Chapter 21

Beep…Beep…Beep…

Joanne rolled over sleepily to turn off the alarm clock. Taking a deep breath and stretching her arms over her head as she rolled back over, expecting to find Maureen lying beside her. However, all she found was bare sheets. It wasn't until she sat up that she noticed the light gleaming from under the bathroom door in the hall way.

Jo rubbed her eyes as she threw back the covers and got to her feet. She walked quietly to the bathroom door and knocked gently. "Hey Baby, you in there?" She slowly turned the knob and slid the door open. Peering around the door she found Maureen sitting on the bathroom floor, her knees pulled up to her chest and her head resting on the edge of the tub. Her body and face were wet with perspiration and her hair pulled into a very messy bun. Joanne was taken aback at how pastey Maureen looked.

"Oh God, baby? Are you okay?" Joanne kneeled down at Maureen's side, tucking the sweat soaked, stray strands of hair behind her ears.

"I was right," Maureen said weakly, still resting her head on the edge of the tub. "Dr. J mentions morning sickness and before you know it, here it is. Live and in living color."

"When did it start? You were fine last night." Joanne grabbed a wash cloth off the sink, wet it with cool water, and dabbed Maureen's pale face.

"I dunno," Maureen swallowed hard. "I woke up about an hour ago and I was clammy and feeling kinda...blah and then all of a sudden my stomach lurched." Maureen swallowed hard again, appearing to fight a gag. "Jo, I swear, I barely made it to the bathroom. Everything came up."

"Oh, baby." Jo said sympathetically as she continued to dab Maureen's face and attempted to tame the numerous stray hairs that now fell into her eyes and down her neck.

"And it wasn't one of the good pukes either, where you feel so much better afterwards," said Maureen, finally mustering the strength to lift her head from the cold porcelain tub. "My stomach hasn't stopped churning. I didn't go back and lay down because I was afraid if I puked again, I wouldn't make it to the bathroom. Though I'm honestly not sure what else could possibly come up."

"Well here, let's get you back to bed, and I'll get you a trash can just in case." Joanne grabbed Maureen by the arms and helped to pull her gently off the floor. Maureen immediately began to wobble.

"Whoa, I'm spinnin'. I'm spinnin'", she said, grabbing tightly to Joanne with one hand and raising the other to her head. Joanne felt Maureen's legs start to crumple beneath her and saw her face suddenly become paler. She quickly helped lower Maureen back to the floor where she leaned back against the tub.

"Okay, so maybe standing wasn't such a good idea," Joanne said with a sigh. "Do you think you could crawl?"

Maureen took a moment to gather her whits as the spinning room came back into balance. "Yeah, I think so." Maureen slowly got to her hands and knees and shuffled out of the bathroom and down the hall towards the bedroom. Joanne grabbed the trash can and a new trash bag and followed her.

Maureen crawled to the bed, not even bothering to crawl around the bed to her side. She pulled herself up and rolled into bed on Joanne's side. Joanne set the little round trash can in the middle of the bed.

"Can I get you anything? Maybe juice and some crackers to settle your stomach? Joanne asked, tucking Maureen's bare feet under the sheet.

"Well, nothing really sounds good, but I should probably try to eat something, shouldn't I?"

"Okay, I'll be right back." Joanne walked into the kitchen and hit the button on the coffee maker to start it brewing before grabbing the bottle of cran-apple juice out of the fridge and a small glass from the dish drainer. She filled the glass and put the juice back into the fridge. As she did she couldn't help but smile at the ultrasound picture on the freezer door. After grabbing a package of Saltines from the pantry, she grabbed the glass of juice from the counter and headed back into the bedroom.

"Here, baby, try some of-"

"Is that coffee I smell?" Maureen asked, sitting up a bit.

"Uh yeah, you want some-?"

"Turn it off!" Joanne said forcefully, fighting another gag.

"What?" Joanne was confused. "Why?"

"Because the smell. I can't handle it! It's making me sick! You gotta turn it off!" Maureen's stomach churned as she covered her mouth with her hand.

"But Sweetie, it's just coffee. How could that-"

"Jo, I don't know how! Just turn it off, please!!" Maureen's voice was growing more and more urgent.

"Umm…uh…o-okay." Joanne set the juice and crackers down as quickly as she could and started towards the kitchen.

"And open the windows too. You gotta get that smell out of this house!" Maureen called to her as she tried to exit.

Joanne stopped suddenly and slid across the hardwood bedroom floor in her stocking feet. She managed to catch herself on the door frame and come back to open the bedroom windows before dashing to the kitchen. She quickly turned off the coffee maker and dumped both the coffee and the grounds down the garbage disposal. Though the air conditioner was on (A/N: I mean, it is the first week in August) she then opened a few windows in the living room and turned on the ceiling fan before returning to the bedroom.

"Okay, that better?" she said, sitting down on the bed next to Maureen.

