting a hand to her cheek.
"S-something's...n-n-not right." She chocked out.
"What's happening?" I yelled turning to the doctors.
"You're wife is in distress Tobin. Some oxygen for her please!" He stood up as they put an oxygen mask over her face.
"Alex hon, you've done a great job but we need to let you get some rest, see if I can take it from here." He said to her. "I'm gunna have to go in for the other two babies." He announced to the room.
"What's going on?" I asked as the room seemed to spin around me.
"Tobin it's gunna be ok but right now you just need to trust me and stay out of the way. Get her out of the room please!" He called to a nurse who showed me out of the room. I sat in the waiting room chair dumbfounded. I stared at a spot of the floor for I don't know how long. Until I saw it was dark outside and Dr. S approaching me. I stood up to hear what he had to say.
"Alex's vitals are good. She's gunna be asleep for a while but she's fine."
"Ok, ok." I breathed out, barely audible. Dr. S looked at me.
"We lost the third baby Tobin. I-I'm very sorry." I swallowed hard.
"The, the second baby is a girl, very strong. The third baby was a little boy, but the umbilical cord was cutting off his oxygen. He was stillborn, nothing anybody could've done." I rocked back and forth on my heels, my mind blank.
"I-I'm sorry, I'm not processing anything. My wife-" I started.
"Is fine." Dr. S said. "And she'll be awake soon. You have two beautiful, healthy children Tobin. A boy and a girl." I nodded.
"But we did lose the third baby." He repeated. Tears started to fall, hard and fast. I sat down, my legs no longer able to support me. I looked around before standing again.
"I need to be with my wife." I said trying to get past him.
"And you will be. But she needs to sleep now." He said stepping in front of me. Defeated, I sat back down. Wringing my hands together tears kept flowing.
"Ok if, if I keep you company a second?" Dr. S asked. I nodded and he sat down. We sat for a second before he spoke up.
"I lost my wife last year. It's why I still work so much, at my age. Just trying to pass time. We were married 58 years. Four children, 12 grandkids. But we lost our first child during delivery. Honestly it's the reason I went into this field. I've spent five decades delivering babies. More than I can count. But not a day goes by that I don't think of the child I lost. I like to think that because of the child I lost, the path he sent me on, that I have saved countless other babies. I'd like to think that maybe one day you'll be old like me, talking A younger person's ear off, explaining to them how you took the sourest lemon life has to offer, and turned it into something resembling lemonade. If you can do that, you'll still be taking three babies home with you. Just maybe not the way you planned." I nodded and wiped a tear.
"I don't know if that was meaningful or not, but I thought it oughta be said." I nodded again.
"You're wife will still be asleep for a while. Go see your babies. They're excited to see their mom." He stood up and put a hand in my back.
"I think they might have a good one." He started to walk away. I sat in the chair for a little while longer, not sure my legs could do their job. When I was ready to try, I got up and slowly walked to where my new babies were. I stood looking into the window. They were there next to each other, crying. I blankly stared at them until I felt something next to me. A man was there.
"Which one's yours?" He asked. I pointed to my two kids.
"Beautiful." He whispered.
"Yeah." I nodded and smiled, "Yours?" I asked. He shook his head.
"None. Someone left him," he pointed to a baby, "at my fire station. I didn't know what to do so I brought him here." I looked at the baby. He was next to my daughter.
"Life's strange." He said. I nodded and he walked away. I stared at the three babies for a while. And I knew. Dr. S was right. We'd leave this hospital with three babies, just not how we planned.