Chapter 8
After getting some much needed rest at home, Leah and Matt headed into town to do some much needed grocery shopping. While they were out, Leah suggested hitting the shopping center as she was in need of some maternity clothes. After picking up several different outfits for various occasions, Leah headed into a nearby bookstore while Matt took the clothes out to the car.
Baby, meet me in the book store. Looking for baby books.
Ok. I will be there in a few. Why are you looking for baby books?
I meant pregnancy books. I found one for you and a few for both of us.
Ok.
Matt soon joined Leah in the pregnancy section of the bookstore. Leah had found one about becoming a first time father, one about what to expect while pregnant, one on what to expect in the first year and a baby names book.
"Why do we need a baby names book?" Matt asked.
"I guess to help us pick out a name for our son or daughter." Leah answered.
"Why don't we just throw out some names and go from there? I don't see the purpose of getting the book." Matt responded.
"I guess you're right. I'll put it back." Leah stated with a smile.
After leaving the shopping center, Matt and Leah headed to the grocery store. Leah was starting to anxious about the baby and becoming a first time mommy. After spending what seemed like forever at the grocery store, Matt and Leah were finally heading home. Matt brought the groceries into the kitchen and Leah started putting things away. After everything was in its rightful place, Leah started the laundry, but Matt stopped her.
"Momma, you need to relax. The laundry can wait until tomorrow." Matt told her.
"Ok, daddy. What do you suggest we do then?" Leah asked.
"You can go rest on the couch while I get dinner started, then we can look at some of those books we got and maybe pick out some names for this one." Matt answered as he placed a hand on Leah's growing bump.
While Matt fixed dinner and Leah headed into the living room and flipped on the TV. She was flipping through the channels when a news report caught her eye. The reporter was talking about an accident that had happened early that morning.
"Matt come here!" Leah called out to him.
"What's wrong?" Matt asked rushing into the room.
"The news report. I think it's about Nicole's accident this morning." Leah answered.
Matt turned up the volume as he sat next to Leah. The reporter was giving the details of the accident and interviewing witnesses of the accident.
"From we have been told, the driver of the truck that struck the car over there was placed into custody shortly after the police arrived on the scene. We do not have any details as to the condition on the driver of the car. Please stayed tuned as we continue coverage of this horrible accident." the reporter stated.
"I think after dinner we should go back to the hospital and bring your dad and Shannon some food." Leah stated.
"I agree. Dinner is just about done. Water or juice?" Matt responded.
"Water, please." Leah stated as they headed into the kitchen.
Leah set the table and Matt finished up with dinner. After they were done eating, Matt and Leah prepared two more plates of food and grabbed some drinks from the fridge and loaded them into the car. Leah grabbed a small notepad and one of the pregnancy books. Once they arrived at the hospital, Gilbert was sitting with Nicole and Shannon was in the waiting room reading a magazine.
"Hey, Shan. How is she doing?" Leah asked giving him a hug.
"Still no changes. They have her on some heavy pain meds so that she will sleep through the worst part of it." Shannon answered.
"We brought you and dad some dinner and drinks." Matt stated.
"Thanks, man. I don't think he's eaten all day." Shannon responded.
"No problem. I will go sit with Nicole for a while. Leah, make sure dad eats something, please." Matt stated.
"I will. Tell her I am here for her." Leah responded as she hugged Matt.
"I will." Matt stated.
Matt headed into Nicole's room and sent Gilbert out to eat dinner. Leah watched the two men pick at their dinners.
"You two had better eat something. I know its hard, but if you don't , keep up your strength, then how can you be strong for Nicole?" Leah told them.
"You're right darlin'. Whatcha reading there?" Gilbert asked.
"A book about what to expect during the pregnancy." Leah answered.
"They have books like that now?" Gilbert asked. "They didn't have anything like that when Ruby and I were having the boys."
"They sure do. I think these books came out in the early 90's." Leah responded as she picked up her notepad and started writing.
"So have you and Matt picked out any names yet?" Shannon asked.
