Joneses – 7.5 Faith

Asia had a secret. Ever since her promotion and schedule change she had been preparing to expand their family once more. The timing was right, and the conditions couldn’t have been more perfect—at least perfect for them. Don’t get her wrong though. This wasn’t some vain pursuit or woe is me guilt trip. Asia had always been comfortable in her own skin. She was and had always been a thick girl and had no fantasy about being small. To seal the matter, Jared loved her just the way she was. However, after her last pregnancy, she seemed to pick up a few pounds. It never bothered her until they had decided to get pregnant again. She never imagined she would ever be at the top of the scale, and gaining more baby weight would definitely put her there. She figured if she lost the last baby weight, the new baby weight would put back to where she was currently. Nothing lost and nothing gained. So, she had been working out all week. By the time she was in the second trimester, she had achieved her goal and was feeling good.

There was another matter that had been on her mind that she needed to discuss with her husband. This schedule change was a blessing, but it would amount to nothing if the birth was not in sync with their schedules. See, she learned they were expecting twins! A boy and a girl, actually. Overjoyed couldn’t describe what she felt when she learned she would finally have the little girl she had always dreamed of. Jared was pretty stoked too. But, twins changed everything. They would require twice the time, twice the energy, twice the care, and double everything! Asia had been doing a lot of research about a particular solution. She hoped Jared would be on board.

“…so? What do you think?”

“It sounds risky, Asia. I…I don’t know if I like it.”

“I know. I had concerns about it too, but it’s perfectly safe! Women do it all the time! Moira says it’s a pretty common these days.”

Jared sighed and sat back in his seat. He cupped his hands over his head and thought about it. He was weighing pros and cons. Honestly, there weren’t any cons. He was just scared. Asia was afraid too, but she had been convinced that her fears were unfounded. She made up her mind that this was what she wanted needed to do, and she was going to convince him one way or another.

“Let me explain it this way. Neither of us are going to be able to handle two babies alone! I know Kolby is older now, and he can look after Kaiden. And I know they’ll understand that it’ll be hard, but I don’t want us to abandon them because we’re taking care of the babies alone. If I get induced tomorrow, it’ll be perfect! I’ll go on family leave on Sunday and take off Monday, and you take family leave on Monday and take of Wednesday. We can be together the entire time they are babies! We’ll go back to work on their birthday!”

It was a very compelling speech she gave. It did make sense and would be the best solution. Naturally he had flashbacks of Kaiden’s birth. He couldn’t get the image of the malfunctioning machine out of his mind and how scared they both were. He didn’t want to go through anything like that again.

“Jared,” she said softly. She scooted closer to him and put her hand on his knee. “I know you’re scared, and you have every reason to be. I’m not trying to diminish your fears. I want you to exhibit a little faith again. The babies are fine…I’m healthier…It’s a simple process…We need to do it…We need to have faith that everything will be fine. Can you do that?”

Faith. There was that word again. It was so easy for him to think about in every situation except for the one he needed to exhibit it. He knew she was right; she always was.

He took a deep breath. “Ok.”

“Thank you, Jared. Everything will be just fine.”

The next day, Saturday, the Pruetts were preparing for the arrival of their new family members. Kaiden moved into Kolby’s room. Kolby wasn’t too happy about sharing his space although he understood why. Jared had considered building a new room, but Asia decided against it. She said that they were a family, and families make sacrifices for each other. Kolby thought he would corner her by saying, “But, you said this room was for big brothers!” Asia smirked and said, “Kaiden is a big brother now.” That was the end of that argument. Jared and Kolby rearranged the furniture in Kaiden’s old room and got it set up to accommodate the new kids. By late afternoon, everything was ready and prepared. All they needed were the babies.

Asia went outside to gather the mail and saw Eliza walking down the sidewalk to visit her. She felt flushed for she knew a confrontation was coming; she hadn’t even told Eliza she was pregnant. Third trimester bellies are impossible to hide, and Eliza had already seen her. She swallowed the lump in her throat and proceeded with damage control before Eliza even opened her mouth.

“I have my reasons for not telling you, so don’t get all offended and accusatory.”

She went back to the porch to sit, and Eliza followed.

Eliza smiled wryly. “I wasn’t offended, but I think maybe I should be. I was only surprised to see you.”

“You were judging me! It’s what you do! I am not competing with anyone! You wanna have more kids? You do it because you want to not to keep up with me!”

Eliza was taken aback. She blinked a few times before she replied. “My… Remind me to never have twins. They have your hormones extremely twisted.” She completely dismissed everything Asia. “So…what are their names? I imagine you’re going to stick to the K’s.”

