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Chapter 7: Beams of Light – May 23 – September 9, 2023

“Hobi?  If we’re having a girl, what do you want to name her?”

“Why, Dalbit, after my precious Moonbeam, of course.”

“Really?   Because I’d like to name her Haebit, after my Sunshine.”  She grinned up at him, releasing a little of her own rays.

He beamed down at her as he held her hand, tugging her into the doctor’s office.  A few minutes later, she lay down on the table before the sonogram machine.  The sonographer lifted her shirt and squirted the cool gel onto her belly before sliding the wand through it.  Minsu and Hobi were both eagerly watching the screen, expecting to see their baby’s form popping up at any moment.  But they both did a double take as the wand slid across her tummy and the images of not one but two babies popped up on the screen.  Minsu’s mouth dropped open and her eyes slid sideways towards Hobi.  Had he seen what she’d seen?  Was she having twins, or had a double image somehow presented itself?

Just then, the sonographer set the wand down and picked up the phone near her elbow.  “Sorry, folks, but this is going to take a lot longer than normal.  I need to alert the front desk.  They’ll have to push the appointments back.  You’re having twins.”

Minsu’s eyes grew round as she stared in glee at Hobi.  The sun had just swallowed his face too. 

“Perhaps we can name them Dalbit and Haebit after all,” Hobi murmured.

Half an hour later, they discovered that in October, Minsu would be giving birth to both a moonbeam and a ray of sunshine.  Twin girls.

—

Minsu headed to her umpteenth prenatal appointment.  Being pregnant with twins was hard work.  The doctor wanted to see her every week during her third trimester.  She still had nearly five weeks before her babies were due.  Though, technically, they’d be considered full-term in about three weeks.  Today was not a sonogram appointment, so she wouldn’t get to take any pictures of her little babies home with her. 

The nurse took her blood pressure and frowned.  Then she glanced at her chart.  She walked out the door, leaving Minsu alone.

A few minutes later, the doctor entered the room as she studied her chart.  “Minsu, you’re blood pressure has been going up steadily for the last three weeks.  I’m a little concerned.  Today it was 150/96.  I’d like you to head to your hospital and have them check you out.”

A flash of worry flowed across Minsu’s face.  “Is something wrong?”

“No.  We just want to make you sure and your babies stay healthy.  Depending on what they find at the hospital, we might need to encourage your body to deliver sooner than expected.  Head to the hospital.  They’ll run some tests.  They may admit you overnight too.  But you’re far enough along that your babies will be okay even if we need to induce labor early.”

Minsu called Hobi on her way out the door.  She was a little worried.  Hobi promised to make his way to the hospital as soon as his shift at work was over.  And Minsu promised to call him if the doctors gave her any alarming news.

An hour later, she was greeted by a nurse who had come to visit her in the room to which she’d been escorted after arriving at the front desk.  They’d given her a hospital gown and encouraged her to lie down in a bed.  They’d also put some irritating pressure cuffs on her legs to discourage blood clots from forming.  And she was hooked up to some machine that took her blood pressure every fifteen minutes.  Another aggravating device. 

A doctor had brought her the distressing news that her urine sample had come back positive for more protein than they liked to see.  But, right now, they had diagnosed her with only pregnancy-induced hypertension, not preeclampsia.  Apparently, that was what the doctors had been looking for.  Thankfully, Minsu lacked the qualifying third symptom of preeclampsia, headaches or blurry vision.

The nurse visiting her began to read a chart to her.

“Are you Jung Minsu?”

“Yes.”

“Born February fifteenth, nineteen ninety-nine?”

“No.”

The nurse frowned.  “You have an allergy to peanuts?”

“No.”  Minsu furrowed her brow. 

“An allergy to penicillin?”

“No…how many babies does that chart say I’m pregnant with?”

“One.”

“Nope.”  Minsu shook her head.  “That is definitely not my chart.  I’m having twins.”

The nurse left the room and came back a few moments later with the correct chart.  “We’re going to admit you into the hospital tonight.  We want to keep an eye on you.”

Minsu frowned.  She felt perfectly fine.  She was just suffering from a little high blood pressure. 

After she’d been admitted to a regular room, a doctor came to visit her.  “Let your nurse know if you begin to experience any headaches or blurry vision.  We want to start you on Pitocin if you begin to show any more symptoms of preeclampsia.”

“Doctor, can’t I just go home if I promise not to do anything but lie in bed?”

“No.  We need to watch you carefully.  We’re going to try not to take the babies until the thirty-sixth week because by then their lungs will be fully formed.  But we need you here so we can keep an eye on you.  All three of you.”

Minsu sighed.  A few minutes later, Hobi showed up with her favorite treat from the coffee shop.  A chocolate chip scone.  He was wearing a concerned expression on his sunny face. 

“Minsu, are you okay?  Are our girls okay?”