"Yeah," Maureen said with a sigh, obviously trying to keep herself from getting sick again. "I hate to have to tell you this, but we cannot have coffee in this house. At least for a while. I don't think Peanut likes coffee," she said, rubbing her belly that had started to pooch out ever so slightly.

"Alright, I'll uh…I'll just get my coffee on the way to work in the morning. No big deal." Joanne patted Maureen's thigh and brushed the long brown locks out of her face. She was starting to get some color back in her face. "It's just strange that it's coffee. I've never heard of the smell of coffee making a pregnant woman sick. Usually it's something like chicken or pork or pasta or-"

"Okay, I get the picture," Maureen interrupted, swallowing hard. She did not want to be thinking about food right now. "Why don't you go get in the shower? You're going to be late for work."

"I'm not going to work. I'm going to stay home with you."

"Why?"

"Because, you're sick. I'm going to stay home and take care of you," Joanne answered, handing Maureen the glass of juice.

Maureen took the glass and swigged a tiny sip. "Sweetie, this isn't like the flu. This is morning sickness. If you stay home with me every time I puke, then I have a feeling that you're going to be missing a lot of work. Morning sickness can sometimes last up through the whole pregnancy."

"But I hate to leave you alone like this. What if you need something?"

"Then I'll call Mark, or Roger, or Meems, or Angel or any of our other regularly unemployed, yet loveable friends," Maureen said, cupping Joanne's cheek in her hand. "I'll be fine. I promise. I'm starting to feel a little better anyway. Go get your shower. Abby won't know what to do if you're late. (a/n: Abby is Joanne's secretary for those keeping track. Remember from Chapter 3?)

Joanne exhaled loudly. "Okay," she said reluctantly.

As the hot water ran down over her, Joanne realized just what Dr. Judd had been talking about a few days ago when she said that there were going to be times when she felt completely helpless. Seeing her girlfriend curled up on the bathroom floor, sick as a dog, is not something she thought she could handle on a daily basis, but she didn't have much of a choice.

"Maur, are you sure you're going to be okay here by yourself?" Joanne yelled from the living room as she gathered some of her files from the coffee table and put them into her briefcase.

"Babe, I'm positive. Go." Maureen yelled as best as she could.

Joanne came back to the bedroom. "Okay, but if you need anything, call me, or Mark, or Mimi, or whatever, okay."

"Promise," Maureen said looking up at Joanne and criss-crossing her heart with her finger.

"Mmkay. Smooch me, Pooch," Joanne said. Maureen puckered her lips out as Joanne leaned down and planted a sweet kiss on them.

"Love you, Pookie."

"Love you, Honey Bear. And you my little Peanut," Joanne said leaning down, eye to naval with Maureen's belly, " you had better be good for Momma today. Don't you be giving her any trouble, you understand?" Maureen giggled as Joanne kissed her stomach.

"Call if you need anything," Joanne said raising her head up.

"Gaahh…you already said that."

"I know. I just wanted to reiterate."

"Well, you have officially reiterated. Now go!" Maureen said, pointing toward the door.

"Kay, bye!"

"Bye, Pook." With that, Joanne finally made it out the door.

Within moments of Joanne leaving, the phone rang. Maureen was still feeling pretty puny and didn't really feel like talking, but snatched the cordless phone from the cradle on the nightstand anyway."

Pushing the "Talk" button, she answered. "Ello?"

"Hi, could I please speak to Maureen or Joanne, please?" came a pleasant sounding, yet unfamiliar voice through the receiver.

"Umm…this is Maureen."

"Hi, Maureen, this is Katelynn Helms. Dr. Judd referred you to my midwifery practice."

It took a moment for the name and situation to register in her still slightly spinning head. "Oh gosh, Dr. Helms, hi!"

"Oh, please," she interrupted, "Call me Kate."

"Oh, sorry, Kate. Yeah, I was actually meaning to call you. It's uh…it's been a rough morning. Got my first bout of morning sickness and-"

"Say no more, I understand completely," Kate said, "No, I just wanted to call and let you know that I'd be more than happy to take you on as a patient."

"Really? Awesome! Dr. Judd spoke very highly of you," Maureen said.

"Gotta love Sheryl," Kate laughed. "She's a great doctor. She spoke pretty highly of you and Joanne as well. She's got me pretty excited about meeting the both of you "

Maureen laughed too. "Well, I guess it's good to know that we all think so highly of one another."

"Yeah!" Kate said, enthusiastically. "So, I'd like to see you for your first check up. Would 2 weeks from today, say around 2 o'clock, be alright?"

"That sounds great!"

"Alright, Maureen I'll see you then."

"Thanks, Kate."

"Bye"

"Buh-bye," Maureen said, using her thumb to end the call.

She leaned back against the headboard of the bed. She was still feeling pretty icky and couldn't help but feel herself get a little bit nervous. True, she had been pregnant for about 5 weeks, but now, with the morning sickness, the call from Kate, and the recent ultrasound at her last visit with Dr. Judd, the reality of the pregnancy was really starting to hit her.

TBC...