7.9: A Growing Family

   "Look at me motha!" Basil (just for clarity, her name's pronounced Bay-sell or Bays-ill, not Ba-zell), our darling little toddler, exclaimed. "I a big girl and use the potty."
    "Wow." I smiled, as I held hands with Rosie, my baby bump bulging out. "Rosie, are we ready to go to the festival?"
    "I need to change Basil into her play clothes first, then we are." She smiled, as she turned to our little girl."We're going to go to the park! Yay, mummy just need to get you dressed up in your new outfit. Want to some mother?"
    "Yeah, yeah. It pwetty." She giggled, clapping her hands together.
    "I bet it is. You know who else is pretty?" I asked her, as she Rosie picked her up.
     "Mummy?"
     "Yeah! And so are you. You're pretty."
     "Thank oo, motha."
     "Aww, you're welcome." I said, as I turned towards the dresser and took out Basil's new leggings and smock dress. Basil was dressed quickly, then we got into our car, buckled our little tot into her car seat, and drove to the festival.

    "Now Basil," I said, standing by the park's white fence. "You know I... mother's getting bigger, right?"
     "And mother's been eating more cookies?" rosie smirked a little; I had always been ultra-healthy, but with baby hormones I'd given in to the temptations of junk food.
     "Organic, natural, and the dairy and eggs were from cows and chickens that were free-range and didn't have any artificial growth hormones. Also, there was protein powder and oatmeal in it. Not the point though." I wanted Basil to grow up respecting earth and nature; she didn't have to be vegetarian or an activist, I just wanted her to be informed. "What's mother going to have?" 
      "A baby." She pointed to my stomach. "Baby in there."
      "That's right! Mother's going to have a baby soon. Now, mother and mum will have a new baby, you'll have someone to play with, you're still our big girl, isn't that right? We love you, but we may be focused on the new baby a lot." I leaned forward and kissed her forehead and Rosie's cheek.
      "We love you." She smiled, repeating what I said to Basil. "And I love ya Hazel."
      "I love you, too." I smiled.
      "Me loves oo! Motha and mummy and mummy and motha and baby."
      "Aww." I felt the sniffles coming. My heart always melted whenever she said something as adorable and sweet as that. "Let's get a picture at the photo booth." I said. I slowly walked to the booth, as Rosie walked beside me with Basil.

  "The picture's great." Rosie smiled, after the photographer showed us a copy. "We'll take two."
  "Sure thing." He smiled. "And I have to say, out of all the kids that parents have dragged over here, yours is the best behaved."
   "Thanks. What do you say Basil?"
    "Thank oo, messtah."
    "You're welcome."
    "Um...Rosie." I whispered. "I'm going to go to the ladies."
    "Pregnancy bladder?" She sympathetically asked.
    "Yeah. I don't know how you did it."
    "It's all worth it. Of course, you don't need me to say theta, you see it." She laughed, as Basil, who was standing on the ground trying to catch a squirrel, looked up at me.
    "Me good."
    "Yes you re." I agreed, as I wobbled off to the barn where the restroom facilities were.

   "Where motha?"
   "She's going to the barn. She'll be back soon." Rosie picked Basil up and began tickling her, just as a drizzle began.
    "I get baby soon."
    "Yes you do."
    "Rain! Rain, rain me wanna play."
    "We should go to the barn and see mother. We don't want to get all wet, now do we?"
    "Yeah. Me wanna get wet. Rubber ducky and bubbles. Hehe."
    "We're not taking a bath, though you need to after playing with the squirrels." She laughed as she carried her to the barn, much to the upset toddler's protest.
     "Hey Rosie. Hi Basil." I said, after I exited the restroom. "Why are you in the barn?"
     "It rainy." Basil pouted. "Me wanna play. Mummy said no."
     "Mummy's right. I'm sorry, basil. Maybe sometime later?"
     "Me wants now."
     "Basil, we don't want your new outfit muddy or for you to get sick. We can play outside tomorrow, when it isn't raining." Rosie said, looking a me. Basil, like most toddlers, could be rather strong willed.
      "Outside is fun. Me hungry."
      "Let's go home." I said. "We can cook dinner and I'm feeling a little worn out anyway."
      "Good idea. You really should rest; the baby's draining your energy." Rosie said, as she patted my stomach. "Aren't ya?"
       "Motha pick me up! Up! Up!"
       "Basil, mother has a baby." Rosie explained. I was trying to avoid doing any heavy lifting that could avoid harm to myself or the babies. My pregnancy wasn't as high risk as Rosie's, since in the past year or two they'd experimented more and discovered a safer way. The baby was another anonymous donor baby Our donor was different from last time; he wasn't Basil's DNA provider. Marco had declined our offer to be a donor. He insisted on being there for the child's life and, with an offer to live in Germany with a six year contract business, he'd hardly be in Washington.

