Two of a Kind, Workin' on a Full House

12/20 - 18 weeks

“Everything looks great. Both babies are measuring pretty much equal and on schedule. You’ll probably start feeling them move around soon, if you haven’t already. Did we want to try to tell the sex of these cuties today?”

“Yes,” Cara and Jamie said in unison, then laughed.

“Ok,” the doctor chuckled. “Sometimes it’s more difficult with twins because they like to block each other. But let’s see what we can see.” She moved the transducer over Cara’s belly until she had a good idea where they both were. “Well, we’re in luck there. They’re not snuggling or playing pat-a-cake, so we should be able to get a good look.” After a little more scanning, she stopped in one spot and said, “Here we go. Baby A looks like … yep, congratulations, you have at least one daughter.”

“For sure?” Cara asked.

“Oh yes, quite clearly. Shall we see about her sibling now?”

“Mhmm. Yes, please,” Cara nodded. She glanced up at Jamie, who quickly swiped at his eyes, grinning, and squeezed her hand.

“Ok, come on, little one, let us see. Don’t be shy now,” the doctor said. “Ok if I push a little to see if we can get Baby B to get those feet out of the way?” Cara nodded, and she pushed a little on her belly with her hand. “That feel ok?”

“Yeah, fine. A little weird, but not bad.”

“Good. There we go, thank you, sweetheart. Y’all ready?”

“Yes,” they said in unison again.

“This one’s not quite as clear because her bottom is turned a little inward, but I’m pretty sure she’s another girl.”

“Two girls?” Jamie croaked. He cleared his throat before trying again. “Sorry. How sure are you?”

“Cara, can you roll to this side for me? Let’s see if she’ll wiggle this direction for us. Come on, baby, let us be sure. Your daddy would like to know whether he’s going to be outnumbered,” she winked. Cara turned toward her, and after a moment, the image on the screen shifted and the doctor smiled. “Girl it is. Sorry, dad, you’re still the only man in the house.”

“Not sorry,” Jamie beamed. “We’ll make them some little brothers later. I’m hoping daddy’s girls give me the edge with their mom.”

“Oh we’ll see about that,” Cara laughed through her tears. She wanted to bottle the blissful look on his face right now and save it for a rainy day — or the first time his daughters asked permission to date.

After wiping off the ultrasound gel and asking if they had any other questions, the doctor left them to collect their things and check out at the front desk. On the way home, Cara looked at the 15 different sonogram printouts and waffled between a dopey grin, petrified stare, and happy tears. Jamie kept his hand on her thigh and his eyes on the road, but the same range of emotions washed over his face.

“Oh!” Cara exclaimed as they entered the freeway, “Can we stop by North Park real quick?”

“Five days before Christmas?”

“I just want to pick up one thing. You can stay in the car, even.”

“Ok.”

A few minutes later, Jamie pulled into a parking space and asked, “Sure you don’t need me to come in?”

“Jamie, I’m pregnant, not an invalid.”

Hands in the air, he surrendered. “I know, I know.”

“I’ll be right back.”

“Don’t get lost.”

“Shut it.”

“Just sayin’, pregnancy brain.”

“Jamie Benn, don’t make the pregnant woman beat your ass in the mall parking lot.”

He giggled as she got out of the car and enjoyed the sway of her hips as she walked off. Her body had changed in a few ways, but they were all beautiful. He busied himself on his phone once she was out of sight, and he was surprised when she did actually return in about 20 minutes, one small bag in her hand.

“All set?” he asked as she buckled her seatbelt.

“Yep. Easy peasy. Hey, would it be ok with you if I invite Sean and Liv over for dinner?”

“Yeah, sure. I cleared my schedule for the rest of the day. Just can’t stay up all night.”

“No problem. They’ll need to get home anyway.” She pulled her phone out of her purse and texted back and forth with her brother a few times.

