A/N It's been a crazy week here. My daughter has been ill. First thought was covid, (temperature, blocked sinuses, lack of smell, achiness, and coughing). Fortunately, the tests were negative. It seems it was just a nasty cold and the blocked sinus was the cause of the loss of smell. I've also been ill, just not as bad as her.
She's better now, but she also had problems with her car, so I've been running her around. As a result, I did not get much written. I'm down to having only chapters 83 and 84, and this is 83. If I have trouble writing this week, I may not have anything for next week. I will let you know if I have to push chapter 85 back a week. I will do my best not to do so, but no guarantees.
The anecdote Tom tells Leonard about the Hydrogen bomb was an actual event. The missed reaction led to the largest nuclear explosion ever for the US.
For now, enjoy.
Chapter 83
Monday 22 June, 1:00 PM
Leonard had found all the files he needed and still made it home in time for lunch, before taking Penny to her appointment. She had already been in the back for her tests and measurements and they were now waiting for Dr. Samuels. She came out, right on time, and called for Leonard and Penny, and all three went back to Dr. Samuels' office.
As usual, Dr. Samuels shuffled her papers before speaking, "Let's see, the important measurement first. Your blood pressure was 140 over 90, a drop of ten points since your high. We'll keep you on bedrest and continue to have you take the blood pressure medication. You only gained two pounds this week, which tells me you are close to your due date, as your weight levels off as you get near your delivery date. Some women actually lose weight toward the end."
"But, this is only my 36th week, isn't it?" said Penny.
"Yes, but with twins, normal gestation is around 37 weeks, so delivering at 36 isn't so bad. I really don't have anything new, as far as symptoms, to give you. You'll still be peeing a lot, having trouble sleeping, and I noticed your legs are swelled. But, you're almost there. Is there anything you have a question about?"
"Well, yes, I do have a question," said Penny. "The other night, I thought my contractions were starting, but after three, they stopped."
"Braxton-Hicks?" asked Dr. Samuels.
"No, I don't think so," said Penny. "Those were a bit random didn't last for more than 30 seconds. All three were 16 minutes, and lasted for 50-55 seconds. Also, they didn't feel like Braxton-Hicks. We were waiting for the fourth one, but it never came, so I just don't understand."
"Okay, those sound like prodromal contractions," said Dr. Samuels. She looked slightly annoyed and said, "Why didn't you call me?"
"Well, it was late and I didn't want to bother you, so Leonard looked them up online," said Penny. "He didn't understand why they started and stopped, but he did find prodromal."
"They are not well understood and there can be several reasons for them," said Dr. Samuels, who then added peevishly, "From here on out, if you start having contractions, I want to know. Any time of the day or night, okay?"
Penny nodded.
Dr. Samuels said, "Let's get you up on the table and do the ultrasound. We may find something."
Penny and Leonard went to the table and he helped Penny get up onto it. Dr. Samuels started the machine and put the lubricant on the wand. Penny lifted her blouse and pulled down the top of her pants, and Dr. Samuels started moving the wand around on Penny's belly. After several minutes, she stopped and changed the tip of the wand, changed the settings on several dials, and then started moving it around her belly again. She also had Penny roll over to her side, and Dr. Samuels moved the wand around on her side and back.
Finally, Dr. Samuels turned off the machine, handed Penny some wipes and towels and said she'd be right back. Penny cleaned her belly off and had Leonard do her side and back. They then returned to the chairs in front of Dr. Samuels' desk. She was gone longer than usual and Leonard and Penny waited for almost ten minutes before she came back into her office.
Doing her usual shuffling of papers she finally said, "Well, I have a possible reason for those prodromal contractions."
"What?"
"Baby B is horizontal again," said Dr. Samuels.
"What's that have to do with it?" asked Penny.
"One of the theories about why those contractions happen has to do with the positioning of the baby," said Dr. Samuels. "The theory is that if a baby is in a breech position, and horizontal is considered breech, the contractions try to move the baby into a head-down position. If it doesn't change position after two or three tries, it stops."
"And, you think that the baby stayed horizontal and because of that the contractions stopped?" said Penny.
"It's possible," said Dr. Samuels. "I mean there are other possible theories, but this is one of them."
"Will that cause any problems?" asked Penny.
"Well, until recently, we would do a Cesarian for your second one," said Dr. Stevens. "But, if you remember, we have been trying a new procedure. We try to move the baby into a head-down portion and if we can't, we deliver the second baby as a breech. If the first one is breech, we would do a cesarian, but your first one is already head down, and appears to have dropped into position, another indicator that you are close."
Penny nodded and then asked, "How are the babies doing?"
"Well, I don't show any growth, lengthwise," said Dr. Stevens. "However, Baby A is at five pounds, three ounces and Baby B is four pounds, eleven ounces. Both are within normal weight for this time in your pregnancy. Their heartbeats sounded normal."
