Anthea s baby 1
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The Twelve Tables Ch. 18 free porn video
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.
‘Did you want to see Timo before we leave the hospital?’ Peri asked as they walked toward the elevators.
‘Yeah but just for a few minutes,’ Josh said his voice returning to the calmer one she knew so well. ‘There’s been a few issues with the build today so I will have to head out there straight away. Would you mind if I left you here and got D. to come pick you up?’ He asked watching carefully for her reaction.
‘I can just catch a cab, I don’t need an escort,’ Peri said lightly. ‘You go and sort out what you need to.’
‘I’d feel better if I called D.,’ He said already fishing his phone out of his pocket. He made the call and organised for
Dante to be there in an hour to pick her up.
‘We’re over halfway now,’ she said brightly trying to bring Josh’s mind back to her. ‘That’s pretty exciting.’
‘Yeah, they’ll be here before we know it. Let’s hope this house is finished in time,’ he squeezed her hand.
‘It will all work out, Josh. You don’t have to work so hard. We have options if the house isn’t finished in time,’ she said quietly.
‘It will be finished,’ Josh said emphatically as they walked into the Neonatal Ward, despite his earlier words of doubt.
True to his word Josh barely stayed for ten minutes before leaving again to head back to the house. Peri would have liked to go with him. She had only been back once since moving into the city again. He seemed to think it was too noisy, too dirty and too dangerous with all of the machinery or equipment they were using, he always had a reason not to take her. In the end, she gave up asking and consoled herself thinking of the wonderful surprise she would get when it was completed.
It seemed that where she was concerned, Josh expected Dante to act in his stead when held up at work or the build. Dante had begun constantly checking on her and eating meals with her at the apartment when Josh was running late. He was good company, and their friendship grew as they seemed to spend some of each evening together.
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Josh sped through the city peak hour traffic heading back out to the house. Peri had said they were over half way, but that was for a normal pregnancy. He felt the self-imposed pressure of wanting to provide everything his family needed weighing on him heavily. He didn’t want to have to take the babies and Peri home to one of his brother’s homes or his parents. Andie’s home was certainly too small and not an option.
Tarsia had been a formidable force as she pulled together every contractor she knew and some she didn’t. At times the small hill they were building the home on looked like an ants nest with all the workers coming and going and working towards the same goal of finishing this home.
It had been six weeks since they had returned from the farm and work had begun within days after Tarsia pulled strings to get the planning approval from Council sped through. His sole focus had been this house, and he was here as often as he was at work or home.
Being a semi-rural area, there were constant issues with access to town water, the power grid, and telecommunications access. Once again he relied heavily on Tarsia’s expertise and connections as they waded their way through a mountain of red tape before the foundations of the new house could be poured. The inclusion of cellar had also held up work as weather played havoc with the schedule on top of the other issues.
He had started seeing progress in the last week, but he worried it was too little and too late to be able to make their deadline. He realised that most people didn’t realise that Peri was at least a month further along than they had reported but they could feel his sense of urgency as he spoke about the shorter pregnancy triplets were afforded. Tarsia had tried to reason with him suggesting that should they come early they would need to spend some time in hospital before coming home, but the thought only made him more determined to do whatever it took to get the work done.
Joseph had stepped in on a number of occasions to take his son aside and calm his mood. In truth, he was impressed with how Josh was handling the pressures of everything that was going on in his life. He had been a man of raging perfectionism when he had been a younger man, and it had served him well to maintain his families standing not only in the community and family but within the twelve tables themselves. His reputation preceded him in the years that followed, and he rarely had to rage over the failures of his people. He was undisputedly a leader to be reckoned with, and he could see the same qualities in his son.
Despite his perfectionism and intolerance of hold-ups in the build, his reputation as a good family man went before Josh rather than the raging lunatic he had become so often recently. His honest and fair reputation gave him the respect of the people who now worked with and for him. Joseph added his influence and experience to the work site and would come for days at a time finding a farm with an airstrip close by and having a car housed there for his use.
With his father overseeing the house and working with Tarsia Josh threw himself into his business which he had been neglecting and he put in long days before heading back to the house to see the progress made each day before heading home. Wednesdays he tried to stay home after being at the hospital with Peri, but he found that invariably he was pulled back to the build for one issue or another.
There was another problem with a supplier when he got out to the build late one Friday afternoon, and he sat with Grant and Tarsia talking about the options he had to fill the void left by the failure of delivery. When they had worked it all out again, Joseph patted him on the shoulder and indicated they should walk.
‘You’ve taken on a big task here,’ Joseph said without emotion. ‘Even as a small boy, you would never want to do anything on a small scale. I remember you wanted me to buy you a Bobcat excavator to build a working volcano for a science project at boarding school. You were not happy with me when I said no,’ he chuckled.
‘I wasn’t that small, and it would have been the most epic science project ever,’ Josh chuckled remembering how disappointed he had been at the time.