Once they were home, they each called their moms and texted their siblings to give them the update, then set about preparing dinner. While they worked, Cara casually brought up why she’d invited her brother over, aside from telling him the news.

“Sean said he’d bring his camera tonight.”

“Oh? What for?”

“To take a few pictures of us.”

“Aww, Cara, come on. Why?”

“Nothing fancy! Just something to announce the babies with.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“Mostly of our feet, really. Wearing our Chucks. With the baby Chucks I bought at North Park today.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes! It’s gonna be adorable. And you don’t have to even get dressed up. You can wear what you have on now.”

Jamie sighed. “Fine. I guess that won’t be so bad.”

“Thank you, Love.” She kissed him on the cheek and bumped his hip with hers.

Chuckling, he went back to chopping vegetables.

When Sean and Olivia arrived, they spent a few minutes ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the sonogram printouts before starting to set up the shot for the announcement. Cara’s plan was to just line up their feet and the tiny pink Converse on the hardwood, but Sean had the idea to have the two of them sit on the sofa together with their feet propped on the table and the baby shoes in front of their feet.

“You know what this photo needs?” Olivia interrupted. “Christmas.”

“Yes!” Jamie agreed. “I’ll get our Christmas sweaters!”

“Yes!” Olivia cheered.

“No,” Cara shook her head. “This is about the babies, not your ridiculous Christmas sweaters.”

“But Caaaarraaaaa,” Jamie and Olivia whined together.

“Oh my god, you two are the worst. Fine, we can Christmas it up a little. But no sweaters!”

“Fine,” Jamie pouted.

“How about red and green shirts?” Olivia suggested.

“Ok, that I can do,” Cara agreed. “Be right back.” She headed off to their room to find something suitable. When she came back, she was wearing a dark red maternity shirt and holding a green t-shirt for Jamie, which he happily shed his white one for. “Good enough?” she asked.

“I guess, since you won’t do the sweaters,” Olivia sighed.

“I promise on Christmas I will wear that silly thing all day long, as long as it’s cool enough in the house. I just really want this to be about the babies.”

“That’s fair,” Jamie agreed. “Ok, back to it.”

When everything was set up, Sean took a bunch of shots, some with the shoes on the table, some with them holding them, some with one of the sonograms. The whole shoot took about 15 minutes, and then they sat down to dinner.

It was around 8:15 when Sean and Olivia headed out, Sean promising to get Cara the photos later that night. She and Jamie cleaned up the dinner dishes and changed into their pajamas before settling on the couch to watch tv for a bit. They were just turning it off and heading to bed when Cara’s phone lit up with a text message.

“Ahhh, Jamie, look at these!” she squealed.

“Ok, those are pretty cute,” he admitted as she scrolled through the photos from Sean. His favorite, of course, didn’t show their faces, just his arm around her and her hand on her baby bump, with only the bottoms of their shoes and the two tiny pairs of baby ones in focus. She preferred the one that was basically the same shot, but they were more in focus, and he had one hand on her bump and was kissing her forehead. She was framing that.

“Send that one I liked to me?” he asked.

“Yep. You gonna post it?”

“Yep. It’s about time, isn’t it?”

She rubbed her baby bump, which was pretty obvious at this point. “Definitely. Can’t hide this anymore, anyway.”

After getting ready for bed and settling in, they both opened up Instagram to compose their announcements. Jamie finished his first and scrolled through his feed while he waited for Cara. When she was done posting, she looked at his and immediately teared up.

“Excited to welcome two more amazing women into my life. See you in May, babies!” with two pink hearts and two baby emoji.

Jamie popped over to hers and giggled.

“We made a wish and two came true! May 2020” with the same two hearts and babies.

Jamie laughed as he set his phone aside and slid down to rest his head on her chest. “Your parents are such nerds, girls,” he giggled, “but we love you and we’re so excited about you.” He pressed a kiss to her bump and settled in to tell them about his day, like he had every night he was home since they were supposed to be able to hear him.

Notes