"What took so long before you came back out?" asked Penny.
"I was still trying to see if your placenta was deeply embedded," said Dr. Samuels. "I couldn't get a good look at it, but from what I saw, I don't think it is. If it was, I should see tendrils on the screen, but I don't. So, I'll look out for it, when you deliver, but I don't think you do have one."
"Tendrils?" said Penny questionably.
"Yes, if it has grown into the uterine wall, I should see…um… things like octopus arms, growing into the uterine wall, I don't."
"Should I be relieved?" asked Penny.
"Not yet, we won't know for sure until you deliver and we get a look at the placenta," said Dr. Samuels. "Do you have anything else for me?"
Penny couldn't think of anything shook her head.
"Well, then, don't forget your breast pump tomorrow night," said Dr. Samuels. "And, don't forget to make an appointment for next week, this may be the last one you have to schedule?"
"You really think so?" asked Penny, sounding nervous.
"I'm a terrible guesser," said Dr. Samuels. "But, if I had to guess, I would say around the middle of next week, or possibly this weekend. That's based on the positioning, your lack of weight gain, etc. But, we'll see."
"Thanks, Dr. Samuels," said Penny, as she and Leonard rose. "We'll see you tomorrow night."
"See you then," said Dr. Samuels. "Oh, and, again, remember to bring your breast pump
They made their next week's appointment as they were checking out, then both walked out to the car, and they headed home.
Tuesday 23 June, 11:00 AM
Leonard gave the signal, and the actual run started. He was watching intently, but he knew that was silly, he couldn't actually see anything, it was all about the detectors.
They ran the ten interaction test for twenty minutes and reduced power for ten minutes. While at reduced power, they checked the detectors. After checking, they brought the machine up to full power and ran the 14 interaction test for twenty minutes. They repeated the procedure again to run 18 and after it was done, they reduced power.
They checked the detectors and Tom gave them a thumbs up. So, they started back running the whole sequence again, with only five minutes of reduced power between runs. They again did the checks between runs and after the whole sequence, checking the detectors again.
Tom again gave them a thumbs up, and they brought the machine to full power. For the next thirty minutes, Leonard would randomly choose either 10, 14, or 18 interactions, and Keith, at the controls, would change the number on the control panel. They would run at that number for a minute or two and then Leonard would call out a different number and run that for a minute or two.
After the thirty minutes, Leonard had them reduce power and then prepare the machine for shutdown. While Keith's team was doing that, he walked over to Tom.
"Do you have enough reactions?" asked Leonard.
"Yes, we have plenty," said Tom.
"How does the number look?" asked Leonard.
"Initial indications are that we were getting 25% to 30% more from each amount," said Tom. "I'll know more tomorrow."
"Okay, when you got it, grab Keith and come and talk to me," said Leonard. He gave Keith the signal to shut everything down, with a large smile on his face.
Tuesday 23 June, 7:25 PM
Leonard and Penny were waiting for the class to start and to pass the time, especially after the contractions on Sunday night, they were practicing their breathing and timing exercises. Leonard chuckled because two other couples also started practicing, after seeing Leonard and Penny. Dr. Samuels entered the classroom, sat behind the desk, and was shuffling her papers. Penny suppressed a giggle because she always saw Dr. Samuels shuffling papers and wondered if she shuffled her toilet paper.
Dr. Samuels stood up and said, "Tonight is the final class and I will show you how to get, and keep, an adequate supply of milk. I'll teach you how to pump and save your milk if you won't be able to feed them or use it all. At the end of the lesson tonight, I will also answer any questions you may have."
"Now, I have two things, before we get started. First, did you all bring your breast pumps tonight?"
One of each couple had raised their arms, showing the breast pump.
"Excellent," said Dr. Samuels. Then she looked at Leonard and Penny. "Penny, Leonard, are you able to stay for a half-hour or so, after class?"
They both nodded their heads but looked puzzled.
"I'm asking as I want to go over what all the couples, including you, need to know. There are a few things specific to twins that I will go over with you, after class, if you don't have a problem with that."
Both Penny and Leonard shook their heads.
"Good," said Dr. Samuels. "Then we can begin. First off, let's look at your breast pumps."
Wednesday 24 June, 1:00 PM
Leonard was working on some staffing issues for the team when he heard a knock and looked up. There were Tom and Keith, both with smiles. He smiled back and said, "Come on in."
They came in and Leonard noticed they were both carrying some paperwork. He suggested they move to the table and after all three were sitting, Leonard asked, "So, from the smiles, I'm guessing things went well with the test."
Tom nodded and laid out his paperwork. "Yes, it did, Leonard," said Tom. "We got right around 30% across the board. That means when trying for ten, we got 13. When trying for 14, we got 18 and when trying for 18, we got 23. So, we are really good right now. We're getting more interactions than anyone in the world."
