When he arrived at the hospital her Dad was standing beside her bed holding a basin catching her vomit. Adam looked distressed, it wasn't the first time he had helped Polly but it was starting to weigh them all down. Their hearts sank every time the phone rang and it was Sam telling them that Polly was really bad and he needed someone to take the girls, or Polly would ring and burst into tears because she just couldn't see an end to the nightmare.
It broke their hearts when Lola would cry at night because she wanted to go home and see her Mom and Dad or Mae would scream hysterically when Sam dropped them off.
Adam was upset for Sam too, the kid had argued about going out and leaving her and they convinced him that Polly would be fine at home with them. Polly assured him that she was just tired and needed to have a sleep and she'd be okay, she had told him her urine test was normal but he watched her fade a little when they were out. Adam and Kim both thought she wasn't as well as she made out and Sam knew it too but the kid needed to catch his breath and take a break. He was barely keeping it together.
To see him stand at the end of her bed, hands in his pockets and looking absolutely heartbroken was hard for Adam. He looked like he'd hit a wall, knowing he wouldn't walk away Adam worried that he was going to lose it completely.
Adam didn't think he had the energy to pick them both up right now but he would if he had too. He wouldn't blame Sam if he faltered every now and then but his son-in-law hadn't even wobbled, he hadn't let Polly down, or his girls but his breaking point was getting closer. Everyone knew it and was starting to worry about Sam just as much as they worried about Polly.
Right now he tried to convince him to go home and let him stay with Polly. "Take a break, I'll stay. Go back to our place, have a good night's sleep and come back in the morning."
"I'm fine."
"Sam, you can't help Polly if you can't stand up yourself. Let me do the heavy lifting for a few hours." Adam already knew it was fruitless but he had to try.
"I'm not leaving her." He steadfastly refused to leave his wife. "You wouldn't leave Kim if she was like this, would you?"
"No."
Adam hugged him before he left and for just a moment Sam clung to him, he appreciated the strong arms of his father-in-law. Right now he needed them because he himself was starting to wonder if he had the strength to last another month. They were counting the days until this nightmare was over, unlike the excitement of counting down to the day they were due to meet Lola and Mae; this was just a hard slog until the end. "You are doing great. Your Dad would be proud of the man you are. I am proud of you, we all are. Polly is lucky she has you." Sam just held on tighter.
Adam stood outside the door and watched Sam for a few minutes, just to make sure he was okay. He watched him kiss Polly gently on the forehead and whisper something to her before pulling up a seat, resting his head on the bed near Polly's hand and he had to turn away when he saw Sam's chest heave.
Kim was waiting for him when he got home. The girls were in bed and she was folding washing to keep herself busy. Adam had let her know that Polly was being admitted and he'd stay until Sam arrived. She had held it together until the girls were in bed and then had a little cry on her own. "How is she?"
"Out of it." He dropped down beside Kim and leaned on her shoulder. "I told Sam to come home, or go back to our place and get some sleep and I'd stay but he refused. He's staying the night."
"I thought he would."
"Fuck, Kim this is shit." Adam ran his hand roughly through his hair. "I don't know what to do."
"We do what we are doing."
"I want to fix this, I can't deal with Polly being like this. It's killing me, that's my baby girl. She'll always be my baby girl and when she's broken I need to fix her." Adam as a father was her favourite human ever. He had never lost an ounce of passion for them.
"Adam we can't, we can't fix her."
"I know, but god it's fucked." Kim spied the movement over his shoulder as Mae did her re-appearing act. They had put her in a real bed a few weeks ago in preparation for the new baby, so that she wouldn't feel like she'd been kicked out of her cot for the new one. She had also climbed out of her cot recently and Sam had been horrified to see her standing in the doorway to their bedroom when he got out of the shower. She had scared the crap out of him.
"Come here monkey." Kim waved her over and she climbed up in between them and had a good cuddle. Adam needed it, having his grand daughter curled up on his lap was precisely what he needed and he reluctantly took her back up to bed when she fell asleep. He checked on Lola who was buried deep in her quilt and dead to the world before heading back down to cuddle up to his wife.
