Chapter 29
"Nicky, Daddy and I want to tell you something." I say while Nick is sitting on Finnick's lap.
"What?" He asks and looks up at me.
"You're going to be a big brother." I say and kiss his cheek. I'm not entirely sure if he understands what that means but we want to tell him.
"Do you know what that means?" Finnick asks him softly.
He shakes his head.
"No." He says.
"It means that Mommy is gonna have a baby. We're going to have someone else to love." I say.
"Baby?" Finnick asks.
"Yes." I say.
"Where?" He asks.
"They're in Mommy's tummy." He says.
"In your tummy?" He asks confused. He looks up at me.
I nod.
He puts his hand on my tummy.
"I don't see them?" He asks.
"You will soon." I say and kiss the top of his head.
Finnick and I will find out if it's a girl or boy at my next doctors appointment. It's been almost four months and based on the 'date of conception' Nick and his younger sibling will have their birthdays close together. Which is supposedly good luck. I just think about the parties and cakes they will have to share.
"Are they small Mama?" He asks.
Finnick kisses the top of his head.
"Yes, they're small." I whisper.
He nods.
"I wanna... I wanna" He says and furrows his brow making him look like Finnick.
"What do you want?" Finnick asks.
He shakes his head confused.
I kiss the top of his head.
"You can go play sweetie." I say.
He nods, but looks confused.
"Do you have a question baby?" I ask him. He shakes his head and goes to his toys.
"What do you think that was?" I whisper to Finnick.
He shurgs.
"No idea."
"Mommy I don't feel good." Nick comes up to me when I'm making notes for work.
"Let me see baby." I say and put my hand on his forehead. He feels hot. "Come here sweetie." I say and take his hand. I don't really like picking him up anymore because my back already hurts from being pregnant.
He coughs.
I wonder if this is why he was acting a little weird last night.
"Come with Mommy." I say and take him to the bathroom. I take his temperature and after some fighting get some medicine in him.
He sniffles.
"You should lie down sweetie." I say and put him to bed. He should fall asleep from the medicine, it is suppose to make him drowsy.
"Mama." He whispers
"Here's teddy. He'll make you feel better." I say and tuck him in the bed. He nods. I kiss his forehead and leave the room.
"Mommy!" I hear him shout an hour later.
"What's wrong?" I ask and hurry into his room. I see he got sick on himself.
"Come here." I say and lift him off the bed and take him to the bathroom.
"You're really hot baby." I say worried. I take his temperature, but he it isn't alarming he's just sick.
He gets sick again.
I kiss his forehead.
"Stay here sweetie." I say and kiss his cheek. I need to change the bed sheets and get a new outfit for him.
"Mommy." I hear again.
I go back to the bathroom. He looks okay.
"What's wrong baby?" I ask but he doesn't say anything. I kiss his cheek. "Give Mommy a few minutes and then you can go back to bed." I say and kiss his forehead.
I change his sheets and get him a new outfit.
"Here we go baby." I say and hear the phone ring.
"Mama." He says.
"I'll be right back sweetie." I say.
"Mommy." He says and reaches for me.
"I'll be right back baby." I say again.
It's Finnick. I look to the clock and see it is his lunch break.
"Hello?" I say.
"What's wrong?" He asks.
"Nothing." I say.
"You have that voice." He says.
I sigh.
"Nick's just sick." I say.
"Do you want me to come home early and help take care of him?" He asks.
"No, I got it Finnick." I say and hear Nick call out for me again. "I gotta go, he's calling for me." I say.
"Tell him I love him." Finnick says.
"I will." I say.
"I love you too." He says.
"I love you, bye Finnick." I say and walk to Nick's room.
"What's wrong sweetie?" I ask.
He coughs and reaches for me. I take his small hand and bring it to my lips.
"I'll stay with you baby." I say. I think that is what he wants. He just doesn't know what to ask, either that or he is just confused. He is only two.
I imagine this happening with two kids being sick at the same time or only one of them sick while the other needs taking care of. I know I will be able to do it, well I will need to, but it does scare me a little.
After an hour of sitting with him I see him start shaking.
"Nicky, wake up." I say gently. "Wake up." I say but don't touch him because something is wrong. It looks like he is having a seizure. I call the doctor after he has stopped shaking. The doctor says he should go to the hospital to get checked out. Of course he would say that, if he looks at Nick he gets paid, but I want to make sure Nick is okay.
"Come here sweetie." I say and pick him up.
He tries to tell me something, but his speech is slurred.
"You're going to be okay." I whisper and take him to the car and buckle him in. I made sure to bring his teddy bear and favorite blanket. The hospital is thankfully only thirty minutes away.
I call Finnick on the way over who says he will meet us there.
"What's wrong with him?" I ask when the doctor comes in. He talks with Nick and has him point to some things and grab his finger and checks his pupils.
"What's wrong with him?" I ask again. He is making sure Nick is okay, but I would really like to know why he is doing what he is.
"From what you described it seems like this is just a febrile seizure." He says.
"What is that?" I ask.
"Young children can get them when they have a very high fever." He says.
"But this has never happened before." I say.
