Next
Lizzie pulled her car into the driveway, brought it to a stop and pushed the garage door opener on the visor. She glanced at the package on the passenger seat as she waited for the door to open. Once it had she drove her car into her spot and then turned off the engine. She undid her seatbelt, grabbed her handbag and the package then climbed out of her car. She walked to the internal door, when she opened it she was greeted by an excited Stella who immediately began jumping up on her.
"Hey Sweetheart." She grinned as she crouched down to give Stella a pat hello. After several seconds of patting and a belly rub Lizzie stood and made her way down the hall. She turned and began climbing the stairs with Stella bounding up behind her. She walked into her bedroom, dropped her handbag on the bed and took the package into the en suite. She pulled the box out of the paper bag and began to read the instructions. As she started to open the box Stella ran out of the room barking and Lizzie, knowing that meant Jamie was home, smiled.
Jamie sat watching the garage door open and smiled when he saw her car parked inside. As he drove his car into his space he noticed Stella appear in the open doorway into the house. When he turned his car off Stella rushed over to the drivers side of his car. As soon as Jamie opened the car door Stella climbed inside and onto his lap. He smiled as he ruffled the fur on her head as she tried to lick his face.
"Come here." He told her as he scooped her up and carried her out of the car. He closed the car door, placed Stella on the ground and they both headed into the house.
"Lizzie?" Jamie called out as he walked into the hall.
"I'm up here." He heard her faint reply coming from upstairs. He went up followed closely by Stella and found Lizzie standing in the bathroom holding a box in one hand and a white plastic stick in the other.
"Hey, what are you..." He trailed off, eyes widening as he read the words 'pregnancy test' on the front of the box.
"Are you..." He started to ask as he stopped in the doorway of the bathroom.
"I don't know, I haven't taken the test yet." She told him. He nodded his understanding and moved back out of the doorway.
"I'll just be a minute." She smiled at him and closed the door. He walked over and took a seat on the edge of the bed, Stella jumped up and sat beside him. He fidgeted nervously staring at the closed bathroom door as he waited for Lizzie to take the test. Stella rested her head on his leg and he looked down at her momentarily before looking back at the door.
"How long until we know?" He called through the door as he patted Stella's head. There was no reply just the sound of the toilet flushing. A few seconds later the door opened and Lizzie walked out carrying the box and the stick.
"Two and a half minutes." She finally replied as she re-read the instructions on the back of the box. Jamie immediately pulled out his phone and set a timer for two and a half minutes. Lizzie smiled as she joined him on the bed, she placed the test upside down on top of the box on the bed beside her and then kissed him hello.
"Hi Honey, how was your day?" She grinned, Jamie laughed and pulled her into a hug.
"It was good, how was yours?" He asked as released her.
"Pretty busy." She told him as she rested her head on his shoulder.
"You would not believe how many different kinds of pregnancy tests there are, there's an entire aisle of them at the pharmacy, both sides." She informed him.
"Really?" He murmured as he wrapped an arm around her. They both fell quiet as they watched the time tick down on Jamie's phone. The final minute passed in silence until Jamie's phone began to beep. He turned off the alarm and Lizzie picked up the test from where it was resting and held it between them. She turned it over, they looked down and saw a bright pink plus sign.
"I'm pregnant." Lizzie grinned and looked at Jamie. A huge smile spread across his face, he pulled her into a tight hug and she hugged him back. After a few moments they broke apart and he stared at her still smiling.
"We're going to have a baby." He stated still processing the information.
"Uh huh." She chuckled enjoying his reaction.
"So what do we do first?" He wondered aloud, as it suddenly dawned on him how much there was to do.
"Well, I need to make a doctors appointment to get it confirmed and get a referral to an obstetrician." She told him as she reached behind him and pulled her cell phone out of her handbag.
"Okay, what about me?" He asked eagerly.
"You could make a start on dinner." She suggested trying to suppress a grin, he saw it and his cheeks reddened slightly.
"Right." He mumbled mildly embarrassed as he realised he was getting a little ahead of himself.
"Hey, I love the enthusiasm, I hope you still have it when we have a crying infant in the house." She smiled.
"I'll try." He smiled back, stood up and headed towards the door.
"Come on Stella, dinner time." He called to the dog and patted his leg. She jumped up and off the bed and followed Jamie out of the room.
"I'll be down in a minute." Lizzie called out as she started dialling her phone. Once she had made the appointment she got changed out of her work clothes and into some leggings and a jumper. She went downstairs and headed into the kitchen where she found Stella devouring her dinner and Jamie rustling around in the pantry. She walked over to the fridge and as she went to open it she noticed an A4 piece of paper affixed to the front by a couple of magnets. She chuckled as she read it; a list of foods to avoid when your pregnant. She shook her head still laughing as she pulled a bottle of water out of the fridge, when she closed the door she saw Jamie staring at her.
"You just couldn't help yourself could you." She teased him grinning, he just shook his head and grinned back.
