consulted with Victoria and made the decision to call for the life flight helicopter to get Maddie to Providence, in case neonatal intensive care was required for the babies. With the power out on the island, they didn’t want to take any chances.
Just hearing those words, neonatal intensive care, was enough to spike the expectant parents’ combined anxiety.
The next few minutes were a blur of activity and people and contractions and tears and then finally the roar of the helicopter as it landed on the lawn adjacent to where the wedding had just been held.
As soon as she and Mac were loaded on the chopper, the overwhelming need to push became impossible to stop. The first of their twin girls was born as the chopper lifted off from Gansett Island. Her sister followed twelve minutes later as they approached the landing pad at Women & Infants Hospital in Providence.
The medics on the chopper told them the girls were small but breathing on their own, which was a huge relief, even if there were still other concerns.
Maddie was exhausted after giving birth to the twins and couldn’t seem to stop crying from the powerful wallop of emotion and the whiplash from how it’d happened. So much for the calm, rational, well-orchestrated delivery they’d planned. If there was any silver lining to the babies coming early, perhaps it was that they wouldn’t have to be separated from Thomas.
“Are you all right?” Maddie asked Mac.
“I can’t believe you’re asking me that. You’re the one who just gave birth to twins on a helicopter.”
“I know how these crazy births freak you out.”
“The only thing I care about is that you and the girls are okay. And the good news is, this is the last crazy birth we’ll ever have.”
“Snip, snip,” Maddie said, referring to the vasectomy he was scheduled to have in September.
“After this, I’m actually looking forward to the snip,” Mac said.
“Go with the girls,” Maddie said when they landed. “Stay with them until you know how they are and then come find me.”
He bent to kiss her. “You’re amazing every day, but today in particular. I love you so much. Thank you for all our children.” And then he was gone in a rush of action that had the babies being whisked off the chopper in a flurry of movement and people and urgency that had her anxiety flaring again.
As Maddie was taken off the helicopter, she prayed their babies would be okay.
Mac was in a state of disbelief. One minute he’d been telling his son that he had to be quiet for a few more minutes, and the next he noticed something happening with Maddie. The realization had left him briefly frozen in shock before he shook it off, passed his kids to his parents and ran for his wife.
The episode reminded him too much of the night Hailey was born in the middle of a tropical storm, on an island, in a power failure, with the only doctor off-island—or so they’d thought until Janey remembered her ex-fiancé, Dr. David Lawrence, was in town. That time, David had come to the rescue. Today, the helicopter had saved them.
If you’d told him that morning he’d be at Women & Infants, separated from Maddie and waiting to hear that his daughters were okay, he wouldn’t have believed it. But nothing in his life with Maddie had ever been predictable, so why should this be?
He paced in the hallway outside the NICU, his phone chiming with texts from worried friends and family on the island, and waited impatiently for news about the babies. He took only one call, from his father.
“Hey.”
“How are you holding up, son?”
“I’ll be better when we know how the babies are.”
“They were already born?”
“On the helicopter.”
“Holy shit. Is Maddie okay?”
“She seems fine. She was incredible, as always. We’re just waiting to hear how the babies are. They’re a month early…”
“I know, but we have to have faith that they’re going to be all right.”
“Hope so.”
“Let me know the minute you hear anything, and I’ll keep everyone else in the loop.”
“Will do. Tell Mallory and Quinn we’re sorry for disrupting their day.”
“Don’t give it another thought. She already said they’re thrilled to share their birthday and their wedding day with the twins. Everyone just wants to hear that the girls and Maddie are fine.”
“I’ll be in touch as soon as I know anything more.”
“We’ll be waiting to hear, and don’t worry about the kids. Mom, Francine and Tiffany have them covered.