“Yeah. I…where’s Xavier?” she asked.
“He was at the factory in locked-down negotiations. I got Javier back at the family compound in Barcelona. He should be here soon, and you know Xav. As soon as he gets his phone back on, he’ll break speed limits getting here.”
Sandra swallowed, not sure if she was looking forward to him arriving or was terrified. Babies. They were having twins.
Oh god, and just one seemed hard!
Tonya kissed her forehead. “It’s been almost six hours. I’ll call your mom. She has to be going crazy with everything. I’ll be right back!”
“Thanks, hon. I owe you one.”
“Naturally,” Tonya said, trotting out the door.
“So twins, huh?” she asked the doctor.
“Señorita Gaines, I think you may need to take a deep breath. I’d like to show you the ultrasound. Actually, I want to do a new one.”
“I…okay? Does this mean triplets? I don’t know if I can handle that!”
“You’ll see,” he said, calling in the nurses and having one pull up the hem of her gown.
Sandra shivered as the cool gel was placed on her belly, and then smiled nervously up at the nurse who’d applied it. The doctor concentrated on the ultrasound screen as he reached over and set the wand over her stomach. It took a few seconds for the picture to appear onscreen, but she couldn’t quite understand what she was seeing. The screen seemed a bit grey and burry to her. What she saw just couldn’t make sense.
“How many babies are in there?”
“Six.”
She laughed—a broken, cackling noise that made the nurse flinch. “Oh, man, you got me there, doctor. I get it. You’re doing something to try and make the gringa feel uncomfortable. Well you did a good job. It’s twins, though, right?”
He sighed and pointed to six separate, tiny shapes, almost like little sea monkeys. “Señorita Gaines, this is completely serious. You are having sextuplets.”
She shook her head, deciding that Tonya had to be setting her up somehow in the world’s worst and least funny joke. “No, you have to do IVF for that.”
“Normally, yes. There was, however, one other case I looked up while you were unconscious. There was a couple in England in 2009 that had natural sextuplets. I personally called that physician myself just an hour ago to confirm. The odds are over one in 4.5 million, but yes, you’re pregnant with sextuplets.”
She swallowed hard. “That can’t be.”
The doctor reached over and patted her hand sympathetically. “I could hardly believe it myself. This is a rare medical miracle.”
It didn’t feel like a miracle. Sandra wasn’t an idiot. Having six babies was very dangerous because there wasn’t enough room in there. There was barely enough for three. Her aunt Mabel had almost lost her triplets over fifteen years ago. One of them, Zack, had underdeveloped lungs and still was developmentally delayed. He was on a special track at a local high school back home. And that was just with three. With six…
Sandra stilled. “Are they going to be okay?”
“This is an extraordinary case. You’ll need constant medical attention and supervision. Soon, you’ll have to go on bed rest to prevent problems with blood pressure. We’ll most likely have to plan for a C-section and a team of six of everything—nurses, doctors, surgeons, and anesthesiologists—for the delivery. If we can get you to eight months, it’ll be a miracle.”
“I just can’t believe it,” she said, grabbing her stomach protectively. “What do I have to do to keep them safe?”
“I can go over the protocol with you now, but would you prefer to get some rest and wait until the father can arrive? There are some good facts in your favor, like your youth and relative vitality. Tonya also mentioned that you had multiples in your family?”
“I have some cousins who are triplets and my older sister had twins just last year,” Sandra said, her voice low and defeated.
Oh shit. Maybe I should have seen this coming. No, scratch that. Who sees sextuplets coming?
“Then there’s also the family pattern of dealing with multiple births. Although, of course, a number this large is special.”
“I know,” she said, shaking a little. Hours ago, she’d been worried she was pregnant at all. A few minutes ago, she’d been fretful about twins. Now she had six little lives growing inside of her, and she didn’t know how to help them. Or how to help herself.
Would Xavier even want them?