"That's really great, a tribute to the team," said Leonard. "But, we still don't know why."
"Actually, that's why I'm here," said Keith. "We did some calculations that show that some of the isotopes in the material we are now using, instead of being inert, are reacting to the specific power band we're in, and creating a resonance, thus giving us slightly more reactions."
"Is that possible?" asked Leonard.
"Yes, it's happened before," said Keith. "When they fired the first test of a dry hydrogen bomb, they had Lithium 6 as the fuel. There was more space than Lithium 6, so Lithium 7 was used as an inert filler. However, the energy of some of the neutrons started a reaction series that converted the Lithium 7 to Lithium 6, thus feeding the explosion more fuel. What was supposed to be a six megaton blast, turned out to be 15 megatons."
"Well, I'm glad we're not getting megatons worth of energy here," said Leonard with a smile.
"Well, what we can do is to run some calculation," said Keith. "We can check on what different amounts of different isotopes can do and set up some experiments to run this fall. We may find a substance or several substances that can increase the number of entanglements."
"That sounds good," said Leonard. "Keep me in the loop while I'm off. What I need now is the fuller analysis for yesterday's run and the calculations for those possible tests this fall."
Keith and Tom stood up and Tom said, "We'll get our teams on it."
"Okay, great job, guys," said Leonard. "Make sure you tell your teams how good of a job they've done. And, let me know how things are going."
Keith and Tom left Leonard's office.
Wednesday 24 June, 6:00 PM
The women were in 4A, waiting for the guys to come back. They had been at the comic books store and were on their way to get the Thai food for dinner. Penny had told Amy and Bernadette about the contractions she had had, on Sunday. They were both wondering if that meant she was close and Penny explained about what Dr. Samuels had said about her guess as to when Penny might deliver.
Penny had looked around the apartment. It was the first time she had been back to it since she and Leonard had moved out. It didn't look all that much different. There were still figurines on the bookshelves, although not as many as before, with Leonard's now at the house. Penny could tell there were a few things of Amy's. A few knick-knacks of hers were on the bookshelves and her harp was next to what used to be Leonard's and was now her, desk. There were some more books on the shelves, Penny assumed they were Amy's. But, other than that, the place looked pretty much the same.
The guys came in, the food was put on plates and soon everyone was eating in the living room. Suddenly Penny leaned over to Leonard and whispered, "Leonard, I think I'm having a contraction."
"Are you sure? Remember Sunday night?" said Leonard, watching Penny do something with her phone.
"I think so, but let's keep it quiet for now," said Penny. "If I have a few more, we can say something. For now, I'm going to time things."
Leonard could see Penny had the stopwatch up on her phone. After a short wait, she leaned over and said, "Fifty seconds long, I'll let you know when the next one is."
They continued eating and there was some small talk before it was agreed that everyone should catch everyone up on their work. Amy started telling a story about her two grad students and the problems they were having coming up with some experiments. She was now talking about trying to lead them to their own ideas, without telling them what they should do. When she finished, Leonard saw Penny fiddle with her phone, and then lean over and say, "Fifty seconds again, and they were fourteen minutes apart."
"Were the contractions intense?"
"No, they were very manageable," said Penny. "I've started timing again."
Bernadette asked if Leonard had anything and he said he would go last. So, Bernadette launched into how she was coming along as a VP, and the work it entailed. After her, Howard went through some of the work he was doing toward his doctorate. Leonard was finding it hard to pay attention, he was watching Penny.
Penny started moving her fingers around the phone again and Leonard just waited. After about a minute, she leaned over and said, "That one was 55 seconds and was at 14:30."
"Wait, it took longer?" asked Leonard.
"Yeah, I guess it can," said Penny. "Although it was a bit longer than the last one, I'll keep on timing."
Howard finished up and Raj started talking about the new show the planetarium was working on, one with a lot of inputs from him. Then he started talking about the work the students under him were doing.
Penny was working her phone and after she stopped, she leaned over and said, "14:15 and 55 again, with about the same strength."
Sheldon started a story about someone from another college asking about Super-Asymmetry. Leonard saw Penny get up and go to the bathroom. When she did, Leonard was thinking about Penny and wasn't really listening to Sheldon, until he realized he was talking about an experiment. He asked him to start over and he then listened intently as Sheldon explained how he may have come up with an experiment to check his theory. Leonard asked a few questions and began running the idea around in his mind, trying to think of a way to make it possible. Sheldon ended his explanation and everyone started cleaning up.
Leonard looked around and still didn't see Penny. He became worried and walked to the bathroom. He knocked and he heard Penny say, "It's occupied". He reached above the doorjamb and pulled down the key to the door, opened it, and found Penny sitting on the side of the bathtub. Her eyes were red and had tears in them.
"Penny, what's wrong?" asked Leonard worriedly.
"I'm scared," said Penny.