Grief evident in her tone, she said "I had an aunt that died giving birth to twins. She wasn't the only one either. It is just not in our line to do well." That was concerning. It was not so certain now. Half an hour later, the midwife came to us. "I have delivered one of the babies. It was a girl." she said. That was the good news. "Is she alright? It sounds like things are going well. Can we see her?" I asked. The woman shook her head. "She is getting increasingly weak and it seems there might be triplets inside instead of twins." Grissell's mother shot up to her feet. "It can't be! Triplets!?" she yelled. The midwife nodded her head. "At this rate, I am not sure that she will last for all of the births. I wanted to ask you now as the father what we should do." she said frankly. It was her profession. Women sometimes died in childbirth. I had no problems with the question. "Grissell is my wife. Everything must be done to save her life at all costs." I told the room. I then looked at Yon. "Go get the surgeon. If she is too weak to push them out, we will cut them out." I instructed him. He ran fast to go get him.
Doing something so drastic gave pause to her parents. "You want to cut up your own wife?" Alard asked. I turned to him. "I want to save her life. Those children need to come out, one way or another. I am not going to let her die for a dumb mistake of fate." I responded. "She won't be able to have children again if you do this procedure. Is it truly your desire?" the midwife informed me. "She can't have children again if she dies either." I snapped. She did not flinch from my words. It was something she was used to. She was a professional. "Grissell is irreplaceable. She had given us 2 daughters. I don't need a son. My daughters need their mother." I said, more calm this time. It made her parents look at me in a new light. The surgeon was brought to the house about the same time as the contractions for the second child started. She had managed to push the child out, but she was very pale and looked on the verge of death. I looked at the surgeon. "It's not going to work. Cut the third child out. Whatever happens, prioritize Grissell's life over the child's." I said. I was going to find Enetes.
It took half an hour to find him. It only took him 5 minutes to get to the house. I took 10 minutes, so I sent him ahead. When I got there, Grissell was in the living room. As a shaman, Enetes was able to save her life. She was laid out on the table. Blood was all over the floor leading upstairs. The third child did not make it. If it had survived, I would have my first born son in my hands. This was going to be a horrible mess to clean. Just like I was warned, her womb was cut out. She would not be able to bear children again. Our first daughter was crying from all the commotion. I was hushing her and holding her close. Alard and his wife were holding the twins. It was a tragedy, but we could come back from this. One day at a time. A couple of hours passed before she woke up. She was still very weak. I stood at her side. "Hey there, Grissy. How are you feeling!?" I asked. She shifted her eyes from side to side. "Where are the children!?" she rasped out. "We have them with us. You did great. You were so strong and everyone saw it." I told her, grasping her hands. We gave her the girls to hold.
Having them in her arms, she cracked a small smile. "I have decided on their names." I told her. Grissell hummed out loud. She had been given the honor of naming her first born. That was rare for women in the kingdom. There was something about letting her choose that made her light up. This time, I was going to name them. Since the choice was hers she chose a name common to the region of the capital. Grissell named her Johna. I was not too convinced, but it was on her. With that being the case, we had already agreed that I would name the children this time. "Our second daughter will be named Holly. And our third child will be named Molly." I said. She was way too weak to do more than shift them close enough for her to kiss them. Seeing that she was nodding off to sleep, I motioned to Yon and Alard. They took the children and she fell asleep. "When we get her back to the bedroom, we will let her rest for a few days. I would appreciate it if you visited more often to keep her company and help her get back on her feet." Alard nodded his head. "You did the right thing today."