"Not yet. And we are not naming the baby Shannon." Leah answered with a smirk.
"Darn!" Shannon responded.
"When you have a baby, you can name them anything you want, but as far as this little one is concerned, it's up to Matt and I to name him or her." Leah stated with a smile.
"When can you find out if you are having a boy or girl?" Shannon asked in between bites of food.
"Possibly in few weeks. Matt and I haven't had a chance to talk about whether or not we want to find out before the baby is born." Leah answered.
"Well I would want to know so that I could prepare for the arrival." Gilbert stated.
"I want to know, but if Matt wants to be surprised, then we will just have to be surprised." Leah stated as Matt walked back into the waiting room.
"How is she doing?" Shannon asked.
"The doctor was just in there to check on the swelling and it looks like the surgery was successful as some of the swelling has gone down, but its still too early to tell. She is going to need someone around her 24 hours a day until she is cleared and lots of physical therapy." Matt answered.
"Who is going to stay with her?" Shannon asked. "I have Gas Chamber to look after, but I help out on my days off."
"What about Tasha? Won't she get mad if you're spending all your free time with Nicole?" Matt asked.
"She and I broke up about 2 weeks ago. So I can now spend my free time with whomever I want." Shannon answered.
"That will help out a little. Thanks Son." Gilbert responded. "Now what about the rest of the time? She is going to need to stay in one location during her recovery."
Leah pulled Matt aside to talk to him in private.
"I can stay home with her while you're out on the road. It would give her and I time to get to know each other." Leah suggested.
"That would be good. I need to make a quick phone call." Matt responded and gave her a quick kiss as he walked out of the waiting room.
"Where is he going?" Shannon asked.
"He has to make a phone call." Leah answered.
"Oh. I think I know what he is going to do." Shannon responded.
"And what is that?" Leah asked.
"You'll see." Shannon answered.
"Shannon, please tell me." Leah responded.
"If I'm right, he's calling Vince right now and requesting time off to help Nicole recover. And since he never asks for anytime off, I guarantee that Vince will give it to him. He will also take time off when you have the baby. Matt is very family oriented and nothing will ever change that." Shannon told her.
"Well, then I will stand beside him in his decisions." Leah responded placing a hand on her stomach.
"Are you ok?" Shannon asked concerned.
"Yeah, I think I just felt the baby moving for the first time." Leah answered with a smile.
"Wow." Shannon responded.
"Wow, what?" Matt asked.
"I just felt our baby move for the first time." Leah answered taking Matt's hand and placing it on her stomach just as the baby moved again.
"Was that the baby?" Matt asked shocked.
"Yes. That was our baby saying hello to their daddy." Leah answered with a smile. "Did you call Vince?"
"Yes. How did you know I called Vince?" Matt responded.
"Shannon said he had a feeling that you called Vince to ask for emergency time off to help with Nicole's recovery." Leah stated.
"Well, he's right. I did ask Vince for the time off and he told me to take as much time as I needed since I am not involved in any storylines and I'm not up for any title fights." Matt responded.
"That's good. We will be able to help Nicole, I can get to know her better and we both attend the ultrasound appointment." Leah stated as she sat back down and picked up her note pad again.
Over the next two weeks, Nicole was out of the ICU and starting some physical therapy. She was released from the hospital and Matt and Leah brought her to their house. Nicole was very bitter towards Leah in the beginning, but after realizing that Leah was there to help her, she started to like Leah and made an attempt to get to know her.
Shannon had made frequent trips to Matt's house to help with Nicole. He stayed with Nicole while Matt and Leah went to doctor's appointments and to their ultrasound appointment. Leah was looking forwards to seeing the baby on the screen and Matt was excited and nervous.
"So daddy, do you want to know if we are having a boy or a girl today?" Leah asked as they drove to the hospital.
"Well I would like to know, but if you want to wait, I can wait too." Matt answered.
"Honestly, I really want to know what we are having so that we can pick a name." Leah responded.