Jamie and Lizzie left the doctors office two days later all smiles, having had it confirmed that Lizzie was pregnant and all her vitals were normal. As they descended the steps Lizzie took Jamie's arm and they turned left towards the where they had parked the car.
"So what should we do next? Tell my family? You'll need to tell your work, we have to go to pregnancy classes, we need to paint what will become the nursery, we need..."
"Woah, slow down." Lizzie interrupted Jamie's rambling and he looked at her.
"You heard what the doctor said, I'm only six weeks pregnant. We should only tell immediate family and not make any big purchases until I'm three months." She gently reminded him.
"So...?" He pressed her and she smiled.
"So we wait." She replied.
"Oh." He frowned.
"It's not easy for someone like you who likes to be super prepared, is it?" She grinned.
"No." He conceded with a small smile. As she stared him she had an idea of what might make him feel better.
"Come with me." She smiled and turned them around. Jamie happily complied and let her lead him back up street the way they had come. They walked for several blocks until they came to a stop outside a large store, Jamie looked up to see it was a bookstore.
"We can start by doing something you're really good at, studying." She teased him and he chuckled as they headed into the store. They went to the parenthood section and found it was one of biggest sections in the store. They split up and both began perusing the numerous volumes on pregnancy, childbirth and babies. They stayed there for well over an hour, Lizzie only pulling her head out the book she was looking at when she heard the store closing announcement over the PA system. She closed the book and turned it over to check the price. Deciding to buy it she tucked it in the crook of her arm with the other book she had chosen. When she looked up she saw Jamie making his way over to her carrying a large stack of books.
"Jamie." She couldn't help but laugh as he got to her and she counted he had seven books.
"What?" He asked slightly taken aback by her laughter.
"We're having a baby not working towards a PhD." She grinned as he shifted the heavy books from one arm to the other.
"I want to be ready." He told her looking down at all the books he had chosen.
"First of all, I don't think anyone's ever really ready for parenthood and secondly, the baby's not going to be here for another seven and a half months, we have plenty of time to get ready. We're going to be fine." She smiled reassuringly and took a couple of the books to ease his load.
"You know, it's kind of annoying." He stated and she looked at him confused.
"The way you're so calm about all this." He explained and she smiled.
"I've been my own since I was eighteen, you learn pretty fast that panicking doesn't solve anything. I can't help it, the same way you can't help being a studious egghead." She joked glancing at the books.
"Point taken." He conceded breaking into a smile.
"Can you help me narrow these down?" He asked.
"Of course." She smiled and they quickly looked through the books they had both chosen. After a few minutes they had whittled down the pile to three.
"Why don't you go buy these and I'll put the rest back." He suggested, she nodded and walked to the front of the store. Lizzie handed the books to the cashier and pulled out her wallet as the cashier scanned the books.
"And this one too, thanks." Jamie appeared beside Lizzie and handed the cashier another book. Lizzie glanced at title as the cashier scanned the barcode, she saw it was a dictionary of baby names and had to stifled a laugh, Jamie saw it and grinned.
"It's on sale!"
When Jamie and Lizzie arrived for Sunday dinner they came in the kitchen door and saw everyone was grabbing plates of food and making their way to the dinning room. Lizzie bent down and let Stella off her leash and she immediately took off through the house.
"You're just in time." Remarked Henry with a smile as Jamie and Lizzie followed everyone through to the dinning room. They greeted everyone as the last of the food was placed on the table, as they took their seats Frank began to pour the wine and Erin went to pick up Lizzie's wine glass so he could fill it.
"None for me thanks." Lizzie smiled as she briefly covered her glass with her hand. Erin stared at her for a second before Jamie held out his wine glass to her and she took it. Once Frank had poured everyone a glass of wine Sean was told to say Grace, as soon as he was finished everyone began passing around the food. After serving herself Erin handed a bowl of green beans to Frank then turned to see Lizzie being handed the plate of pork chops. She watched as Lizzie searched through the stack of chops until she found the most well cooked one and placed it on her plate. Lizzie then placed the tongs on the plate and handed it to Erin, after she took it Erin's eyes fell on Lizzie's empty wine glass and she had a sudden moment of realisation.
"Oh my god. You're pregnant!" Erin exclaimed staring at Lizzie. At her remark everyone at the table stopped what they were doing and looked at Lizzie. She glanced at Jamie and the two of them broke out into smiles.
"Yes, I am." Lizzie confirmed and the whole table erupted into delighted exclamations and words of congratulations.
"When were you planning on telling us?" Henry questioned them.
"Today." Jamie answered a little defensively.
"Jamie said we should wait for the right moment like a lull in the conversation and then make a proper announcement. I told him we wouldn't be here more than ten minutes before one of you figured it out." She explained to the table then she took Jamie's arm and pushed up his sleeve to reveal his watch.
"Seven minutes and forty two seconds. You owe me five bucks." Lizzie grinned at Jamie who laughed.
