Chapter 12: From husband to daddy

BPOV
"Oh, come on, it's not that bad-"Jake laughed loudly at my expression.
"He called my uterus aggressive! What does that even mean?" a nudge from my stomach agreed with me.

"It means that we are going to have to work allot harder to keep you healthy Mrs. Black, I'm sorry but you're gonna have te' stay here." Sarah said in her southern twang, coming next to Jake who was pushing my wheel chair down the white washed halls to my room and walking along with us.
I sighed. I had hoped the gynecologist would say I could go home… But no such luck, instead I was told my uterus was 'aggressive' and that I needed to be 'more careful'.

Sarah chuckled and slid a hand across my shoulder, a friendly and comforting gesture. We really had become good friends since my almost labor a few weeks before and I'd found out she loved my work. She had, on more than one occasion, proof read and even assisted in the writing of some of my 'off peak' articles. Jake had brought my laptop to the room and I had been furiously writing articles on things such as teenage pregnancy and overdoses.

I had told my boss I could never handle a full page to write and to give it to Lizzie. My 'bestie' had been ecstatic. She'd said she would come visit me, but it had been nearly two weeks…

So far as I know, I'm seven months pregnant. I missed about two and a half months of it in coma but I was being reimbursed by experiencing so much now. Carrying three kids was a lot of work, added to the lack of sleep and roaring hormones…I was generally either a workaholic or the resident watering fountain. Crying about the smallest things.

Our little party rounded a sterile white corner and headed towards my familiar room. Jake wheeled me in slowly and the parked me next to the high-rise bed. It had light wooden panels along its sides, and my familiar creamy quilt I was sure Jacob had literally pulled from our bed. My pillow was covered with my own case, also no doubt pilfered of my bed spread, and a giant stack of my favorite books was stacked neatly on the table cloth covered bedside table- Romeo and Juliet on top, followed by Wuthering Heights.

Mr. Muffle was asleep on the plush armchair across the room, also surrounded by books and knick-knacks from our lounge and bedroom. A big navy blue bag was perched precariously on the arm of another chair next to my bed, its contents visible. I pushed myself up on my arms, attempting to stand up from the low chair, my elbows hadn't straightened yet, and not only Sarah, but Jake as well, came running to my side.

I swatted them away good naturedly, a smile lighting my features, but Jake still got a hold on my left arm. He lifted a great deal of my weight and soon I was standing straight up. My feet rested on the cold linoleum floor and I curled them to stand on the smallest possible space. He smirked and led me around the wheel chair and to the side of the luxurious hospital bed.

The Saint Hillary Private Institutions Hospital was one of the classiest and most expensive hospitals in the state, it was gorgeous, all the staff were friendly and the treatment was impeccable. Luckily for me a combination of my medical aid and Jacobs keen knack for planning ahead had put me securely in one of their maternity rooms.

The walls were a soft chestnut and the floors a rich coffee brown. Long, floor length cream curtains hung from eyelet fixtures over huge, gaping windows, displaying the sheer height of my room. I was on the seventh floor.

In each corner of the room was a big glass vase full of pretty wild flowers, Charlie and Billy had the bunches sent up for me once every week. I leaned back against the edge of the bed; my hands immediately found their way back to their familiar pose; perched alternatively under and on top of my protruding child swollen stomach.

I was huge… My babies stretched out onto my lower thighs if I sat and caused me no end of stress when I tried to sleep. I had become too large to sleep on my side, as my belly weighed down on one side and hurt me. I woke with my back and neck cramping from strain. But I was also too large to sleep on my back as my legs would fall asleep under the immense weight of my children. For the past few weeks I had been sleeping on my side with a fat pillow propping my abdomen up.

I stroked up and down the apex of my stomach, my hands crossing each other and alternating strokes. It was lovely…
Sarah walked over to me and opened her palm, I knew the drill. I placed my left hand, palm up, in her right hand and she checked my pulse with her thumb.

"Looks alright Bella, I'll leave you two alone, but I'm coming back at noon to dose ya' ok?"Sarah said sweetly, releasing my hand and digging in her pallid pocket for a pen. She turned and marked a chart on the wall beside my bed. I nodded and watched her leave. She walked quickly out, closing the sliding glass door behind her. Jake however, came around to my side.

"Bells-"
I lifted my head to look at him but he wasn't looking at my face… I moved my hands away, steadying myself on the mattress I was seated on. His eyes were riveted on my stomach; I frowned and followed his gaze. Without another word Jake came around to my front and crouched onto his haunches.

He brought his hot hands up and stroked across, around and over the bulge, trailing tingling lines of warmth and comfort across our children. A gentle smile lit his eyes and he leaned his forehead onto my belly button. I gasped as a series of furious thumps erupted from inside me. He sprang away; I grabbed his hands in mine and covered my stomach with them. "They like you Jake…"
The kicking and nudging continued until Jake was grinning, tears in his dark chocolate eyes. He laughed hoarsely.

I choked on tears, and bent my head to capture the perfect moment… I needed to remember this for the rest of our lives…
My babies wriggled and flipped, bumping my ribs and hips in their utter excitement, and making my husband very, very happy…

Yes… making their daddy very happy…