A/N There's a lot of separate things going on in this chapter, but there's a lot going on at work for Penny and (mostly) Leonard and of course the pregnancy. I want to address one of the reviewers, Joyteach. Hi Joy, I hope you've been well. I want to point out that yes, it is rather naive for them to think a few hours with a nanny will keep them refreshed, but they only have experience helping with Halley and Michael. They will learn how different it is, when they are your kids, who are there 24 hours a day, along with how different it can be with twins. They will eventually, hehehehehehe. I also got almost two new chapters written this week. Enjoy.

Chapter 69

Monday 18 May, 7:30 AM

Leonard had gotten in early, he wanted to check some of the schematics, to make sure he was thinking about the correct connectors and circuit boards. The more Leonard went through the schematics and added bits and pieces to his new idea, the more certain he became that it wouldn't be too difficult to make the changes.

At eight AM, he was satisfied everything was ready for him to explain it to Keith. He decided before going to the lab, he would run to the cafeteria and get a cup of coffee and a bear claw. He got them and took them back to the lab, where he put his feet up on a desk, ate the bear claw, and drank his coffee. He watched as everyone came in for the 8:30 meeting, thinking he would talk to Keith afterward.

Monday 18 May, 9:30

Penny was working on the forecast for the week when she suddenly became very hot and started sweating. She got her washcloth out and wiped down her face and arms. It cooled her a bit, enough to continue on with the forecast. Around 11 AM, she finally finished entering the numbers into the files and saving them to the proper directory. She still had a couple of questions and before uploading the files into the forecast system, she decided to go up and talk to Dan.

She gathered her notes and started up to Dan's. On the second flight of steps, she became short of breath, so she stopped for a few seconds, to catch her breath. While stopped, she began sweating again, so she went to the bathroom to cool her face, before continuing to Dan's office.

She talked with Dan, asking about a couple of new items, before making some minor changes to her notes. She thanked Dan and then decided to take the elevator back to her floor. After getting back to her office, she made a few corrections to the files, saved them, then uploaded them to the forecast system. With that done, she shut down her computer, left a voice message on her phone, and left for lunch, before going to her doctor's appointment.

Monday 18 May, Noon

Leonard was in the cafeteria with Keith, still discussing the switch, for the experiment. As usual, Keith was enthusiastic about the idea, but then began playing devil's advocate, coming up with problems the switch could cause. Leonard explained his fixes for those problems, although he said he simply didn't know in several places, but said he would look at it and try to get an answer. Keith had some ideas to get around the problems when Leonard admitted he wasn't sure, but he would wait to discuss those this afternoon.

Finally, they both agreed to start thinking of solutions to the problems and Keith promised he would go over things with his operations team, to see if they could determine if it was actually a problem or not. At 12:30 Leonard got up, telling Kieth he had to go to his wife's doctor's appointment and would meet him in the lab, to talk with the rest of the crew, at three. They said goodbye to each other before Leonard left the cafeteria.

Monday 18 May, 1:10

Penny was waiting nervously in the waiting room. She had gone in ten minutes early for her tests, and it was now ten minutes after her appointment time. She knew her blood pressure was high again, they took it four times today. So she was wondering what was taking so long for Dr. Samuels to come and get her. She and Leonard continued to wait for another five minutes before Dr. Samuels finally came out and called her name.

They both rose and followed Dr. Samuels into her office, and sat in their usual spots. Dr. Samuels didn't even check the papers, she stated right off, "Penny, your blood pressure still hasn't come down. It was still 140 over 90 today, and we will increase your methyldopa to one and a half pills, twice a day. That's the most we can give you, but we really need to get that down. Have you been resting?"

"Not much this week," said Penny, a bit shamefaced. "But, we were moving and I promise, I'll rest more in the coming week. Really I will. Leonard will just have to do everything."

"He will have to do everything," said Dr. Samuels. "Leonard, I haven't asked much of you, but you have to make sure that Penny is resting when she is home. Not running around, not working, not cooking and not cleaning…"

Leonard started laughing.

"What's so funny?" asked Dr. Samuels, a bit peevishly.

"I'm sorry," said Leonard becoming serious. "You said, 'Penny cleaning,' and it made me laugh. Penny doesn't clean, never has. Oh, don't worry, I get what you mean and will make sure she rests. But, you really don't have to worry about her cleaning."