"How far along are you?" Nicky asked excitedly.
"Six weeks." Lizzie smiled.
"How long have you guys known?" Danny wondered.
"Just a few days." Jamie told him.
"This is so exciting." Nicky grinned.
"How are you feeling?" Erin questioned Lizzie.
"So far so good." Lizzie smiled.
"You're lucky, I had terrible morning sickness when I was pregnant with Nicky." Erin recalled.
"Here we go." Danny commented and everyone looked at him.
"Pregnancy, childbirth and babies is all you're going to hear about from now on, everyone and I mean everyone is going to have an opinion." He informed Jamie and Lizzie and every parent at the table gave a confirming nod.
"You're going to get to hear all the stories." Nicky smiled.
"There are a lot of stories." Erin added grinning.
"You'll constantly get told all the things you should and shouldn't do as a parent, a lot of which will be completely contradictory." Danny continued.
"Being a parent is challenging but its also a very fulfilling and joyous experience." Frank assured Jamie and Lizzie.
"It's certainly life changing." Danny smirked and Jamie gave him a look.
"It'll be nice not to be the youngest anymore." Sean commented.
"It's great being the youngest, try being the oldest." Nicky retorted.
"Exactly." Danny agreed.
"Why don't you like being the youngest Sean?" Henry asked him.
"Because you get treated like a kid no matter how old you are." He answered.
"Tell me about it." Jamie agreed giving Sean a empathetic smile.
"This one won't be the youngest for long anyway." Jamie added placing his hand on Lizzie's stomach.
"Is that so?" Lizzie raised her eyebrows at him and tried to contain a smile.
"We want all the kids to be close together in age, right?" Jamie grinned at her.
"All the kids? How many are you going to have?" Frank smiled.
"Yes Jamie, how many kids are we going to have?" Lizzie quizzed him smiling.
"Whatever number we both agree is right for us." He quickly threw out and Lizzie grinned.
"Nice save." Danny chuckled.
Half an hour later Erin had just started washing the dishes when Lizzie came into the kitchen carrying the last of the dinnerware. She placed them in the sink, grabbed a tea towel from the handle of the oven then joined Erin at the bench ready to dry. Erin smiled as she handed Lizzie the first washed plate, the women worked together in silence for awhile until Erin finally spoke.
"You know, when I found out I was pregnant with Nicky, I was excited but I was also scared." She thought aloud and Lizzie smiled.
"I'm pretty nervous." She admitted.
"I was lucky, I had my mom, she only lived twenty five minutes away and I could call her anytime. I can't imagine having my first child and not having my mom." Erin continued glancing at Lizzie as she handed her a freshly washed glass.
"It's definitely harder not having her in my life in the big moments." Lizzie concurred wondering Erin was going with the conversation.
"And unfortunately you don't have Jamie's mom to call either." Erin added and Lizzie nodded. Erin put the plate she was washing back in the sink, turned to face Lizzie and borrowed the tea towel to dry her hands.
"You have me. I know it's not the same as having your mom but if you've got questions you can call me, anytime. If your body does something weird, if the baby does something weird or if you just can't get it to stop crying at two in morning, you can call me. I've been there, I might have the answer and if I don't, well you'll at least have someone who understands. I just wanted you to know that." Erin smiled and Lizzie was touched.
"That's very kind of you. Having a baby is a really big step and of course I have Jamie, who's wonderful, but knowing someone who's done it all before is just phone call away really means a lot. Thank you." Lizzie smiled sincerely feeling a little emotional.
"We're family, it's what we do." Erin told her and pulled Lizzie in for a quick hug.
"Aww, how sweet." Danny teased the two women as he and Jamie entered the kitchen to find them hugging.
"Shut up Danny." The women replied in unison then they and Jamie laughed.
"So, what was that about?" Jamie asked curious as he made his way to the fridge.
"We were just having a sisterly bonding moment." Erin answered somewhat cryptically as she and Lizzie shared a smile.
"As long as you're not talking about me." He told them smiling as he pulled out two bottles of water from the fridge.
"Contrary to popular belief you're not our favourite topic of conversation." Erin smirked at him as he handed Danny one of the bottles.
"But I'm your favourite though, right?" He asked Lizzie as he walked over to her.
"Nope." She grinned shaking her head. Jamie feigned shock and put his hand on his chest pretending to be wounded making Lizzie laugh.
"You guys need any help?" Jamie offered seeing the large pile dishes.
"We've got it, thanks." Lizzie smiled, Jamie just stared at her.
"I promise we won't talk about you." She added with a grin.
"Okay, we're all in the den when done." He smiled then stole a quick kiss before following Danny out of the kitchen. Erin watched the two men leave then her eyes went back to Lizzie who she saw had a very loved up expression on her face. As she plunged her hands into the sink and pulled out the next item to be washed Erin smiled to herself.
"I think you two are going handle this big step just fine."