A/N This is a bit shorter than several of the previous chapters lately. I've been struggling with pain over the last week, and I didn't do a lot of editing on this chapter, so the things I usually add, aren't in here this week. They will show up in future chapters.
Speaking of future chapters, I did not do any writing at all this week, so I'm down to three chapters (well, almost four) ahead. I'm feeling a bit better today, so hopefully, I'll be able to write in the coming week. Anyway, enjoy.
Chapter 53
Sunday 05 April Noon
Leonard and Penny had gone out for brunch to Marston's as usual, before heading to the farmers market to get some vegetables and to look over some of the crafts that were there every week. They had been there for only an hour though, when Penny's legs started to ache, and then cramp. In addition, her back starting to ache.
She sat down for a while but noticed her feet looked swelled, so they decided to go back home. Arriving at their door, they heard Amy, from across the hall say, "Sheldon, you agreed that I would have this space, you can't go back on it now."
"But, Amy," said Sheldon. "I didn't realize that I would have to have the levels split up the way they are. I simply must have space."
"And I'm telling you, you can't have the space," said Amy. "If you put your paperwork there, I swear I will throw it out the window, your choice."
"Then how am I supposed to complete my calculations," asked Sheldon.
"That is not my problem," said Amy. "You agreed to the split, you will keep your agreement."
"But…"
"No but's, Sheldon," said Amy. "You make me do all sorts of things in the relationship agreement, and tell me I agreed to it, so I have to do it. Well, you agreed to the space allocation, so you will just have to deal with it."
"Fine," yelled Sheldon.
Penny chuckled, "Wow, Sheldon yelled, he must be mad."
Leonard had his keys out, "We better get in, and lock the door, so we can pretend we're not home yet."
Leonard got the door unlocked, they both entered, and then he shut the door and locked it. Once inside, they started making lunch.
Sunday 05 April 5:30 PM
Leonard and Penny were making dinner. They had had a light lunch, and after cleaning up, spent a couple of hours looking at houses. Around three, they both laid down together, Penny wanted a nap, and by four they had gone back to looking at houses, until stopping for dinner.
After eating, they did the dishes and then went out to watch some television, although Penny would continue to look at houses when the commercials were on. Around 10 PM, Leonard mentioned they should start thinking about getting ready for bed. Penny nodded, but grabbed her phone, then started typing on her iPad. A few minutes later, Leonard shut his computer down, locked the door, and urged Penny to get ready for bed.
She shut off her iPad and walked with Leonard to the bathroom, where they started preparing for bed. Once in their bedroom, they changed and then started getting into bed. As they snuggled up, Penny said, "Hey, can you get off, after my doctor's appointment tomorrow?"
"I'll have to check, but I think I can," said Leonard. "Why?"
"Just wondering," said Penny. "There somewhere I want to take you, so please, if you can."
Leonard shrugged, "I'll do what I can, but we have the runs to go over."
"Do what you can," said Penny. "There's somewhere I want to take you." She then pulled him close and kissed him. "Come on Leonard, I'm horny."
Leonard smiled, "Then we should have left our clothes off."
Penny shook her head, and Leonard leaned in and kissed her deeply. The kiss continued as they started taking their clothes off.
Monday 06 April 8:03 AM
Penny was still unpacking her purse and computer bag when her phone rang. Picking it up, she said, "LA District Manager, Ms. Hofstadter speaking."
"Good morning Penny," said Dan. "How are you doing this morning?"
"I'm fine," said Penny, sounding a bit puzzled. "Is there something you need me for?"
"Nope, nothing at all," said Dan. "Just want to congratulate you on taking over your district this morning."
Penny smiled, and said, "Oh, well, thanks, but it was you to pushed me for it. I got an extra-large cup of coffee on the way in today to celebrate. You do remember that I have a doctor's appointment today, right?"
"You do?" said Dan. "I have last week and next week. Are you sure?"
Penny got a worried look on her face. Did I forget to tell him about my extra appointment?
"Oh, never mind," said Dan. "I wrote it on my desk calendar since I got it from a voice message. Why only one week between appointments? Is there something wrong with the baby?"
"No, the baby's fine, I had low hemoglobin," said Penny. "My doctor gave me a couple of prescriptions, and I need to have my blood checked again this week. Then back to my normal appointments next week."
