Chapter 21: "Growing too fast if you ask me,"
"Thanks so much for coming with me, April," Rory said as the two of them sat in the waiting room of Rory's doctor's office, waiting for her appointment for her six week check up.
Richie was two days away from being six weeks old. They were going to Stars Hollow for the weekend for Hunter's birthday party. He had turned three just a couple days ago. With this being their first trip to Stars Hollow with Richie, Rory and Jess knew there would be an abundance of people wanting to see him so if she was cleared by her doctor, they could have some adult time together while everyone was fawning over their son.
"It's no problem. I'm happy to help," April said, looking over at Richie in Rory's arm. She had him in a carrier, but he started to fuss so she picked him up, "Besides, I love spending time with this little guy."
"And he loves his Aunt April," Rory said, running her fingers along his cheek as he looked up at her. While technically a cousin to Richie through Jess, April was also an aunt to Richie as she and Rory were step-sisters. It seemed odd to April to think of someone so much younger than her as a cousin so they had taken to referring to her as his Aunt April, "Don't you, buddy? You love spending time with Aunt April."
"What time are you guys going down to Stars Hollow?" April asked.
"Whenever Matt and Kara get here. Matt is going to fill in for Jess at the store and Kara is off this weekend so she's coming with and said she would help out," Rory told her, "Are you riding with us?"
"If you don't mind," April said.
"Not at all," Rory told her.
"Lorelai Mariano?" a nurse called.
"My turn," Rory said, placing Richie in April's arms and following the nurse back to the exam room.
"The doctor will be right with you," the nurse told Rory after getting her settled into the room.
"Thank you," Rory told her.
"Hello, Rory. How have you been?" Doctor Adams asked when she walked into the exam room.
"Good. Happy. Tired," Rory told her, "I guess that's to be expected, though?"
"Yep. That's as it is for most new mom's," Doctor Adams said, "So, you're feeling okay? Any pain?"
"No. I feel good. I'll have a little back pain here and there when I'm breastfeeding, but it's not too bad," Rory said, "Jess is good about massaging my back as Richie eats if it gets to be too much."
"Good. That's really good," Doctor Adams said, "Okay, let's get your exam done and assuming you don't want to get pregnant again right away, we'll discuss your birth control options."
"Yes, definitely," Rory said, "We want more kids. Jess and I both grew up only children until we were much older. We want Richie to have a younger sibling close in age to him, but not right away. We want to wait until he is at least a year old."
"Having a sibling closer to your age can be nice. My sisters and I fought like crazy sometimes and I wanted to slap my brother every time he threatened a boy that even just looked at me, but I wouldn't have it any other way," Doctor Adams said, "I love them just the way they are."
"Yeah. We want Richie to have that. I love my siblings, but my brother just turned three and my sister is ten. April, my step-sister is closest to my age, but I was in college when we met and she was just twelve. And Jess' little sister was born when he was twenty-two," Rory told her, "I guess that's what happens when your parents were young when they had you. We don't have that bond with our siblings that I imagine siblings closer in age have."
"That's something I hear from a lot of parents who were only children. And the one's who had a few siblings like me either want to stop at one or space them out to avoid the craziness of a house full of kids," Doctor Adams said, continuing her exam of Rory, "Okay, everything looks good. You've half of your pregnancy weight, only fifteen pounds more to go to get back to your pre-pregnancy weight. And if you're up for it, I see no reason not to resume all normal activities."
"Great. Thank you. Now, I just need birth control," Rory said.
"What were you thinking? I saw in your chart you've had an IUD before," Doctor Adams said.
"Yes, with all the traveling and change in time zones when I worked on the campaign trail after college, I didn't want to worry about remembering to take my birth control pill," Rory said, "So I switched to the IUD. I had it taken out when Jess and I decided we wanted to start trying for a baby."
"So, you want to do the same thing?" Doctor Adams asked.
"Yes. I'd rather not have to worry about remembering to take a pill and when we decide it's time to try for number two, I will have it removed," Rory said.
"Okay. Sounds good. Let's get that taken care of and get you on your way," Doctor Adams said.