Kim decided they needed to change the subject or at least get his mind off it. "You know it gets me all kind of tingly seeing you be the most adorable Pops."
"Strange things turn you on."
"No, not strange things, just you." Kim started kissing his neck and Adam laughed and pushed her away.
"Don't tease me. I know you don't want me right now, you get all freaked out about having sex when the GD's are sleeping."
"Perhaps I need to take my mind off things too. You know it's not easy for me either. I've been pregnant and that's hard enough as it is, this should be the happiest few months waiting for the new baby and it's not and I hate this for them." Kim stopped kissing him but she was running her hand over his stomach and loving the warmth of his skin. "I remember loving every minute of Polly's pregnancy, the excitement of having our baby. It should be like that. I loved you talking to our babies and touching my belly and Polly hates that she can't even stand Sam sleeping in the same bed as her. I worry about them."
"I saw Sam tonight, you don't need to worry about them, not like that." Adam had seen the look on Sam's face, he wasn't going anywhere and he also held Polly's hand when she was desperately waiting for Sam to arrive. "You were beautiful when you were pregnant and oh so horny if I remember rightly." He tugged at the hem of her shirt and eventually wiggled his fingers underneath until he got to touch her skin. "You still turn me on every single day."
Kim jumped up off the couch and held out her hand to her husband. They both needed to get their mind off things. "Let's go to bed."
Sam came home briefly the next morning to pick up some things for Polly; she was staying another day at least. The dehydration was worse than they thought and Polly had apologised to Sam for putting the baby at risk just so she could spend some time with him. "I'd do anything to spend time with you too." Sam assured her he was okay "Don't apologise." As long as they both safe and he reluctantly agreed to go home and shower and change.
The girls were excited to see him but Sam was distracted. "How are you?" Kim rested her hand on Sam's shoulder as he sat down heavily at the dining table while she slid a plate of pancakes in front of him. Adam had promised the girls pancakes for breakfast and they hadn't forgotten. Lola was onto him the moment she made him open his eyes. Mae was already in bed with them, Kim didn't have the heart to deny her an early morning cuddle. He thought he wasn't hungry but the smell of the food made him realise he hadn't eaten since yesterday afternoon and he tucked in.
"Tired. Do you mind keeping them today? I'm going to go back and stay with Polly, it was a rough night and the Doctor is coming back after lunch. I want to be there."
"Of course. I will take them home and come and get them when you are ready." Kim could see that Sam felt guilty for not wanting them around right now, he had struggled to look interested when they were climbing all over him and Adam had taken them down the park when they were making a racket. "You should get a few hours sleep before you go back. Does Polly need anything before I go?"
"I'll just grab a shower and pack a few things, she wants some clean clothes." He was so flat. "The meds have kicked in now, it was a bitch fight to get her to take them but she's feeling better but they want to top her up a bit longer. She's not happy. The termite is kicking up a storm this morning though." The only bit of joy they had to look forward to today was the promise of a scan.
"He is?' Kim was constantly trying to get Sam to slip up and thought that with him being so tired she might just catch him out. It was killing them knowing that both knew what they were having and were keeping it a secret. It was no great mystery that everyone was hoping for a boy but Sam and Polly were happy with what they had and what they were expecting. They didn't care what it was, they wanted a healthy baby and Sam wanted a healthy wife and they both wanted this to be over.
"Nice try." He forced out a laugh. "They are going to do a scan this afternoon so we can see the little termite." It was always a relief to see the baby growing and moving around on the screen, it kept them going. "Polly is looking forward to that."
Polly was asleep when he got back, they hadn't slept much last night and he pulled up a chair and drifted off himself. When a midwife came in Sam woke up and Polly was just getting out of bed for a shower. "Want a hand?"
"I am worried what you'd do with that hand."
