Chase and Madelyn: A love story

Chapter 69

TW: Mentions of self harm 

Madelyn's POV:

It had been a week since I gave birth to the twins. James was still in the NICU and he would be able to come home in a few days. Chase and I would visit him everyday to hold and feed him. I was still upset that he couldn't spend the first days of his life at home with us.

Physically, I was doing really well. I was up and walking a few hours after the surgery last week, and I was fully mobile now. My lower stomach (due to the scar), and boobs were sore to the touch and it hurt to do any strenuous activities, but my body was really good considering I just had surgery a week ago.

Mentally, I wasn't doing too great. My mom was right, things were hard. I was constantly tired, and Juliet would wake up many times throughout the night. I went to bed that night with the expectation that I wouldn't get any sleep. I probably only got a total of 8 hours of sleep this whole week, which was really taking a toll on my mental and now physical health. 

Chase shot up out of bed as soon as he heard Juliet's cries. I opened my eyes, surprised that I had even slept at all. It was 2 AM, and I had just fed Juliet at midnight before Chase and I went to bed.

"I got her Mads, go back to sleep." Chase whispered while dragging his fingers through my hair. Chase was really worried about me. He never left me alone and didn't let me do anything too physical. 

I shook my head and sat up in bed. "She's probably hungry." I said. I had been breastfeeding Juliet several times throughout the night this past week.

"It's ok, there's a bottle in the fridge, I can do it. Give your nipples a rest." Chase joked. I smiled as he got out of bed and went downstairs.

Even though I enjoyed breastfeeding and bonding with Juliet, it was hard on my body, and I really needed sleep. I was already exhausted with one baby in the house, and I missed James, but I knew it would be absolute chaos when he came home. I probably would be woken up double the amount of times. 

I quickly fell back asleep after Juliet's cries quieted. I awoke again at 5 in the morning, the most sleep I had gotten in a few days. Chase was asleep beside me. Unable to fall back asleep, I got up and made my way down the hall to the twins' room. I quietly entered and sat in the rocking chair beside Juliet's crib with James' empty crib across from me.

She was awake, but not fussing or crying, just subtly squirming.

"Hi pretty girl." I whispered. I reached over the rails of the crib and gently stroked her head. She had short light brown stubs of hair growing already. Juliet smirked as she heard my voice, something she did when she heard me or Chase speak. She hadn't fully smiled yet, just slightly smirked.

She cooed softly as I ran my fingers over her head. I lifted her out of the crib and placed her in my lap. Juliet was small, not as small as James, but everything about her was so little. Her hands could only wrap around one of my fingers and she had a cute little button nose. When I looked into her eyes, I saw myself. Juliet had similar facial features as me, including my big brown eyes. It was healing to look at her, it was almost like I was staring at myself as a baby. 

Juliet wiggled her toes and squirmed in my arms. Her long eyelashes fluttered with every blink.

"Why are you awake, beautiful?" I asked rhetorically.

She smirked again.

"You hear mommy's voice?" I asked. Juliet reacted again.

We sat for a few minutes, just staring at each other.