Chapter 7 #3
For the rest of the afternoon, he saw his patients and spent as much time with them as he could.
As the day was winding down, he could feel the pressure behind his eyes that made him wish that he’d slept better last night.
Not that he would give up making love to Debra, but it was wearing him to the bone to be up late and get up early.
“Last patient. It’s Mrs. Booth. She wants to talk to you about the twins and they’re sleeping habits.
” He asked what that might mean. “She said that she’s having trouble getting them to sleep at the same time.
She wondered if you had any advice. She also mentioned that she thinks that they’re not getting enough from her breastfeeding. I think I’ll leave that one up to you.”
“Thanks.” He went to the room she was in and could see right away that she wasn’t sleeping well. There were bags under her eyes, and she looked like she could cry at any moment. He asked her what was wrong, and she burst into tears. “Oh, honey, it’s going to be all right. I got you.”
“They are starving to death, and I’m dying trying to keep up with them.
I just don’t have enough milk coming in for them, and I’m worried that someone is going to take them from me because I’m a shitty mom.
I don’t want that to happen. I love them so much that it hurts to think that my parents are going to be taking them away from me because I don’t know what I’m doing. ”
“I’m sure we can figure things out. Where are they now?
” She said they were with Charlie, and he was dealing with them so that she could have a walk.
“And you walked to here, I’m assuming. I’m sure that it’s not as bad as you think it is.
Have Charlie bring them in, and we’ll go from there.
I’ll weigh them both and figure out a supplement that you can give them when you just don’t have enough milk coming in. ”
“They’ll take them away from me if I give them formula.
” He asked her who. “My parents. They have it in their head that I’m going to be a terrible parent to them, and they’re going to try to take them from me.
And giving them formula will be just the ammo they need to take them.
I love them, Kahana. I can’t just sit by while they take them from me. ”
“I’ll call Axel. I’ll see what he has to say about them trying to take the girls away from you.
This is just stupid. Don’t they realize how much stress they’re putting you under by threatening you like this?
” She said they wouldn’t care; it would just be one more thing to add to their list of how she’s failing as a mom.
“There will be no more talk about how you’re failing as a mom.
You’re a good mom, or you wouldn’t be here right now trying to figure things out.
I’ll call and see what he can do. Or better yet, I’ll call my wife.
I sometimes forget that she’s an attorney too.
We’ll get this figured out. In the meantime, call Charlie and have him bring in the girls.
Charles too. We might as well make sure that they’re all healthy. ”
While Debra was talking to the parents, he examined the kids.
They were all doing well, and the twins’ weight was right on target.
But if she wasn’t sleeping because they were nursing all the time, he thought it was a good time for her to introduce formula to them.
Just at night for their last feeding, and it would give her a few hours of uninterrupted sleep. At least he hoped so.
Charles seemed to like his little sisters, but he was worried about his mom. She was crying all the time, and it worried him. People should watch what they say around little ones; they had stress too from their cruel words.
After talking to Charlie and Milly, he thought that they were in a better frame of mind.
Charlie said he wasn’t worried about her parents, but from what Debra said to them, he might should be.
They were dangerous, and if they got the kids, they had enough money to get them out of the state.
That would be bad for them when caught, too.
“I think if I could just get one night’s sleep a week, I’d feel better.
But when one is asleep, the other is awake and hungry.
I knew that raising twins was hard, but I didn’t have time to prepare myself for this.
I need to get some sleep.” Debra spoke up then.
She said that she’d help with the twins tonight, and she could get some sleep.
“I don’t want to do that to you. I’m exhausted, and I’m getting used to them.
You’ve never had children before. No offense.
“None taken. I can watch them for a few hours. Charlie can take a shift, and so can the rest of the Hathaways. You look terrible, and if your parents could see you now, they’d think that you weren’t getting any rest at all.
Just let us do this for you for a couple of nights.
You’ll feel better, we’ll all feel better knowing that we’re helping you out.
” She said that she couldn’t ask them to do that.
“No one was asking. I’m telling you that you need to get some sleep before you have to deal with your parents.
We can help you get a good night’s sleep or a couple of them and take over the care of the little ones.
Even Charlie will help. I’m betting right now he’s agreeing with us in that you need your rest, too. It wouldn’t be that bad.”
In the end, it was settled, and she would go home and take a nap. The children would all come to his house, and they’d hang out with them for a while. Once Charlie and Dani found out about Milly’s parents and the children, she went to make sure that Milly laid down and took a nap.
“I had no idea this was going on. I mean, I could see that she wasn’t getting any good rest, but I figured that if she needed any help, she’d ask for it.
” Kahana explained about her parents and what she was afraid they’d do if they found out that she was giving the children formula instead of breast milk.
“Oh, pea shaw. She had twins that she didn’t know about.
I think she’s doing a fantastic job of raising them without any prep work.
Why, we had to go out and buy them another crib; they were so unprepared for them both.
She’ll get some rest now, even if I have to get up in the middle of the night and make her. ”
He knew that was what would happen. They were good families, and they would do it without asking.
Milly was so exhausted when he took her home that she fell asleep in his car.
He wondered why she’d let it go for so long and not ask for help.
He couldn’t wait to meet her parents. They sounded like a bunch of ass holes.
Well, now that everyone was involved, things wouldn’t go the way that they had hoped.
Who would threaten a new mom about taking her children away just because she had to give them formula?
He supposed there were people who only believed in nature’s own way, but there were circumstances where things were just out of their hands that they couldn’t just breastfeed.
After getting her settled in and her mother-in-law watching over her, he made his way back to the office.
He knew that there were going to be some rules made, and he couldn’t wait to hear what they were.
His family was involved now with the Booths, and they’d make sure that things went well, or he’d sic Mac onto them.
That would be the best way to deal with them, having Charlie’s little sister pounce on them. That would be funny.