Against All Odds!

A Preemie Dad

Leo's POV

We have been sitting for hours waiting for the doctors to tell us everything is okay with my wife and child. My heart is beating fast and I can't focus on anything except the theatre door. The light is red, and I don't even know what that means. "Leo, you need to calm down, here drink some water", Sofia said and I couldn't bring myself to reply because the light went off and two nurses got out with two incubators. I rushed towards them, they saw me approaching and they stopped. Their faces were decorated with smiles. It calmed me a bit.

"You must be the baby daddy... you can come closer and see them", one of them said. "Them?", Bella asked making their smiles grow bigger. "The doctors had the same look" she said as I reached the incubators. I saw the tiniest human beings ever. "They're so small", I said to myself making the nurse giggle. "That is true but they are the toughest ones we have ever encountered. Come, we are going to bathe them and you can watch. Only the father though", she said looking at the rest of my family. I turned to meet Mum's eyes and she nodded her head. "Go ahead son, we will tell you when they bring her out", Dad said making me nod and follow the nurses.

"What are their names?", the nurse asked making me look at her in shock. "Uh, I don't know", I said scratching the back of my neck as we entered the elevator going to the lower level. "Well, it should be easy. Doctor Finn said each of you had a favourite. Since each one of you got their wish come true then what did you want to name your daughter?", she asked making me smile, I had a daughter and a son. "Uh... Audrey? did you say we have a girl and a boy?", I asked not recognising my voice. "Yes sir! So we have this princess's name what about him?", she asked looking at the nurse on my right, he was crying in there and I could see his arms moving all over the place making me smile. "Is he ok? He is crying a lot", I said trying to look at him. The nurse chuckled. "Yes, he is fine, just waiting for Daddy to stop panicking and give him a name. What did your wife name the baby boy?", she asked looking at me as we approached the door written NICU.

"Aaron, she named him Aaron", I said following them into the new wing that had a reception area. "Who do we have here?", the old lady at the reception asked while receiving two files from the nurse that was having my daughter. "This is Audrey and Aaron Specter, along with Daddy Specter who is still in shock", she said playfully making the old lady smile at me knowingly. I followed them to the door that had a huge mirror, when I looked inside I saw there was a lot of equipment along with a bathing area that matched the baby sizes. "Wait here, you can observe from the mirror", Aaron's nurse said making me nod.

I've never seen babies so small in my life. They were pink and I could see the veins, it was just terrifying, every move they made caused my heart to jump a bit. I was scared that they would break my kids but held back because they were the professionals and not me. 

When they were done cleaning them, they put diapers on them that seemed to be huge compared to their body size. The nurses proceeded to insert tubes in their noses, I looked away and when I turned back they were looking at me with calming faces, something that made me calm down a bit. They plugged in the heartbeat monitors and connected them to the incubators then closed them. They started heading my way and for some reason, I felt my body relaxing when I saw the numbers appearing on the monitors. "Let's take the babies to their Mummy's ward", she said urging me to follow I did. We stopped at the reception where the old lady placed stickers on each incubator and then turned to me. "Congratulations Mr. Specter", she said with a huge smile. "Thank you", I said smiling back nervously.

"There you go. Your family is allowed to come into the ward but they shouldn't open the incubators ok? Mercy will stay with you to monitor them", the bubblier nurse said they walked away before I could say thank you. I stood from a distance not knowing what to do. "Mr. Specter, you may come closer, they won't bite", she said playfully making me walk closer. 

They were both sleeping, I saw the name tags and it made me smile. Angel and I made these tiny people. Audrey and Aaron Specter, my kids, waoh! "They are so small", I said to myself making the nurse giggle. "Well, they are premature babies so that's normal, you're lucky that they didn't face any complications. Here, let me show you how to operate the incubator in case I'm not around when their Doctor gives you the go-ahead to touch them", she said making me stand on the side. 

She sanitised her hands then opened the two circles that were on the side of the incubator and started running her finger on Aaron's hair. It made him snuggle to her a bit before going back to sleep. "Oh he likes snuggling, he will enjoy kangaroo sessions", she said with a smile making me furrow my brows. 

"Oh sorry, a kangaroo session is more like a bonding session... they are not able to see at this moment so they rely on smell and voice. That's how they can tell that someone is their Mummy or Daddy. We recommend doing it daily, the pediatrician will tell you more. It's very enjoyable so I hope you're ready", she said with so much excitement making me feel excited too. She closed the incubator doors and then stepped back. She went to sit on her desk and started filling some stuff on it. I walked closer, towering over the incubators, and looking at my beautiful kids.

The door opened and Angel was brought in from the theatre. "Oh hello there! Congratulations", Doctor Finn said offering me a handshake. "Thank you, is she going to be ok?", I asked looking at the nurses as they were placing Angel on the bed. "Yes, she is and so are your babies. She will wake up in an hour or two but in the meantime, I want to introduce you to Doctor Collson, she's the twin's pediatrician", he said pushing forward a lady with a huge smile and big glasses.