Authors Note: This chapter is set out differently but I hope you enjoy it none-the-less. Thank you to everyone who left comments or sent me feedback about previous chapters of this story. Thank you also to Margaret who proofread for me. ~ellie
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"Baby Diary – Week 20 (5 months) – The Donati Triplets.
Today was check-up day. I am getting bigger every day now, and I think and have taken to wearing Josh's wardrobe more often than mine. He has told me to go shopping with Andie and buy a whole new maternity wardrobe, but I feel like this is just another thing he says to keep me from bothering him. He used to love seeing me wearing his clothes now I feel like it only annoys him, particularly when he can't find a particular shirt.
Thank goodness for work and the fabulous support team I have down there. I suspect Dante and Lio have been giving Darius instructions on taking more of the workload from me. The archivists who have arrived from other tables are eager to get their volumes progressing and with the additional staff we have added, my original team seem to be able to manage things quite well. As much as I would like more input, it's nice to know the project will carry on should these babies decide to make my life any more difficult.
I feel them kicking all the time now and think in those quiet times when I wake at night that I can almost tell them apart. I wish Josh would slow down enough to talk to me about names for our children, rather than the baby A, B, and C that they had been labelled on the ultrasound scan. They are around two hundred grams each at the moment, and I find myself looking at snacks of a similar weight and imagining a baby that small."
Since waking up in the Battaglia hospital, Peri had hardly seen the side of Josh that had both frightened and attracted her during the early weeks of their relationship. She and her friends in the research department had nicknamed him the control freak but when their relationship had been almost torn apart by circumstances he had mellowed in his demands on her. In the time since returning from the farm gathering, however, she began to see that side of her husband more often as he worked hard to keep all of the projects in his life moving forward the way he wanted.
When she saw him after long days at work and the house build he commanded and demanded rather than requested and discussed things with her. The stress and urgency of juggling her needs on top of the business and the house build showing in his demeanour and personality. He was still loving and kind in other ways, but she knew that this was no longer an equal partnership, and she was being put in her place as wife and mother while he began to make all the decisions that would affect their lives in the long term.
Peri was at a loss for how to help him or make things easier for him, so she meekly accepted most of the demands he made of her without question. From time to time she questioned what he was doing or had asked of her, but she picked her battles and gave him the control over the majority of their lives that he seemed to need so desperately.
As her belly started to expand Josh became more careful in his use of her. He had asked very direct questions of both Anna and Pete about their sexual activity particularly regarding her breasts and when she would start lactating. Peri had blushed furiously throughout the questions, but the doctors hadn't batted an eyelid when they had answered in great detail. To his great delight her breasts grew along with her belly and by twenty weeks she already felt huge and was starting to have difficulty getting up and down from low chairs and the floor.
The doctors talked about her body's stress levels when engaging in rough sex, and while they did not put any specific limitations on their activities, there was an underlying warning about getting carried away. She could feel his frustration as he held back in his use of her and while he still bound her often his use of the crop and the painful pleasures he used to rain down on her body had diminished as did the force he used in applying them.
As the house build gained momentum, Josh came home later and later in the evening taking her quickly and roughly. She could still feel the intense passion he felt for her, but it seemed that sex had become another task on his agenda to be completed each day. She had tried to tease and provoke him in moments when he seemed more relaxed but even when he was home his phone rang constantly, and he seemed distracted. He was determined to create a perfect home for his wife and children and drove himself relentlessly.
After the early arrival of his newest nephew Timo, Josh had become even more careful to shield Peri from the stresses of his work or the build of their dream home. Helping Peri through her anxiety of knowing their babies would be born early; he seemed to see the premature baby ward with new eyes. While he remained upbeat and positive when discussing baby Timo with Ben and Emily, he disliked the thought of his children being there. He became determined to cosset Peri in Dante's high rise apartment away from any of life's stresses until the babies demanded their entrance into the world. When Anna had brought up the idea of booking in a caesarean rather than waiting for labour, he had refused at first.
"Isn't it better for us to let them develop as long as possible within the womb?" He had demanded abruptly.
"It is but we can make an educated guess about when that will be. Most triplets arrive between thirty-two and thirty-four weeks of gestation because they simply run out of room to grow," Anna explained. "It could be less traumatic for the babies if we shoot for week thirty-three but we can wait for labour if that is what you both decide." Anna looked at Peri, who was listening to the conversation silently.
"I feel great," Peri said brightly. "Is there a reason you think I mightn't make it longer than thirty-three weeks?"
"Your babies take after their Papa," Pete said with a smile. "They are growing well, and there is only so much room you can make for them before it starts to affect your health, Peri. You're carrying three not one, so you're going to be much bigger than Emily or Bianca got with their pregnancies." He looked at Josh then. "We still have some time to decide so think about it until we meet again, okay?"
"Okay," Josh agreed without consulting Peri. "Is that it for this week?" He asked abruptly coming to his feet.
"Everything seems to be going according to plan," Anna said and smiled at Peri. "Your babies are about two hundred and fifty grams each right now, and your fundal height is over thirty centimetres, so your uterus is beginning to stretch to the full term length of a single pregnancy. You need to rest more often because these little ones are only going to demand more from you. They seem active on the scans, and you can feel then moving about, so all seems to be very normal for you and the babies. Have you got any questions?"
"No, I will see you next week at the scan," Peri said standing up beside Josh. Every Wednesday she had an appointment to see Anna. On alternate weeks, she had a scan as well but this week was just a check-up. She took Josh's hand and farewelling Pete, they walked from the room.