Asia was surprised and a little relieved at Eliza’s casual response. Though she meant what she said, she had no intentions of actually saying it—at least not in that moment. Perhaps she was having a hormonal outburst. Whether she was or wasn’t, fighting with Eliza was not something she was interested in doing that day.

“Of course! It was a bit hard this time because I usually pick a unisex name and change the spelling according to the gender, but we had no reason to do that this time! Although, the girl’s name is still unisex.”

Eliza gasped. “A girl? Finally? Oh Asia! That is splendid!” She was genuinely happy for her friend.

“So it’s a boy and a girl then?”

“Yep! The boy will be Kaleb, and the girl will be Kori!”

“Hmmm, separately they are very nice names, but when you say them all together they sound almost the same.”

Asia cocked her head to the side. She hadn’t thought of that. “Kolby, Kaiden, Kori, Kaleb. Kolby, Kaiden, Kaleb, Kori,” she said aloud. “Ha! Wow! They do sound a lot alike! Hopefully I won’t have to call all of them at the same time.” She sat for a moment and let the discovery sink in for a moment. “Good heavens, Eliza! How did we end up with four children?!”

“It’s what you and Jared both wanted, right? A house full of children?”

“Absolutely. It’s just surreal right now. I never considered having twins. Not once!” Except that time Mary told me I looked like a whale! “And, I figured we would have just one more child. Now that we’re having two more… I just feel so blessed!”

Asia and Eliza spoke about her plan to induce labor if she didn’t do it naturally by that night. She also caught her up on her promotion and schedule change. Eliza was glad everything was going so well for them. Later that evening, Asia was in the basement deliberating on whether or not she should go to the hospital. She was so tired, but it was still early. However, she didn’t want to leave Jared in the lurch the first night and decided she would go to bed super early so she could be up in the wee hours of Sunday morning. She would still have time to put in her family leave request.

Kolby came down to see her. “Are you ok, mom?”

“My handsome maestro! Come sit! I’m as well as could be expected.

“What’s on your mind? How do you like high school?”

“It’s ok.”

“Have you met any nice girls?”

“Mom…”

“What? I want you to have a little girlfriend! You can bring her here and we’ll have dinner and get to know her. It’ll be so cute! You know me and your dad met in high school.”

“Yeah, I remember the stories.” He was conflicted. On one hand it was nice to know that his mother approved of him dating at such a young age. But on the other hand, it felt strange to talk about with her. He was thinking he would feel more comfortable speaking with Jared. But on the other hand, while the idea of romance was appealing, he didn’t want to feel rushed. He wanted to take his time and get to know some girls. Then, when he selected the right one, he would do all the big, romantic gestures he had always dreamed about.

Asia’s back was aching and she moaned a little.

“Are you sure you’re ok, mom?”

“Oh yeah. A little discomfort comes with the territory. So…do you have anyone in mind?”

“Mom…do I have to meet someone now?”

“Good heavens! No! If you’re not ready, by all means no. I just thought you were from all the questions you were asking before your birthday.”

“I…never mind.”

“What is it?”

“It’s silly.”

“Aww, honey! What is it?”

“Don’t laugh… I want to get better at the piano because I want to be able to serenade her and write songs for her.” He looked embarrassed.

“Good heavens! My little maestro is so romantic!”

“Mom…”

“No, really, Kolby! That is the sweetest thing! Whoever you date is going to be the luckiest girl in the world!” She was secretly proud that her romanticized ways of thinking about the world somehow got passed onto her son.

They talked for a few more minutes about his high school experiences, and then she went upstairs to bed. She was in a bit of a crisis when she went to sleep. Between the battle of hunger, sleep, and needing to pee, sleep prevailed and she crashed. But, at 2:30 in the morning, she woke up in labor! She was a little bit glad she didn’t have to induce labor. However, her bladder was full all night and couldn’t wait to be emptied; she never made it to the toilet. She took a shower and mopped up her mess. Then she went downstairs to take care of her extreme hunger. The contractions were coming on faster and faster, but she was determined to finish her meal for she was so hungry. It was difficult, but she finished her meal. The contractions were so strong, she didn’t think she would make it to the hospital. She was on her way upstairs to wake Jared to take her, but instead she woke him to let him know she was going to have the babies at home. She explained why she waited so long. He was also glad that she went into labor naturally and even more glad that there wouldn’t be any hospital drama. Kolby was born at home, so they were both familiar with how that went. So, they went into the babies’ room and let nature take its course. They were born minutes after Jared got up. Welcome to the world, Kori and Kaleb!