"Oh, okay," said Dan. "Yeah, you need to have that looked at," said Dan. "My sister had a low hemo count, and she had a tough delivery. With two that could be worse, so get it checked, and if you need a break, let me know. For now, just put a message with my number and telling anyone to call me, before you leave."
"I will," said Penny. "But, yeah, I did remember. I'm going to start working on the forecast. I want to have it finished before I leave, so you can look it over this afternoon."
"Thanks, Penny," said Dan.
"Talk to you later," said Penny, before she hung up. She thought about what to do next and remembered she had to make a phone call. Checking her phone, she called the number and asked a few questions. The person on the other end asked a few questions and then they set up a meeting for this afternoon.
They said their goodbyes and hung up, so by 8:30, Penny was working on the forecast for the week when she suddenly got an urge to urinate. She had to hurry to get to the bathroom in time. After finishing, she had to get back to working on the forecast.
Monday 06 April 8:30 AM
Leonard was reading over the reports from the heads of each section, of his team. The generation team said the machine itself appeared to be in fine shape. They wanted to do a short test run to make sure, and Leonard didn't see a problem with that.
The detection team also said their part, of the machine, seems to have come out of the test run with no problems but would like a short test, just to verify it. Leonard thought that the generation test could be used to do the detection test, and had already decided this would cut the time for checks in half, and was the best way to move forward.
The final section was a bit more problematic. The data runs had to be broken down, by event and then checked to see which photons were entangled and what degrees of freedom were entangled. This had to be done by checking each detection, then matching it with the generation. This was going to take two to three weeks, and then each event would be independently re-checked.
Leonard realized that this would be the longest part, but it was necessary. He didn't want to make an announcement, without re-checking everything. He looked at the clock, figuring he had another ten minutes before he would meet with the team. I can get another cup of coffee, and then head to the lab, thought Leonard. With that, he left his office.
Monday 06 April 1:00 PM
Leonard and Penny were waiting for Dr. Samuels to call them into her office. Penny had been weighed, had her blood pressure tested, and then had her blood sample taken before being sent back out to the waiting area.
"I hope she hurries up," said Penny.
"Why," asked Leonard.
"All day, I've been running to the bathroom," said Penny. "It's like I'm back in the early days of the pregnancy when I had to keep running to the bathroom. That went away, and now it's back."
It was another ten minutes, and Penny had gone to the bathroom and back before they heard Dr. Samuels call their names. They got up, and followed her into her office, and sat down in the offered seats.
"So, it appears that the prescriptions I gave you are having the effect we want. Not enough, at this time, but it is getting better. You were at 10.0 last week, and are now up to 10.9. I would like to see you above 11.5, at a minimum, and above 12.0 is preferred. So, please keep taking the supplements, the vitamin C, and continuing eating the high iron food I told you about."
"The other question is, have you become constipated?" asked Dr. Samuels.
Penny shook her head, "No, I haven't. I have been drinking a lot of water, with the supplements. But, I have been running to the bathroom to urinate quite a bit today."
"Well, actually that makes sense," said Dr. Samuels. "Your uterus is getting bigger and, like most women, you had this problem earlier in your pregnancy, when the uterus settled onto the pelvic bone. Now, with the increase in uterine size, it's happening again, because the uterus is pushing on the bladder. I don't think it's anything to worry about, but it may be an inconvenience."
Penny shook her head and said, sarcastically, "An inconvenience," she says.
"Well, I mean it's nothing to worry about, as far as your pregnancy goes. It's part of being pregnant. Are you drinking coffee?"
"I limit myself to one cup, in the morning," said Penny. "It was something that caused me to throw up when I had morning sickness."
"Well, that shouldn't cause that kind of problem anymore," said Dr. Samuels. "But, there is something else I want to talk to you about, your blood pressure was borderline high, at 132 over 85. Previously, you were in the 120s for the upper number, and in the 70s for the lower. Please watch your salt intake."
"Okay, I'll watch it," said Penny.
"You did gain three pounds this week," said Dr. Samuels.
"Is that bad?"
"No, no," said Dr. Samuels. "While you were in the normal range, you were on the low side. While your weight is still on the low side, this gain itself is right in line with gains for this part of your pregnancy."
Penny smile, "Thanks, that's good to know."
"You ready for your ultrasound?" asked Dr. Samuels.