“We’re all fine.  I’ve just got a little high blood pressure.  They want me to stay overnight so they can keep an eye on me.  They’re talking about starting my labor early, so the girls will be born sooner.  But they want them to stay inside me until week thirty-six if possible.  Which is just about four days from now.  Hobi,” she grimaced, “I think they’re going to induce labor sometime in the next few days.  Which means our girls will arrive early.”

“They’ll be okay, Minsu.  Remember: full term for twins is thirty-eight weeks.  You’re not that far away.”

She sighed.  “I know.”  She glanced down at her legs.  “I just hate these dumb machines they’ve hooked me up to.  Between the blood pressure cuff and the pressure pillows on my legs, I’m already going nuts.”

“I’ll get you some books to read and some magazines to look at.  And I’ll bring you anything you want for dinner.  Okay?  I’ll come visit every day at the end of my shift.  You’re going to do great.”  He leaned forward and kissed her on the lips. 

But Minsu was just plain irritated.

—

Three days later, Minsu was getting hungry.  A nurse came to see her.  “I need to perform a non-stress test on the babies,” he informed her. 

After attaching the nodes to her belly, he listened for a few moments.  “Do you feel that?”

“What?”

“You’re having contractions.”

Her eyes grew large.  Embarrassed, she admitted, “I thought that was gas pains.”

He grinned.  “Nope. You’re definitely having contractions.  They’re going to want to induce labor.”

“Can I have something to drink first?”

She knew she’d chosen the right nurse to ask.  He smiled at her.  “I’ll bring you some juice before I tell anyone.”

A moment later, some wonderful person brought her a lunch tray.  Minsu quickly helped herself to everything on the tray.  She had just finished eating all of her food, and drinking the juice he had brought her, when the nurse in charge of her care slipped into her room and rebuked her for eating.

“You’re about to deliver twins!  You shouldn’t be eating right now!”

Minsu just smiled at her.  She’d managed to eat a full meal and drink two bottles of juice.  She knew that she probably wouldn’t be delivering her daughters for several hours and would need the energy provided by her lunch to endure those hours with grace.  A couple of minutes later, her nurse wheeled her to a delivery room.  She was given Pitocin intravenously.  She was also given a medication to prevent her from having a seizure.  It made her sleepy, and she slipped off into slumber for a while.  She awoke as Hobi came striding into the room half an hour later. 

“Sorry, Minsu!  I didn’t get your text for twenty minutes.  I left Aeji in charge and came straight here!”

She smiled at him.  “It’s fine, Hobi.  It’s going to be a little while before I deliver our girls.  You got here in plenty of time.”

He sighed with relief and settled down in the chair.  “It’s freezing in here.”

“No!  It’s blissful!  I was so hot upstairs.”

Just then, her new nurse entered the room.  “Ahhhh.  It feels so good in here!” she exclaimed and rubbed her protruding belly.

Minsu eyed her.  “How far along are you?”

“Seven months,” responded her pregnant nurse.

“I’m glad you’re enjoying the cold spell.  I had the last nurse turn it down because I was so hot.”

“It’s wonderful,” the nurse grinned at her.  Then she glanced at Hobi.  “But he looks like he needs a blanket.”

Minsu giggled.  “Can he have one?”

“Sure.  I’ll get him one in a second.  Let me just check your progress first.”  A few moments later, she added, “You’re at a seven.  It’s going to be a little while yet.”

Minsu leaned back and closed her eyes.  And took another nap.  While Hobi shivered under a hospital blanket.

She awoke a while later to her usually calm doctor’s uncommonly strident voice.  “What’s going on in here?  She should have delivered by now!  If she’s not ready, we’re going to have to section her.”

Section her?

Alarmed, Minsu sat straight up in the bed and then froze.  “Uh.  I think I’m ready.”

The doctor checked her.  “She’s complete,” she informed the nurse before turning towards Minsu.  “We’re going to take you to the operating room.  You’re going to push out the first one.  Then you will probably go back down to an eight. You’ll have to complete again before you can push the second one out.  It may take anywhere between five minutes and a half hour.”

As it turned out, it took only five minutes.  And that was only because her second little darling decided to come out breach.  Minsu had to push several times before she delivered her second daughter.  But she’d taken twenty minutes to deliver her first.   Even so, within a half hour of being wheeled into the operating room, Minsu was holding her precious daughters in her arms.  They were just perfect.  If a bit tiny.  They each weighed about five pounds.

“Welcome to the world, Dalbit,” Hobi murmured as he beamed down at his second-born daughter.

“Your smile lights up the room, Haebit.  Just like your appa’s,” Minsu cooed to their firstborn.

Minsu glanced up at Hobi. 

He beamed down at her.  “Look at our precious girls.  I got my sweet Moonbeam and you got your…”

“Beautiful sunshine,” she finished his thought before they each returned their attention to the delightful baby in their arms.