"It doesn't happen all the time. It generally happens when the fever comes on strong and quickly." He says.
"What do you do now?" I ask.
"I want him to stay here for a few hours to make sure the fever was the cause. We'll try to bring his fever down as well." He says.
"That's it?" I say surprised.
He nods.
I see Finnick about to come into the room.
"Hi buddy." Finnick says to Nick and kisses his cheek.
Nick just pets his teddy bear.
"Daddy I want to go home." Nick whispers.
"Has this happened to any other family member?" He asks.
"Not that I'm aware of." I say. I don't really ask what happened to us when we were toddlers. "Does it run in the family?" I ask.
"It can." He says.
"Could this lead to some sort of disorder? Because I have an Aunt who has generalized epilepsy and-"
"Right now Mrs. Odair it just seems to be a febrile seizure, but if this happens when he gets older than the answer might be yes. Although, there is no definitive proof that epilepsy is genetic."
"How much older is older?" I ask.
"Generally the age of seven or eight." He says.
I look towards Nick who is talking with Finnick. I can tell from the look on Nick's face that he wants to go to sleep. He also looks like he might cry.
"You can't test him or something?" I ask.
"No, sorry Mrs. Odair." He says and I sigh.
"When can he go home?" I ask again.
"When his fever goes down some." He says.
He waves at Nick on the way out and Nick surprisingly waves back.
"Mama." He says when I get closer.
"Hi baby." I say and move hair from his eyes. They gave him these weird cooling packs to try and help bring the fever down. "Why don't you try to sleep?" I say and kiss his forehead.
He nods and cuddles up with his teddy bear.
Finnick motions his head to the other side of the room so we can talk.
"I only caught the tail end of that discussion." He says.
I nod.
"They think he'll be okay." I say.
"I heard that part, but it's the other stuff that worries me." He says.
"They say he'll be fine." I say.
"But, when he gets older-"
"Finnick, we can't worry about that now. Besides, when do you worry so much?" I ask.
"This is more important." He says.
"Well we can't exactly predict his future, but it doesn't really matter because we love him." I say.
"Yes we do." Finnick says and kisses my forehead.
We both just watch him sleep.
"Did you think about it?" I ask him.
"Think about what?" He asks.
"What it would be like if our other kid would be here." I say.
"No." He says. "Did you worry about that?" He asks.
"I just wonder how I will be able to take care of two cuties at once."
"Annie you said you were worried about taking care of one cutie. I think there's a learning curve. Besides, we know more now then we did when we first brought Nick home." Finnick says.
"I know, but I'm still worried." I say.
Finnick kisses my forehead.
"Me too." He says.
After what seems like forever we are allowed to take Nick home. When we take him home we just let him sleep, I can tell he wants that most and they gave him food while we were in the hospital.
"Would you like to know the sex?" My doctor asks.
"Yes." I say and Finnick smiles.
"Alright here we go." She says and moves the picture to show us.
"A girl." I whisper.
"Yes you're having a baby girl." She says.
"Do you know what that means Nicky?" Finnick asks Nick.
He shakes his head. After Nick got better he seemed just fine, back to his normal self.
"You're going to have a sister." Finnick says and kisses his cheek.
"Sissy?" He whispers.
"That's right." Finnick says.
Nick nods.
"Alright everything looks good. Do you guys have any questions?" She asks.
"No." I say. I've been pregnant three times, I think I know what to expect even when something bad happens.
"Nope." Finnick says.
"Already see you guys in two months." She says and walks us to check out.
"So a girl." Finnick says on the way home.
"A girl." I say and smile. "I wanna talk about names before she gets here." I say. For Nick and Olivia we waited, but this time I want to pick one out before. I don't want to say 'her' or 'she' I want to call her by her name.
"We have a few months." He says.
"I know, but I want to pick it soon." I say.
Finnick nods.
"We can start talking later then." Finnick says.
"Happy birthday to you." Finnick sings as Nick blows out his birthday candles. I'm supposed to go into labor in two weeks, but let's be honest it could happen at any time.
"How old are you today?" I ask Nick and he holds out three fingers.
"Three." He says.
"Good job baby." I say.
He smiles and we cut him a piece of cake.
"Mommy." Nick says.
"Yes sweetie?" I ask.
"Will sissy be here for my next birthday?" He asks.
"Yes she will." I say.
He nods.
"Do you remember sissy's name?" Finnick asks.
He nods.
"El-uh-ner." He says.
"Eleanor." I say and kiss his cheek. Finnick and I discussed names for a while before we agreed on the 'perfect' one. Finnick really wanted the name Margret for awhile, but I didn't like it. We finally settled on the name Eleanor Olivia Odair.
He nods and goes back to his chocolate cake.
"Is Ella still alright with taking care of Nick when you go into labor?" Finnick asks.
"She said she was." I say. I think she was only okay with this because their is a child involved. Even though she isn't Finnick's number one fan she thinks he deserves to see his daughter being born.
"You don't think she'll go back on it?" He says.
"She wouldn't." I say and kiss his cheek. "Besides, there are a few weeks before anything is supposed to happen." I say.
"It's never that simple though." Finnick smiles and kisses the top of my head.
