One or Two Things I Know for Sure

Chapter 10 Tower

You aren't sure when it was that you started to think about it, but one day you just woke up and you looked at your daughter. Your precious little Anny-Bel, who was already so grown up and you wished you hadn't blinked.

Because that was how it felt, one day you woke up and she was talking and walking and eating on her own. She was going to daycare, she had friends, she was this whole independent little person already and you wish you could somehow keep her little forever.

You know it's cheesy and overused, but she is your baby girl.

So one night when your daughter was in bed you took your wife into your arms, kissed the top of her head and told her that maybe (just maybe), you were thinking that you wanted to try for that little sister your daughter had been asking about. She smiled at you and told you it was a great idea.

Two months later the home pregnancy test was positive and you started to think if this was really a good idea. On the first ultrasound, when you weren't able to see anything that looked remotely like a baby in the gray screen, when the little heartbeat was fast and strong and almost drowned out by your wife's. That's when you fell in love with her.

You helped decorate her room, you put most of her furniture together (okay so you ordered Wilson around while he did it, but it doesn't mean you didn't help), you made sure that your Anny knew that she was loved and that would never changed.

Then you were send to a conference and you knew something was wrong, that you should stay home but Cuddy wanted you on the other side of the country for something you both knew you wouldn't pay attention to. Your heart sank, your stomach twisted, your panic level rose, and you broke out into a cold sweat when Wilson called you to tell you that Allison had gone into labor, almost two months early.

The feeling doesn't go away until you walk into the NICU, in scrubs and a mask without your cane. It isn't until you sit down next to her incubator; touch her impossibly small hand that you can breathe.

Madeline: high tower, might; origin Greek.

That was the name you had highlighted in the baby-book. You choose it because you want your daughter to stand tall and strong no matter what.

Kiera: dark-haired; origin Irish

Allison had chosen the middle name months before, and it makes you smile that she was right. Because you're tiny daughter has a patch of dark brown hair in tiny curls escaping from the tiny pink cap.

Here she is, Madeline Kiera House. You can't wait to tell her how happy you are because of that.

One of the nurses help you slowly take your daughter from the incubator and you settle her on your arms, making sure that every tube was in place and not tangled. Because you are a doctor and you know what each of them are there for.

She is unbearably small, just barely pushing four pounds. Her little fist clutches around your finger and you smile.

"She's perfect isn't she?" Allison asks when you go into her room, she's still sore and tired but she smiles at you when you nod.

"Remind me to kill Cuddy" you tell your wife who laughs and takes your hand.

"Maybe after Madeline is home"

"I'll hold you to that"

--

Sorry it's short. But I noticed that I've talked about Annabel and Leah's birth but not Madeline. So it was necessary. I'm sorry it took a while, but I'm working as a camp counselor lately and all the kids get me exhausted.

Please review.

GabbyAbby