       "But I wanna up, up." She crossed her arms. "Please?"
       "Okay, since you asked nicely." I sighed, leaning down to pick her up. I gently tossed her in the air, as she smiled with delight. We were trying to teach her her manners and this was a good way to show that the word please helped you out.
       "Yay, yay! Me hungry. Thank oo." 
       "You're welcome, honey." I smiled, as I tried holding her. I could tell Rosie wanted to help, but if it made Basil happy, a few minutes couldn't hurt. We began strolling to the car. Rosie, naturally, drove us home. She was an excellent driver and I, on the opposing hand, was easily distracted when on the road. Basil would say something, or I'd see an animal, or anything really and have to look or point it out.

    Rosie parked in the driveway and unbuckled Basil. She carried her in and set her in her high chair, giving her a bottle of water to drink until we could finish cooking her meal. Salad with carrots and chicken nuggets. I had agreed since Rosie wasn't vegetarian we could raise Basil like her and let her decide once she was old enough. I began the process of making the salad, as Rosie got the chicken nuggets and placed them on a try in the oven.
   "Rosie, I think I forgot to put the cheese tray from snack time back in the fridge."
   "Let's go check." She said. I followed her to the dining room, carrying a bowl of salad.
   "Guess I'll have to throw it away." I sighed, as I glanced at the cheese and cracker plate that had been sitting out too long.

    "At least we ate the majority of it. Basil seemed to really like it." Suddenly, I felt a pain in my abdomen. An odd pain... a pain Rosie had once described to me as going into labor. "Hazel? Hazel?" Rosie repeated my name.
    "Rosie... the baby's coming."
    "What? Oh my gosh. Do we- I need to calm down. I'm going to call our sitter for Basil."
    "Oww! Yeah. Uh huh." I nodded.
    "Yes, could you come in? Please. My wife's in labor. Yes. Great. Five minutes? Hurry! Go over speed limit. Hurry! I'll pay you extra just get here. My wife needs to get to the hospital." She shouted into her phone, then closed it. "Let's get you to the hospital." She took my arm and led me to the car.
     "Hosp-contraction." I said. The contractions were the most painful thing I'd gone through.
     "Here." Rosie opened the passenger side door.
     "I want to drive."
     "You're in labor! No."
     "Please." I begged, just as the babysitter pulled up. Rosie looked at me. I was stubborn, just like Basil.
     "Can you handle it?"
      "I'm sure. Otherwise I'll just have the baby here."

      "We decided since we had Basil we'd go to the hospital."
      "I know. No meds."
      "Look, just. Fine." She smiled at me, as I moved to the driver's seat. I began driving us to the hospital, occasionally swerving whenever I got a violent contraction. Rosie looked like I was about to crash, as she held onto the arm rest. We didn't crash, though. We arrived safely at the hospital. We rushed in and were immediately given a room. Soon, I was lying on a bed, my legs in an awkward contraption, as a nurse was screaming at me to push.
     "Push, push, push!"
     "You can do this Hazel."
     "Push, push! I see the head. Push!"
     "I'm pushing, I'm pushing!" I yelled back, gripping onto Rosie pale flesh. I left a bright red mark.
     "Push, push, push! Congratulations." She said, as she held our bundle of new life. "It's girl."
     "A girl." I said, suddenly another pain came.
    "Twins?!" The nurse exclaimed, passing our baby girl off to another nurse. "Push again, push again! Push, push, push!" Suddenly, another little baby came into the world; Rosie and I were shocked. Apparently either I or the donor was really fertile. "A bouncy baby boy." She announced with a flourish. "What would you like to name 'em?"
    "Wren." Rosie said. We had picked out two names since we liked not knowing the gender, one for a boy, one for a girl. Apparently we'd need both.
    "And Harbor."
   "Like the bird and the place with boats?"
   "That's right." I said. Harbor, Wren, and Basil, our little darlings. Our family was complete.