Chapter 387

We’d been told by the maternity nurse, before she went on leave, not to pick the babies up every time they cried. She’d warned us that it could make them dependent on being held, and that we’d only be exhausting ourselves in the long run. But right now, we had no choice. It was the only thing that worked. Ashton kept them upright, one on each shoulder, their tiny chins resting against him. It was the only way to stop them feeling bloated. Holding them horizontally would have made it worse. Meanwhile, I turned on the lamp, sat down at my desk and started rummaging through the bookshelf. ‘What are you looking for?’ Ashton asked. ‘I’m trying to find something about how to soothe crying babies.’ He gave me a look that said, ‘Seriously? Now?’ But I kept going, flipping through the pages with purpose. ‘When I first found out I was pregnant, I bought loads of books about pregnancy and newborns. I’m sure one of them talked about why babies cry.’ I hadn’t actually finished reading most of them,