"Well then I guess we will be finding out if we are going to have a son or a daughter. So what names do you have picked out?" Matt stated.
"Yeah. Well if we have boy, I was thinking that we could name him after his daddy." Leah answered.
"You want to name our son after me?" Matt asked. "Why?"
"Because it's a good strong name and I didn't like any of the other names I looked at." Leah answered.
"Ok. What if we have a girl?" Matt asked as he parked the car.
"If we have a girl, I was thinking about Madison, Sierra or Bella ." Leah answered.
"Ok. What about a middle name for a girl?" Matt asked.
"Hmm. How about Faith?" Leah answered.
"Sounds good. I actually like Sierra Faith for her name and Bella as a nickname." Matt responded.
"Me too." Leah stated as the reached the counter near the ultrasound room. "Hello. We are here for an ultrasound appointment."
"Your name please?" the nurse asked.
"Leah Williams." Leah answered.
"Ok. It will be a few minutes. Please have a seat." the nurse responded.
Leah and Matt took a seat and waited to be called. After waiting for about ten minutes the doctor called them back. They went into a large room that had a computer and TV monitor next to the bed. Leah laid down on the table and the doctor started the ultrasound. Leah squeezed Matt's hand while the doctor did what he needed to do.
"Well everything looks great! Would you like to see your baby?" the doctor asked.
"Yes." Leah and Matt answered at the same time.
"Alright, here are the feet and legs. There are the hands and arms. There is the stomach and chest. And there is the head. Now did you want to see if we can tell what the baby's sex is?" the doctor responded as he printed out pictures of each screen shot for Leah and Matt.
"Yes we would." Matt stated.
"Ok lets take a look." the doctor responded as he moved the wand over Leah's stomach. "And there we go." He printed a picture of the baby's sex for them as well.
Leah quickly got cleaned up and pulled her pants back up to where they should be. And they headed out of the hospital. They stopped and grabbed lunch for themselves, Shannon and Nicole. Leah called Jeff and Krista and Gilbert to come over to the house for dinner. When they got home and after eating lunch, Leah started preparing for dinner. She was making lasagna, salad and garlic bread.
"Shannon, are you staying for dinner?" Leah asked from the kitchen.
"Only if it's ok with you and Matt." Shannon answered as he walked into the kitchen.
"If it wasn't ok, I wouldn't have asked." Leah responded smiling at him.
"Then yes I will be staying for dinner. So how far along are you now?" Shannon stated.
"Four and half months. And counting." Leah stated.
"Wow. Its going by pretty quickly, isn't it?" Shannon asked. "Any wedding plans yet?"
"It is. We've made a few plans, but nothing solid yet." Leah responded.
"Oh ok." Shannon stated. "Well I'm going to go see if Nicole needs anything."
"Ok." Leah stated as she checked on Lasagna and Matt walked into the room. "Hey daddy."
"Hi momma. So are you ready to tell everyone tonight?" Matt asked.
"I sure am. So Shannon was asking about the wedding plans." Leah answered.
"Oh really? Well if we go with what we talked about, it will be one heck of a surprise for everyone who will be there." Matt responded. "Are we going to go with that idea?"
"Yeah. I would really like to." Leah stated.
"Ok. I will have it all set up for next weekend. I can't wait to.." Matt started to say but Jeff and Krista walked in.
"I hope we weren't interrupting anything." Jeff stated from the doorway.
"Not at all. I hope you guys are hungry. Leah cooked for an army." Matt responded.
"You know I am always up for a good home cooked meal." Jeff stated. "So what were you talking about when we walked in?"
"You'll see." Matt responded as he started setting the table for Leah.
Gilbert and Shane were the last ones to arrive at Matt and Leah's. Once everyone was in dinning room, Leah handed Matt the magic envelopes. Everyone was watching the envelopes and wondering what was in them. Matt stood up and handed the envelopes out to the persons named on the envelopes. Matt told everyone that they needed to wait until they were given the ok to open them.
