The surgeon reached into Yan Huan’s belly, expertly fishing for babies. Before long, she was maneuvering one of them out.
“Remember to store their cord blood,” instructed He Yibin.
There was a high chance that the babies will inherit their parents’ rare blood type, so Lu Yi had requested to bank their cord blood.
The surgeon passed the baby to a nurse after dealing with his cord blood. It was a small baby with tiny but solid limbs. The nurse took the baby, wiped him up, and planted a slap on his buttocks. A loud wail erupted.
“What a volume for a little fella!”
The nurse measured his weight.
“Alright, here’s the big one. 3.9 grams. A little light, but still good!”
The surgeon delved in, searched at length… and retrieved a second baby, who was larger than the first. Another nurse came up to receive the baby.
The nurse gave his buttocks a whoop. He let out a cry.
And that was it. After that, he refused to cry no matter how much they slapped him. They checked his heart and lung functions and found them normal.
“And here’s the second boy! 4.6 grams.”
“That’s a good weight,” said the nurse happily as she put the child in her arms.
Both babies were slightly lighter than average, so they had to spend some days in the incubator.
The room to the operation door flung open as the nurses emerged with a child in their arms each.
“What’s happening? Are my grandsons okay?” asked Ye Shuyun in a trembling voice as she rose.
“They are fine,” assured one of the nurses, carrying the baby carefully at an angle where others can’t see them. “A little light, but very healthy otherwise. We will put them in the incubator for a few days. Once they put on some weight, they can go home.”
Ye Shuyun heaved a sigh of relief. “What about the mother? Is she alright?”
“She’s fine,” the nurse shook her head, anxious to bring the baby to the incubator. “The operation has ended, and she’ll be out soon.”
She sped off before Ye Shuyun could ask anything else.
Ye Shuyun only managed to react after a few minutes. “But I haven’t seen them yet!”
Lu Jin and Old Master Lu exchanged a look. So hadn’t they! They had forgotten about it all. His warm, tender grandsons, fresh from the human oven!
Two grandsons! It was finally his turn to patronize others, with one grandson in each arm! The thought made Lu Jin so smug he nearly raised his chin.
Two great-grandsons! Those old bastards are going look at me in envy! Old Master Lu would be holding his tail high up if he had one.
Ye Shuyun, on the other hand, directed her concern from her grandsons to Yan Huan, who had yet to leave the operation room.
She had always seen Yan Huan more as a daughter than a daughter-in-law, and what kind of mother wouldn’t worry about their own daughter?
Meanwhile, the operation was still underway inside the operation room. Thankfully, the anesthesia was working fine. Yan Huan was a little drowsy and befuddled, perhaps from the exertion.
The surgeon continued searching within her belly with immense care. Lu Yi’s heart wrenched at the sight of her blood-soaked gloves. All that blood and an incision through your belly, he thought, it must have been so painful for her. This will be the last time he put her through such pain, he silently decided.
“Huh?” the surgeon stiffened. She reached her hand in again, almost in disbelief.
“What’s wrong?” asked He Yibin, his heart beating wildly. Don’t tell him something had gone wrong.
The surgeon looked up uncertainty.
“You said she’s carrying twins, right?”
“Absolutely,” said He Yibin confidently, who had been present during all of Yan Huan’s ultrasound tests. He was absolutely certain she was carrying only two children, and had devised Yan Huan’s diet and planned the operation based on that knowledge.
“But that can’t be right!” the surgeon shook her head. “There’s one more in here.”
The words exploded like a grenade, and the room went eerily still.
Before long, the doctor presented another baby the size of a palm.
“So small?” He Yibin’s heart tightened. God, the baby couldn’t even have been 2 grams!
A nurse moved forward to take the baby. She had a bad feeling as soon as she saw the child.
The baby had a purple-ish glow. Its red skin seemed so fragile it might break at a touch, and it was so frail that it might die at any minute. It didn’t seem to be breathing either. Could it be… a stillborn?
A few nurses rushed to clean the child, whose eyes were still closed. The tiny creature’s skin almost seemed transparent. As the nurses cleaned the child, the surgeon tended to Yan Huan’s wounds.
“Oh no!” cried someone. “The patient is losing a lot of blood!”
The operation went on. The surgeon worked with an incredible presence of mind, but the bleeding continued.
“Prepare for blood transfusion,” commanded the surgeon. Lu Yi presented his arm, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Yan Huan’s face.
“Be good. Don’t be afraid. Everything’s going to be okay. Trust me,” he said in a silent voice.
Suddenly, the tiny baby emitted a tiny, kitten-like sound that wrenched the heart of everyone present.
“The third child…” the nurse handled the kitten-sized baby with exceeding care. “It’s a girl! 1.9 grams.”
No one knows whether the feather-light girl could survive.
The surgeon quickly stitched Yan Huan up and turned to the nurse. “Send the baby to the NICU, right now!”
The hospital hadn’t seen a baby this small in a long time. What are the chances of such a child surviving?
The nurse quickly wrapped the baby up and sprinted out of the door.
“Huh? Another one?” muttered Ye Shuyun, pointing at the baby in the nurse’s arms. Did she mistake a bottle as a baby? But it did look like a baby… But weren’t the twins brought out already? Or are there other women giving birth in the same room?
