Chapter 5, Finding Mom

Chapter 5
Finding Mom

Sarah, Uncle Mike and Smush traveled for about a half an hour before they reached the hospital. After another 15 minutes of driving through a multi story parking structure they finally exited the van and headed inside. Sarah was a bit frightened by the size of the place even though she had been here before when Mom brought her for a tour of the area where babies were born. She hadn't really been paying attention because she didn't want the babies anyway. Why should she care where they came from.

Uncle Mike headed for a a wall where the elevators were and when the doors opened, he gently nudged Sarah in. As soon as she looked up from where her feet were taking her, Sarah realized that the elevators were all glass. She could see for blocks around as the glass box rose higher into the sky. Before too long the bell chimed and the doors opened again and she walked out into a lobby bedecked with baby decorations. Everything was in pastel paint and had rattles, bows, baby bottles and teddy bears. Remarkably similar to the decorations that now occupied the room that used to be hers back at home.

Uncle Mike stopped at a desk where nurses had clothes with cartoon characters on them and asked for Aunt Belle. The guy wearing the mouse on his shirt excused himself and disappeared down a hallway. Uncle mike led Sarah to a chair and sat down next to her, leaving the once again sleeping Smush in the seat on the floor. He looked at her and smiled nervously, she smiled back.

After a few minutes Aunt Bell came out of a door next to the desk. She exchanged a quick kiss and hug with Uncle Mike and then she sat down to take care of Smush. Uncle mike offered Sarah his hand and when she took it he headed for the door that Aunt Belle had just come out of. After a loud buzzing noise, he pulled the door open and led Sarah through.

They walked past 6 doors, Sarah counted so she could remember which one was the door they had just passed through. At the end of the wide, white hallway they walked into a room. There was Mom, looking very tired but happy to see Sarah.

"MOM!!!" Sarah said racing for the bed but Uncle mike snagged her arm before she got very far.

"You have to be careful, your Mom is tired and jumping on her might hurt her" he said

Sarah looked at her mom as she nodded. then slowly walked forward to the side of the bed where Mom reached for her hand then pulled Sarah up on the bed to sit next to her. Mom wrapped her arm around Sarah and hugged gently. Sarah noticed that her Moms belly was almost back to normal again. this was a good thing, it was the first sign that things would return to normal at home.

"Did you think about names for the babies?" her mother asked

"Yes!" she stated as she pulled the list out of her purse and handed it over.

Mom looked it over, raising an eyebrow here, chuckling there. eventually she sighed and handed the list back to Sarah.

"I think I see two very good names on that list, What about Beatrice and Baxter? I really like those names. You did a very good job choosing names for your new brother and sister."

Sarah looked absolutely shocked. Had her mom actually LIKED the names she had chosen? This was wrong, very very wrong. Mom was supposed to hate the names but choose two anyway. What happened to her plan?

"You Like them? Why? They were all STUPID names and you were supposed to hate them. You were supposed to hate them so much you didn't want to keep the babies with those names!" Sarah blurted out.

Mom smiled, looked at Uncle Mike with a grin and asked him if the "girls" could have a few minutes together. She let him know which way the nursery was and sent him out of the room. Then she looked right at Sarah, Hugged her again and asked her to explain whet was just said.

Sarah told Mom that she didn't like babies because they were yucky, loud and just wrong. She didn't like Smush and she wouldn't like her new brother and sister either and she was never having babies of her own EVER. then she crossed her arms across her chest and huffed.

Mom tried not to laugh, but couldn't keep it in this time. Sarah was now very confused on top of everything else. She was sure that Mom would have been very mad about her not wanting the babies, or about choosing the stupid names but Mom was laughing. What was wrong with her?

Mom hugged Sarah even tighter and looked her right in the eyes. "Sarah, were keeping the babies no matter what. But there not all bad, you will see that it may be a bit rough at first but eventually having a younger brother and sister will be fun. At first they will pretty much eat, sleep and cry. then they will start eating more, sleeping less and crying less. Eventually they will start learning to play with you and talk with you and you will be a big sister and can help them learn new things."

Sarah was not convinced in the slightest, until Mom reminded her that she was a baby once also. Sarah couldn't remember back that far but figured she remembered enough birthdays to not always have been 10 years old. She snuggled into her Mom and thought about when she would be coming home again.

