Jesse and Becky walked into the NICU with big pink balloons and a teddy bear. A nurse pointed them to Matt. He smiled when he saw them.
"You here to see her?"
Becky nodded.
"I need to go check on Kimmy. Do you want to hold her?"
Becky smiled and nodded as Matt gave her the baby.
"Aw, Jess! Look at those teeny tiny hands!"
"Yeah...and just wait till she shows off her great big lungs!"
"Very funny, Jess. You remember when Nicky and Alex were this small?"
"How could I forget? I mixed up my own babies."
Becky giggled, "We did okay though..."
"Yeah...we got through it..."
"Maybe we should move closer and help out with the baby until Kimmy comes home."
"Beck, I think they've got this. We raised our kids. We've done our time."
Meanwhile...
Matt opened the door to the room and was stunned silent to see his wife awake.
"Surprise?!" Steph said.
"Yeah." Matt replied.
"I'm gonna go get the kids from school." Steph replied, "Bye sweetie. Hang in there. You're doing really well."
As she proceeded to leave, Steph pulled Matt to the side. "She's still a little out of it...they took her down for some scans..."
"Thanks Steph." Matt replied.
After Stephanie left, Matt sat down next to her.
"How are you doing sweetie?"
"My stomach hurts."
"Well, you just had a baby, hunny. You had major surgery."
"Where's my baby?"
"She's in the nursery, hunny. She's doing really well. I don't want you to worry about her. Do you need more pain medication? I will go find the nurse and get you some."
"No."
"Okay. Well if you decide you need something, you-"
Kimmy cut him off, "Can I see her?"
"Hunny, she can't leave the nursery right now."
Matt could clearly see the disappointment in her eyes. "But I can show you pictures..."
"Well, I guess that's better than nothing..." Kimmy pouted. Matt chuckled and kissed her forehead.
"She's cute and quirky, just like you..." Matt teased.
Kimmy felt her heart sink to the pit of her stomach when she saw the photo. "What are all those things on my baby?"
"That thing in her nose is just there to help her breathe if she needs it, although she's been doing really well breathing on her own." Matt explained, "and she's eating from a bottle. She has IV's as well. Everything she has is just there to help her."
"Help her do what?"
"Get stronger." Matt replied, grabbing her hand, "I'm going to be honest with you. She was early, hunny. She's smaller than she should be. She has a few issues that she might not have if she were full term, but she's really strong and she has been thriving."
"And I'm going to be honest with you, if something happens to that baby I will never ever forgive myself." Kimmy replied, as her head sunk.
"Look at me." Matt said, gently lifting her chin, "What did you do wrong?"
"Well it was my job to protect her..."
"Yeah, well, I think you did a pretty good job."
"She's tiny, she didn't deserve this."
"Hunny I promise, the doctor said she's doing really well." Matt replied. "Would you feel better if Ramona were here?"
Kimmy wiped a tear away and nodded.
"All that I want you to do is focus on getting stronger every day so that you can be home soon with our daughters."
"That's all I want too." Kimmy replied. "Does she have a name?"
" Not yet. We were hoping you'd wake up so we could choose one together."
"Did I ever tell you about Ramona's name?"
"What about it?"
"Fernando's mom and grandmother were both Ramona. I really didn't have a choice."
"Why didn't you just say something?"
"Fernando insisted." Kimmy replied, "I did a lot of things trying to please him. Trying to keep our family together."
"Well..." Matt replied, "I'm not Fernando, and she needs a name...so...go for it, mommy."
"What?"
"I'm confident that you'll choose the perfect name, and I think you deserve to choose her name."
"But she's your first baby."
"Well, I'll choose the middle name." Matt replied, "I'm so grateful you're both alive, I honestly haven't given any thought to a name. I've been so worried about the two of you.
Now that I see you're both doing well...I can't really ask for anything more."
"We both liked Ava."
"You wanna go with Ava?"
Before she could answer, a nurse entered with food. "You haven't had anything but IV's...let's see how you do with some soup..."
"Can I see my baby if I eat?"
"Well, the doctor will be monitoring how much you are eating, and if it seems like there's something wrong, you might need to stay longer. The doctor should be coming to talk to you soon about your tests."
Kimmy nodded. Once the nurse left, Matt whispered to her, "Choke it down!"
"Anything for my kids. By the way, I really like the name Ava."
Suddenly, the door to the room opened. Ramona stood quietly.
"There's my girl!" Kimmy smiled.
"Mom! Are you okay?!" Ramona asked, stunned.
"I'm fine." Kimmy replied, pulling Ramona closer to her, "I hear we have a new baby..."
"Yeah." Ramona smiled, "You were right mom. I love her so much."
Stephanie peeked in, "I'll leave her with you."
"I think our new baby has a new name..." Matt announced.
"How do you feel about the name Ava?"
"It's cute!" Ramona replied, "It flows with Ramona. I like it."