Dr. Samuels nodded, "Okay, I'll take your word for it." She turned back to Penny. "Now, all those tests we did last week, came back negative. Your red blood cells look good, you don't have a low platelet count, kidney and liver function are normal. Did you call your mother?"

"Yes, I did," said Penny. "She said doesn't remember having high blood pressure, but she was smoking marijuana while she was pregnant, so who knows. She was adamant that she didn't have preeclampsia."

Dr. Samuels thought for a few seconds then said, "Okay, good, we'll go with that. We will do an extra vial of blood from here on out, to make sure your platelets and cell are fine. And, as we talked about last week, if it doesn't come down next week, we'll go with Labetalol. While you don't have preeclampsia now, we don't want you to get it. Now, are you having any problems, any whatsoever?"

"Besides my normal aches and pains?" said Penny. "I've been short of breath a couple of times and really sweating."

"The breathing thing is probably due to your baby's positioning and the fact they are just taking up more room," said Dr. Samuels. "As a result, you can't breath as efficiently. The sweating is just part of pregnancy. You have more blood flow, your body is working harder, hormonal changes all make your body think you're hotter than you are, and sweating is the body's way of cooling you down. Now, how about we do the ultrasound, and find out where those babies of yours are at."

All three got up and walked over to the examination table. Dr. Samuels starting the machine while Penny got on the table. She pulled the top of her pants down below her belly and pulled up her top. Dr. Samuels put the lubricant on the wand and started moving it around on Penny's belly. After about five minutes and a few changes on the dials of the machine, Dr. Samuels stopped, turned off the machine and gave Penny towels and wipes, and said she'd be right back.

Leonard and Penny were already back in their seats when Dr. Samuels came back in. As usual, she looked through her papers, before starting to talk. "Penny, before we go any further, I just wanted to let you know, all of your other tests are within normal parameters, where they should be. I was focused on your blood pressure, earlier, but you are doing fine with every with else. Although, your weight is still on the lower part of normal. I forgot to mention that."

"Anyway, Baby A has moved down and is in the proper position already, so that's good. But, Baby B is not in an ideal position."

"She's sideways, isn't she?" said Penny.

Dr. Samuels looked surprised, "Yes, how did you know?"

"Well, she's been that way several times, already," said Penny. "And, I got the feeling she was that way by feeling the movement. She's like kicking off to one side, while the other was kicking like right above my belly button."

Dr. Samuels looked at the images she took while doing the ultrasound. "Well, that would explain why you have been short of breath. With her lying sideways, there's no room for your lungs. You said they were kicking in different spots, have you been recording the motions separately?"

"Yeah, I have," said Penny. "I mean, I've been doing it the way you told me first, but then trying to find out which one is more active. They are about the same, although I have found they both are quieter at night, and really active when I'm at work."

Dr. Samuels chuckled, "That might be a good thing, they may sleep at night. I am glad you are doing that, as I was going to ask you to do them separately, as we want to make sure each is doing well. So, keep that up."

"As for their size, they are still 16 and a half inches long, but oh, their weight gain this week. They both gained eight ounces and are now 46 and 43 ounces, or approaching three pounds."

"You now have about four to six weeks left in your pregnancy," said Dr. Samuels.

"Wouldn't four weeks be only 35?" asked Penny.

"Yes, it would, but for twins that isn't all that bad," said Dr. Samuels. "Normal for twins is 36-37 weeks, so 35 would only be one week short. As a matter of fact, you should start listing things you want to have done before you go into labor, and get them done now."

"As for the babies, if we had to deliver them now, while they would be a bit small and their lungs wouldn't be quite fully developed, they would have over a 95% chance of surviving. We have one of the best neonatal ICUs in California, so no matter when yours are delivered from here on out, I wouldn't expect major problems preventing them from going home, although I can't rule it out."

"For example, if your second one decides to stay in the transverse position, we have a way to deliver her vaginally, instead of with a Caesarian. I'll go over that with you next week because next week is when I would normally explain it to you."

Penny nodded, "Thank you, that is a bit of a relief."

"So, do you have anything else for me?" asked Dr. Samuels.

Both Penny and Leonard shook their head.

"Good, go ahead and make your appointment for next week," said Dr. Samuels. "And, we'll see you on Thursday night."