‘I expect it would have been. Just like this house will be the biggest and best of all the family homes,’ he continued to chuckle keeping the conversation light and easy. ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day, though and you cannot sustain the schedule you have set for yourself, if you do not take the time to recharge yourself by seeing to your own needs.’
‘I will rest when it’s done,’ Josh said seriously.
‘No, my son, you will be a father and have even greater responsibilities when it is done. Peri may be understanding of your absence now, but once she is out here away from your brothers and friends she will need you here to support her and the babies,’ Joseph advised.
‘She will have all the help she needs, Mama is training some nannies for the job even as we speak,’ Josh said easily.
‘Even with a full household staff this is a large house you have built her, and she will need some help and guidance in managing it and the staff while mothering your children. She did not grow up accustomed to such things, and while she is a clever girl, she suffers bouts of anxiety fed by insecurities,’ Joseph said gently reminding his son that his wife had flaws, albeit reasonable ones.
‘Your mother would love to move in with you and Peri for a few months,’ he chuckled knowing that was not something any of his children would relish. Unchecked Antonia was a force of nature that swept everyone before. She liked things done a certain way, and she had no compunction turning her wrath on anyone who disagreed. If her daughters were princesses, then she was undoubtedly the queen.
‘I can only move forward now and trust that she is every inch the woman I believe her to be,’ Josh said in return. ‘I need to do this Papa, just as I need my company to thrive and my family to be happy and healthy.’
‘I would expect nothing less from you,’ Joseph clapped him on the back, ‘but I am here to assert my authority and take you home for the weekend to relax and spend time with those who love you and need you to take some time relax.’
‘I can’t leave Peri,’ Josh began to protest. ‘Dante will bring her home tomorrow. it may be her last chance to visit us for a while and Pete has said she can fly at the moment under certain conditions.’
‘I have so much to do here,’ he protested weakly.
‘And it will still be here on Monday. The world will not stop turning
if you take some time to enjoy your wife and family. You can leave your car in the shed with mine, just follow me over to the airstrip.’
‘Papa I don’t want Peri to risk flying or doing anything that could be a potential risk. Why don’t you bring Mama to town? There is plenty of room, and we could have a family dinner while the three girls are in town. Izzy will be going back to Italy soon, so it’s a good opportunity,’ Josh spoke with the same demanding tone born of exhaustion that he used with everyone recently making his father looked at him with a furrowed brow.
‘You would do well to remember that you do not command me, Joshua Craig,’ Joseph used an authoritative tone and Josh blanched realising he had spoken too abruptly. ‘I will accept your suggestion and leave my car here. I can travel into the city with you tonight. Angelo and Carlo can bring your mother and join us tomorrow.’
*****
‘Baby Diary – Week 24 (6 months) – The Donati Triplets.
I’m lying to myself of course, but it felt good to write six months in the title of this entry. I’m not sure who created the illusion that forty weeks of gestation could be divided evenly by nine. But labelling the months in four week lots makes me happier about how early they will arrive. If I continue to cheat this way I should be able to say I am eight months pregnant before they arrive. It’s a small lie but for some reason, it makes me feel better about my size and how easily I become fatigued now.
Josh seems never to be home now. It’s as if he is being driven by some unseen demon and I am often asleep before he slides into bed with me. I know he does come home though because when one of my little angels wakes me in the middle of the night I feel him curled against my back. I worry that he is pushing himself too hard, so I am trying not to make too many demands on his time. He comes with me every Wednesday to the doctors and for a short time, he seems relaxed and happy as we sit and watch our three little angels fight for room as the move about inside me.
The angels are now around five hundred grams each, and my uterus continues to stretch to contain them, the fundal height is forty centres now, so it’s not just the outward stretch they are forcing on me. I am rubbing cream into my belly daily to avoid stretch marks, but I think they are inevitable. I’m finding clothes are a difficult option and were we in our house in the country all by ourselves I may make Josh happy and just go without clothes all day every day, but I’m not so I am struggling along with ill-fitting clothes. Andie is doing her best to find me some decent work clothes, but I already look like I am nine months pregnant. The larger sizes don’t seem to fit my shoulders or height and the clothes my size barely cover my bump.
Bridgette continues to be wonderful and in addition to looking after my diet and all of the supplements I have been given she has started altering the new larger clothes for me, so I am not as uncomfortable in them. I can’t believe I ever worried about inviting her into our lives. She is amazingly good to me, and we have become friends in an odd way, and though she always treats me with the differential treatment, of an employer, she is loosening up a bit more when we speak and is finally calling me Peri. I know she will be equally wonderful to the babies when they arrive. I expect I will have to start interviewing nannies soon though I would like to think that Bridgette and I could manage without them.’
Peri put the laptop aside and picked up the large jar of vitamin E cream. She lay on her back on the wide leather couch rubbing the cream into her belly. Stretch marks had already begun to appear as the babies pushed her belly ever outward. Bridgette had told her to forget all the expensive lotions and creams promoted by the mother’s magazines and just use the vitamin E cream. The older woman had assured her it was by far the best preventive solution.
Cayleigh
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