"Rory?" Jess called coming into their apartment Friday afternoon. Matt and Kara had just arrived at the store so now they could head down to Stars Hollow for the weekend, "I was calling you. Is everything alright? And what did you do to your hair?"
"Yeah, sorry. He's been a little more fussy today and he's hungry. I feel like he hasn't let go of my breast all day," Rory told him, "And as for my hair, well when he wasn't grabbing for my breast looking for food he had a hold of my hair, darn near pulling it out. I threw it up in a rush to pick him back up as he cried the moment I put him down to do it," Rory said.
"There's nothing wrong with him is there?" Jess asked.
"No. I called his doctor and she said he's just growing more right now so he's going to want to eat more," Rory told him, "He doesn't have a fever so he's not sick or anything. He has a checkup next week."
"Okay, that's good," Jess said, running his hand along Richie's head as Rory held him against her for his feeding, Richie's eyes fluttering open to look at Jess as he realized he was there, "So we've got ourselves a growing boy."
"Growing too fast if you ask me," Rory said, leaning down to kiss his forehead, "I swear he was half this size a week ago."
"He was a little over six pounds when he was born and was up to seven pounds at his one month check up," Jess said, "He was hardly half his size a week ago."
"I know. It just seems like it," Rory said, placing Richie on her shoulder as he finished nursing to burp him, "You gave Matt and Kara a key, right?"
"Yeah and they said thank you again for letting them stay here," Jess said.
"It only makes sense," Rory said, handing Richie to Jess after burping him, "Why should they pay for a hotel when they can stay here."
"Matt also asked me about our apartment in Philly," Jess told her as he changed Richie's diaper while she double checked that everything for Stars Hollow.
"What about it?" Rory asked.
"Well, our lease isn't up until the end of the year and he asked if we were planning to keep it for whenever we went for a visit or when I need to be there for anything for Truncheon," Jess said, "Him and Kara have been discussing possibly trying for a baby soon and they want a bigger place."
"Are they wanting to move into our apartment?" Rory asked.
"He said they'd like to. Their lease is up at the end of the year, too and they like it," Jess said, "It would save them the trouble of having to look for something. And it would be the ideal place for us to stay if we visit. They were thinking they would leave the guest room downstairs and do like we planned before we moved here and turn the second room upstairs into a nursery."
"Is it possible for them to take over our lease? Now or when it's up?" Rory asked.
"As long as they pass the background check, which they will, it shouldn't be a problem," Jess said, "I was thinking of going down there in a few weeks or something to meet with the apartment manager about it. We would just have to decide what we want to do with our stuff there. We brought most of our stuff with us, but we kept things there for when we visit."
"The clothes we left would easily fit into our closets here and some of the smaller pieces of furniture," Rory said, "The beds are fairly new so we could maybe put them in storage or something. When Richie and any future gets kid older we wouldn't need the nursery so we could always move our office into there and make that another guest room."
"True, plus we'll need a bigger bed for Richie when he's older," Jess said, "We'll look at what all we have there and figure it out."
"Are they planning on getting married anytime before they start their family?" Rory asked.
"I don't think so. They seem pretty content on just living together," Jess said, "Though Matt did say Chris has been thinking about proposing to Lacey."
"Really? Good for them," Rory said, taking a look at her watch, "We should call April and let her know you're home so she can come over and we can go."
"I'll get everything into the living room so it's ready, you call her," Jess said.
"Sure," Rory said.
"There's my handsome grandson," Lorelai said, reaching for Richie the moment they walked into Emily's house for Friday Night Dinner.
"Hey, Mom, good to see you, too," Rory said as Lorelai walked away with Richie curled up, asleep in her arms.
"How was he on the drive? Did he sleep the whole way?" Emily asked as Rory, Jess, and April took seats in the living room.
"I fed him just before we left so he was asleep when we put him in the car, but woke up once about halfway here," Rory said, "He fussed a bit, but settled down once I gave him his pacifier."
"That's good. You and your mother were always such good traveler's," Emily said, "When we took your to your doctor's appointments as a baby you fell right to sleep if you were awake when we left. Your mother would stop crying the instant the car started moving and start up again when it stopped when she was Richie's age."
"I think that's true for most babies," Rory said, "The movement reminds them of being in the womb."