Penny and Leonard rose and walked out to the receptionist, made her appointment for next Monday, and then Penny headed home and Leonard went back to work.

Monday 18 May, 3:00 PM

Leonard returned from the doctor's office and went over his notes before going down to the lab, to talk with the operations team. He spent the next two hours going over the idea for the switch, his ideas to implement it. He also mentioned some of the possible problems. At four-thirty, he wrapped it up, by asking the team to see if they could find additional problems, with any solutions that might fix the problems. In addition, he asked them to find solutions to the problems he had outlined. He then dismissed them, telling them they would meet again at ten, tomorrow morning.

As they left, he asked Keith to stay. When the rest of them were gone, he asked, "Do you think this might be more than we can do?"

"No, I don't," said Keith. "The rest of the team will think about it tonight, and give you some good advice on how to proceed."

"I hope so," said Leonard. "Okay, stop by my office around 9:30 tomorrow morning, and we can talk about it before we meet with everyone."

"Okay, I'll see you then Leonard," said Keith. Leonard then turned and left the lab.

Tuesday 19 May, 11:00

Leonard had spent most of the previous night coming up with a plan to get started, installing the switch, as soon as possible. He had gone over the plan with Keith, who agreed with it, and then met with the team. He was very relieved after talking to them about it. The first thing they did, was to point out possible solutions to the problems Leonard had pointed out the night before. A couple had even come in with updated schematic drawings of the changes they had thought about.

Three individuals had come up with more problems, but they also had solutions for them. Leonard had listed all the problems on a whiteboard and had compartmentalized similar problems together. He had the names of those who had solutions for each of the problems and had set aside time for each person, or persons, to meet with him and Keith.

By doing it this way, Leonard hoped to start working on the design by the end of the week. Keith had agreed with his assessment and they would spend the rest of the day talking to one or more of the team for each problem.

Tuesday 19 May, 4:00 PM

Penny was working on several booklets she would be handing out at a sales meeting on Friday. She would print ten pages, turn and get the pages from the printer on the cadenza behind her. She would then turn back and lay each page on a pile of other pages. She had been doing this for a half-hour when she could feel a tingling in her nipples. That's weird, she thought and looked down. She didn't see anything, so she continued printing the booklet. After another ten minutes, the sensation went away, and she thought nothing more about it.

After getting the last pages laid out, she looked at the clock, 5 PM, perfect. She stopped for a second and took a drink of water from her cup. She took a long drink of her water when she felt something wet on her chest. Thinking she had spilled her water, she looked down. What she saw were two wet spots, one on each side of her chest, where her nipples were.

Not knowing what to do she dialed a number, listened to the ring, and heard Bernadette answer, "Dr. Rostenkowski-Wolowitz, vice-president of research, how may I help you?"

"Bernadette, this is Penny, I need you down here now," said Penny.

"But, I have…" Bernadette started.

"I said now," said Penny loudly, before hanging up.

Something must be wrong, thought Bernadette. She got up and hurried toward Penny's office.

Tuesday 19 May, 5:00 PM

Dr. Gablehauser was already having a bad day. The department chair meeting, in the morning, had gone badly for him. And, later, he was forced to discipline a couple of the department's students for a prank. Normally, Caltech professors gave tacit approval or even full support to pranks, but this one had gone wrong and caused a minor injury. So, he was forced to at least give the impression something was being done, even if he really wasn't doing anything.

For most of the afternoon, he was struggling with the budget. Of all the things he had to do, the budget was the trickiest. He had to look at the various research going on, the amount of research funds available, and try to figure out who got what money. It was something he really wasn't fond of doing because someone was always unhappy.

He looked up at the clock and saw it was five. He sighed, knowing he was going to be there for, at least, another hour when he heard his intercom ring.

"Yes," he said.

"Dr. Gablehauser, I have a call for you on line two," he heard his secretary say.

"Tell them I left for the day," said Eric.

"It's from Brookhaven, a doctor Phillips," said his secretary. "They want to talk to you about Dr. Cooper."

Dr. Gablehauser put his face in his hand. What did Sheldon do now? he thought. He sighed, then shook his head. "Put them through," he said. He waited until they came on the line and said in a weary voice, "Hi Rick, what can I do for you today?"