Mom broke into her daydreams of movie nights and trips to the zoo and asked Sarah if she was ready to meet her new family. Sarah gave Mom a blank look. She wasn't sure HOW to answer that question. she DID want to see the new babies but only to see how horrible they were. She was sure they would be awful.

Mom saw the look on her face, tilted head to one side and kissed Sarah's forehead. She then picked up the phone, dialed a few numbers and told someone that they were ready to meet the rest of the family. A few minutes later Uncle mike pushed a small cart with a plastic tote on top through the door. He was followed by the guy in the mouse shirt pushing an identical cart. Both where wheeled up next to Moms bed and the nurse exited making sure that Mom had everything she needed. He winked at Sarah on his way out the door.

Sarah looked into the bins, there were small tightly wrapped bundles of blankets in them. Suddenly one of the bundles made a squeaky grunting sound. Uncle Mike carefully picked up the bundle and handed it to Mom who cradled it in her arms. Sarah looked closely and saw a tiny round face with big blue eyes just like hers staring back at her. Then the gurgling sound again and the quietest of cries and then the face scrunched up and grunted again.

"Mom? whats it doing?"

"Well Sarah, it looks like your brother Baxter is hungry, would you like to help feed him?"

"NO" Sarah practically shouted at her mother, startling the baby and making it start wailing in the softest of cries she had ever heard. Sarah felt bad for some reason about scaring the small baby. She reached out her hand and ever so gently patted the bundle somewhere in the middle where she figured its tummy would be. The baby quieted slightly.

"See Babies aren't so bad are they? Baxter seems to like you already" whispered Mom

"Does he really like me" Sarah asked

"Well Babies will let you know if they Don't like you by crying more. If they do like you they will calm down when you pay attention to them. You surprised Baxter but then you used a careful touch to let him know you didn't mean it. He accepted that touch and calmed down again. Are you sure you don't want to help me feed him?"

Sarah Shrugged "OK I guess, but I don't know how?"

Mom resettled Sarah next to her and carefully showed Sarah how to hold the tiny baby. Once Baxter was settled carefully on Sarah's lap, she was handed a tiny baby bottle just like on that would be used for a doll. Mom showed her how to hold it so that the baby could suck on the nipple and Sarah did her best to make sure she held it just right. She watched the baby eat, listening to it slurp and snort a bit as it drank. Soon enough the bottle was empty and Mom took Baxter back into her own hands, holding him slightly upright over her had, she asked Sarah to rub his back a bit. A few moments later the baby let out a burp bigger than he was.

Uncle Mike laughed and cheered the baby on. Then he carefully picked up the other baby from the second bin and brought it towards the two girls sitting on the bed. He carefully handed the tiny baby over and took Baxter returning to the chair in the corner of the room to coo at the now satisfied newborn. Sarah looked at the baby and blinked a few times. This face was different, she looked a lot like Mom, not as much like Sarah. As she watched, the baby opened its eyes and seemed to look right at Sarah.

"Mom is this Beatrice? Why doesn't she look like Baxter? Are they really twins?" she blurted out in one breath.

Mom replied with a soft smile "Yes, this would be Beatrice. She does not look like Baxter because she isn't Baxter. Every baby looks the way they do when there born no matter who they are. Yes they are twins. Not all twins look alike, sometimes they are just born at the same time from the same mom." She paused "would you like to feed Beatrice as well?"

"No" said Sarah slipping carefully off of the bed and heading to another chair by the window. She watched mom feed and burp Beatrice. Sarah giggled when her new sisters burp was even louder than her brothers had been.

Mom was looking very tired by now and as she handed Beatrice to Uncle Mike she asked Sarah for another hug. After a warm embrace, Uncle mike asked Sarah if she would like to push one of the carts back to the nursery so her mother could rest some more.

As she followed, pushing the cart with Baxter in it, Uncle Mike explained to her that Mom would be spending at least two more days in the hospital with the babies, then everyone would come home. as they walked past a set of large windows Sarah stopped and looked. there were about 15 babies in a small room where anyone could see them. Uncle Mike called her name and she followed him through another door that buzzed before it opened, right into the room with all of the babies. A nurse smiled at her, asked her how she liked her new brother and sister and then wheeled Baxter's cart across the room to the opposite wall and placed it next to Beatrice.

Both babies were sleeping now and Uncle Mike commented on how peaceful the twins looked. Sarah thought that the proper way to describe them was "currently harmless" more than anything else. The two of them passed out the door to the waiting area and met Aunt Belle and Smush for the long ride home, without Mom.