"It didn't work for Hunter though," Lorelai said, "When he went through his colicky stage, nothing would calm him down. We tried driving him around in the car, putting him in the swing, nothing."
"I remember that. I received many a frustrated phone call during that time," Rory said, "I'm glad Richie hasn't been like that."
"There's still time hun," Lorelai told her.
"So, Jess, how are things at the store?" Emily asked.
"Really good. One of my partners from Philly and his girlfriend came up for the weekend to run the store while we're here," Jess said.
"They helped you out after Richie was born correct?" Emily said, "They stayed in New York so you could be at home with Rory and Richie?"
"Yes, though lately I've been thinking of looking for a manager or something so I can have someone who actually lives in New York that I could trust the store to when I'm not there," Jess said, "April does a great job, but for times like this when we both need to be away, I'd like someone who's maybe more experienced than the others I have working there to be in charge so I can be free to take time off."
"The store is doing well enough for that?" Emily asked.
"Yeah, I'm not getting rich by any means, but sales have been holding steady and people seem to like the open mic nights we do," Jess said, "And while they don't buy a lot, there has been a lot of kids from the neighborhood coming in just to sit and read. That's something I was really hoping for. I probably would have turned my life around a lot sooner if I had a place like that to go to after school."
"That's wonderful. Sometimes making money isn't as important as the happiness you are bringing people," Emily said.
After Hunter's Jurassic Park themed birthday party Saturday afternoon, Rory and Jess took Richie for a walk through town so everyone could see him and also to tire him out a bit so he would sleep later for Lorelai. He stayed awake through most of the party with all the excitement and noise. Lorelai had given them a room at the inn for the night and volunteered to watch Richie so Rory and Jess could have a night to themselves. With Richie eating a bit more the past few days Rory was nervous to leave him, but had been pumping quite a bit as well to prepare for their weekend in Stars Hollow so Lorelai or Jess would be able to feed him.
"Okay, so if he won't take the bottle or it seems like he needs more, call us okay," Rory said, "We can be here in minutes."
"Kid, I own the inn. I know how far away it is from the house," Lorelai told her.
"Right, true," Rory said.
"And April is here. She's spent time with Richie and has given him a bottle before, correct?" Lorelai asked.
"Yes, she has," Rory said.
"Okay. We'll be fine, hun, trust me," Lorelai told her, reaching for Richie, "Now, hand the kid over and enjoy some alone time with your husband."
"Be good for Grandma, sweetie," Rory told Richie, kissing his forehead as he slept soundly in her arms before handing him to Lorelai.
"Thanks, Lorelai," Jess said, giving Richie a kiss before taking hold of Rory's hand to lead her out of the house.
"You're welcome, now go," Lorelai said, "I will call if we need you, but we'll be fine."
"The honeymoon suite?" Rory questioned when Jess led them towards the room she hadn't seen in over two years since they last stayed there.
"It's quiet, away from everything and everyone," Jess said, wrapping his arms around her from behind and kissing her cheek once they walked inside.
"We'll be able catch up on sleep," Rory said, tilting her head to side as Jess began kissing her neck.
"Among other things," Jess said, running his nose along the side of her face and down to her neck, kissing his way back up to the spot behind her ear that she loved, "I was thinking we could start with a nice long bath."
"Mmm, sounds heavenly," Rory said, turning around in his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck, kissing his lips before turning her attention to his neck, "You know, Doctor Adams did clear me for my regular pre-pregnancy activities."
"She did, huh," Jess said, resting his forehead against hers when they paused to catch their breaths.
"Yep and I got my new IUD put in so we're good to go if you're up for it," Rory told him.
"Oh, I'm definitely up for it," he told her, glancing down with her eyes following his, "It's been a long six weeks."
"Too many cold showers?" she asked, a smile on her face as she pushed her body closer to his.
"Not really. I just miss that feeling, I guess of being so close to you," Jess said.
"I have, too," Rory told him, pecking his lips, "Let's have that bath and see where the night takes us."
"I'll go fill the tub," Jess said, kissing her once more before leaving her to get their bath ready, "I love you, Book Tease."
"I love you, Dodger!"