Penny looked puzzled, "I thought today was for my hemoglobin."
Dr. Stevens smiled, "Well, it is, but, I'm going to consider every appointment as a regular appointment, from here on out, so we're checking everything."
Penny shrugged and walked over to the exam table, Leonard sitting next to her.
Both Penny and Dr. Samuels went through the normal preparatory routine, and Dr. Samuels was soon running the sensor over Penny's belly. Dr. Samuels changed a few settings and continued moving the sensor around. Finally, she stopped, passed some tissues and a towel to Penny, along with some wipes, and said she'd be right back.
Penny cleaned herself off before she and Leonard moved back to the chairs. It was only a couple of minutes before Dr. Samuels returned.
"Well," she said, as she sat down, "we don't have any amazing pictures this time. Like them sucking their thumbs or playing hide and seek with their hands. Both of them have their hands down, so I don't have anything to give you."
"I can tell you that one is just over 13 inches long, and weighs about one pound and four ounces. The other is just over 12 inches and weighs one pound two ounces. Both of them are in the normal range for both height and weight, and they are both in a head-down position. Do you have any questions?"
"Not really questions," said Penny. "But, we were out at the farmers market yesterday, and my legs started to ache, and then cramp. Also, my lower back started to ache, so I sat down, and noticed that my feet and ankles seemed swelled. Is this normal?"
Dr. Samuels had a sad smile, "Unfortunately, yes, it is normal, another reason to limit your salt intake. Next week will be the end of your second trimester. Remember when I told you to enjoy the time because the morning sickness was over, but all the problems were in the future?"
Penny nodded.
"Well, welcome to the future," said Dr. Samuels, with a wry grin. "Unfortunately, those aches will be more frequent. You carrying a lot of weight in your belly, and will be carrying more. Your back isn't really designed to help carry an enlarged belly. Now, you have some very well-developed abs and this will help keep your belly from getting too big. However, your back muscles will still have problems compensating for that, so yes, you will have some backaches."
"Same with your legs. Most of that is from your increase in weight. Your legs are working harder, so they will hurt. As you gain more weight, they will both hurt more. In addition, your hips won't quite be in the same position, so you'll have some gait problems. But, again, all that is normal and will go back to the way they were after the babies are born."
Penny sighed unhappily, "I guess I'll just have to get used to it."
"You will," said Dr. Samuels. "As for the swelling, did it go away, or have your feet and ankles stayed swelled?" asked Dr. Samuels.
"It went away after we got home, and I got off my feet," said Penny.
"Then there's nothing to worry about," said Dr. Samuels. "Swelling that goes away, is normal. It could be something else, but there was no sign in your urine, so it sounds as if it's just normal. BTW, you might find your hands start swelling also. If I were you, I would take off your rings, otherwise, they might get stuck on your fingers, until after the pregnancy."
Penny looked at Dr. Samuels, with wide eyes, but nodded.
"One other thing, you might start seeing a dark line on your belly," said Dr. Samuels. "That is also normal, it's called the Linea Nigra, and many women get it. So, if you see it start to develop, you'll know it's normal. Is there anything else?"
Penny shook her head, saying, "No, nothing I can think of."
Dr. Samuels said, "Okay, then, I'll see you in a week. Please make an appointment, and we'll see you then."
Penny and Leonard rose, then left the office, and went to the reception window. They made their appointment for next week and left the doctor's office. As they walked out to their cars, Penny said, "Did you get the afternoon off?"
"Yes, I did," said Leonard. "But, you haven't told me where we're going."
Penny said, "Well, for now, how about you drive home, and I'll follow. When we get there, you park and get in my car, then we can go."
Leonard shrugged and nodded, "Okay," he said.
Leonard took his car and drove to the apartment building, parked, and got out. Penny was right behind him, and he got into her car. Once his seat belt was on, she took off, heading north.
After about twenty minutes, Leonard said, "Why are we going to Howard's?"
"We're not," said Penny. "Just ride with the car."
Five minutes later, they started slowing down in front of Howard and Bernadette's house. Leonard was about to say something, but Penny continued past the house, stopping in front of the house next to Howard and Bernadette.
"What are we doing here?" asked Leonard.
Penny pointed to a sign in the front yard, when he looked, his mouth dropped open, the sign said, "House for Sale".