"Whatever you want me to do." Sam winked and he did like the little laugh he got. She was feeling better and that was a relief. She did ask him to come in and wash her back; it was hard to get her arms around her seven-month pregnant belly as tiny as it was. She leant on the tiled wall and let Sam massage her back; it was a rare intimate moment for them. The contented sigh Polly let out was music to his ears and he would have stood there all day if he needed to.
"Did they mind taking the girls?"
"Mind? I am not sure we will ever get them back." Sam turned off the taps and wrapped her up in a towel. "I think we will have some serious behaviour modification to do at the end of all this. I think they are both deficient in Vitamin N."
"What the hell is that?"
"No, they've got no Vitamin No in them."
"Your Mom isn't much better."
"Nope, not at all. They've all got the same deficiency." Sam helped Polly get dressed again, just in time for the doctor to come in and have a chat to them.
They were still happy with Polly's progress, despite how unwell she was. For someone with severe hyperemesis she was doing surprisingly well. The termite was a little on the small side but it was dancing up a storm at the moment and had a good steady heartbeat. They loved seeing all those arms and legs waving and kicking. It had always amazed Sam when Polly told him she could feel the baby hiccoughing and right now he could see it and it was incredible. They loved these moments, they were few and far between but beautiful when they happened.
He got to take her home early the next morning. Sam had gone home late, the girls were staying with the Ruzek's and Sam crashed there. Polly made sure he left in time to put the girls to bed. They were trying their best for them and as soon as he got them to sleep, he had a quick bite to eat before calling Polly to check on her and trying to get some much needed sleep. He took Lola to school before he went and picked up Polly and bought her home. Mae got to spend some time with her Mom; it was even nicer to spend the day with just Polly and Mae. Polly didn't do much; Sam insisted she take it easy. Usually after she came home from hospital she was reasonably good. The drugs and infusions she had perked her up a bit although the window was small. Sam took Polly to pick up Lola from school. She actually burst into tears when she saw her Mom.
Little pockets of normalcy were all they could hope for and they grabbed them when they could.
The day Polly was booked in for the Induction wasn't exciting because they were about to meet their baby but they were excited that Polly's traumatic pregnancy had finally come to an end. During the labour Polly managed to spew on Sam half a dozen times and they pumped her full of anti-emetics to help ease her symptoms, he just changed his clothes and was back at her side without a word. Polly walked around the room and stopped to lean on Sam when a contraction intensified. "This fucking hurts Sam." Polly groaned. "Worse than Lola."
Thankfully it was a short labour but incredibly intense. Her body wasn't ready to give up the baby just yet and they were working against nature and it was horrifically painful and they did have to fight pretty hard to let Sam deliver the baby, They were so far from a couple that demanded soothing music, calming words and candles in the labour ward but they didn't like the chaos in the room either. Sam had some very short but intense conversations with the Doctor and unless he could show that the baby was in distress or Polly was they were not going to budge.
At one stage they did think Polly would need a C-section but Polly was desperate to try despite the toll it would take on her. They hooked her up to an IV, giving her fluids including dextrose for energy and she would suck down a protein pack and then bring it back up again. Sam was beside himself with worry watching her struggle through the labour, even the gas she took to relieve the pain just made her feel sick and vomit so she stopped that and tried to grin and bear it.
"Let me try Sam, please. I want to do it." she begged him. The fact that she was close to 10cm made them hold off and he had no idea where she found the strength but she did it. Sam was with her until the very last moment before he took over from the midwife as the head crowned. While it wasn't exactly pretty Sam loved helping their baby come into the world, he felt a hot sting of tears trickle down his cheeks when his new baby was in his hands and saw that beautiful face for the first time.
Sam was relieved it was over and the baby was here safely but for those first few seconds his relief and love for his wife overshadowed the baby in his hands. Polly vomited just as the baby was born and Sam was devastated for her and Polly was distraught. The midwife had taken Polly's gown off as she had vomited on it but that made it easier for Sam to lay the baby on her chest. He just needed Polly to open her eyes and take a look.
